BACKSTAGE @ THE DJ KAT SHOW

I've written before about our FOX series

THE DJ KAT SHOW

where I co-starred with the lovely and exuberant

CARMEN DeLa PAZ.

Specifically here:

http://flexitoon.blogspot.com/2009/04/dj-kat-show.html

and here:

http://flexitoon.blogspot.com/2009/04/wnew-wnyc-channel-5-new-york.html

I just found a parcel of BEHIND-THE-SCENES shots circa 1989. Now I can give some well-deserved props to the DJ Kat Show Team:

That's me and Carmen (I'm the pony-tail on the left) putting our heads together on the couch set.
The Red Sea parts to reveal our director, the finger-snappin' STEVEN FELDMAN. (We were very aware of gender roles on the set, so to me, he was - - and will always be - - Feldperson.)
Carmen gives the Metal Horns, while our producer TERESA MATTHEWS, looks concerned.

Rehearsing with Carmen. . .

. . . enjoying the resulting playback.

Backstage with Steven, DJ KAT in tow.

The brain trust, including former Saturday Night Live scribe, BRUCE PADDOCK (L).

Director in his natural habitat.
Steven and I worked together on several television projects besides the DJ Kat Show, including ACTV and SHINING TIME STATION. We enjoyed a mutually beneficial working relationship throughout much of the '90's.

Producer Teresa Matthews.

Shooting the station owner, Midas G. Merkle (M.G.M.)

The popular VIEWER MAIL segment.

With the legendary ELI BERGMAN.
Eli was with WNEW (now FOX) from the begininng, and he worked with all the kid show greats: SOUPY SALES, CHUCK McCANN, SANDY BECKER, BOB McCALLISTER, and, DIALING FOR DOLLARS (heh-heh). Eli was the tether to the halcyon day's of old, and whenever I wasn't working, he'd regale me with stories about my heroes (see above.) The nicest thing he ever said to me was "You know, Craig. You're one of them!"

I loved doing the DJ Kat Show, and I hope that everyone - - Carmen, Steven, Teresa, Tommy Terranova, Scoop the Cameraman, Ron on Sound, Donna on the floor (!?) et al - - look back fondly on the memories we created for our kids in the FOX viewing area. I'll see if I can post an episode sometime. . .

All photos by ALAN (the) SEMOK

THE DJ KAT SHOW

This was kind've a dream-come-true project. My own show from the same studio my heroes did their own shows from - - WNEW Channel 5 (though now it was WNYW-5 - a FOX O&O.)

We were on Sunday mornings from 9:00 - 10:00, and won awards and our time slot. In fact the station noticed that when our stuff was on the ratings did very well, but when we cut to a cartoon the kids cut out. So after about 7 weeks, we abandonded the cartoons and went to a straight comedy/fantasy format. DJ KAT starred along side his young girl companion Jennifer Davis (Carmen De La Paz.) Judging by the viewer mail, many in the audience would have liked to be along side his young girl companion too..

Like Sandy Becker portrayed HAMBONE. . .
. . .and Chuck McCann played LITTLE ORPHAN ANNIE (definately more on this in the future!). . . . . . I also played several on-camera characters. One audience favorite was BRACKISH SWAMPWATER the villainous ventriloquist, aided and abetted by his wa-a-ay smarter cohort LUCKY STIFF. It was great to do ventriloquism on a kid show; didn't seem to be anyone one else doing it at that time.

(My make-up artists were CARMEN GEBBIA and JIM COLA, the same guys who did Sandy & Soupy & Chuck. Lots of great make-up chair stories!)

The series was an MGM production: that stands for MIDAS GELT MERKLE. Mr. Merkle was the station owner who was always trying to get rid of the Kat. One of the reasons the show came from a "basement" is because he was allergic to kids - - er - - kats.

Mister Merkle calls for help in dumping the Kat.

After winning the New York State Broadcasters Award for Outstanding Children's Series, FOX decided to cancel the Sunday show, and they asked Carmen to leave (which I wasn't too happy about!) and wanted me to create the first FOX KID'S CLUB. So now we were on daily from 3:00 - 6:00 hosting cartoons. It was a softer show, but fun, too.
I really enjoyed working at Channel 5 - - fulfilling that part of my destiny, and having an impact on children's television.

Watching playback.

WNEW + WNYC = Channel 5 New York

The Sandy Becker Show (Sandy's Street) was on WNEW Channel 5. (So was Soupy Sales and Chuck McCann.) When I was a kid I used to visit and watch them do their shows - - it was so exciting! One show would end, the cameras would then sweep around to another part of the studio and BOOM, next show was on. SUCH a turn on. I'd go home and make-believe my bedroom was Channel 5 and do my own shows (to my cardboard-box cameras.) Even painted a big 5 on my door. Well, fast-forward to 1989, WNEW is now WNYC FOX-5 and I'm doing my own series from the same studio. It was called the DJ KAT SHOW. I wrote and performed puppets and characters opposite a talented, charming and exuberant actress named Carmen DeLaPaz.
Here's the point of this post:
We inherited many of Sandy's puppets and memorabilia when he passed away, and the other day I laid my hands upon an ultra-rare contact sheet. One of the pictures in the group was taken in the exact same place at almost the exact same angle that my show came from. Below is a backstage shot of Sandy Becker puppeteering GeebaGeeba (wearing a tyroleon hat) and Wydeen the Witch, with Timmy Moriarty fronting out front. . .
And here from the same vantage point is Carmen (as Jennifer Davis) and me puppeteering DJ Kat backstage in a viewer's mail segment.

Crazy, huh? Like, remembering the future.

More DJ Kat foto's to follow. . .

SOUPY SALES!

I LOVED Soupy Sales when I was a kid. Whom I kidding? I still do!I kouldn't wait to katch the krazy, souper, hipper-than-thou kid show komedy he kreated that made you feel like you were really in on a wild inside joke. I played this album (below) until the tracks wore thin, and stared at the cover until the image burned into my memory like a kustard kream pie in the brain.

Soupy did The Mouse. . .

. . . I did The Mouse! Didn't you love his handmade imagination?

He had two nutty henchmen:
CLYDE ADLER

FRANK NASTASI
Bless their comedic hearts.

A couple of years ago we were asked to do a tribute to Soupy at the New York Founding Tent of the Sons of the Desert (that's the international fraternal worshipful Laurel & Hardy Society. You heard me.) So we took this as an opportunity to write & perform the SOUPY SALES SHOW that we always wanted to see, but one that Soupy hadn't gotten around to doing yet. We built the whole cast, including the SOUPMAN himself. . .

And it was a BLAST!!

(below)

SOUPY and his beautiful bride TRUDY watched.

SOUPY & POOKIE & ME (oh my)
I became friendly with Soupy over the years (my television kids show, DJ KAT, originated from the same WNEW Metromedia Channel 5 studio as the NY incarnation of the Soupy Sales Show) and I cherish the times we have together.

There will never be another SOUPY SALES!

(soupy caricatures by craig)