All of the hosts, many former kindergarten teachers, spent the half-hour reading from books to the seven or eight kids on the set, teaching the alphabet, manners and values in a gentle way. The kids would often go nuts on the show, some wouldn't communicate at all, others would take over the whole show and there was nothing the poor hostess could do but deal with it because they were on a cramped set together for thirty minutes live. Here is the story of my day on Romper Room. My Aunt Kathy was working for Ma Bell and volunteering for their Telephone Pioneers of America. She became a member of their clown troupe and thought it would be a great idea to bring me along.
Many children are afraid of clowns and having one their height made it less scary.
The troupe would go around to hospitals, homes for the handicapped, orphanages or anywhere we could spread cheer. The producers of Romper Room found out about the troupe and that they had a young child. We were invited to appear on the show and explain how we became clowns. The day we taped, some of the employees of WOR-TV were making a decision about going on strike. Being 5, I didn't notice much but my mother and aunt told me about it years later.