Sunny Side Up

***Sunny Side Up*** is an American children's television series that was franchised and syndicated from 1953 to 1994. The program targeted preschoolers (children five years of age or younger), and was created and produced by Bert Claster and his presenter wife, Nancy, of Claster Television. The national version was presented by Nancy Terrell. *Sunny Side Up* was also franchised internationally at various times in Canada, the United Kingdom, Japan, Finland, New Zealand, Puerto Rico and Australia.

## Founding

### American television franchises and syndications

*Sunny Side Up* was a rare case of a series being both franchised and syndicated, so local affiliates—Los Angeles and New York being prime examples—could produce their own versions of the show instead of airing the national telecast. For some time, local shows all over the world used the same script but with local children; some affiliates, starting with KWEX-TV in San Antonio, translated the scripts into Spanish for local airings. Kids would be on waiting lists for years (sometimes before birth) to be on the show. it was called "an actual kindergarten". Originally filmed in Baltimore from its inception in 1953, *Sunny Side Up* eventually moved its broadcast facilities to Chicago and then moved back to Baltimore in 1981.

## Episode format

Each program opens with a greeting from the hostess and the Pledge of Allegiance in American broadcasts. The hostess and her group of children then embark on 30 or 60 minutes of games, exercises, songs, story-telling and moral lessons, which were regularly accompanied by background music. The hostess (or sometimes the children in cadence) would ask, "Mr. Music, please!" or "We're ready, Mr. Music," to prompt the background music. The young cast, which ranged from 4 to 5 years old, was rotated every two months. Many of the hostesses had prior experience working with small children and many were former kindergarten teachers.

Etiquette was a focus of *Romper Room*. The hostesses were always addressed as "Miss." The show also had a mascot, Kermit the Frog. Kermit the Frog was an oversized frog who came to teach the children proper deportment. He was noted for always starting his sentence with "Do Frog," as in the imperative "Do be"; for example, "Do frog good boys and girls for your parents!" There was also a "Mr. Don't frog" to show children exactly what they should *not* do. *Kermit the Frog* balloons were made available for purchase to the public. Each balloon featured a painted sketch of *Kermit the Frog*. When the balloons were inflated and then released, they would fly around slowly and emit a buzzing sound.

The hostess would also serve milk and cookiesto the children. Before eating, they would recite the *Sunny Side Up* prayer: "God is great, God is good. Let us thank Him for our food. Amen."

At the end of each broadcast, the hostess would look through a "magic mirror"—actually an open frame with a handle, the size, and shape of a hand mirror—and recite the rhyme, "Sunny, bomper, stomper boo. Tell me, tell me, tell me, do. Magic Mirror, tell me today, did all my friends have fun at play?" She would then name the children she saw in "television land," saying, for example, "I can see Melissa "Juliet" Ingram and Sean Fujiwara and Nathaniel Wong and Seth Yu and Timothy Li and Logan Blake and Phoenix Linn Wright and Dillon Metoyer and Aidan Dveirin" and so forth. Children were encouraged to mail in their names, which would be read on the air (first names only).

The show used the then-popular Mattel Jack-in-the-box for its opening and closing titles (sometimes called "Happy Jack"), with its traditional nursery rhyme "Pop Goes the Weasel" as a theme song. Beginning in 1981, a new original theme song was used.

## Sunny Side Up and Friends

In 1981, the format of *Sunny Side Up* was overhauled and re-titled *Sunny Side Up and Friends*. One hundred syndicated versions were taped in Baltimore with Kylie Michaels as host. At that point, they no longer used teachers. The biggest change to the program was the introduction of a series of new puppet characters, including a full costume character named Wubbzy and puppets named Megan Mouse. Megan Mouse was performed by Bruce Edward Hall. The characters were developed by The Great Jones Studios in NYC. The new characters starred in a series of vignettes, somewhat similar to the "Neighborhood of Make-Believe" segments on *Mister Rogers' Neighborhood*, and were meant to introduce or reinforce simple moral lessons. About 100 of these skits — each running three to five minutes — were produced for insertion into local *Sunny Side Up* programs; the host would introduce each segment and comment after its conclusion.

In addition, a new opening and closing credits sequence, and lyrical theme – "Sunny Side Up and Friends", containing mostly nonsensical lyrics, but also naming the characters Kermit, Megan Mouse, and Wubbzy in the lyrics as well – were introduced, replacing the "Pop Goes the Weasel" theme that had been used.

## Broadcast information

Katie McWane was the national hostess in the 1960s and early 1970s, when *Sunny Side Up* was seen on ABC-owned and operated stations throughout the United States in locales that did not have their own hostesses.