Makin' Educational Whoopee

Kids watch TV for the same reason their parents do—to be entertained. They don’t watch it to be lectured to or educated.

But there were parents groups that felt it was television’s job to do that, and in the least low-brow way. Producers and programmers had to find the way to straddle that line—to make something kids wouldn’t turn off but gave them something other than Popeye punching out Bluto for the umpteenth time. Cy Plattes of General Mills found an answer.

Thus Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales was born.

The story-lines driving the cartoons were similar. Tennessee would come up with a brainstorm and fail miserably to execute it. He and sidekick Chumley would then go to see Mr. Whoopee who demonstrated how to do it properly. Off went Tennessee who would make his idea work—but something else would go wrong to end the cartoon.

The “Whoopee” portion was the education aspect that critics loved because, well, because it was education. Kids liked it because the education was given by a cartoony voice (Larry Storch as Frank Morgan), and not some adult teacher talking down to them.

Here are two of a number of newspaper stories written about Tennessee. The first is from the King Features Syndicate of November 22, 1963, the other from the Newspaper Enterprise Association starting around February 8, 1964. Note that “TTV” does not stand for “Total Television,” at least not yet. It has a different meaning, no doubt to kiss up to networks and parent groups. Neither of them explain why Tennessee Tuxedo doesn’t have a Tennessee accent.

C.B.S. Airs Educational Cartoon
by HARVEY PACK
(TVKey Writer)
New York—Many of today's infants go from mother's milk to the T. V. tube and by the time they are ready to start their formal education television has done as much to prepare them for learning as their parents. This is an area where T. V.'s responsibility is not simply a matter of petty network jealousy or rating wars, but a vital part of our country's future.
Children, like adults, are attracted to mass audience programming and ambitious and praiseworthy projects like "Exploring" and "Discovery" are fine for F. C. C. hearings, but the youngsters prefer cartoons. As the prisoner said on his way to the electric chair: "Dis never would have happened if dey had held classes in saloons."

C. B. S. has apparently recognized the need for spoon-fed learning and has backed a fine cartoon show called "Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales" on Saturdays at 9:30 A. M. I happened to catch it a few times with my youngsters and I found it a delightful combination of education and fun.
The main characters in this zoo-based cartoon are Tennessee, a cocky penguin; Chumley, an idiot walrus; and amusing but intelligent chap called Mr. Whoopee; an aptly named zoo-keeper, Stanley Livingston; and Flunkie, his assistant. Two of my favorite comics, Don Adams and Larry Storch provide the voices for Tennessee and Mr. Whoopee with top actors Kenny Delmar, Bradley Bolke and Mort Marshall rounding out the cast.
The program is financed by one of the big three cereal companies and was supposedly inspired by that wonderful child's habit of asking why about everything. Each week Tennessee and his friends escape from the zoo and venture into the outside world to solve a puzzling “why.” It ranges from “why does a telephone work” to “Why do things grow on the desert” and just about any subject is up for grabs on subsequent shows.
Produced by ex-advertising men who got tired of writing ads and simply earning a living, “Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales” may be the TV answers for helping youngsters in the 4-10 age bracket get something out of the tube besides eye strain.
According to one of the partners in TTV (Teaching Television), they research each “why” in the Golden Book encyclopedia and, through the cereal sponsor, offer prizes to teachers who can suggest a good “why” for Tennessee to explain.
What makes this spoon-fed education palatable to the kids is that the educational portion is lively and animated rather than a cut out to film clips provided by the industry that is about to be discussed. Another attempt in this field has used industrial films for the education segment of the show and the result has been a sloppy, uninteresting presentation.
Walt Disney's high budgeted N.B.C. program is always at its best when it informs the youngsters while entertaining them, and it's a pleasure to report that this fine approach to education is now available for the small fry on a Saturday morning network program. I sincerely hope that "Tennessee Tuxedo" is a popular success and attracts hundreds of imitators. We need them.

Penguin Teachers Kids
By ERSKINE JOHNSON
HOLLYWOOD (NEA)—Hey, Ma! I've got news for you. That "know-it-all" cartoon penguin named Tennessee Tuxedo on television every Saturday morning is helping educate your kiddies.
The kids don't realize they are being slipped the educational needle. And that's the big idea.
So keep mum, Ma, about reading that Tennessee Tuxedo is produced by a company named TTV, the initials meaning "Teaching Television," which the name of the penguin also means.
Early ratings of the new show indicate the kiddies are getting out of bed Saturday mornings and dialing TT, oblivious to the fact that it is a significant breakthrough in visual education.
As an example of programming in the public interest you can almost forgive the sponsor's message.
In case you are unaware of Tennessee Tuxedo, he's the sort who is always sticking his nose into other folks' affairs. As a result, he keeps finding himself in situations he cannot handle.
Mistaken for a famed architect, he is given the job of building a bridge. The bridge collapses. In the doing, Tuxedo and the junior viewer absorb a few basic tenets about the bridge-building art.
When Tuxedo is unable to repair an automobile the ensuing fun, graphically and with juvenile simplicity, explains the working of the internal combustion engine.
In similar vein, other plots lead TT into the fields of irrigation, firefighting, astronomy, telecommunication, farming, navigation, deep sea diving, etc. The idea for the show came from Cyril Plattes, a Minneapolis industrial public relations and marketing specialist who surveyed interest of junior age levels. He found “an unbelievable hunger” for information about the world junior lives in.
“So,” he says, “we decided to use the cartoon as a carrier for a good comedy show with an educational message.

Tennessee survived on Saturday mornings for three seasons before super heroes and fantasy shows started taking over the schedule, then moved into syndication.

If they were ever to revive the series today, producers would likely ignore Larry Storch and turn Mr. Whoopee into some kind of Siri/Alexa thing on a tablet and toss in some CGI effects. Maybe cartoons were more fun way back when.