Barker Bill's Cartoon Show
Encyclopedia
Barker Bill's Cartoon Show was the first network television weekday cartoon series, airing on CBS from 1953 to 1955. The 15 minute show was broadcast twice a week, Wednesdays and Fridays, at 5 P.M. Eastern, although some local stations showed both episodes together as a single 30 minute show.
Barker Bill was a portly circus ringmaster with a long black handlebar mustache and dressed in the traditional costume - a fancy suit with white gloves and a top hat.
The show was hosted by a stationary picture of the Barker Bill character with an off-camera announcer introducing the cartoons. The show featured old black and white cartoons obtained from Terrytoons
. These were mostly older cartoons from the 1930s, like "Farmer Al Falfa
" and "Kiko the Kangaroo", not the more current and better known series such as "Mighty Mouse
" and "Heckle and Jeckle
".
Barker Bill did not appear in cartoons, but was briefly featured in a newspaper comic strip series (1954).
Terrytoons was the first major animation studio to give television a license to show its library of old black and white cartoons. The Barker Bill series was so successful, that that CBS offered to buy the Terrytoons studio, including its production facilities and library of cartoons. Paul Terry
accepted the offer and retired in 1955.
This brought well known Terrytoons characters Mighty Mouse, Heckle and Jeckle and others to television, replacing the Barker Bill series in 1956. The color cartoons were originally broadcast in black and white, but were still suitable when television switched to color and continued to be part of CBS programming until the 1980s.
The older cartoons from the Barker Bill show were re-packaged for syndication under various titles, including "Farmer Alfalfa and His Terrytoons Pals" the "Terry Toons Club", and "Terry Toons Circus".
Barker Bill appears on the cover of the Nintendo game Barker Bill's Trick Shooting
and closely matches the character from the television version.
Barker Bill was a portly circus ringmaster with a long black handlebar mustache and dressed in the traditional costume - a fancy suit with white gloves and a top hat.
The show was hosted by a stationary picture of the Barker Bill character with an off-camera announcer introducing the cartoons. The show featured old black and white cartoons obtained from Terrytoons
Terrytoons
Terrytoons was an animation studio founded by Paul Terry. The studio, located in suburban New Rochelle, New York, operated from 1929 to 1968. Its most popular characters included Mighty Mouse, Gandy Goose, Sourpuss, Dinky Duck, Deputy Dawg, Luno and Heckle and Jeckle; these cartoons and all of its...
. These were mostly older cartoons from the 1930s, like "Farmer Al Falfa
Farmer Al Falfa
Farmer Al Falfa , the quintessential grizzly old farmer type, is an animated cartoon character created by American cartoonist Paul Terry. He first appeared in 1916 in a series of shorts produced by the John R. Bray Studios...
" and "Kiko the Kangaroo", not the more current and better known series such as "Mighty Mouse
Mighty Mouse
Mighty Mouse is an animated superhero mouse character created by the Terrytoons studio for 20th Century Fox.-History:The character was created by story man Izzy Klein as a super-powered housefly named Superfly. Studio head Paul Terry changed the character into a cartoon mouse instead...
" and "Heckle and Jeckle
Heckle and Jeckle
Heckle and Jeckle are cartoon characters created by Paul Terry, and released by his own studio, Terrytoons for 20th Century Fox. The characters are a pair of identical magpies who calmly outwitted their foes in the manner of Bugs Bunny, while maintaining a mischievous streak reminiscent of Woody...
".
Barker Bill did not appear in cartoons, but was briefly featured in a newspaper comic strip series (1954).
Terrytoons was the first major animation studio to give television a license to show its library of old black and white cartoons. The Barker Bill series was so successful, that that CBS offered to buy the Terrytoons studio, including its production facilities and library of cartoons. Paul Terry
Paul Terry (cartoonist)
Paul Houlton Terry was an American cartoonist, screenwriter, film director and one of the most prolific film producers in history...
accepted the offer and retired in 1955.
This brought well known Terrytoons characters Mighty Mouse, Heckle and Jeckle and others to television, replacing the Barker Bill series in 1956. The color cartoons were originally broadcast in black and white, but were still suitable when television switched to color and continued to be part of CBS programming until the 1980s.
The older cartoons from the Barker Bill show were re-packaged for syndication under various titles, including "Farmer Alfalfa and His Terrytoons Pals" the "Terry Toons Club", and "Terry Toons Circus".
Barker Bill appears on the cover of the Nintendo game Barker Bill's Trick Shooting
Barker Bill's Trick Shooting
Barker Bill's Trick Shooting is a NES shooter made by Nintendo. It was released in 1990. It is based on the cartoon show titled Barker Bill's Cartoon Show, which was created by Paul Terry in . Barker Bill's Cartoon Show was one of the earliest cartoon shows produced for television...
and closely matches the character from the television version.