Gene London was the host of a long-running, Philadelphia local children's show, Cartoon Corners (aka The Gene London Show). He was tall, slender, had dark hair and a soft-spoken manner. He starred on the children's show in the Philadelphia area on WCAU-TV Channel 10 from 1959 to 1977, in which several cartoons, particularly those of Disney, were shown. Early programs began with Gene London opening the door of his General Store

General store

A general store, general merchandise store, or village shop is a rural or small town store that carries a general line of merchandise. It carries a broad selection of merchandise, sometimes in a small space, where people from the town and surrounding rural areas come to purchase all their general...

 and flipping the sign to read "Open for Business." As the kids passed by Gene, he palmed the tops of their heads and sang the opening theme song. Once inside the General Store, Gene, an accomplished artist and story-teller, told stories and used a large drawing pad to illustrate key scenes and characters from the tales, as children sat around him. With little budget, he and his cast also did clever interpretations of classic novels such as She Who Must Be Obeyed

She (novel)

She, subtitled A History of Adventure, is a novel by Henry Rider Haggard, first serialized in The Graphic magazine from October 1886 to January 1887. She is one of the classics of imaginative literature, and with over 83 million copies sold in 44 different languages, one of the best-selling books...

and various Greek myths

Greek mythology

Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...

.

Show history

Originally called variously Gene London's Cartoons & Stuff, The Wonderful World of Gene London, and Cartoon Corners, the format for The Gene London Show changed over the years. At first Gene worked for a general store that was located next to a confetti factory. His boss was the stingy Mr. Dibley, a.k.a. "Old Dibble-Puss" (who paid Gene 3½ cents per week). London's character used his imagination to try to escape his humdrum existence. A golden fleece

Golden Fleece

In Greek mythology, the Golden Fleece is the fleece of the gold-haired winged ram, which can be procured in Colchis. It figures in the tale of Jason and his band of Argonauts, who set out on a quest by order of King Pelias for the fleece in order to place Jason rightfully on the throne of Iolcus...

 he discovered provided him with a ready source of magic. Gene had a crush on his employer's daughter, Debbie Dibley. Alas, Debbie moved to Hollywood, returning him to his lonely, but imaginative situation. Later the program shifted to the haunted Quigley mansion located next door, accessible via a secret tunnel (the mansion's exterior establishing shot was just a model) with stories and plots centering around ghosts, UFOs, aliens. During this period there were a series of public service exchange programs produced by CBS

CBS

CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...

. In these programs, Gene played a reporter, who went out and got stories from children (trying to improve the paper's circulation).

Earlier life

Earlier in life, Gene aspired to be a Disney artist. An imaginative child, Gene recalled, "Alone in my room when all the other kids were playing ball, I'd tell myself the story, acting out all the parts, including Snow White

Snow White

"Snow White" is a fairy tale known from many countries in Europe, the best known version being the German one collected by the Brothers Grimm...

 standing by the side of the well singing, 'I'm Wishing'." On his show, Gene often showcased Disney cartoons and movies. Gene's early career included stints as a counselor at Summerdale Day Camp just outside Philadelphia where he taught arts and crafts and puppetry

Puppetry

Puppetry is a form of theatre or performance which involves the manipulation of puppets. It is very ancient, and is believed to have originated 30,000 years BC. Puppetry takes many forms but they all share the process of animating inanimate performing objects...

; occasional work on NBC

NBC

The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

-TV's Hi Mom! hosted by ventriloquist Shari Lewis

Shari Lewis

Shari Lewis was an American ventriloquist, puppeteer, and children's television show host, most popular during the 1960s and 1990s...

; a cast member on the puppet show Johnny Jupiter; as Re-ject the Robot. he was also a puppeteer on some of Herb Sheldon's kids' TV shows on WABD TV Ch.5 in NYC.

London would succeed Henry Burbig as the second host/performer and instructor of WABC TV Ch.7 NYC's "Tinker's Workshop" in 1957. He would play the character of "Tinker Tom The Toymaker" as a big brother type, as opposed to portraying him as a grandfatherly inculcator of values.

London hosted the show from 1957 to mid-1958, when he was ousted from the program following a creative dispute with station
management. He would go on to appear semi-regularly on holiday-themed special editions of NBC TV's "Today Show" with the
series' first host/interviewer, Dave Garroway, during the 1959 TV season. (Info about Mr. London's efforts with Mr. Sheldon, his brief tenure with "Tinker's Workshop" and his involvement with "The Today Show" can be found in "The NYC Kids Shows Round Up" section of www.tvparty.com.)

Fashion designer

When Cartoon Corners was cancelled, Gene moved to New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 and became involved in the fashion industry as a dress designer. Until 2001, Gene operated a retro clothes shop called 'Gene London: The Fan Club' on Manhattan

Manhattan

Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...

's West 19th Street. In later years, Gene served as a Hollywood and Broadway fashion consultant and spokesman for the Mikimoto brand of jewelry. As a hobby, Gene had collected costumes worn by movie celebrities (some 60,000 gowns, dresses and fashion accessories). In July 2002, at the age of 71, Gene exhibited more than 50 pieces of his Hollywood gown collection at "Gene London Presents: Hollywood Glamour" at the Showboat Casino Hotel in Atlantic City. On May 17, 2003, he once again displayed his gowns at the 80th anniversary celebration of the Old Academy Players in Philadelphia (East Falls), PA. The exhibit included a deep red dress with plunging neckline and fur-trimmed sleeves worn by Philadelphia-bred actress Grace Kelly

Grace Kelly

Grace Patricia Kelly was an American actress who, in April 1956, married Rainier III, Prince of Monaco, to become Princess consort of Monaco, styled as Her Serene Highness The Princess of Monaco, and commonly referred to as Princess Grace.After embarking on an acting career in 1950, at the age of...

 (a.k.a. Princess Grace of Monaco) in the Oscar-winning film The Country Girl

The Country Girl (1954 film)

The Country Girl is a 1954 drama film adapted by George Seaton from a Clifford Odets play of the same name, which tells the story of an alcoholic has-been actor struggling with the one last chance he's been given to resurrect his career. It stars Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly and William Holden. Seaton,...

(1954). On October 3, 2009 the Reading Public Museum (Reading, PA) opened "The Magic of Hollywood: the Gene London Costume Collection," featuring more than 100 gowns and costumes.

Cartoon Corners Theme Song

Come right on in to the General Store

We have licorice, gumdrops and sourballs;

Anything that you're hankering for,

You'll find in Cartoon Corners General Store.

There's lots of stories and songs that you know,

Toys to build and a big pot belly stove;

Cartoon fun with your favorites so,

Let's ring up the curtain on this show!

There's something else I've forgotten, let's see,

Of course, Gene London, that's me!

Let's Pretend

He sang this ditty before launching into a story:

Let's Pretend that it's story time

And I'll tell a tale to you.

I'll tell you a story of make believe

And all your dreams will come true.

And when the story's over

And when we reach the end.

We'll live happily ever after, Where?

In the land of Let's Pretend.

External links

• TV Party entry
• TV Acres entry
• "Gene London Yahoo Newsgroup"; Gene recently began adding to his personal archive photos, home movies and all memorabilia related to his career. Anyone in possession of these items who wishes to contribute may contact "The Gene London Yahoo Newsgroup" or Gene direct at CartoonCorners aol com.