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| Gene London was a fixture of Philadelphia kids' TV for most of the sixties. His show "Cartoon Corners General Store" appeared Saturday mornings at 7:30 or 8:00 on WCAU-TV, Channel 10, which was then the CBS-owned station in Philadelphia.
The set was an old-fashioned general store, where Gene worked as the stockboy, getting paid by his miserly boss a mere 8 1/2 cents an hour. Up on the hill was the mysterious and spooky Quigley Mansion. More than a vehicle for animated entertainment, Cartoon Corners was a showcase for London's creative imagination as expressed through songs, stories and drawings. Surrounded by a half dozen kids, Gene worked the cartoon introductions seamlessly into the flow of the show. One recurring highlight was Gene getting the "Golden Fleece" out of an old chest in the store -- that meant it was story time! Gene used to talk about the old radio show "Let's Pretend" and often sang its theme song as an introduction to one of his stories. A kind of Mister Rogers with an edge of amiable rascality, Gene London pulled off the tricky feat of maintaining the gentle tone appropriate to the youngest members of his audience while retaining the interest of the kids 10 and even older. This broad appeal, and his equally broad talents, have made him one of the best remembered Philadelphia TV personalities of the 1960's. |
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| Given up trying to remember the words to Gene London theme? |
