Romper Room is an American Children’s Televison series, that ran from 1953 to 1994, and it was targeted to young kids age five years or older. It was created and produced by, Bert Claster and his wife Nancy Claster of Claster Television, an American Childen’s series that was franchised and syndicated.

 The national version was presented by Nancy Terrell and filmed in Baltimore from its inception in 1953. Romper Room was also franchised internationally at various times in Canada, the United Kingdom, Japan, Finland, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, Paraguay, Argentina, and Australia.

Etiquette was a focus of Romper Room. The hostesses were always addressed as “Miss.” The show also had a mascot, Mr. Do-Bee. Mr. Do-Bee was an oversized bumblebee who came to teach the children proper  deportment He was noted for always starting his sentence with “Do Bee”, as in the imperative “Do be”; for example, “Do Bee good boys and girls for your parents!” There was also a “Mr. Don’t Bee” to show children exactly what they should not do. Do-Bee balloons were made available for purchase to the public. Each balloon featured a painted sketch of Do-Bee. 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 cookies to the children. Before eating, they would recite the celebrated Romper Room grace: “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, “Romper, 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 Kathleen and Owen and Julie and Jimmy and Kelly and Tommy and Bobby and Jennifer and Martin” and so forth. Children were encouraged to mail in their first names, which would be read on the air.

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

It’s been awhile but I do remember watching this program way back then! And my kids viewed it over the years it was a fun and simple show for kids to get a head start on learning.

Personal collection of Gary Greenbaum (Wehwalt), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Thanks to Wikipedia for background information!