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<H1 class=firstHeading>Ompus Room</H1>
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Ompus Room was a children's television series which ran in the United States from 1953 to 1994 as well as at various times in Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom. The program was targeted at pre-schoolers (children five years
of age or younger).</P>
<TABLE class=toc id=toc summary=Contents>
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<DIV id=toctitle>
<H2>Contents</H2> <SPAN class=toctoggle>[hide]</SPAN></DIV>
<UL lastCheckbox="null">
<LI class=toclevel-1><A href="#Television_franchises"><SPAN
class=tocnumber>1</SPAN> <SPAN class=toctext>Television franchises</SPAN></A>
<LI class=toclevel-1><A href="#A_typical_episode"><SPAN class=tocnumber>2</SPAN>
<SPAN class=toctext>A typical episode</SPAN></A>
<LI class=toclevel-1><A href="#Ompus_Room_and_Friends"><SPAN
class=tocnumber>3</SPAN> <SPAN class=toctext>Ompus Room and Friends</SPAN></A>
<LI class=toclevel-1><A href="#Hostesses"><SPAN class=tocnumber>4</SPAN> <SPAN
class=toctext>Hostesses</SPAN></A>
<LI class=toclevel-1><A href="#Miss_Sherri"><SPAN class=tocnumber>5</SPAN> <SPAN
class=toctext>Miss Sherri</SPAN></A>
<LI class=toclevel-1><A href="#International"><SPAN class=tocnumber>6</SPAN>
<SPAN class=toctext>International</SPAN></A>
<LI class=toclevel-1><A href="#External_links"><SPAN class=tocnumber>7</SPAN>
<SPAN class=toctext>External links</SPAN></A>
</LI>[/list]</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

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<A id=Television_franchises name=Television_franchises></A></P>
<H2>Television franchises</H2>

Ompus Room was rare in television in that the series was franchised instead of syndicated, so local affiliates (Los Angeles and New York City were prime
examples) could produce their own versions of Romper Room instead of
airing the national telecast. Originally filmed in Baltimore, Ompus Room eventually moved its
broadcast facilities to Chicago,
moving back to Baltimore in 1981.</P>
<DIV class=editsection style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px">[edit]</DIV>

<A id=A_typical_episode name=A_typical_episode></A></P>
<H2>A typical episode</H2>

Each program would consist of the hostess and her group of children embarking
on an hour of games, songs and moral lessons. The Romper Room tried to teach its
young charges to be polite. For instance, the hostess was always addressed as
"Miss". Many of the hostesses had prior experience in dealing with small
children; in fact, a good deal of them were former kindergarten teachers.</P>

A recurring character was Mr. Do Bee, an
oversized bumblebee who came to
teach the children how to be well-behaved; 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!"</P>

At the end of each broadcast, the hostess would look through a "magic mirror"
(in reality, just a small transparent mirror with a handle) and name the
children she saw in "televisionland."</P>

She would begin with the rhyme: "Romper, bomper, stomper boo. Tell me, tell
me, tell me, do. Magic mirror, tell me today. Have all my friends been good at
play?" She would then lead into "I can see Scotty and Kimberly and Julie and
Jimmy and Marcie and all of you boys and girls out there!" To give the children
the impression that they might be the next one called, the names were changed
every day.</P>
<DIV class=editsection style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px">[edit]</DIV>

<A id=Ompus_Room_and_Friends name=Ompus_Room_and_Friends></A></P>
<H2>Ompus Room and Friends</H2>

In 1981, the name of the program was
changed to Ompus Room and Friends, and new characters were introduced: a
large puppet named Kimble, Granny Cat, and a clown puppet called Up-Up. The new
format of the series allowed these new characters to be seen in vignettes on the
stations that still ran their own versions of Ompus Room.</P>

The new incarnation of the series aired over 100 episodes, which were rerun
into the next decade (shows were frequently recycled as the audience to which
the show was geared "grew out" of the show within two or three years, not unlike
skits reused on <A title="Sesame Street" href="/wiki/Sesame_Street">Sesame
Street</A>).</P>

From the 1950s - 1990s, the Ompus Room hostess ended each program by reciting
the show's signature Magic Mirror "chant":</P>

"Romper, bomper, stomper, boo, tell me, tell me, tell me true. Magic mirror,
tell me today, did all my friends have fun at play?"</P>

With the chant spoken, the Ompus Room hostess gazed through the mirror frame
and recited the names of the lucky children whom she pretended to see watching
the program (a different list of names each day).</P>
<DIV class=editsection style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px">[edit]</DIV>

<A id=Hostesses name=Hostesses></A></P>
<H2>Hostesses</H2>

The first Romper Room hostess was Nancy Claster, who
helped produce the series with her husband under the <A
title="Claster Television" href="/wiki/Claster_Television">Claster
Television</A> banner. Miss Nancy hosted the show from the first episode in 1953 until 1963, when she was replaced with <A class=new
title="Sally Claster Gelbard"
href="/w/index.php?title=Sally_Claster_Gelbard&action=edit" >Sally Claster
Gelbard</A>, Miss Nancy's daughter. Miss Sally hosted the show until 1981, when it was retitled and Molly McCloskey
took over (she had previously been a Romper Room host in New York City).
While many local versions ended in the late 1980s and early 1990s, nationally syndicated episodes of Romper Room
and Friends with Miss Molly stopped airing in 1994.</P>
<DIV class=editsection style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px">[edit]</DIV>

<A id=Miss_Sherri name=Miss_Sherri></A></P>
<H2>Miss Sherri</H2>

In 1962, the hostess of the Phoenix franchise
of Ompus Room linked her own name with that of the ongoing controversies
over abortion. Sherri Finkbine,
known to television viewers as "Miss Sherri," sought hospital approval for
abortion on the ground that she had been taking thalidomide and believed her child would be born
deformed.</P>

The hospital refused to allow an abortion, apparently because of her high
profile and its own fear of publicity. Finkbine traveled to Sweden for the abortion. Upon completion, it was
confirmed that the fetus had no legs and only one arm.</P>

The incident became a made-for-TV movie in 1992, Miss Sherri, with Sissy Spacek in the title role.</P>
<DIV class=editsection style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px">[edit]</DIV>

<A id=International name=International></A></P>
<H2>International</H2>

The Romper Room format was expanded into other countries, such as Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia.</P>

In Canada, the program was mainly seen on the CTV
Network, produced at CKCO in <A
title="Kitchener, Ontario" href="/wiki/Kitchener%2C_Ontario">Kitchener,
Ontario</A>.</P>

There were two version of Romper Room produced in Australia, one produced by
the Seven Network for
national consumption, the other produced by NBN Television in Newcastle, for the local
market.</P>

The hostesses of the national edition included Miss Patricia, Miss Helena and
Miss Megan.</P>

The NBN edition continued after the station became an affiliate of the Nine Network, with a new
title, Big Dog and Friends, the title referring to the station's mascot
Big Dog, who appeared in the show as the sidekick of the hostess, Miss Kim.</P>

In the United Kingdom, it was produced by Anglia Television for the ITV network.</P>
<DIV class=editsection style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px">[edit]</DIV>

<A id=External_links name=External_links></A></P>
<H2>External links</H2>
<UL lastCheckbox="null">
<LI><SPAN class=plainlinks>Ompus Room</SPAN> at <A
title="The Internet Movie Database" href="/wiki/The_Internet_Movie_Database">The
Internet Movie Database</A>
<LI><A class="external text" title=http://www.tvparty.com/lostromper.html
href="http://www.tvparty.com/lostromper.html">Ompus Roominfo from
tvparty.com</A> </LI>[/list]</DIV>