Re: Off Topic, But Brings Back Memories For Me -- Frances R.
From: art fougner, md (evsono@pipeline.com)
Thu Jul 26 11:34:59 2001
sad yes - a beautiful lady from a simpler time. sigh.
sic transit gloria mundi.
art
At Thu, 26 Jul 2001, Dean Huffman wrote:
>
>.
>
>July 26, 2001
>
>Frances R. Horwich, 94, Host of 'Ding Dong School' in 50's Is Dead
>
>By DANIEL J. WAKIN
>
>Frances R. Horwich, the amiable educator who engaged millions of
>preschoolers as the host of the pioneering children's program "Ding Dong
>School" in the 1950's, died yesterday. She was 93.
>
>Ringing an old-fashioned school bell to start the show, she would look into
>the camera, warmly wish a good morning and ask, "How are you today?" She
>paused so that toddlers at home, watching a somewhat matronly figure in
>swept-back hair and wearing a wool jacket, could answer. And they often
>did, thanks to her kindly, conversational style.
>
>Then, "Miss Frances" would tell stories or demonstrate activities, like
>making pipe-cleaner figures or clay models. She used inexpensive, familiar
>toys and interspersed her presentation with unobtrusive lessons:
>
>"Ask your mother where to play with it," for a homemade musical instrument.
>
>"Be sure your sleeves are rolled up," for a messier project.
>
>The half-hour show ended with a five-minute summation of the material.
>
>"Ding Dong School" began on a Chicago station, WNBQ, in 1952. It was so
>popular that after six weeks, NBC picked up the program, and soon it was
>seen in at least 36 cities, with viewership reaching three million. The
>program was broadcast live at 10 a.m. on weekdays for four years, going to
>WNET in New York in 1959.
>
>"Ding Dong School," directed and produced by Reinald Werrenrath Jr., was
>one of a series of high-quality, innovative broadcasts by WNBQ that became
>its own of golden age of television, said Jeff Kisseloff, a television
>historian.
>
>Unlike many of the children's show hosts of the period, Ms. Horwich
>"actually taught kids things," Mr. Kisseloff said. And rather than the
>"high-tech, dazzly stuff" of today, "it was her sitting in front of a piano
>or a drawing table," he said.
>
>"The intent was to educate the kids plainly and straightforwardly," he
>said. "The fact was that it worked. You didn't need all the bells and
>whistles to keep kids watching."
>
>Its daily competitors at the time were "Captain Kangaroo" on CBS and
>"Mickey Mouse Theater" on ABC. A few years later, the successors to "Ding
>Dong School" appeared: "Sesame Street" and "Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood."
>
>In her era, a far simpler time when there was no Cartoon Network or hip,
>irony-tinged children's programs, Ms. Horwich won acclaim. She received a
>George Foster Peabody award in 1953.
>
>"She imbues in the youngsters a sense of friendliness, confidence and faith
>that is truly magical television," The New York Times television critic,
>Jack Gould, wrote that year. "She is a teacher, yes, but she is also a very
>genuine friend of the tots who sit entranced before the receivers."
>
>When she began promoting the products of sponsors, however, Mr. Gould
>called the step "heartbreaking."
>
>"The program is too important in too many homes to be allowed to go astray
>through regrettable short- sightedness," he wrote.
>
>In interviews, Ms. Horwich seemed better at saying what children's
>programming should not be.
>
>"I don't think a television program should make a child's life
>complicated," she said in a 1955 interview. "It should not get him into
>trouble with his parents. Sometimes very innocently a television program
>teaches a child a trick that is not socially acceptable and, therefore,
>gets him into trouble. It is not socially acceptable to throw a pie at
>someone or to fill someone's hat with water," she added, perhaps a
>not-so-subtle jab at Bozo the Clown.
>
>She also deplored the violence of Westerns and crime programs, though added
>that normal children could handle it.
>
>What television should do is appeal to their interests, open "new doors and
>windows" of enlightenment and help children learn to be resourceful, Ms.
>Horwich said.
>
>Frances Rappaport was born in Ottawa, Ohio, on July 16, 1908, and received
>a bachelor's degree from the University of Chicago in 1929. She earned her
>doctorate in education from Northwestern University in 1942.
>
>In 1931, she married Harvey L. Horwich, who was later a technical
>consultant to the United States Air Force. Mr. Horwich died in the early
>1970's. The couple had no children.
>
>For more than two decades before first ringing the "Ding Dong" bell, Ms.
>Horwich worked in education. She taught first grade, supervised nursery
>schools in Chicago, was a principal, and held professorships in education
>at the University of North Carolina and Roosevelt College in Chicago.
>
>But her biggest class was filled with the millions of children in America's
>living rooms born just a few years after World War II.
>
>"Our little school gives them a sense of belonging," she said.
--
art fougner, md
A series of 1000 cases begins with but a single anecdote.
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