WGN Channel 9 - Garfield Goose And Friends (Ending & Break, 1975)

38 years ago today, this aired!

Here's the ending moments and a full commercial break from the long-running series Garfield Goose And Friends on WGN Channel 9, hosted by Frazier Thomas. This is significant as it is the only known color off-air recorded footage from the show yet found!

This was recorded at Ridgewood High School in Norridge (by whom, has been lost to time but we've narrowed it down to about four adults) on 3/4" U-matic videotape using a poorly tuned roof antenna (the mast of which is now part of the radio transmitter), and thus unfortunately there is a bit of fuzz at times and the color goes out periodically. Also, due to the age of the tape, portions of it have degraded in quality substantially. The person was recording the WGN Morning Movie that day, 'Sorry, Wrong Number'" but started the recording early (thankfully) and thus we have this rare nugget.

My sincere thanks goes out to our own Szake (Kevin Szaflik) - who essentially rescued the tapes this was recorded on from being thrown out after a few previous close calls. As he himself puts it, "The main story is that this stuff was supposed to be tossed out three times: in 1994, 1998 and November 2009. The last time, when I had run out of space, I was lucky enough to be familiar with your site, and that's how this material is being shared."

Makes you wonder how much other incredible stuff is currently sitting in landfills, perhaps ironically well-preserved under mounds and mounds of trash, but (seemingly) forever inaccessible...

Landfills...the video archaeologist's FINAL frontier... ;-)

What you are seeing here is the best restoration that could be done - among other things, the tape was baked in an effort to stabilize the oxide. Includes:

This clip begins midway through an Augie Doggie and Doggie Daddy cartoon, "Fuss N' Feathers" (first aired February 29th 1960), followed (in short order) by:

"We Will Return to Garfield's Show After These Announcements" bumper, with drawing of Mackintosh Mouse on typewriter (voiceover by Len Johnson)

Commercial: Barbie's Town-House from Mattel - three stories tall, with six rooms and a see-through elevator (voiceover by ??) - (C) 1974 Mattel, Inc.

Theatrical trailer for re-releases of 1950 version of "Treasure Island" and 1963 film "Dr. Syn, Alias the Scarecrow" from Walt Disney (main voiceover by Dick Tufeld?) (ending voiceover by Len Johnson)

Commercial: Raggedy Ann & Andy Executive Set, with calendar, stapler and pencil sharpener - from Janex (voiceover by ??) - (C) 1974 The Bobbs-Merrill Co. Inc.

Commercial: Giant Barrel of Monkeys, with the goal to link 12 monkeys together

Commercial: Down the Drain, where the object is to fish coins out without them falling back in - from Lakeside (A Division of Leisure Dynamics) (voiceover by ??)

"We Now Return to Garfield Goose" bumper, with pertinent title card (voiceover by Len Johnson)

Host Frazier Thomas closes the show (with Gar and Romberg Rabbit looking on) by promising a guest on next day's "Hobby Corner," 15-year-old Christopher Bartnik of Cedar Lake, Indiana, who raises Angora rabbits, before giving the ending salutations as the organ-based theme strikes up, followed by ending credits on slides (during which voiceover [by Len Johnson] promotes an upcoming airing of an animated version of The Count of Monte Cristo for Saturday, November 22nd at 5pm):

"Garfield Goose And Friends"
Written and Produced by Frazier Thomas (with Mackintosh Mouse on typewriter)
Directed by Bill Hartmann (with Romberg Rabbit as floor director, tangled in wires connected to his headset)
Special Graphic Effects by Roy Brown (with Gar holding up a frame)
A WGN Television Production (with Beauregard Burnside III in front of a camera that resembles the RCA TK-41 color cameras which, by 1975, were superseded by TK-44A and TK-45A cameras)

Commercial: Play-Doh Pumper Number 9 - New from Kenner - resembles a fire truck, and makes objects in shapes of fire hoses, hats and other such accoutrements (voiceover by ??)

Commercial: Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots by Marx - "Knock Their Block Off"

Station ID / bumper promo for "The Sharkfighters" (voiceover by Len Johnson)

This aired on local Chicago TV on Thursday, November 20th 1975 (one week before Thanksgiving) between 8:54am and 9am.

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