CAPTAIN DETROIT

JOHNNY GINGER - "CAPTAIN DETROIT"
TOM RYAN - "SGT. SACTO"

hosted children's show with firstly Johnny Ginger as "Captain Detroit" and later Tom Ryan as "Sgt. Sacto" presenting cartoons on WKBD-TV Channel 50, Detroit, Michigan from around 1966 until 3 September 1971. From the Detroit Kid Shows website: "A new spaceship set was built and a spacey looking jogging suit that Ryan had picked up when he played European Basketball was pressed into service. A pair of pointy "Mr. Spock" eyebrows completed the transformation from Tom Ryan to Sgt. Sacto. Ryan was given carte blanche to do whatever he wanted between the Little Rascals and Three Stooges shorts and Hanna-Barbera cartoons. The revamped Captain Detroit show made its debut on May 1, 1967, airing every Monday thru Friday afternoon from 3:30 to 5:00 PM and again on Sunday morning. It was initially planned as a summer replacement show but the ratings went thru the roof, thanks in large part to the ever popular Three Stooges and the birthday wishes segment. The famous Sgt. Sacto salute (saluting from the middle of your chest) is a "bit of business" that Ryan came up with one day that caught on. The special "double pumper" was two salutes from the middle of your chest. The Captain Detroit show was trimmed down to an hour in September of 1967, then to a half hour in January of 1970. Sgt. Sacto disappeared into the stratosphere forever on September 3, 1971, a victim of Kaiser Broadcasting's budget cuts". Tom Ryan would go to develop the horror host character "Count Scary" For further information on Tom Ryan as "Count Scary", click on the links below:d

From "The Johnny Ginger" web page: Johnny Ginger (Galen Grindle) was born in Toledo, Ohio. His parents, Ray and Edna, were a Vaudeville family act performing at the Paramount Theater in Toledo. His brother, Kenny, was a tap dancer in the family act. One day they brought little Johnny up onstage to sing "Sonny Boy" and he was an instant hit. As a teen he performed stand-up comedy in clubs all over Toledo, Detroit, and Canada. Johnny had been working as a comedian under the name Jerry Gale when he auditioned to present a program for WXYZ-TV based around re-runs of The Three Stooges. Given the role, WXYZ vice president John Pival insisted that he work under the name Johnny Ginger, the name is taken from a bottle of Johnny Bull Ginger Beer.>br> Ginger's afternoon show, Curtain Time Theater (which was always pronounced "Thee-A-ter"), entertained kids from 1957 to 1960 on WXYZ-TV Channel 7. The live portions of the show were broadcast all around the television station, with Ginger in his janitor costume of bib-overalls and driving cap. By the early 1960s Johnny adapted a new character inspired by the Jerry Lewis film The Bellboy, that of the head bellboy at the Rocky Plaza Hotel, run by Mr. Rocky. Johnny did every voice on his show. Soupy had a support team...Johnny wrote and performed the show entirely alone. The show became The Johnny Ginger Show. He introduced a new generation of kids to The Three Stooges and even played the part of Billy The Kid in the Stooges last film, The Outlaws Is Coming. Johnny Ginger was in my opinion, the REAL DEAL...He didn't fake it for the kids..we knew he genuinely cared about his little fans. Johnny and I have been talking a lot by phone and he has told me many times how outraged he felt seeing other celebrities mistreat their fans. He has never disrespected one of his fans. Johnny was a real life gunslinger... he was a 45 quick draw champion....He is so great in western parts. There are no known clips from the show.

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