ROCKETSHIP 7

DAVE THOMAS
? - "MR. BEEPER" (aka "BIFF BEEPER")
JOHNNY BANASZAK - "PROMO THE ROBOT"
JIM PALERMO - "PROMO THE ROBOT"
JOE ? - "PROMO THE ROBOT"

From IMDB: The weekly children's show was televised live on weekday mornings at WKBW-TV Channel 7, Buffalo, New York, USA. The show used the guise of an astronaut (Dave Thomas) and his robot, "Promo the Robot", taking off to orbit around the Earth. As a early weekday morning children's show they would show cartoons such as "Ruff 'n Ready", "Tennessee Tuxedo", "Peter Potamus" and the claymation show "Davey and Goliath" among others. Between cartoons they would show children's drawing, announce birthdays, and have little skits or actions related to being in "orbit and on a rocketship". As the show became more popular they would add more characters in the form of puppets. One of the first was a character named "Mr. Beeper". His character of an alien that landed his little spaceship on the set, was played out in a little mystery that lasted a week as he wasn't revealed until the end of the week. Dave and Promo would speculate about who it was and what it might look like or if it was dangerous. On the final reveal, the character "Mr. Beeper" (later known as "Biff Beeper", a puppet, introduced himself and was considered a "friendly" alien. His interactions with Dave and Promo would be through the "door" of his spaceship. Later on other characters where added, such as "Alex the Cat" an slightly obnoxious but cute and humorous cat. A running gag on the show was how "Alex" would lure Dave close enough for Alex to give him a little bite. Two more puppet characters were added later. Mr. and Mrs. Sweetly, an friendly old couple that would also join in with the skits and also interact with Dave. The 2 hour show was divided into two parts, the first would start with the rocketship blast-off, using NASA film of a rocket launch. The second half of the show was shown as "Stage Two", again using stock NASA footage of a stage two rocket separation. More cartoons and interactions would continue. In 1967 Promo the Robot was redesigned to a more modern look. The show premiered 10 September 1962 and ended in 1978 when Dave Thomas left WKBW to be the meteorologist at WPVI Philadelphia. Johnny Banaszak, Jim Palermo and Joe ? played "Promo The Robot". When Dave left, WKBW-TV cancelled "Rocketship 7". From "Falling Niagara" a website by David Burnham: Rocketship 7 and Dave Thomas This children's morning TV show debuted on WKBW-TV (Channel 7) on September 10, 1962 at 7am. Dave Thomas hosted this while he and his alter-ego sock puppet, Mr. Beeper (later Biff Beeper) would banter about the morning's events. Early on Mr. Beeper would stick his head out of a rocket ship's porthole. Later on in the run Mr. Beeper went away and mysteriously reappeared fuzzier and traveled in a bubble-top contraption. Every day Dave would go to the computer (a panel with reel-to-reel tapes) and pull out a list from a slot and read off the names of the lucky kids having a birthday. Sometimes the computer misbehaved and Dave would have a difficult time trying to retrieve the list from the computer. From time to time someone from the Buffalo Zoo or the Buffalo Museum of Science would come in. On Fridays, one could draw with the magic screen. Dave would draw along with it and at the end would hold up his drawing. The camera would zoom in and out and a laughtrack was added to ridicule Dave's drawing talent. Kids sent in their drawings from the previous Friday and they were displayed on the following Thursday. I'm sure it was difficult for Dave to keep a straight face throughout all these shenanigans. Dave Thomas left the show in May 1978 but, the show continued its run until August 3, 1979 with Promo the Robot as host. Dave Thomas now goes by Dave Roberts and can be seen on WPVI-TV of Philadelphia as the weatherman. His son, David Boreanaz is the star of the WB series "Angel". Listen to Dave Roberts' speech at the November 16, 2000 Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia Dinner. Promo The Robot Promo the Robot was Dave's sidekick. Promo started off as a boxy looking thing with a funnel hat. Later, his design was streamlined with an antenna that spun around. Sometimes he bumbled about with a wire coat hanger as an antenna. Dave and Promo would introduce the cartoons, which consisted mainly of Looney Tunes from Warner Brothers, Davey and Goliath (sponsored by the Lutheran Church), and Gumby. There were actually three Promo the Robots during the course of the run. The first one was played by someone named Joe (Joe only lasted a couple of weeks). Jim Palermo played the second one, but the most famous one was played by Johnny Banaszak of "Johnny and Jimmy" fame (Johnny played the accordion and Jimmy played the drums on the show following Rocketship 7, Dialing for Dollars). Sadly, Johnny passed away on July 13, 1985. The Sweetlys Later on in the run a strange family of puppets resembling apple-head dolls that went by name of the Sweetly's were introduced. Mr. Sweetly's name was Flo and he was the rocketship's maintenance man. His wife went just by Mrs. Sweetly. They sounded strangely like Promo the Robot, but never mind. They also had a cat named Alex. The Snow Leopards The Buffalo Zoo along with WKBW sponsored the importation of a couple of snow leopards. One could become a member of the Snow Leopard Club for a dollar. The coloring in of a paw print on a tote board marked your little donation. The big day for a member of the Snow Leopard Club came when the leopards were introduced. You were able to meet in person Dave Thomas and "Promo the Robot". You also were given an ice-cream sandwich and souvenir photo. The snow leopards were Nicolai and Tanya. Nicolai was a male born at the Lincoln Park Zoo in 1967. He was brought to the Buffalo Zoo from the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo on November 27, 1968. He passed away in 1977. Tanya was a wild born female imported on January 30, 1969. She died in 1986. The series would later be revived in 1992 under the same title "Rocketship 7" with Mike Rnadall as "Captain Mike" as host. DAVID THOMAS BOREANAZ From IMDB: David Thomas Boreanaz was born on 14 February 1936 in Buffalo, New York, USA. Dave is a native of Buffalo, New York and joined Channel 6, WPVI-TV, Philadelphia, in 1978, as co-host of Channel 6's new live morning talk show, "AM/Philadelphia". He started his broadcasting career, in 1954, at WAER-FM, Syracuse, New York and later worked at WOLF-AM, in Syracuse. He started in television in 1956 at WBUF-TV in Buffalo, New York. In 1958, he served in the US. Army as News Director for the Caribbean Forces Radio-TV Network in the Panama Canal Zone and also broadcast on Armed Forces Radio in New York City. In 1961, he joined WKBW-TV in Buffalo, New York. Dave is a Speech and Dramatic Arts graduate of Syracuse University, with dual majors in English and Communications. Roberts is a member of the Screen Actors Guild and appeared in Brian De Palma's Blow Out (1981), with John Travolta. He also has made guest appearances on ABC's soap opera, All My Children (1970), Dick Clark's Inside America (1982) and ABC's Thirtysomething (1987). Dave is active in many organizations, including the Variety Club and the Knights of Columbus, where he is a Fourth Degree Knight. His work for charity is extensive and includes Catholic Charity Drives, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, Lupus Foundation, the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and he has hosted the Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon on Channel 6. The Central Delco Lodge #2438, Order of Sons of Italy in America selected Dave as its recipient for their "Man of the Year Achievement Award" for his outstanding service to the community. He was honored by the Muscular Dystrophy Association for thirty-five years of service and was selected as Person of the Year by the Philadelphia Broadcast Pioneers Association for the new millennium. In May of 2002, Dave received a Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Holy Family College in Philadelphia and, in May of 2004, he was awarded the Whitney M. Young Jr. Service Award from the Boy Scouts for "unselfish service to the youth of America". Below some vidoes about the series:

LINKS

Internet Movie Data Base "Rocketship 7"	Falling Niagara "Rocketship 7"	Facebook "Promo The Robot"
Wikipedia "Dave Roberts"	Internet Movie Data Base "David Roberts"	Internet Movie Data Base "Johnny Banaszak"
Buffalo Stories "Rocketship 7"	Wikipedia "Rocketship 7"	Rocketship 7 "Rocketship 7"

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