Posted on June 24, 2002 at 12:52 p.m.
BIRMINGHAM, AL — Nearly 20 years before “Sesame Street,” or “Mister. Rogers’ Neighborhood,” there was “Aunt Fran and Her Playmates,” a children’s program that was the brainchild of Ohio housewife Fran Norris. The show, which made its debut in 1950, is said to be one of the first children’s programs to combine education with entertainment.
Norris is the subject of a new documentary, “Making Television History: Aunt Fran and Her Playmates,” that was co-produced and directed by University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) communication studies Assistant Professor June Mack, M.F.A. The documentary recently received second place in the Broadcast Educators Association International Film and Media Festival in Las Vegas. The film, commissioned by Norris’ children, was aired recently on PBS affiliate WOUB-TV in Ohio. Mack produced the documentary with Norma Pecora, Ph.D., at Ohio University.
A new study suggests that she [Norris] was among the first to create a children’s television show designed to develop both the cognitive and social skills of preschool children,” Mack said. “A few years later, Miss Frances of the ‘Ding Dong School’ brought to television a show of a similar concept. And much later, the philosophy of Fran Norris would be echoed by Joan Gantz Cooney of ‘Sesame Street.’”
The documentary tells the story of Fran Norris, a Plain City, Ohio, housewife, who in 1949, realized the educational potential of television after watching her four-year-old imitate a disc jockey on television. The ‘box’ was a new addition to the Norris home. Long before there were shows specifically for children on other stations, Norris convinced a Columbus, Ohio station, WBNS-TV, to put her on the air, Mack said.
“She had a difficult time convincing the local television station that her idea would attract [viewers] — much less sponsorship,” Mack said. “The station manager finally agreed to air a pilot, but she would not get paid.
“The show quickly became such a hit that sponsors had to wait in line and children were booked a year in advance to be ‘playmates’ on the show. It changed the life of Norris and her family.”
The show featured various activities, including story time and crafts. She often directed questions to the young viewers in an effort to encourage them to talk back to the television set. She would end the show with her signature drawing of a “Happy Goodbye Face” on the palm of her hand, bending one finger to make one eye blink.
“Aunt Fran and Her Playmates” ran 1950-1957. The show never went to syndication, Mack said, so, its contribution to the early history of children’s television has been overlooked by historians until now.
“Making Television History” has now been archived at the Museum of Radio and Television in New York, the Library of American Broadcasting, Broadcast Pioneers Collection at the University of Maryland, the Peabody Archives at the University of Georgia and the Museum of Broadcast Communication in Chicago.
Mack’s interest in educational television stems from her own background. In addition to a master’s in fine arts degree in film production, she has a master’s degree in education from Harvard University specializing in the psychology of creativity. She teaches courses in film production, screenwriting, creativity theory and practice, and philosophy of communication at UAB. Mack’s areas of research includes film as experiential education, internal and external dialogue, audience psychology, children’s imaginary friendships and community arts. Mack has earned 19 international film festival awards.
Mack is now hard at work on another documentary about country music legend Hank Williams. Production on the documentary is set to be completed later this year.