1950s Television Memories of Children's Programs

Back in the '50s before a man ever walked on the moon, we were obsessed with outer space. So many of the movies featured creatures from other planets and we went to bed wondering if there were aliens coming to snatch us away. Early television was no exception in the space race.

Among my favorites were Flash Gordon played by Steve Holland who flew in a spaceship with his crew saving mankind from the creatures and villains who wished us harm especially the evil Doctor Zarkov. Flash Gordon originally came from the comics, but being a girl, I was not into those comics, although my cousins had volumes of them and my husband recalls that he and his brother were avid collectors.

Captain Midnight played by Richard Webb was a complete favorite and although I wasn't a total fan of Ovaltine; I drank it anyway and even sent for a special decoder because I was a member in good standing of the Secret Squadron and would watch faithfully waiting for the secret message flashed at the end of each show. I remember one was "drink Ovaltine". I would watch them fight crime all over the world and their jet powered rocket was always ready to take them to the next adventure. I especially remember Ikky or Ichabod Mudd who was played by Sid Melton who appeared in many television programs over the years and was a very funny character.

Commando Cody starring Judd Holdren was a series I must have missed, but my husband remembers that Cody and his crew of space commandos saved the earth from various sources out to destroy us in every episode. He seems to remember that there were a few pretty girls among the crew and although he is not a baby boomer, he was around twelve or thirteen when this show on so I gather that he did not care for Commando Cody as much as the pretty girls.

Captain Video and His Video Rangers were much more appealing to me than Flash Gordon. I can still see the cardboard cutout of a spaceship flying across the screen. Back then there was no such thing as graphics and the props looked as though they came from a school play. But we loved them anyway. There was a robot named "Tobor" which was robot spelled backwards (how original). I remember my father and I would sit and watch this show together as I dreamed of someday soaring to outer space in my spiffy space suit with lightning bolts on my uniform fighting intergalactic crime as one of the Video Rangers.