In the 1950s, families in the Berkshires bought their first television sets. Back then TVs were only black and white and either large consoles connected to an antenna on the roof or a portable model with indoor “rabbit ear” antennas.
Cable TV and color television did not yet exist. WRGB, channel 4, was the only station. Weekday programming for children was an hour or so around dinnertime.
The station offered its own produced shows like Bread Time Stories (i.e., the Freddie Freihofer Show) and Bronco Bill (who showed short movies) and syndicated shows like Howdy Doody, Kukla, Fran and Ollie, and a few others.
In 1956 WRGB offered a new show called the “S.S. Glendora” that was hosted by a feisty young lady named Glendora who portrayed a boat captain with a crew of uniformed young guests.
Shortly after this show aired, WRGB became Channel 6 and introduced Glendora as the captain of a space ship on “Satellite 6.” Many baby boomers watched the show with Felix the Cat cartoons and hearing on a phone Glendora’s nemesis, Mr. Munimula (“aluminum” spelled backward) who gave her grief in gibberish.
A few years ago, I came across a 1950s picture of Glendora with children in the playground at Pittsfield’s Common. I thought I would try to locate Glendora if she was still living and do a story about her and the Berkshire connection.
I found her living about an hour from Pittsfield and she was in good health. The most interesting thing I learned from meeting Glendora is that she is still very active in the media at age 89.
In fact, she has had the longest continuously running public access TV program called “A Chat with Glendora” and aired throughout the US since 1972 with over 11,300 shows to date. Glendora told me she always wanted to be in the public’s eye.
As a youngster growing up in Maine and then Springfield, she loved comedy and would do her own monologues and tell jokes. To this day she has a new joke every day that she loves to share.
Glendora graduated from the American International College in Springfield, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology and English. After graduation in 1951, she moved to Hollywood where she took a course in script writing at the NBC building. There she got to meet Bob Hope who invited her to join him on one of his radio shows. Glendora met many TV celebs, but knew she needed to start in television in a much smaller locale, and this brought her to Pittsfield in 1953.
She began as a copywriter for commercials for WMGT; Pittsfield’s first television station located at the WBRK studios. Soon she hosted a 15-minute weekly show called Picture Party. In 1954 she was hired by WMUR in Manchester, N.H., where she appeared on a 45-minute daily show that was the start of the SS Glendora.
In 1954, Glendora married Franklyn Buell, a longtime friend and reporter for her hometown newspaper, the Springfield Union. During their marriage they did a lot of commuting as they worked in different locales.
In 1956, WRGB bought the SS Glendora Show and soon she was on TV five days a week for the 45-minute Satellite Six show. She remained with WRGB until 1962 and recalls it being a great time for live TV.
She retired from TV for 10 years, but in 1972 got on public access television to begin “A Chat with Glendora,” where she interviewed celebrities and shared her words of wisdom with humor. Sadly, Franklyn passed away in 2003, but Glendora remains upbeat and positive and loves to share her experiences.
She is planning to be available to sign photos from noon to 5 p.m. July 1 at the Berkshire Homecoming at the Berkshire Carousel. The event is open to the public for the cost of a carousel ride. Come and meet the “incredible Captain Glendora.”
Jim Shulman, a Pittsfield native living in Ohio, is the founder of the Berkshire Carousel and author of “Berkshire Memories: A Baby Boomer Looks Back at Growing Up in Pittsfield.” If you have a memory of a Berkshire baby-boom landmark or event you’d like to share or read about, please write Jim at jesjmskali@aol.com.
Tags: A Chat With Glendora, American International College, Bob Hope, Bread Time Stories, Bronco Bill, Franklyn Buell, Freddie Freihofer, Jim Shulman, Kookla Fran and Ollie, Picture Party, Satellite Six, SS Glendora, The Howdy Doody Show
