I loved this as a kid! I remember that there was a word that some character would say and it would release the ping pong balls. Can anyone tell me the word? Also, are there any dvd's of the early shows? It is one show that my son (34) and I (54) both remember watching as kids. Also, what was the storyline of tom terrific? I still call cranky people "crabby appletons".
I hate people I don't like.
I remember asking my older brother why they were called "pink pong balls" if they are white. I was maybe 3 or 4. He just shook his head.
shareThere wasn't any particular word that would make the ping pong balls released. It was usually the punchline of a knock-knock joke.
Regarding Tom Terrific, this is from Wikipedia:
Tom Terrific was an early animated series on American television, presented as part of the Captain Kangaroo children's television show.
Created by Gene Deitch under the Terrytoons studio (which was a subsidiary of CBS, the network that broadcast Captain Kangaroo), Tom Terrific ran in a series of five-minute cartoons created specifically for the Captain Kangaroo show from 1957-1959, and was rerun on Kangaroo for years thereafter. For several years after 1962, Tom Terrific would be broadcast every other week, alternating with Lariat Sam, another Terrytoons creation.
All the voices were done by Lionel Wilson.
Drawn in a simple style, it featured a gee-whiz boy hero, Tom Terrific, who lived in a treehouse and could transform himself into anything he wanted thanks to his magic, funnel-shaped "thinking cap," which also enhanced his intelligence. He had a comic lazybones of a sidekick, Mighty Manfred the Wonder Dog, and an arch-foe named Crabby Appleton, whose motto was "Rotten to the core!" Other foes included Mr. Instant, the Instant Thing King; Captain Kidney Bean; Sweet Tooth Sam, the Candy Bandit; and Isotope Feaney.