Zoo Parade
{{short description|American television program}}
{{Infobox television
| image = Zoo Parade opening logo.png
| caption =
| genre = Education, nature
| presenter = Marlin Perkins, Jim Hurlbut
| country = United States
| location = Lincoln Park Zoo
| language = English
| num_seasons = 8
| num_episodes =
| director = Don Meier{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/110563306/writer-produced-mutual-of-omahas-wild/ |title=Writer produced 'Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom' |first=Bob |last=Goldsborough |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |pages=2–5 |date=August 1, 2019 |accessdate=October 2, 2022 |via=newspapers.com}}
| runtime = 30 minutes
| network = NBC
| first_aired = {{start date|1950|05|28}}
| last_aired = {{end date|1957|09|1}}
| related = Wild Kingdom
}}
Zoo Parade is an American television program broadcast from 1950 to 1957 that featured animals from the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago. Presented by Marlin Perkins, the show was broadcast on Sunday afternoons on NBC.{{cite book |last1=Woolery |first1=George W. |title=Children's Television: The First Thirty-Five Years, 1946-1981, Part II: Live, Film, and Tape Series |date=1985 |publisher=The Scarecrow Press |isbn=0-8108-1651-2 |pages=573–574}}
History
File:Zoo Parade macaw.png, at left, feeds a macaw during a 1954 episode.]]
The show was first broadcast locally in Chicago as Lincoln Park Zoo in 1949, appearing in television listings for WNBQ as early as May,{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/110555296/television-programs/ |title=Television Programs |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |pages=3–20 SW |date=May 22, 1949 |accessdate=October 1, 2022 |via=newspapers.com}} and using the Zoo Parade name by December.{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/110554558/television/ |title=Television |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |page=4 |date=December 25, 1949 |accessdate=October 1, 2022 |via=newspapers.com}} It was then broadcast nationally by NBC on Sunday afternoons from May 1950 to September 1957.
Shot primarily at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago, the zoo's director, Marlin Perkins, was a presenter throughout the series; he was assisted by announcer Jim Hurlbut{{efn|Hurlbut, a Marine Corps veteran of the Guadalcanal campaign, died in 1967 at age 57.{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/110561656/jim-hurlbut-ex-newsman-here-is-dead/ |title=Jim Hurlbut, Ex-Newsman Here, Is Dead |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |page=1A-10 |date=March 27, 1967 |accessdate=October 2, 2022 |via=newspapers.com}}}} for several seasons.{{cite web |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0211891/fullcredits?ref_=tt_cl_sm |title=Zoo Parade: Full Cast & Crew |website=IMDb |accessdate=October 1, 2022}} Harrison Ford, born in 1942, recalled meeting Perkins during the run of the show, as Ford's father was in advertising and had the zoo as a client.{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/110563992/harrison-ford-dishes-on-his-pets-secre/ |title=Harrison Ford dishes on his pets, 'Secret Life' role |first=Brian |last=Truitt |agency=USA Today |newspaper=Chillicothe Gazette |location=Chillicothe, Ohio |page=D4 |date=June 13, 2019 |accessdate=October 2, 2022 |via=newspapers.com}} Perkins was bitten on a finger by a rattlesnake shortly before the episode of April 1, 1951, resulting in his hospitalization—a zoologist hosted the episode in his place.{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/110558152/rattlesnake-bites-zoo-director-about-to/ |title=Rattlesnake Bites Zoo Director About to Go on TV in Chicago |newspaper=St. Louis Post Dispatch |page=1 |date=April 2, 1951 |accessdate=October 1, 2022 |via=newspapers.com}}
The series was primarily filmed in black and white, although a safari episode first aired in December 1955 was filmed in color. Some episodes in the fall of 1955 were shot on location in other U.S. cities.{{cite book |last1=Hyatt |first1=Wesley |title=The Encyclopedia of Daytime Television |date=1997 |publisher=Watson-Guptill Publications |isbn=978-0823083152 |url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofda00hyat/page/486/mode/2up|access-date=22 March 2020|pages=486–487}} The show was canceled in the fall of 1957 and replaced with an interview show, Look Here, hosted by Martin Agronsky.{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/110562649/tele-notes/ |title=Tele-Notes |newspaper=Newsday |location=Melville, New York |page=3C |date=September 4, 1957 |accessdate=October 2, 2022 |via=newspapers.com}} Perkins went on to host the program Wild Kingdom,{{cite web |url=https://recess.ufl.edu/childrens-television/2002/zoo-parade/ |last=Cech |first=John |title=Zoo Parade |date=May 28, 2002 |work=Recess! |via=UFL.edu}} which debuted in 1963.
A board game entitled Marlin Perkins' Zoo Parade was issued in 1955 by maker Cadaco-Ellis of Chicago, which involved two to four players answering questions about animals of North America, South America, Asia, and Africa.{{cite web |url=https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/26508/marlin-perkins-zoo-parade |title=Marlin Perkins' Zoo Parade |website=boardgamegeek.com |accessdate=October 2, 2022}}{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/110560867/many-local-firms-take-part-in-marketing/ |title=Many Local Firms Take Part In Marketing New Ball Game |newspaper=Fort Lauderdale News |page=5D |date=December 3, 1962 |accessdate=October 2, 2022 |via=newspapers.com}} Examples of the game can sometimes be found via online auction sites.
Awards
The show won a Peabody Award in the area of children's programming for 1950 (awarded in 1951),{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/110556898/durante-wins-award-as-best-tv-performer/ |title=Durante Wins Award as Best TV Performer |agency=INS |newspaper=The Rock Island Argus |location=Rock Island, Illinois |page=15 |date=April 26, 1951 |accessdate=October 1, 2022 |via=newspapers.com}} and a Sylvania Award in 1951 as the "best program suitable for children."{{cite news|title=Caesar-Coca Team Wins TV Awards: Sylvania Prize Committee Praises Televising of Kefauver Hearings|newspaper=St. Louis Post-Dispatch|date=November 9, 1951|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/59890780/caesar-coca-team-wins-tv-awards/}} The show received four nominations for Emmy Awards:{{cite web |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0211891/awards/?ref_=tt_awd |title=Zoo Parade: Awards |website=IMDb |accessdate=October 1, 2022}}
- 1951 (for 1950): Best Educational Show{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/110584576/top-tv-awards-nominations-listed-winner/ |title=Top TV Awards Nominations Listed; Winners to Be Announced Tuesday |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |page=II-16 |date=January 20, 1951 |accessdate=October 2, 2022 |via=newspapers.com}} (won by KFI-TV University)
- 1953 (for 1952): Best Children's Program (won by Time for Beany)
- 1954 (for 1953): Best Children's Program (won by Kukla, Fran and Ollie)
- 1955 (for 1954): Best Children's Program (won by Lassie)
Legacy
Jim Wehmeyer has described the show: "A precursor of sorts to the regularly featured animal segments on The Tonight Show and other late-night talk shows, Zoo Parade was a location-bound production (filmed in the reptile house basement) during which Perkins would present and describe the life and peculiarities of Lincoln Park Zoo animals."{{cite web |last=Wehmeyer |first=Jim |title=Wild Kingdom |publisher=The Museum of Broadcast Communications |url=http://mbcnet.org/archives/etv/W/htmlW/wildkingdom/wildkingdom.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020415121526/http://mbcnet.org/archives/etv/W/htmlW/wildkingdom/wildkingdom.htm |archive-date=April 15, 2002 |via=Wayback Machine}}
Marcel LaFollette has written, "Production approaches that are now standard practice on NOVA and the Discovery Channel derive, in fact, from experimentation by television pioneers like Lynn Poole and Don Herbert and such programs as Adventure, Zoo Parade, Science in Action, and the Bell Telephone System’s science specials. These early efforts were also influenced by television’s love of the dramatic, refined during its first decade and continuing to shape news and public affairs programming, as well as fiction and fantasy, today."{{cite journal |title=A Survey of Science Content in U.S. Television Broadcasting, 1940s through 1950s: The Exploratory Years |first=Marcel C. |last=LaFollette |journal=Science Communication |date=September 2002 |volume=24 |issue=1 |pages=34–71 |doi=10.1177/107554700202400103 |s2cid=144331760 }} No free online access.
Notes
{{notelist}}
References
{{reflist|30em}}
Further reading
- {{citation |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/110554414/zoo-parade-just-happened-first-time-now/ |title=Zoo Parade Just Happened First Time--Now It's Planned Way Ahead |newspaper=St. Louis Post Dispatch |page=7C |date=November 18, 1951 |accessdate=October 1, 2022 |via=newspapers.com}}
External links
- {{IMDb title|0211891}}
- {{cite web |title=Zoo Parade #190 |url=https://archive.org/details/Zoo_Parade_190 |via=Internet Archive |year=1954 |publisher=NBC}} Public domain copy of a 1954 episode, {{" '}}Specially About Birds". Duration 29:26.
Category:1950 American television series debuts
Category:1957 American television series endings
Category:1950s American children's television series
Category:NBC original programming
Category:Black-and-white American television shows
Category:American children's education television series
Category:Nature educational television series
Category:Peabody Award–winning television programs