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Uncle
Floyd - Showbiz pseudonym for Floyd Vivino, a local cult
celebrity who starred on THE UNCLE FLOYD SHOW seen on New Jersey
cable channels.
Wearing a porkpie hat, wild plaid jacket and a bow
tie, Uncle Floyd tinkled the ivory of his upright piano; sang such
classics as "Deep in the Heart of Jersey" and told burlesque style
jokes with the assistance of his cute hand puppet, Oogie (a Kukla
look-alike).
A typical Uncle Floyd joke read: "What was Louis the
XIV chiefly important for?" Answer: "Louis XV." Ba-da-boom!
The
program enjoyed by both children and adults, originally had a
"Peanut Gallery" type audience but was replaced by the off camera
jeers of his stage crew and a supporting staff of Bowery Boylike
zanies. Other regular features on the show included displaying art
work sent by the home viewers and performing silly comedy sketches.
Floyd Vivino created the Uncle Floyd character out of necessity.
Needing $125 for Christmas presents, Vivino, a standup comedian,
pitched an idea for a children's show to a local cable TV station.
He got the job, the money and became a sort of cult hero ever since
he first began in Oakland, NJ in 1974.
According to an E-Mail sent
08/20/01<mugsy11@earthlink.net>
by Mugsy who played Captain Fork, Neil Yuck, Bruce Stringbean, etc
and was a chief writer on the show, the broadcast history of UNCLE
FLOYD SHOW follows:
"The showed moved to UHF broadcast TV on Channel 68 in West Orange
and then on WNBC-TV (NYC Channel 4) and national syndication on the
NBC-TV owned and operated stations (including NYC, Philly,
Cleveland, San Diego, as well as Boston, Texas, Minneapolis, St Paul
and a few other national outlets in 1982. From 1983-1986 the show
was shown on the 4 NJ PBS stations viewable in NJ, NY Pa and Del. As
of 1987 his program was carried on a local New Jersey cable network.
I still get email from all over the country (and world) thanks to
the internet from old time fans. These days Floyd still appears in
movies and TV productions and performs live at his nightclub in NJ
and all over the tri state area." [Thanks Mugsy for the update].
TRIVIA NOTE: On the sitcom A DATE WITH JUDY/ABC/1951-52 another Oogie character named Ogden "Oogie" Pringle played by Jimmie Sommer
appeared as Judy's goofy boyfriend.
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