Mr. Cartoon

Mr. Cartoon was a television program for children that aired for over thirty years on WSAZ-TV, the local NBC affiliate in Huntington, West Virginia. The show was hosted by George A. Lewis until 1969. and by Jule Huffman until 1995 The show aired at four on weekday afternoons for one hour until September 1988, when the show was replaced in its daily time slot by The Oprah Winfrey Show. From September 1988 until May 1995 Mr. Cartoon was shown on Saturday mornings. Huffman's Mr. Cartoon was accompanied by an animal sidekick, known as Beeper who joined the show in 1974. Before that, Mr. Cartoon was generally accompanied by one of Hanna-Barbera's "Banana Splits." Beeper was originally known as Mr. Cartoon's "friend," and got the name Beeper following a contest in which kids sent in their suggestions for the creature's name. The program consisted of cartoons for a studio audience of children, which Huffman had decided to add to the show after Lewis left the program. While cartoons and commercials aired, the children would play off-camera games such as musical chairs. One of the show's daily segments featured a selected audience member attempting to answer a riddle as read by Mr. Cartoon.