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KiTiRiK TV Show


jake

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Oh my God! So there really was a Kitty's Corner! :o:)

I was about the seek therapy to help me connect that title (kidding). It always stayed in my mind but since I was only about 6-8 yrs old then it seemed more like a dream I had as a child, but it truly existed. The great attached link only mentiond her name and the show but how did it differ from Kitterick's show? What was Kitty's Corner's format? I am guessing it must have been around circa 1966-68ish???

Kitty's Corner was NOT a kids' show. It was for grownups, and it was on in the late 50s and early 60s. It was one of the first news features and interviews shows. It wasn't a talk show and didn't have a live audience, but later TV talk shows generally followed the same format Kitty Borah developed and used.

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Kitty's Corner was NOT a kids' show. It was for grownups, and it was on in the late 50s and early 60s. It was one of the first news features and interviews shows. It wasn't a talk show and didn't have a live audience, but later TV talk shows generally followed the same format Kitty Borah developed and used.

Thank you for clearing that up. :D I sure would like to get my hands on a taping of that show, just for sake of curiosity. Imagine who the guests were? Wow, and I do mean WOW!

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Thank you for clearing that up. :D I sure would like to get my hands on a taping of that show, just for sake of curiosity. Imagine who the guests were? Wow, and I do mean WOW!

I would call KTRK and ask to speak to someone in their archives department. Can't guarantee they'll have anything by Kitty Borah but that's the place to start.

Sadly, vast amounts of Houston's early TV have been lost forever because it wasn't filmed or recorded. And countless files of what WAS recorded on film and tape have been thrown out because of storage problems. That old stuff takes up a lot of space.

Edited by FilioScotia
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Perhaps an Isetta?

izeta.jpg

All I can say is this car is so cool!

This crazy guy was waaaaaay ahead of his time in car economy. Everyone in Houston needs this sucker! :D

and most of us ride with clowns anyway!lol

Edited by Vertigo58
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  • 1 month later...

I just found this site and was intrigued by the current discussion. My father was Captain Bob on KPRC in the late 50's and 60's. He actually had 3 childrens t.v. shows. The first ws Looney Town and that was a rival show that competed in the same time slot as Kitirik. He also had a show on Saturday Mornings called Today is Saturday which was formatted like the Today show on NBC. He had guests like John Wehrler from the Zoo and cartoons and science films. He had another show on Saturdays which someone earlier was confusing. It was called Looney Auction and you did collect looney bucks from Carnation milk and the rainbo Bread company. We used to ride around in the Isetta. He used that for promotions and parades. The picture that was shown was not of his car. His had a big white admiral cap on top big plastic eyes and a smile painted on the front so it looked like a face. I hadn't thought about this in a long time. I used to get kidded at school about all of this but it had its perks. Rodeos circuses concerts parades celebrities. We got to meet every star that came to town for the rodeo or T.V. stars appearing at channel 2. Quite a crazy time.

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Not to bore anyone, but I read some of the earlier texts and there was a little confusion abot the different shows. Looney town which my father hosted was the show with the money tree where kids would go on their birthday and grab for pennies. Also you used the Looney bucks on Looney Auction to bid for prizes. Looney Town came out of the Bert Lynn show and featured puppets from outer space and had a theme song. It's time now for Looney Town and you can bet were ready set to go. Silly little theme song written by our next door neighbor at the time who a lot of old time Houstonians would remember for his jingle for Utotem- You tellum you totem. Or his Dixienauts, who used to play at the Astrodome. Next door to him lived another old Houston T.V. Celebrity named Lee Gordon, who did commercials for the YMCA, and next door to him lived Tom Reiff who was station G. M. for KPRC, and next door to him were my Godparents Marrietta and Bob Marich who had dinner theaters and actually she and my father had one of the earliest T.V. shows on Houston T.V. It was sponsored by I think Lightcrust flower and ran on Saturday afternoons. They did slapstick and sang with a live orchestra, between commercials on the feature movie of the week. Just to keep things straight.

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Bob Russ, thanks for filling in memory gaps here. Great stuff. Once you pass the mid-century mark, things get a bit fuzzy in the old noggin. :-) And when you mentioned Looney Town, I did remember that title.

I can tell you that your dad was a big part of this middle-aged guy's childhood memories. I posted the car photo, and knew it wasn't the same car, but thought I would post it as an example.

Is your father still living? If so, pass along my regards, even though he won't know me. If he is not, my condolences to you and your family.

Edited by HoustonianInColorado
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I have seen the old KTRK logo and had the black cat because 13 and black cat is considered unlucky. This was before the circle 13 that looks like cattle branding, which I remember the most. It is a pity that television stations do not produce their own children's show like they did back than.

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As far as I know, there was only one Kitirik the cat, Bunni.

There was just one Kitirik. Even though her show left the air long ago, Kitirik will always have a special place in my heart.

Bunny Orsak/Kitirik brought genuine warmth and love for kids to that show. A generation of Houston children remember her as "real", and nothing about her was fake or put-on.

It's a good thing KTRK didn't try to replace her because it just wouldn't have worked without Bunny in the cat-suit.

I believe "Witch King" is thinking of Kitty Borah, a former KTRK personality who hosted a weekly business news interview program called "Kitty's Corner" for a while in the 1960s. She got out of TV and went to work in corporate public relations at Shell Oil. I think she retired from Shell in the late 90s.

Here's a link to a local blogger named Society Spy. She wrote up a big soiree someone threw for Dave Ward's 61st birthday a few years ago, and a number of current and former TV types were in attendance. Complete with pictures of some of them.

http://www.societyspy.com/archive/05_parts.htm

You'll find Kitty Borah's name somewhere in there

Edited by FilioScotia
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I seem to remember Bunny Orsak and Kitty Borah were the two Kitiriks. There were also two Cadet Dons.

I remember the first one, Don Davis. His real name was Don Eisenmann and his son, Ike, had a brief career as an actor. I don't remember the second Cadet Don, as he arrived during my high school years.

Question: Did anyone else participate in the morning exercises during the first half of Cadet Don?

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I seem to remember Bunny Orsak and Kitty Borah were the two Kitiriks. There were also two Cadet Dons. I remember the first one, Don Davis. His real name was Don Eisenmann and his son, Ike, had a brief career as an actor. I don't remember the second Cadet Don, as he arrived during my high school years. Question: Did anyone else participate in the morning exercises during the first half of Cadet Don?

Kitty Borah was never Kitirik. There was one and only one Kitirik, and that was Bunny Orsak.

Kitty Borah was another KTRK personality who had a business oriented show called Kitty's Corner in the early sixties. Kitty did news features and interviews with people in Houston's business community. She got out of TV in the mid sixties and went to work doing PR for Shell Oil. I believe she retired from Shell back in the late 90s.

Cadet Don's real name was Al Eisenmann, and he did his the morning kids entire show and the exercise portion all by himself.

Al wrote a book several years ago. The Divine K-9, about a much loved family dog. You can get it on Amazon dot com.

Here's what his publisher said about him: From selling newspapers on the streets of Charleston, South Carolina during World War II, to hosting a children's TV show at a Houston TV station, to Hollywood...Al Eisenmann has worked in the entertainment industry as a performer, writer, producer for over fifty years and is now living in Waco, Texas with his wife Holly and their loving pet...Keeper.

Al's son Ike has had a long career in Hollywood, starting as a child actor in the 70s. He's 47 years old now, and he's still making his living in show business. In fact, he has a role in the current movie Race To Witch Mountain. He plays the sheriff.

Edited by FilioScotia
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  • 2 weeks later...
First you have to spell the name correctly. The show was on KTRK 13 and they simply added an 'i' between each of the call letters. That's an easy way to remember it.

KiTiRiK

Try Google. Check 13. They have kept a few things from those days. They still have the robot from the Cadet Don Show.

Her son was two years ahead of me in high school. Everyone knew his mother was a hot celebrity. MeeeeeOwwwwwwwwwww!

Hi, don't know if you check this page, but I was googleing and ran a check on my Aunt Bunny and saw your note. Was it Gary or Lane, that you went to hight school with? Gary was the oldest and played Little Kit on occasional appearances on the show with Kitirik. Best wishes. Marc

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Were there TWO Kitirik's? Bunni Orsak and someone else? I also remember Cadet Don and just barely

remember LoonyTown.

There was only one Kitirik, my aunt, Bunny Orsak. They let her know the show was canceled the day Capital Cities bought the station. They canceled all local programs. She was crushed as her rating were great.

She is in great shape and health last I heard from my cousin. We don't see each other much as we live in different parts of the country and Bunny and my Uncle Dan have been divorced for many years. She was my aunt by marriage, but what an aunt. Lovely, fun, vivacious and I had a huge crush on her as a boy. Marc

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I seem to remember Bunny Orsak and Kitty Borah were the two Kitiriks. There were also two Cadet Dons.

I remember the first one, Don Davis. His real name was Don Eisenmann and his son, Ike, had a brief career as an actor. I don't remember the second Cadet Don, as he arrived during my high school years.

Question: Did anyone else participate in the morning exercises during the first half of Cadet Don?

Bunny Orsak was the only Kitirik and is my aunt. Kitty Borah also worked at the station at the time and like another poster said, she had a show called "Kitty's Corner" and left to work in Public Relations.

Yes, I did some of the exercise sessions with Cadet Don. Loved his show and when there was a NASA mission, he incorporated it into his telecast as I recall. Long time ago. Glad to hear from a fellow Houstonian who grew up during my era. I left Houston for my job in the early 80's but still have family in Austin. Best regards, Marc

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There were two Cadet Don actors. The first was Don Travis, the second was known as Cadet Don Davis. Cadet Don Davis was played by my father David Jones. I was only 2 or 3 when he was on television but I remember riding my tricycle through the studios while filming and I do have some footage of my father, brother, and myself touring Seaarama Marine world down in Galveston. My father apparently made a "celebrity" appearence while the cameras followed him wrestling an alligator, brushing the Killer Whale's teeth, and water skiing in the marina. I guess they aired that footage on the show. I went to channel 13 some years ago and asked if they had any footage but it had all been destroyed. The film they used at the time would not have lasted this long anyway. My father has been a folk singer since he was in highschool and now resides in northern California, not far from Mendicino........

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