Kids' Break

As part of the effort by Taft Broadcasting to expand and enhance local children's TV programs, a commitment was made to produce a daily program for pre-school children.  Kids' Break was the first show that didn't feature Captain 20 or Bozo. Instead, it was hosted by a big green puppet, Howard Huge!  Howard hosted a series of short mini-programs, each hosted by a different puppet character. There was Timmy Time, Madame Memory, Nick Numbers, Chef Combo, Manners the Butler, and Milton M. Milton. Each program also had a "feature" that usually focused on "how things work."  Captain 20 would appear from time to time, usually to help one of the puppets or as part of the "feature" piece.  Because we were a union shop and we had no budget of additional talent,  I worked all the puppets and did all the voices.

In 1984, Kids' Break won a local Emmy Award for Best Children's Program in the Baltimore/Washington market.  Such awards are given to the producer.  After receiving more than a dozen nominations and never quite winning, I decided to go on vacation instead of attending the awards ceremony.  Just in case my luck changed, I did write a short thank you note and gave it to our program director, Stephanie Campbell....just in case.  When I returned, I learned about the award by reading the Washington Post.

This is the show that was submitted for that award.  It features a wonderful piece on animation that was produced by Nancy Norman, an intern at the time. Manners the Butler was created by another intern on the program, Randy Querry.

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