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Friday, November 14, 2008

Retro Friday: I See Bobby, I See Sarah, I See Mike and I See You Too!



Remember "Romper Room"? Remember waiting to see if your name would be called at the end of the show, during the "Magic Mirror" segment?

Here's a version that aired in Los Angeles on KCOP:



Above, that's Ms. Soco (Socorro Serrano), the final host of L.A.'s edition of "Romper Room," from 1979 to when it went off the air in 1989.

According to the always-awesome website TV Party, before Ms. Soco, Miss Mary Ann (King) hosted the show from 1966 to 1975. The website notes that Miss Mary Ann still carried around a "Magic Mirror" until she was robbed in a parking lot in the City of Industry in 2003:

The thieves made off with nothing less than the Magic Mirror itself! The seriousness of this crime notwithstanding, what chaos can we expect now that crooks are in control of the magic mirror? The ability to see into anyone's home at will is something every criminal dreams of.

The former Romper Room hostess feared the mirror was lost forever - "I'm sure those hoodlums who did this just looked at the mirror and said, 'What in the world is this,' and just discarded it," King told the LA Times. (She wasn't seriously injured.)

Miss Mary Ann carried the Magic Mirror with her because so many former viewers walked up to her and said, "You never called out my name!" With the prop on hand, she could whip out the Magic Mirror and make their dream come true on the spot. King was president of the Puente Hills Area Chamber of Commerce at the time.

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