The Wallace & Ladmo History

In the beginning there was "IT's WALLACE?"

(premiered January,1955)...with "Wallace" still
wearing his beanie, armed with new cartoons
"Krazy Kat & Scrappy"...
theme song (Hoagy Carmichael "Oriental Blues")
first just "WALLACE SNEAD" then later "LADMO"
the loveable man-child wearing a tophat,
and array of long loud ties came aboard.

With comedy bits in there purest sight gag forms
like blowing up a BIG balloon until it burst,
boxes, ladders crashing on Wallboys head....
pies in the faces and so forth.
Mock political campaigns featuring buttons
saying"WE NEED SNEAD"then later when"LADMO"
became "the kid"...Ladmo for President.
Old time movies with the "NASTY BROTHERS"
and other "Wallace" westerns shot around various
desert locations. The TOY COTTAGE was the pick
of the lucky postcard winners on the show.

The FOX THEATRE was the gathering site of the
stage show of choice,kids wide eyed with Wallace
Watcher beanies, & contests of every shape n form
including lunch with "WALLACE & LADMO" at the
Golden Drumstick. Thrill of seeing celebrities
droping by, and even more cartoons.

At the end of the 1950's...
openings of WALLACE and LADMO DRIVE-IN with
numerous promotional events. By 1959 there was
over 45,000 fans watching daily a show that was
pure.....made up on the spot most of the time.
"Milton Berle" was asked not too many years ago
by "Larry King" on his show "What do you think
about the variety/comedy shows of today"? Milton
basically didn't care much for the shows of today

Because of what those early 50's shows had and
todays do not ...something very important:
"SPONTANEITY"! And OH how those earliest
"It's Wallace?" shows during those golden times
of when TV was truly magic have that element of
surprise! The beauty was sometimes in the goofups

THE 1960's.....
As the opening began...the announcer exclaiming
"IT's WALLACE?"! That zany theme song with all
the sound effects stops,the familiar greeting by
WALLACE to the audience
"Hi nice to see you" and at the closing
"Mmmmmmmgood bye now"!
 Spontaneity still very much part of the show.
But now the show was on every weekday,and during
the experimental 60's the "It's Wallace?" show
was along for the wild ride.

Music namely rock n' roll, more Old Time movies
"CANNONBALL JUNCTION" where many a Civil War
soldier died that day in laughter, the evolution
of Wallace's & Ladmo's outfits continued with
polka-dot, & surfer striped shirts and sports of
all types. "THE LADMO JETS" was their name....
baseball..basketball..football..boxing..even
bowling all for local charities.
Accolades by the television industry such as
an Emmy for the "Best Childrens Show in 1960".
And another in a long series of fortunate fates
KPHO-TV weatherman and big fan of the show
"PAT MCMAHON" was asked to do a comedy routine,
Now, there was the "Fantastic 3"!

The show's set was simple but effective,with
all those sponsors goodies and stuff from the
Toy Cottage."CAPTAIN ZOOMAR" from the planet
Zork who felt he was superior to humans because
his origins could be traced to vegetables rather
than animals had Everyone,kids and adults alike,
rolling on the floor in laughter.

And one after another character made their debut
on the show like "MR GRUDGMEYER","AUNT MAUD"
and possibly the BIGGEST the brat "GERALD"!!!
The spoiled rich kid we all loved to hate.
"Wallace" continued shocking the audience with
making fun of the sponsors, and we all howled....
both the audience and the sponsors I imagine!
Wallace's famous phrase of:"Good..Not Great..But
Good" was coined after tasting a particular
sponsors ice cream bar one 1960's day.

Stage Shows galore at this little place called
"LEGEND CITY" amusement park in Tempe,Az
Where all the kids could gather as one big army
of Wallace watchers and BOOooooo that brat!
The Beatles were BIG but unfortunately Phoenix
was not in the early-mid 60's, so enter our own
rock idols "HUB KAPP & THE WHEELS".
We all screamed just like those kids on the newsreels for the other British invasion bands.

More tv shows featuring music such as "TEEN BEAT"
and "TAKE FIVE" shown later in the evening on
KPHO-TV for the older kids. Merchandise flowed
out of all kinds, due in part to the talents of
"THE KERSTEN BROTHERS". The bits were a little
more sophisticated, and attracted older viewers
but still held much of that LIVE spontaneous
moments like "LADMO & his dummy-OSCAR" and
"Caveman-ELMER BLISCO" and more celebs
dropping by to dazzle the desert inhabitants.
"HARVEY TRUNDLE" and "MIKE CONDELLO"
continued adding their bit's of magic.Some"bits"
were temporary and others remained on the show.

"THE LADMO SHOW" premiered on July 21st,1964
featuring "Mike Condello" & "Brian Donohue"
The "LADMO TRIO" had an assortment of musical
parody bands, more characters from "Pat"like..
"MARSHALL GOOD" and "BOFFO THE CLOWN"
and none bigger (especially in the Captains mind)
"CAPTAIN SUPER" and his feats of strength,
like telling the studio audience how he will
demonstrate this super power by tearing a phone
book in half on the next days show!
Well it ended up being not the very page heavy
Phoenix phone book, BUT.... that it was the
Apache Junction a 3 or 4 pages total phone book!
And even then "Captain Super" had to struggle
before tearing it apart!

Special promotional events happened somewhere
on every weekend to thousands of fans,then came
things like the "LADMO BAG" filled with fun...
then COLOR came to the Valley, which was another
moment of my childhood amazement.
In Aug,1966 "It's Wallace?" became the very first
Phoenix TV show to broadcast in color.
In 1967, the Beatles had their finest recording
(Sgt.Peppers) and later that year so did "Mike"
"COMMODORE CONDELLO SALT RIVER NAVY BAND"
Keep in mind that the Salt River was bone dry.
Yes, the wild anything goes 60's had the energy,
& the shows highest ratings with that excitement
  living in our innocent times of the
"Valley Of The Sun".

The 1970's.....
At the close of the 1960's the show now called:
"WALLACE & COMPANY",had the first wave of former
kids who grew up watching "Its Wallace" during
the 50s-60s having their own kids, with a new
generation of Wallace Watchers.The vast majority
of the late 40's to 60's kids show boom went bust
by the 1970's. BUT..W&L was still going strong!
The outfits kept changing with the guys
especially Wallboy. LADMO kept the tophat and
various ties (mainly the T-shirt with tie).
"WALLACE" sported a derby and "GERALD'S" curly
hair got the page boy cut.

On June 15th,1970 "Wallace and Company" changed
it's name again to the "WALLACE AND LADMO SHOW"
Former aspects of the 60's "It's Wallace?"
continued to change in the 1970's, with new
buildings, sets, cartoons namely "ROGER RAMJET"
and new fan clubs, promotions and contests kept
the audience tuning in daily.
KPHO's stronger signals stretched out across the
state including most everyone now in this miracle
of laughter."Gerald" desire to disrupt and cause
havoc on the show was at an all time high, and
the studio audience booed louder than ever.

Satires seemed also to take on a bigger part of
the bits throughout the 70's, with the physical
bits (minus "Grudgemeyer" and "Ladmo") became
less of a feature...well the gang was getting
older which had something to do with that.
In 1972 "Ladmo" got another crack at his own show
"LADMO'S CLUBHOUSE" a cartoon filled festival
of fun. "Pat McMahon" man of a thousand faces
(characters), were never so plentiful with the
show reaching 26% of the television audience.
Animals...firemen...police officers (namely
OFFICER HARRY) all made for great opportunities
to draw them into the gags & bits.
By 73' the W&L show was split in half and began
airing twice a day. On Oct 1st the morning
broadcast of the W&L show was the first show not
aired live... there was no way to get a studio
audience full of kids at 8:00 am. The accolades
came pouring in for this "little kid show"
during the 70's everyone knew of and loved this
bunch of TV folks!

And then 1980's arrived.....
On Sept.15th,1980 the "WALLACE & LADMO SHOW"
on at 7:00 to 8:00 am, it's final resting spot
Now kids could watch the entire show without
being late to school. 1981 saw the most elaborate
set ever, with new cartoon packages arriving and
now the skits/bits were more cerebral.
The physical comedy was now put out to pasture.
The once storage locker of the "TIME MACHINE"
was state of the art..."Wallace" (a life long
history buff) has stated this was his favorite
part of the show. New animations and special
effects dazzled the current generation of young
"WALLACE WATCHERS", and what would the show
be without a ventriloquist?

Since "Albert and Stinky"in the 50's the shows
had this element, and perhaps the most talented
of them all "DAN HORN" with his group of puppet
buddies."Gerald" had his own puppet LITTLE GERALD
finally he had someone who didn't boo him.
In 1982, "Wallace" hosted a Sunday morning show
called "COMEDY GREATS" which was able to play
classic old time movies that was near and dear
to Wallboys, Ladmos, and Pats roots of comedy.
The W&L family had never been larger and huge
turnouts continued where ever the gang appear.
KPHO-TV Channel 5 was basically known as
the "Wallace and Ladmo" station.

The "Ajo Reperatory Company" joined after the
April,1984 30th Anniversary Show with a couple
of noteable names including "CATHY DRESBACH",
and a well known local playright/actor/producer
"BEN TYLER". The show finally had a (real) female
character "JODI of the Pink Berets" became a
favorite of the children.
Numerous local talents graced the stage...and
like the early 60s, "DOLAN ELLIS" (formerly of
the "New Christy Minstrels") frequently dropped
by with another folk song to play.
HUGE crowds turned out at the AZ State Fair to
see "Gerald" make mischief, and the contests got
even bigger & bigger prizes.

"NURSE JEANNIE" was a favorite by the kids,and
apparently the male contingent of the show.
"Officer Harry" remained a regular visitor and
love interest of "Aunt Maud". Alot of other
wonderful special guests did their part in
educating,as well as entertaining the audience.
"FIREMAN BOB" and "MARGE WRIGHT"
(Az.Humane Society)
and "ANDY MASICH",director of the Az Historical
Society who finally brought culture to the show
which made "Gerald" very happy.

By the end of the 1980's the show was winding
down, there was the Sept.1987 Park Central Mall
30th Anniversary Celebration....and numerous
awards were bestowed on the gang.
Even though there was plenty of hints....the
general fans couldn't believe that the shows
days were numbered.

But...they were and on Friday,December 29,1989
our show of kid shows ended. Tears...and much
sadness but the love and appreciation continues
to this very day.

We all had something incredibly special for 36
years,in ONLY one place Arizona...and of course
we lost our beloved "LADMO" on March 4,1994....
then later "MIKE CONDELLO" who taught so many
to love music, & to make each day count.
The "Wallace and Ladmo" experience still continue
through the Fan Club, new "Pat McMahon presents
the W&L show", books, events, it will be forever
in our hearts and minds.

Text Courtesy of Rob Cook
aka "Desert Rat"