Al Roker - You Look So Much Better in Person

I T WAS THE HEAD of the communications department at SUNY Oswego, Dr. Lewis B. ODonnell, who gave me the tip-off about the job. WHEN-TV5 (now WTVH) was adding a 6:00 P.M . broadcast to their Saturday and Sunday schedule and was pulling together a full news team: an anchor, sports guy, and weather forecaster. The news director at WHEN, the CBS affiliate, had a budget for a college kid or a drunk, which is why I was allowed to audition for the weekend weather gig in the first place. To be clear, I was a college student, not a drunk. I was never a stand-around-with-a-brewski-chatting-about-sports-with-the-guys kind of guy. Other than the occasional glass of fruit punch at the Rathskeller (our college bar), it would be many years before I started drinking in earnest. By the time I was introduced to some of the finer libationsthe Pimms Cup, the Gatsbyesque gin and tonic, the where-have-you-been-all-my-life deliciousness of the Aperol spritzI was married and had three children.

Dr. ODonnell, or Doc as all the students called him, was an excellent professor but his notoriety around campus came from his second job. His side hustle. Every afternoon, after wrapping up a day of teaching classes, grading papers, and holding office hours, hed head to the WHEN studios where hed place a miniature trolley over his head. It covered everything except his eyes, which peeked out of the trolley mask like eerie little globes. His nose, covered by a red bulb, was the trolleys headlight. He strapped a little cowcatcher beneath his chinand his transformation from distinguished department head to Mr. Trolley of The Magic Toy Shop was complete. (In case you arent familiar, a cowcatcher does not catch cows per se. A cowcatcher is actually a metal frame attached to the front of a train to move aside cows or any other major obstacles that might be in the way. Imagine what that would look like for just a second.)

Mr. Trolleys voice had the timbre of Goofy with distinct side notes of the Lion from TheWizard of Oz. It was not at all how Dr. ODonnell sounded in class when leading a discussion about communication theory. SUNY Oswegos graphic design teacher, Socrates Sampson (yes, thats his real name), played his jovial sidekick, Eddie Flum Num, and they were joined in song by Merrily and her magic music box, who was played by Marilyn Herr, the stations public affairs director. The trio became very popular, despite the fact that they sang chipper songs that were actually cloaked in darkness. They sang about teddy bear picnics and how its best to not go into the woods, and dear God if you do, dont go alonereally, please, everyone should just stay home! Apparently, back in the 1960s and 70s, terror was the way to get children to tune in to a TV show. Doc had been doing this since 1955 and The Magic Toy Shop became the most popular local childrens television show in history. No one has beat it to this day. Years later Dr. ODonnell would say, Al, say what you will, but that F#&king trolley paid for my kids college.