Cleveland TV Tales: Stories from the Golden Age of Local Television

If you grew up in Cleveland in the 50's and 60's like I did, television was black and white and there was usually only one set per house,mutually found in the living room where the family gathered round. This book gives some wonderful tales of the cleveland TV shows and the personalities involved. Captain Penny, Barnaby, Dorothy Fuldheim, many more, fascinating origins of Cleveland TV as well. Only about 178 pages, it's an enjoyable and easy read, sure to please those of us boomers who remember life in the old days and, as well, a good illustration to those in the digital age of how TV used to be.

This is a book full of nostalgia for anyone who grew up in the viewing area of Cleveland television from the 1940s through the 1970s or 1980s. The author was closely involved with the development of Cleveland television and knew the early television personalities personally, even to their personal habits and peculiarities. Step back into your childhood with this behind-the-scenes look which goes all the way back to the advent of Cleveland television.

I grew up in Cleveland and vividly remember sitting cross-legged in front of the tv watching the Indian test pattern until the broadcast day would begin in the late afternoon. I loved reading about all the personalities I just took for granted— from Gene Carroll to Mr. Jingeling to Dorothy Fuldheim. I did miss reading about Joe Portaro and his makeover show. My mother and I were glued to the set for that one. Since I left Cleveland in 1964 I didn't relate to the later subjects, but the book is a love letter to local tv. If you are or were a Clevelander, you will definitely enjoy it. Amazingly enough, my one-and-only tv appearance was not mentioned— "Mary Anne Goes to the Dentist", a 15-minute PSA broadcast in 1948 for Children's Dental Health Week. I was six and played Mary Anne. I don't suppose anyone has any Kinescopes???

I purchased this for my mom, who grew up in Cleveland starting in the late 1930's. She had fun reminiscing with all the stories shared in this book, and it led to some fun conversation between us, with her telling me more about her growing up years. A+

Chock full of great Cleveland memories and written by a guy with an obvious love of the subject matter. It's a fun read for anyone who grew up in the Cleveland area or anyone who is exploring the local TV history of different regions of the country.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who grew up in Cleveland. Mike and Janice Olszewski did an outstanding and exhaustive job in researching the icons of local television. The stories are priceless as the book.

This is an enjoyable trip back for Clevelanders of a certain age. Lots of entertaining stories! The book respectfully skims over some of the more scandalous and ridiculous TV events (i.e., Gary Dee/Liz Richards, the Joel Rose debacle, Channel 5's absurd "happy news" experiment of the 1970s) and presents a nice snapshot of Cleveland TV, which grew up with the Baby Boomer generation.

I grew up about 30 miles east of Cleveland. I watched all of these characters on TV and especially Ghoulardi (Ernie Anderson) every Friday night. This book is a pleasant reminder of those days.