Romper Bomper Stomper Boo...

In 1971 I was placed into The wonderland Nursery School. It was in the United Methodist Church at Franklin and Highland.
I was 5 years old. The things that I can remember about that time were my teachers were Miss Penney and Miss Nichols. Mrs Penney was the Sally Field looking one while Miss Nichols was the blonde Vegas looking lady. I hated playtime because there was this guy Kelly Shipley who would punch you if you got within arms distance.

I remember they used to make all the boys and girls use the bathroom at the same time and I couldn't do that so they made a big deal about me having "privacy."
Freaks.
I remember one day we went on a field trip. They piled like 20 five-year-olds into two white passenger vans and drove us about 2 miles to KCOP channel 13. It was and still is just off of La Brea at Willoughby. After we piled out of our seatbeltless vans we were herded into the huge rolling tan metal doors of the TV station into the ROMPER ROOM set. We were the featured school of the day. I remember saying the pledge of allegiance and watching the show from the bleachers. I do remember when MISS MARY ANN looked thru her mirror I fully expected her to say my name. She still did not say my name and I was right in front of her. I was mad and I guess part of me has never forgiven her.

For ten years, between 1966 to 1976, Miss Mary Ann was the pre-school teacher of choice for many Los Angeles children. Running KCOP-TV's "Romper Room", Miss Mary Ann engaged children with imaginative games, stories and songs, along with positive life lessons.

Miss Mary Ann explained safety lessons by having her young viewers turn on their pretend sirens and answer emergency calls in their "safety chief cars". Children who appeared on the show were guest students and along with the at home viewers, learned of many places and things by galloping around on their stick horses. But probably the two most cherished things (besides Miss Mary Ann!) that a "graduate" of Romper Room would remember would be her "magic mirror" and "Do Bee". Were you a "Do Bee" or a "Don't Bee"? I'm sure if you watched Miss Mary Ann you are all "Do Bees" having learned manners and conduct.

(no sixties drug influance there!)

Whether you were a "Do Bee" or a "Don't Bee", by the end of each show you would have a chance for Miss Mary Ann to see you, as she would peer through her magic mirror, and into the homes of her viewers, calling you by name.

"Romper, bomper, stomper, boo.
Tell me, tell me, tell me do.
Magic mirror, tell me today.
Did all my friends have fun at play?"

With the chant spoken, the Romper Room hostess gazed through the empty mirror frame and recited the names of the lucky children whom she pretended to see watching the program (a different list of names each day). For example, "I see Tommy and Susan and Hannah and William and Mary and all you boys and girls out there." Of course, the hostess really couldn't see the children, but to the kids at home, as they listened for their name to be mentioned, they knew that they were someone special, at least in the World of Romper Room.

Former Romper Room hostess Mary Ann King (in Los Angeles from 1966-76) was mugged in the parking lot of a Hometown Buffet in the City of Industry on December 17, 2003. The encounter gave King, 70, a broken arm, rib and punctured lung. Besides her injuries, the thieves stole a black taffeta bag that contained the original Magic Mirror (white plastic mirror frame) used on the Romper Room program so many years. King began carrying the magic mirror around with her to satisfy the wishes of people who confronted her with the allegations "you never said my name." In the case of the criminals who stole the item, King confessed "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."

Now she'll never say my name.