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03/05/2025
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Fifty years! Almost impossible to fathom. Few people in this town were as beloved as WTAE-TV's iconic kids' show host Paul Shannon, who held court on Channel 4 every weekday after school in the late 50s and 60s. March 30 marks the half century anniversary of his last show. Mr. Shannon was a friendly face and reassuring voice even for kids whose home lives were not so happy. "Adventure Time" was teeming with imagination--Mr. Shannon weaved a magic that only kids could understand--from the Magic Sword ("down goes the curtain, and back up again for--" the next cartoon), the Twirl-A-Scope (the thing he spun to introduce certain cartoons--for a while, it was the Stooge-A-Scope), Nosmo King ("DON'T PULL THAT ROPE, NOSMO!"), the Nosmobile, the Great Misto, Randy Rocket, the spectacular North Pole Rocket, the Universe Control Center, the muscular dystrophy backyard carnivals, the Brownies and Cub Scouts in the bleachers singing a song and yelling greetings to the folks at home, and of course, the cartoons--can't forget the cartoons.
Paul is perhaps most famous for being the first host to air musty old two-reelers by knockabout vaudeville clowns named the Three Stooges. Their popularity from Adventure Time led to a legendary extended stint at the Holiday House in Monroeville--and all of a sudden, the Stooges were back. TV stations all across the country saw how popular the Stooges were in Pittsburgh, so one after another, they, too, started to air the old Stooges' films. They became rock megastars among America's kids, and Moe Howard credited Paul Shannon with starting it. On Paul's last show, Joe Negri read a telegram from Moe and his wife. (Paul later told me that he knew something was wrong because it was signed "Helen and Moe"--because Moe typically signed his notes alone. Paul was right. Moe was very ill and died a few weeks later.) Paul told me about being with the Stooges at a venue that had not been properly publicized--only a handful of people showed up. Larry wanted to do a "cut show, and leave," but Moe sternly told him, "Larry, I don't care if only two people showed up, we're going to do the full show." And they did. (Just as in the films, Moe was the boss.)
On Paul's last show on Easter Sunday of 1975, Mayor Pete Flaherty and his wife stopped by to honor him. And at the end, a parade of WTAE employees--the folks who had worked with Paul for many years--were allowed to come on camera to shake his hand while Paul Long's familiar voice recapped Mr. Shannon's career, and the march from the "Bridge on the River Kwai" played in the background (the Stooges used to use that march in many of their later live shows). And then it was all over. The baby boom had ended a decade earlier, and Americans' viewing habits changed. Mr. Shannon turned out the lights to his castle set, sold his house in Whitehall, and moved to Florida. He passed away in 1990.
It's been fifty years, but for a lot of people, this wildly imaginative show still resonates. For them, it remains television's high-water mark. So much of what defined Western Pennsylvania is gone now--the Jenkins Arcade, Kaufmann's, Bob Prince and Myron Cope, the Warner Theater, the Civic Arena. And did you know they used to ice skate inside the Monroeville Mall? All are just memories that grow dimmer with each passing year.
But for a brief shining moment, Paul Shannon ruled the airways in these parts, and for a lot of kids, he was a reliable friend and champion in a golden era that long ago passed away.
