Kutol-Dough

Kutol was founded in Louisville, Kentucky in 1912 and originally sold powdered hand cleaner and a few other cleaning products. Kutol was floundering during the next decade. Saving the company from failure, Cleo McVicker bought Kuto in 1927 and made it profitable. He then purchased the company from Precision Metal Workers, owners of Kutol, and worked with Kroger to manufacture the largest seller of wallpaper cleaner "putty" in the world. But time waits for no one. By the 1950s, the days of cleaning sooty build-up from walls came to an end. The coal-burning furnaces were being replaced by cleaner natural gas or electricity. 

As the saying goes, "It's not what you know but who you know." McVicker's sister-in-law, Kay Zufall, tested the nontoxic material for modeling projects on her kindergarten students and they loved molding it into all kinds of shapes. Zufall also suggested the Play-Doh name. The original odor might best be described as the comforting smell of vanilla wheat dough. The McVickers formed the Rainbow Crafts Company to make  Play-Doh Modeling Compound in 1956. After several buy-outs, Hasbro now owns the company. Play-Doh has grown into a worldwide franchise generating a lot of dough for selling over 3 billion cans since becoming a child’s toy.

Synopsis: Thrust Into Television

Many movie character actors found steady work and arguably more exposure with the advent of television. 

BARTLETT ROBINSON (1912-1986) 

Robinson was an American actor who performed on radio, stage, film, and television for five decades. The mustachioed Robinson and his recognizable voice were often cast in mostly serious roles of authority, such as military officers, wealthy ranchers, sheriffs, corporate executives, doctors, and judges, whether in Westerns, dramas, or playing the straight man in comedies.

The Man From Hanna-Barbera

Ed Benedict (1912-2006) started with Walt Disney in 1930 but left three years later to work at Universal Studios as an animator with Walter Lantz Productions. His ultimate fame arose after joining Hanna-Barbera in 1957 to help create their first television series, The Ruff and Reddy Show. Benedict was responsible for designing the characters on many of Hanna-Barbera’s earliest and most popular series, including Huckleberry Hound, Yogi Bear, The Flintstones, Quick Draw McGraw, and numerous others of the 1950s and 1960s, including the character design for the television show, Bewitched. His simple contour drawing approach captured each character's movements and expressions precisely. He left Hanna-Barbera at the end of the 1960s, but continued to do occasional projects for the studio, including background and layout advisor on one of Hanna-Barbera’s final cartoons, Johnny Bravo.

I Don't Remember Any Chocolates

Whitman's is one of the largest and oldest brands of boxed chocolates in the United States, currently produced by Kansas City, Missouri by Russell Stover Candies. The iconic box of chocolates was the brainchild of 19-year-old Stephen Whitman, who opened a confectionary store on Philadelphia's waterfront in 1842. Initially, Whitman's became popular with traveling sailors and their wives. They would often bring imported fruits, nuts, and cocoa obtained during their voyages to Mr. Whitman so that he could make the popular European confections that people craved in that era.

The Whitman's Sampler made its official debut in 1912. The box included a collection of the most popular pieces of candy sold in the confectionary shop. Three years later the Sampler emerged as the most popular assortment in the Whitman's line and the best-selling box of chocolates in America. In 1924, it became the first in its industry to use cellophane to wrap its packaged products. The Sampler's most popular advertising campaign, "A Woman Never Forgets the Man Who Remembers," was launched in 1939 and continued through the 1950s with film stars of the era endorsing the candy in ads for The Saturday Evening Post.

Parallels

This is more of a parallel to B-movie careers than an exact resemblance. Willard Parker (Worster Van Eps 1912-1996), right, signed with Warner Bros and Columbia, while John Archer (Ralph Bowman 1915-1999) signed with Universal and Republic. Archer had numerous television guest spots, making him, arguably, the more familiar figure; however, Parker's three-year, single-series Tales of the Texas Rangers was popular. 

Both started their careers in the late 1930s, and both died at age 84, three years apart. Alas, I would like to tell you they married the same woman (not at the same time), but that would prevent you from believing any of this.

Ohio to Colorado

Beginning in 1926, the US Highway 36 route began expanding into western Ohio from Indianapolis, Indiana. At the same time, the route was expanding westward through Kansas and eventually terminating in Colorado by the late 1930s. Today's eastern terminus was extended in the mid-1970s to Uhrichsville, Ohio with a western terminus at Estes Park, Colorado. After rerouting and adapting to the Interstate highway system over the decades, the approximate distance today is slightly more than 1,400 miles. Underway by at least 1912, the transcontinental Pikes Peak Ocean to Ocean Highway laid the groundwork for approximately the middle-third of US 36. The photo above was taken in Urbana, Ohio.

An excellent detailed history at US 36

You Be The Judge, Mr. Quinn

Bill Quinn (1912-1994) was an American film and prolific television actor. He appeared in more than 150 roles over seven decades, starting in the 1920s in silent films. He was the father-in-law of comedy legend, Bob Newhart.

The versatile Quinn acquitted himself in every role, whether uncredited or supporting in dramas or comedies. Viewers could often find him in court as a judge, in a police uniform, or in other service-related occupations. It is his television appearances that brought him the most attention. By far it was his thirty-eight appearances as a cast member on The Rifleman as Frank Feeney and eighty-eight appearances on Archie Bunker's Place as a blind patron. Though his single appearances are too numerous to chronicle here, his other multiple guest star roles in a series include, Wanted: Dead or Alive, Perry Mason, Hawaiian Eye, McHale's Navy, Bonanza, Ironside, as the father of Mary Richards for The Mary Tyle Moore sitcom and four various roles on The Rockford Files. True to form, Quinn played Judge Tomlinson on Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law, and as Judge Tesman on Arrest and Trial. 

Broadcast Pioneers

 

Eric Sevareid (1912-1992) was an American author and CBS news journalist, one of a group of elite war correspondents who were hired by CBS newsman Edward R. Murrow and nicknamed "Murrow's Boys." Sevareid was the first to report the Fall of Paris in 1940 after the city was captured by German forces during World War II. Severeid had pointed views away from the reporting microphones, especially during his later personal commentary segments, that sometimes divided his viewers into two camps.

Blessed with an old-school vocal delivery, Sevareid's work during World War II was at the forefront of broadcasting. He was a commentator on the CBS Evening News for thirteen years, winning Emmy and Peabody Awards. Sevareid's demeanor was one of authority and trustworthiness, all brought to the airwaves with intelligence. From 1959 to 1961, Sevareid was CBS's roving European correspondent, contributing stories to CBS Reports during that time. Sevareid joined Walter Cronkite on CBS television with a commentary about the assassination of John F. Kennedy and the road ahead for the new president, Lyndon Johnson. He retired from the CBS network in 1977 but continued to contribute with independent projects, even playing himself on an episode of the sitcom Taxi in 1980.

Reel Character Series

 

Frank Lovejoy (1912-1962) was an American actor in radio, film, and television, best known for his supporting roles as the “everyman” caught up in challenging circumstances. He was one actor not needing to change his last name just to stand out from the Hollywood crowd. Whether in military uniform, as a detective, or common laborer, he handled a variety of roles with near-flawless performances, from tough cop to sensitive husband. Lovejoy had the voice of someone who spent the day in the stands yelling for his NFL playoff team and has not yet recovered. A smokey, nasal sound like few others, it lent intrigue to his radio characters or the narrator for his radio crime show, Night Beat. Somewhat surprisingly, the 1950s was his only full decade of work, starting out that decade with a strong leading role in the chilling, Try and Get Me! aka The Sound of Fury, as a struggling out-of-work family man spiraling into a life of crime with an arrogant instigator, Lloyd Bridges. In 1951, he had the title role and narrator for I Was a Communist for the FBI, going undercover to expose Communism. He was notable as a supporting player in The Hitch-hiker, the classic film noir of 1953. He crammed down a lot of scripts in 1955, his busiest year, with seven films and seven television appearances. Oddly or not, the nearest I can figure he had a total of fifty-five acting roles as well. Though he completed three more films in the late Fifties, he spent the balance of his career in television. Had he lived longer, he might have provided some interesting characters well into his seventies. 

The Man of a Thousand Characters

 

Ed Benedict (1912-2006) was an American animator and layout artist best known for his concept work with Hanna-Barbera Productions. Benedict was recruited by former MGM animators William Hanna and Joseph Barbera in 1957 to provide character designs for their new animated television series, The Ruff & Reddy Show, and went on to create The Flintstones, Yogi Bear, Quick Draw McGraw, Huckleberry Hound, The Jetsons, and many others. Benedict left Hanna-Barbera at the end of the 1960s but did occasional projects for the studio. He created the animated character of Samantha for the opening of the Bewitched television series and later did background and layout on one of Hanna-Barbera’s final cartoons, Johnny Bravo. He signed many of his sketches with a cleverly hidden scribble, "EB," that was only visible to a select few at the time.