December 22: Ding Dong School

Ding Dong School, starring Miss Frances (Dr. Frances Horwich), was televised nationally for the first time on this date in 1952. Billed as the “nursery school of the air,” it was aimed at pre-schoolers and their mothers and featured Miss Frances speaking directly to her viewers, as if they were in the room with her, and leading them in games, crafts, dance, and more. Horwich’s show had an audience of well over two million when it was replaced in 1956 with The Price Is Right, whereupon she resigned as NBC’s head of children’s programming. She owned the rights to Ding Dong School, however, and kept it on the air in syndication until 1965.

“Too many programs on television rob children of their own ideas, without giving them a chance to create and think for themselves.” —Frances Horwich

Watch a full episode of Ding Dong School from 1953: