Davey and Goliath

"A Mighty Fortress is Our God" (Martin Luther, circa 1529) serves as the theme song for this well-received children's series, produced by the Lutheran Church in America, and often written by children's book author Nancy Wible, who initially would also voice this program's female characters.

But while the message remains constant, times do change. Beginning at a time when ladies, gentlemen and children would continue to wear their finest clothing to Sunday services, difficult choices may lie between selecting a dress or blouse and skirt, hat or veil, or between a suit and blazer, necktie or bow-tie, and fedora, which gentlemen were expected to remove upon entrance, whereas the ladies were expected to retain hair coverings indoors. Today, while few fellowship retain such mandates, this series helps to reminisce upon changes reflected by society, while politeness toward others remains, of course, virtuous.

Between 1960 and 1965, the series of 314 fifteen-minute episodes would gain in recognition and popularity, to air across network lines for broadcast to a height of a 90% market share on Saturday mornings or sometimes on Sunday mornings between presentations of church services or sermon programs.

For a period, the fifteen-minute format was set aside in favor of recurring 30-minute "Davey and Goliath" specials, before resuming in its regular format for several additional seasons.

Vocal Talent for this clay animation (or Claymation) series is provided by an assortment of performers in the roles of parents (voice), John Hansen (Hal Smith, 1961-1976) and Elaine Hansen (Ginny Tyler, 1961-1962, also doubling as Sally), daughter Sally Hansen (Nancy Wible, 1960-1968), son David 'Davey' Hansen (Dick Beals, 1960-1964; Norma MacMillan, 1965-1975), and various friends, neighbors and community leaders. Goliath the pet dog stands nearly as tall as Davey, who is able to hear his voice whereas nobody else in the cast may.

Davey's peers would differ in configurations, usually three friends, including an African-American buddy, as the youth would learn a moral lesson of the day, initially regarding a topic of respect or reverence, then segueing into topical concerns of the period, whether they apply these lessons immediately or learn by episode's ending.

But the presentation would remain non-didactic, but open to connect with audiences of all faiths and creeds in beneficial manner, suitable to manners then and now, for "Davey and Goliath" remains a Classic from age to age, and for audiences of all ages.

Some of my best memories as a boy were getting up early on Saturday mornings to watch "Davey and Goliath." they were enjoyable, moralistic without being heavy-handed about it, and the characters were very much like people you knew, not goody-goody types. Unfortunately, kids today are very different, and I doubt that they would respond to it the way our generation did (I'm 42 now). Still and all, a good show, despite what the authors of "Saturday Morning Fever" have to say, and I still get a nostalgic twinge when I see it on cable TV these days.

Incidentally, I didn't realize until I saw IMDB's profile that upright father figure John Hanson was voiced by Hal "Otis-the-Mayberry-town-drunk" Smith. Talk about diametricaly opposed!

It aired as a segment of the children's show "Boomtown" in the Boston area. Boomtown was hosted by Rex Trailer, and he sang (and played guitar) for his own special intro to Davey And Goliath. I still remember the words:

This is the story of The Lord This is the story of The Lord The way they tell it may be new But every word is true This is the story of The Lord

Imagine a children's show host getting away with that in today's world!

I'm happy to report that those of you who subscribe to Comcast Cable in the Boston area can find the show playing occasionally on the Boston Catholic Television Channel, which is also known as the Religious Channel, usually Channel 56 on the listings.

What great memories! In the DFW Metroplex, kids got to watch this show on "The Children's Hour", a Sunday morning entertainment/educational show that ran just before Oral Roberts weekly proclamation that "something good is going to happen to you!".Davey & Goliath was a Lutheran church based show with heavy religious and moral overtones, but it never came across as heavy handed as did "Jot", the other long running series featured on the Children's Hour. The show featured a young boy, Davey Hansen, his dog Goliath, his family & friends and the everyday moral choices young people face, as well as the consequences of those choices, right or wrong. It's been well noted

by other reviewers that this kind of show would never fly in todays ultra PC "don't offend anybody" world, and I find that unfortunate. Regardless of your religious beliefs,this show preached a higher standing of morality and common courtesy toward your fellow man that I find sorely lacking in todays world. No matter if you're Christian, Muslim, Buddist, Atheist or whatever, the values of responsibility and consequences for you own actions, love of your neighbor and moral awareness that this show emphasized are values we could all benefit from. I do find it humorous that the moral sounding board and conscience for Davey, his dog Goliath, was voiced by the town drunk from the Andy Griffith show, Hal Smith. If you've never seen this show and have an opportunity, watch it if for no other reason than to get a pulse on what children's TV was like before "Cat Dog" and all the other mentally and spiritually bankrupt garbage our kids have to watch today.

We are told and constantly reminded you can never go back. However, if there is a cycle to our nostalgia for fashion, I only hope and pray that television shows like this, with their wonderful messages, come back into fashion. Can anyone remember a show from our kids' generation that they can look back on and feel as we feel about this one? I can't. Let's just keep reminding everyone what a profound difference it made for us as adults to have been raised on shows like this one.