Space Patrol

If you craved thrills and action with not much science fiction underpinning, and an unabashedly total lack of realism, this was the early 1950s space adventure program for you. Square-jawed, intelligent and courageous Commander Buzz Corry and his comical sidekick Cadet Happy faced certain death in nearly every once-a-week Saturday morning broadcast. Done live, with very impressive sets, and a wide variety of Hollywood character actors as villains, this was almost always worth tuning in to. Almost all the programs survived on 16 mm and 35 mm kinescopes, and are readily available today from video retail sources.

Space Patrol really started a long tradition of the love of science fiction and space adventure that continues to this day. As a youth in San Francisco I watched it every chance. From this experience, when I started reading in earnest it was science fiction that I turned to, and haven't turned back since.

One of my most precious possessions from childhood came from a visit of the Space Patrol cast to San Francisco. There is a page in my autograph book that I treasure signed by each of the members of the cast in their screen name. My name is Robbie, and Robbie's signature on the cast page was made with a drawing of a rocket ship that formed my impression of what a true rocket ship should be like.

Space Patrol was so much a part of my life that for Christmas my brothers constructed and gave me a "spaceship control panel" with view screen, lights, and microphone (all this before any modern electronics) and my friends and I played "Space Patrol" adventures. Looking back this show was one of my best childhood memories that influenced a love of reading, sci-fi, and eventually my career in the computer industry, as well as influencing me in what real teamwork was like.

This show was awesome!

LITTLEV DID WE know when we tuned in to all of these various images of "futuristic" space shows, that we were rapidly approaching the day when "Outer Space" would mean much more than just a bit of science fiction or fantasy. The year was 1950 and Sputnik (Soviet un-manned satellite), Muttnik (Soviet satellite with bowser inside) and Yuri Gargaran (man) weren't far off.

THOSE Russian SUCCESSES sure shook up the nation and the United States soon followed with Alan Sheppard, John Glenn and the ultimate and eventual Lunar landing in 1969. It is our belief that the great sci-fi in our print and electronic media played a great part in accomplishing what we did in such a short period. (Of course it didn't hurt in having the likes of Dr. Werner von Braun and Willie Ley in our camp from the former Third Reich of Germany).

ONE'S PREFDERENCE IN space shows revolved largely around the central character/hero and his appearance and personality. Hence, we had our choice of CAPTAIN VIDEO (father figure), TOM CORBETT (our brother) and SPACE PATROL's Buzz Corey (middle of the ground). Our fiction/fantasy made us believe as a people and we succeeded.

OUR MEMORY OF this series is that each story was usually contained within its weekly episode. The characters, headed up by Buzz (Ed Kemmerer-a radio veteran actor and Cadet Happy (Lyn Osborn) were better equipped as a well tuned and meshed team. The roles of the two were as well defined as the others; but with two differences. First, their ages were close and secondly, Cadet Happy also provided some much needed comic relief.

And yes -- I actually saw it "live" on TV. Sponsored by Ralston. I vividly remember Commander Corey and Cadet Happy happily plugging "Wheat Chex", "Rice Chex", and "Instant Ralston" when they weren't pursuing or being pursued by the bad guys. How many of us remember the name of the man who heralded "Travel into the future with BUZZ CORY, Commander-in-Chief of the SPAAAAACE PATROL!"? That was Jack Narz, who later went on to fame as the host of the scandal-ridden game show "Dotto"!! The live sets, the music, and the miniatures (quite imaginative for the time) were all done with such care. I would like to thank the other contributors to this thread who remember and love this show as much as I do, especially "IsleManage" (such an interesting story about your father (mother too) -- thanks for sharing), "mmore98" who gave us insight to the conception of the series, and the unfortunate demise of "Tonga" -- my first recollection of, shall we say, a "hottie". How sad. But most of all, I would like to thank the late Ed Kemmer and the late Lyn Osborn for providing me with role models worthy of remembering and looking up to. I love you and I miss you both!!

The headline of that month was of Ernest Hemingway and a short version of The Old Man and the Sea.

It explained that a WWII fighter pilot had thought the whole thing up while flying raids in the Pacific during the War. He and two other writers were cranking out 85,000 words a week to keep the show running. It had a lot of the behind the scenes stories of the actors, etc. Some of the actors in this series died from Cancer at relatively early ages, and some were destitute. Nina Bara, from Argentina, was one of them. She had been married to Dwight Eisenhower's golf pro (also a relatively obscure actor himself) from Austraila for about five years...until Ike was out of power, then his popularity as an actor waned quickly. I understand he's still alive. She died in poverty.