Sky King

My mother told me about this show, and she told me she would watch it religiously every Saturday morning. She was starting to think she dreamed it up, because no one she talked to remembered it. So I did a search, and found some episodes on tape, and gave it to her birthday. She watched two of them that very day, and loved them!

With Kirby Grant as the Sky King, and Gloria Winters Penny, and all the rest, from what I saw, it is a great show! Yes, it is simple, as most shows from the early fifties, but it taught right from wrong, and that's what is missing from most shows today. It might be interesting to see what a remake of this show would look like.

I fondly recall watching this show during my childhood. Although I haven't seen it since I was about 7 or 8 years old, my memories of it are filled with good, warm feelings, possibly because of the simpler times (seemingly) we enjoyed then. I'm sure that seen through the eyes of today this show would appear to be lacking in some respects, but so what? I had completely forgotten about this one until I had a song request recently to perform Jimmy Buffett's "Pencil Thin Moustache" (an old song of his and one of a very few which I DIDN'T learn to play 30 years ago). I was catapulted into my past as I read and learned Jimmy's lyrics:

Oh, I remember bein' buck toothed and skinny Writin' fan letters to Sky's niece Penny Oh, I wish I had a pencil-thin mustache, then I could solve some mysteries too...

The light bulb is back on now. God Bless Gloria Winters and Kirby Grant! Thanks for the memories and a really great show....

Sky King came roaring into American living rooms every Saturday with action and adventure. The stories were well written for juvenile television fare. The cast usually consisted of minor character actors. Sky was played with gusto by Kirby Grant who was an ace pilot in real life. His niece, Penny, was portrayed by Gloria Winters who tended to overact but exuded a winning personality that everyone loved.

This was my wife's favorite TV show when she was a child. We recently watched several episodes on DVD and were surprised at how well the shows have held up over the past fifty years. They are still entertaining, action-packed with good aerial photography for the time period. One with an ecological angle was "The Wild Man" featuring Jethro Beaudine's (Max Baer, Jr.) uncle, Buddy Baer, a mountain of a man, standing 6'5" tall. In this episode, he is falsely accused of trying to kill a driver for a logging company and stealing the payroll. It's up to Sky and Penny to prove his innocence. The loggers are out to shoot him because he has been trying to sabotage their work in order to save the homes of the woodland creatures. Penny, as usual, plays an active role in helping her Uncle Sky.

Thank you so much for finding "Sky King" I have asked many people from my generation, Do you remember the show Sky King? No one remembers but oh I do. Watching on Saturday mornings was the treat of the week for me. Penny and Uncle Sky were great and I can still see that plane in my minds eye flying in over the hill tops. How I loved that show. If only the kids of today had great shows like we did maybe we'd have less hate and violence in the world today. Whatever became of the shows stars? Did they go on to bigger and better things? I truly hope so. They deserved a lot for all the joy and happiness they brought to countless numbers of youngsters across the nation. Well those of us fortunate enough to have television. Thanks for all the great memories.

"Sky King" is one of the first television shows I remember watching, so it has great nostalgic value for me. I'd love to see it again, since it has been 50 years since I last watched the program!

I do remember the character "Penny," probably more than I remember "Sky King," although the name Kirby Grant (Sky King) was always remembered and I couldn't have told you who played Penny until I read the title page here at IMDb. I do recall Gloria Winters (Penny) has a wholesome, cute blonde. I've read some reviews that say she is annoying in this program, but I can't recall that.

A cowboy who flew airplanes - now that was a different angle for a storyline! This was an adventure program that was a favorite in our family, too, as my father always had interest in flying and eventually was able to buy a small plane - a Cessna, similar to the one Sky King flew!

I'd sure love to see some episodes of this again, although I don't know how they would look today. I am encouraged that some of these are available on DVD. One thing for sure: you can't beat the good messages that television shows brought to us families in the '50s, unlike the garbage you see today.