Beany and Cecil puppets

Can you imagine a time before there were TV shows for children? In the first years of television, news broadcasts and comedies and dramas adapted from radio were mostly for adults. In 1949, a puppet show named Time for Beany was produced for local audiences in Los Angeles, and from 1950 to 1955 it was shown for children nationally through the Paramount Television Network. The principal characters were Beany, a spirited young boy with a beanie cap, and Cecil, the courageous (if not very bright) Seasick Sea Serpent who claimed to be 300 years old.

 

In 1962, an animated version renamed Beany and Cecil became one of the first TV series broadcast in color! The Children’s Museum collection contains both the original puppets used on screen and toy versions that were sold for children to act out their own stories.