Children's radio (1950 - 1958)
 Although Jon Arthur created and produced Big Jon and
Sparkie for kids, it is a wonderfully inventive and
gently humorous show that many adults will find utterly
charming. It may be for its opening theme, The Teddy Bear's
Picnic. Big Jon is the regular mild-mannered father figure
that loves and cares for Sparkie. "Ukie" is the
pretty goofy but adventurous cabbie who is their friend.
But the show really revolves around Sparkie who sounds like a little "elf from the land of
make-believe" but acts and thinks just like a real
boy. In that earlier time, a "live" voice like
a cartoon that was a part of a "real" show was
something special for kids. It's still special to listen
to today, as Jon Arthur's gentle and witty writing about
a small town's characters (although it's Cincinnati!) makes
this show great fun. For the record, Jon Arthur did nearly
all of the voices and oversaw the show's production single-handedly.
His use of sound effects and interlude music is exemplary.
He was quoted as saying that all the ideas on the show were
from real life, or were sent in by the show's thousands
of young fans. They even had a "What Does Sparkie Really
Look Like Contest", and the accompanying photo is Jon
Arthur with the realization of the kid's composite idea.
Text on OTRCAT.com ©2001-2010 OTRCAT INC All Rights Reserved-Reproduction is prohibited.  The show began as a half hour, and was changed to a syndicated
twelve-plus minute radio serial format in 1951. These rare
episodes are from that period. Mayor Plumpfront, is getting
married to the "fabulously wealthy" Florida widow
Daffodil Dilly. We are with the boys coming back from an
adventure-packed trip to Africa, and as the wedding plans
near completion, kidnappers take Daffodil Dilly! The boys
work to crack the case. The second major adventure in this
group is a mystery involving Bunny, Sparkie's Boston Bulldog.
It's called "The Canine Mutiny." The small-town
qualities of so many old time radio favorites such as Fibber
McGee and Molly, the Great
Gildersleeve, Vic and Sade and
are mirrored in The Further Adventures of Big Jon and Sparkie.
And it's not a stretch to say that Jon Arthur liked I
Love a Mystery. What radio adventure serial after
Morse's I Love a Mystery
wasn't influenced by its finely drawn, individual characters
dealing with unexpected twists of plot?The Further Adventures of Big John and Sparkie developed
through the 1950s and went to a longer format broadcast
on Saturday mornings as "No School Today." Sparkie's
irrepressible sense of belonging in a real if slightly wacky
world, is very involving. John Dunning, in "On
the Air, The Encyclopedia of Old Time Radio," says "It remained, for those who heard it, one of the
most important and poignant pieces of childhood."
For more charming children's adventure serials see also: Cinnamon Bear, Magic Island, and Little Orphan Annie. For older kids, there are
many action-packed old time radio shows, some of them in
the15 minute serial format. A few are Air
Adventures of Jimmy Allen, Speed
Gibson,Cisco Kid, Captain Midnight, Superman, The
Green Hornet, Sergeant
Preston of the Yukon, and Space
Patrol.
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