Children's shows not likely on tape

By KAREN YOUSO, Star Tribune

Last update: October 6, 2008 - 5:15 PM

Q Many of us baby boomers appeared on local TV shows as children, such as "Captain Ken," "Clancy the Cop" and "Romper Room." This was, of course, long before VCRs, so we never got a chance to see ourselves. Did any of these shows save the programs in a form that would be accessible today?

A It's unlikely. With the advent of 2-inch videotape in 1956 and its extensive use in the 1970s, the technology existed to record many of those shows, according to Steve Raymer of the Pavek Museum of Broadcasting in St. Louis Park. Unfortunately, the tape was often re-used and eventually wore out.

It was also very heavy and took up lots of space. Every time a new general manager came along, Raymer said, the old tapes would get tossed.

Much of the museum's inventory of old programs was saved by engineers and camera operators who couldn't bear to see the tapes thrown away. It has lots of video of "Axel and His Dog," "Lunch With Casey," Mel Jass and Minnesota Twins games in the vault, but no shows with children appearing in them, such as "Romper Room" or "Popeye and Pete."

Raymer says the museum has the equipment to capture recordings on 2-inch videotape or 16mm film and save it to a hard drive or DVD for people.

White squirrels

Q We suddenly have a white squirrel hiding nuts in our back yard. What is it and where did it come from?

A White squirrels are albinos. They have a genetic mutation that prevents the normal development of melanin pigment.

Your squirrel could be the offspring of gray squirrels with normal coloring. Albinism ordinarily is recessive, so if a white squirrel having two genes for albinism mates with a gray squirrel with two normal genes, all of the offspring will be gray, but will carry one white gene and one gray gene. If one of those offspring then mated with an albino squirrel, half of their offspring would be white and half would be gray. The number of albinos in an area depends on the genetics of those that mated successfully.

It's believed that albino squirrels tend to have a short life span because they lack the natural camouflage of gray squirrels. They do have better camouflage in winter, but that's also when squirrels are least active.

Some populations of gray squirrels have a high percentage of melanistic individuals, which are black.

Includes information from the University of Minnesota.

Send your questions to Fixit in care of the Star Tribune, 425 Portland Av. S., Minneapolis, MN 55488, or call 612-673-7032, or e-mail fixit@startribune.com. Past columns are available at www.startribune.com/fixit. Sorry, Fixit cannot supply individual replies.

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