Ernie Kovacs
WPTZ
March 1952

Nationally known comedian Ernie Kovacs came to WPTZ in January of 1950 from radio station WTTM in nearby Trenton, NJ, where Ernie grew up. He pioneered the use of blackouts and trick photography in TV comedy. His first show was PICK YOUR IDEAL, a weekly fashion show. Ernie showed up for the audition dressed in his shorts and a barrel. He got the job. Then he did another show entitled, "Deadline for Dinner," an afternoon program. It was supposed to be a straight show, but Kovacs played it anything but straight. The chef was Albert Mathis (chef and manager of the Gulph Mills Country Club) and they would get into funny bits and literally forgot what they were cooking.

Born to what Kovacs called "quaint" parents of Hungarian roots, he worked in his teen years in a drug store. Ernie once referred to it saying, "I didn't like the job much, but the cigars were free." At 16, he became a singer in a local stock company performing Gilbert & Sullivan. He said, "whenever they needed a man that worked cheap, they got me."

In Philadelphia, Ernie created a bunch of his hysterical characters like Percy Dovetonsils, the lisping goody-goody; the French storyteller Pierre Ragout; Skodny Silsky, ace Hollywood reporter and the Edwardian-clothed Nairobi Trio.

At Channel 3, Kovacs hosted several different programs including "Three to Get Ready." It was originally on from 7:30 am to 9 am. Eventually, it expanded to two full hours starting at 7 am. The show premiered on November 27, 1950 and is reported to have been the very first early morning wake-up television show anywhere. Ironic that a newspaper listing at that time (The Evening Bulletin) described the show as "news, music, weather." Andy McKay thought that this program was the best of Ernie Kovacs at WPTZ. The concept was to turn on Channel 3 and get ready to go to work. Sort of a local Today show, but it turned into a Kovacs vehicle. This show, according to Andy McKay was a "mish-mash" from other programs. A piece of this, a bit of that.

Roy Neal, who eventually went to NBC-TV was Ernie's newsman. Later, Norman Brooks did the news; also Randy Kraft. If Norman said it was raining, Kovacs would climb up a ladder behind the set and dump water on him. Joe Earley also said that the news originated from the same studio as Kovacs. This made it easily for Ernie to clown around with the newsman. According to the Evening Bulletin, news was done on the show at 7:30, 8 am and 8:30.

McKay said that Ernie would talk to the camera people and boom operator. He would wander into the control room and start pushing buttons. He had been known to pull out a deck of cards and start playing gin with the director. It was very ad lib. Ernie would show up only about ten minutes before air time. The show was known for doing all kinds of stuff live on Walnut Street in Center City Philadelphia. One problem. They just couldn't get a mike easily out on the street so the talent would hold up cards with dialogue printed on them. It was like a silent movie. Each show would end with the phrase "It's Been Real" supered over some weird shot.

One gimmick that Ernie had on this show was "The Early Eyeball Fraternal & Marching Society," or the E.E.F.M.S. The "organization" had a membership card. There were also, possibly, other items.

The password for the club was "It's Been Real." Members had numbers. EEFM-1 was Ernie Kovacs. The flip of the membership card said:

1. An EEFM is A) male or a female; B) or interested in either political party
2. An EEFM never sleeps later than 8:03 A) Unless he or she is deathly ill, B) Unless he or she is deathly...er...dead, that is unless the EEFM is sleepy
3. An EEFM makes less that $987,648,001.23 per annum. (Slightly higher in the South and South West)
4. An EEFM may not raise ostriches or parsley without written permission of EEFM-1.

On "Three to Get Ready," Ernie had a character called "Uncle Gruesome." Ernie played the role. He wore a black cape, a wig and fake fangs. He would use this same character on his later CBS show, "Kovacs Unlimited." Just like Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck had three nephews, so did Uncle Gruesome. They were Loathsome, Cumbersome and Unwholesome.

Ernie did all kinds of bits. He had a paper-mache dog which looked a lot like the RCA Victor pup, nipper. Sometimes Ernie would set it down next to the fire hydrant. On other occasions, Ernie would drive by in a horse-drawn trash cart. They were digging the area for a new building and the pit was so deep that Ernie looked in and said, "he could see all the way down to China." Next thing you know, a guy in a Chinese coolie outfit crawls out, yells something in Chinese and runs away. On another occasion, they dressed Ernie in a gorilla suit and had him run through a center city food joint. Remember, this was all live and all very much Kovacs.

Edie Adams added much to the program, said Jack Kennedy. She would be singing and Ernie would trash her performance. People fell off piano benches. Andy McKay tells the story how one day Ernie mentioned on the air that they had only $15 for props per week. Half kiddingly he quipped, "if you have anything around the house, you don't want send it to Channel 3." The lobby by day's end was filled with items including a life sized doll that Kovacs called "Gertrude." She became a regular on the show. Hey, she worked cheap.

Percy Dovetonsils, who was a character on this show, had his glasses purchased at a Philadelphia novelty store for ten cents. The character was based on real-life poet, Ted Malone, said Andy McKay. When the show ended at 9 am, WPTZ did news and then ran a test pattern until 10:45 am. The week before "Three to Get Ready" premiered, the station didn't even sign on until 10:45 am.

Three NBC shows starring Ernie Kovacs came out of Channel 3. First was It's Time for Ernie, which aired from May 14, 1951 until June 29, 1951 and was broadcast in the afternoons for 15 minutes. This program was the only Kovacs' network series that did not feature Edie Adams. A staff member saw her on Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts on CBS-TV. Though unsuccessful with Arthur, she wasn't with Ernie. They were married in 1954, after they left Philadelphia.

The next NBC-TV show to come from Philly was "Ernie in Kovacsland, a weekday evening (7 pm) half-hour show as a summer replacement for the ever popular Kukla, Fran and Ollie. That aired from July 2, 1951 until August 24, 1951 and was produced by Ned Cramer. It started the Monday after "It's Time for Ernie" ended. The final series to originate from WPTZ was Kovacs on the Corner.

Carl Weger was an engineer at WPTZ and developed much of the "technology" for Ernie. He took an empty Campbell Soup can, removed both ends and added two mirrors at an angle. This was then attached to a three inch television camera lens. By turning it, it could rotate the image and actually turn Kovacs upside down. McKay recalled that one use of this was to have Ernie vacuum the ceiling.

In December of 1951, Harry Harris (a member of the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia) reported in the Evening Bulletin that WPTZ would not carry "The Today Show" (which was starting the next month) in our market. Harry said that a Channel 3 spokesman said that it was the station's policy to foster local shows as much as possible. Dave Garroway (host of "The Today Show") was "due back as star of a mammoth 7 to 9 am NBC show," but WPTZ people said that it would not be shown here in Philadelphia. That time belonged to WPTZ's own Ernie Kovacs. By the way, Harris and the Bulletin selected Ernie as the "Best Local Comedian" for 1951.

But the story continues. One day Cal Jones, director for Kovacs (later an executive for Westinghouse Broadcasting, owners of Channel 3) went over to the Architects' Building. Pat Weaver of NBC was sitting there and read the riot act to Cal and the station manager of WPTZ. Get Kovacs off the air and start carrying the Today show. The future of the program rides on clearing the Philadelphia station. Cal was sure that NBC threatened to pull the station's affiliation if they didn't. After Westinghouse purchased WPTZ in 1953, NBC threatened them with lost of NBC affiliation for all their (Westinghouse) owned and & operated stations, if Westinghouse didn't trade the Philadelphia stations for less valuable NBC stations in Cleveland.

At 11:30 am until 12 noon, (Joe Earley thinks that the show may have aired at 10:30 am) on NBC-TV "Kovacs on the Corner," originated from WPTZ. The program didn't last long. It aired from January 4, 1952 until March 28 of that same year. Kovacs always denied having any input for the format of the show. It was a program more fitting Fred Allen, not Ernie Kovacs. Shortly into the show, creative control was taken away from Kovacs and given to actress Marge Greene. Ernie went nuts. His heart just wasn't in the show. Without Ernie's input, the show went nowhere. However, it started to affect the morning show also, which Ernie knew was going to be dumped soon from the schedule. WPTZ elected not to renew his contract and "Three to Get Ready" and "Kovacs on the Corner" ended on the same day. The next month, Ernie and Edie (& Andy McKay) turned up on WCBS-TV in New York City with Kovacs Unlimited.

On the last "Kovacs on the Corner," Marge Greene who also acted on the show teased Ernie about her being cheap. She mentioned that she was Scottish. She said that she would travel for free in a coffin. Kovacs was supposed to put three nails on the corner, but instead he reached in his pocket and kept pounding nail after nail into the wood. The show never really ended. The last scene was never done because Ernie kept pounding nails into the coffin. The last thing seen on the show was Ernie saying "Have a good time in Scotland."

Harold Pannepacker, who worked for Channel 3 for a half century (he was also a past President of the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia) was well known for this story. He said that in this business, there were always hangers-on. You know, kids who wanted to work in television. There was this one guy who spent so much time at WPTZ that the staff thought he worked there. One day, a new employee was hired and the kid said, "Why would you hire somebody when I'm here. I want and need a job." Penny (Harold Pannepacker) said, "My God, we thought you already worked here." The hanger-on was Andy McKay.

Jack Kennedy who ran camera and did some ADing (Assistant Directing) for WPTZ thought that McKay was the genius behind Kovacs. It was Andy who thought up the ludicrous situations. Jack once said that Andy was more Kovacs than Kovacs. When Ernie would put a book on the table and the book would slide around, that was Andy's doing. He would spent days just digging through different kinds of props.