Crackerjack
"It's Friday, it's five to five . . . It's Crackerjack
- CRACK - ER - JACK!!"
 A long-term children's program (Crackerjack started in
1955 and ran until 1984) filmed live, with an audience mainly
consisting of cubs, scouts, girl-guides and brownies in full
uniform (and usually good voice!) and energetic kiddies all
crammed into a Shepherd's Bush theatre.
The show was meant for eight to ten-year-olds, but one of the great
strengths of the show, was that it never played down to the
audience just because they were young.
As a result, Crackerjack
appealed to an audience of all ages.
The format rarely varied; Some comedic banter, a game, a
sketch, a five-minute silent movie (made earlier in the week),
another game and the big finale.
Since this was the era of Glam, the musical acts reflected
this. Slade, Gary Glitter and The Sweet all appeared on Crackerjack
Originally introduced by ex-boxing commentator Eamonn Andrews
(later to host This Is Your Life), but perhaps best
remembered for it's golden era when co-hosts Leslie Crowther and
Peter Glaze would perform comedy routines, introduce the guest pop
act, and host the weekly quiz 'Double or Drop' (devised by Andrews
in the shows early days), in which contestants were given a prize
for a correct answer or a cabbage for a wrong one, and then had to
hold as many as they could without dropping them.
Win or lose everyone went home with a Crackerjack
pencil, which became probably the most coveted and adored prize in
Britain at the time (along with the Blue Peter badge).
When
Eamonn Andrews left the show he took the rights to the game with
him (in case he needed to play it on any of his subsequent TV
shows).
 Leslie Crowther was involved with the show for eight years from
1960 - first as as resident comic, then as compere. Don McLean and
Jan Hunt hosted along with comedian Peter Glaze (an old favourite
since the very early days) following the departure of Crowther.
The comedians on the show have included Rod McLennan, Bernie
Clifton, Little and Large and Ronnie Corbett. Unfortunately in the
70s, kids began to be bombarded by cartoons and children's shows
and Crackerjack started to seem a little old-fashioned to
them. It was the end of a golden innocent age of television.
You can tell the age of a British adult by who they best
remember presenting the show . . .
The younger ones remember Stu Francis, the ones who now have
children themselves recall Ed Stewart or Michael Aspel, and if you
remember Leslie Crowther or Eamonn Andrews, you were there at the
beginning!
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