plunk your magic twanger froggy!
1,159: PLUNK YOUR MAGIC TWANGER FROGGY! Growing up, my father was full of wacky catchphrases, mostly gained from radio or TV shows from his childhood. This must be a genetic trait, as it takes little prompting for my sister and I to run off lines from, say, SCTV or Kids in the Hall . One radio show that seemed to stick with Dad was Smilin' Ed's Gang (aka The Buster Brown Show , after its sponsor). Running from 1944 to 1953 and hosted by Smilin' Ed McConnell , it featured stories and an array of animal characters . The latter included Midnight the Cat, who always said "Nice" (or,as Dad put it, "'Niiiiice', says Midnight"), Squeaky the Mouse and, most infamously, Froggy the Gremlin , a malevolent doll with a repetitive speech pattern. What got me to thinking about this was an entry at News from ME , which included a lengthy clip from Smilin' Ed's successor on television, veteran character actor Andy Devine (Smilin' Ed moved th...