Jon Arthur

Sparkie, "the little elf from the land of make-believe, who wants more than anything else in the world to be a real boy,” was actually the recorded voice of Jon Arthur played at a fast speed.

[5] At WSAI in Cincinnati, Arthur began the Big Jon and Sparkie show, carried daily on 181 ABC stations beginning in 1950.

Arthur voiced all of the various characters while Kortekamp provided the scripts for their adventures and Donald Poynter, a local businessman in the novelty business, produced a Sparkie puppet.

[5] However, in 1951, the station did not renew its contract with Arthur and the program then moved to new Cincinnati studios to continue its ABC radio broadcasts.

[8] The Saturday morning No School Today usually featured Sparkie's recounting of the latest serial episode of Captain Jupiter, which he and his friend Rabbit Ears McKester saw at the movies.

The radio characters were also among the first media personalities satirized in Mad when Harvey Kurtzman wrote "Big John" and "Sparkie" into "Robin Hood!"