The show was hosted by Cleveland native Al Lewis (1924–2009) (not to be confused with the actor who played Grandpa on The Munsters), and later was co-hosted by his wife, Wanda.
Uncle Al holds the unofficial record for the longest-running regularly-scheduled series with the same host for the show's entire run.
In the summer of 1949, then-General Manager Mort Watters asked Lewis (hired on two months earlier as WCPO's first art director) to host an hour-long filler show called Al's Corner Drugstore, in which Lewis, dressed in a soda jerk's uniform, would take phone-in requests for songs which he would play on his accordion, which would later become one of his many trademarks along with his straw boater hat.
[3] When mothers began calling into the station requesting tickets to be on The Uncle Al Show, a Cincinnati institution was born.
Station executives understandably refused to release Lewis from his contract, so CBS brass settled on Howdy Doody alum Bob Keeshan to host their new kids' show, which became Captain Kangaroo.
Initially, Wanda was called "Captain Windy", costumed in a superhero-like outfit during the early days of the show, and was seen "flying" Superman-style before she made her entrance on stage.
At the age of eight, George Clooney appeared in a 1970 episode of Uncle Al playing a ship's captain in one of the show's skits.
[5][6] By the 1960s, kids who appeared on the show each were given a name-tag sticker in the shape of a bow tie modeled after Uncle Al's sartorial trademark.
The show's closing theme was the last few verses of the Disney standard It's a Small World written by Robert & Richard Sherman.
He later worked with Glenn Ryle at WKRC-TV before going into advertising in the 1970s, writing and performing memorable commercials for King Kwik Minit Markets.
But despite the educational enrichments, The Uncle Al Show continued to hold fast to the values the children came to love from day one.
But in retirement, the Lewises remained active in their community, and on occasion made personal appearances at festivals and other functions in Cincinnati.