She observed the first few days of “The House With a Magic Window," was on air by the third day and hosting by herself for the majority of the next 43 years.īetty Lou married James “Red” Varnum, an Iowa broadcasting pioneer. She attended a year of law school and taught in Wisconsin.Ī friend knew Betty Lou dabbled in theater in college and suggested her for a TV-hosting gig at WOI. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a degree in psychology and a minor in English. More: From the archives: Duane Ellett and Floppy delighted generations of Iowa kidsīetty Lou McVay was born in Chicago but raised in Platteville, Wisconsin. “The House With the Magic Window” debut on Christmas week 1955 and the real surprise gift was Betty Lou. Sounds like the work of Lord Voldemort.īut in those 43 years, Betty Lou greeted children cheerfully and calmly for a quiet half hour that was more relaxed than the frenetic pace of the popular “Duane and Floppy Show” on WHO-TV. The show aired on WOI from late December 1951 until March 1994, when ISU sold the station to a private company and Varnum’s contract was not renewed. The mind boggles attempting to calculate how many bottles of paste and reams of colored construction paper precocious children begged parents to buy in an effort to replicate the projects she demonstrated onscreen. They were simple projects: a placemat made of woven strips of cut construction paper or decorating a tin can to turn it into a pencil and brush holder. Varnum - didn’t perform magic tricks, but instead taught children arts and crafts. She chatted with her puppet friends, who introduced “Felix the Cat” cartoons and the adventures of Hammy Hamster and his animal friends in the “Tales from the Riverbank.”īetty Lou - no child called her Mrs. Varnum was a tour guide for preschool age children who could always see the magic.
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