Private Clem & Mr. Mayor

It was time for Captain Cleveland, a midafternoon kiddy show on Cleveland's WKBF-TV. The host, Ventriloquist John Slowey, slipped lavaliere mikes around the necks of his young dummy, "Private Clem," and of the guest of the day. "What do I call you--your highness?" piped the bug-eyed puppet. The guest shook his head, smiled, and replied: "Most people use the name Mr. Mayor." So began the first of a weekly series of appearances by Carl Stokes, the first elected Negro head of a major U.S. city and the most winning on-air mayor for the kids since New York City's Fiorello La Guardia read the comics in 1945.

Captain Cleveland is aimed at children from three to ten, and the Private Clem and Mr. Mayor colloquies are designed to interest the kids in government and, by implication, good race relations. Clem's questions run from "Do you own the city?" to "Is the policeman my friend?" At one point, after Stokes explained that the police are responsible for protecting property, Clem noted: "That's why I can keep my bicycle in front of my house and no one takes it." Replied Stokes: "But don't you do that too much."

It is all done ad lib, but Stokes proved so deft and engaging in his first taping session that the segments will now be expanded from three to five minutes and go into rerun throughout the week. "He's so good it's unbelievable," says WKBF General Manager Jay Berkson. The telegenic mayor had turned down earlier requests to do regular evening shows like those of New York City's John Lindsay or Los Angeles' Sam Yorty. Berkson sold him on the afternoon program as a way to "reach the kids before their ideas and prejudices develop." "Why not?" agreed Stokes. "I've had so little time for my own two children, they might enjoy seeing me on television."

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