John, Gilbert, Arizona

My father was a cameraman and my uncle was a director at WPRO-TV in the sixties. My father worked the evening shift and my uncle worked days with a few hours of overlap during which time Salty's Shack was broadcast. Occasionally during the summer, I would ride to the studio with my father and then go to my uncle's house when he went home. I remember being invited by Salty to be on the show several times and somewhere there are some pictures to prove it since the show was live [and] there wasn't any video tape. I was pretty shy and wasn't that enthusiastic about being on TV but Salty would make me feel welcome. Sometimes he would have me announce the next cartoon or the commercial sponsor. And there was always some sort of snack food like ice cream or Twinkies that was being promoted.

I specifically remember one episode where Salty was promoting a comic book. He was asking me what I thought about it and I attempted to stand the comic book on the podium with the pages open facing the camera. It kept falling over and I kept trying to keep it in place and my father was frantically signaling me to stop. Although I was invited back, my embarrassment about the situation put an end to my short TV acting career.

Received via email, February 6, 2011.