Tom Hatten: The Man, the Myth, the Legend
Posted by kimlno on January 18, 2009
Popeye and Tom Hatten
Growing up, one of my all-time favorite TV show was “Popeye and Friends,” hosted by the wonderful Tom Hatten. Tom was a great host, and he never gave off any creepy vibes like some of his other contemporaries. Mr. Rogers was always smiling, but it felt forced, fake somehow (Tyra would claim he didn’t “smile with his eyes”). Not to mention, he had those frightening little puppets (not a big fan of the puppets), and he always spoke to his audience like we were mentally challenged. The other big Kid’s TV host was Captain Kangaroo. Now, ol’ Cappy was a little less disturbing than Mr. Rogers, but he always seemed to me like he was drunk. Mr. Greenjeans, on the other hand, well, I just never really trusted adults who wore overalls (Deliverance, anyone?).
“Popeye and Friends” aired every Sunday morning on KTLA Channel 5 (thank God my parents weren’t religious, or else instead of sitting in front of the boob tube in my pajamas enjoying a deliciously warm, chocolately Pop-Tart, I would have been in church…LAME). Although the show obviously featured many classic “Popeye” cartoons (the good ones drawn by Max Fleischer), they also featured other cartoons like “Tom Slick,” “Super Chicken,” and “George of the Jungle.”
Between cartoons, Tom would sit at his drafting table, and while sharing ‘toon trivia, he would teach us, the viewers at home, how to draw various characters. It was amazing to watch him create, with just a pen and paper, all the cartoon character stars. He made it look SO easy. This guy put Bob Ross to shame (sorry, Bob…Happy Trees!). Tom always encouraged his young viewers to send him letters and include their drawings, and each week he’d grab his big canvas mail bag and share a few of the letters that he had received. But, by far, my favorite part of the show was “The Squiggle Game.” Tom would dig deep into his Squiggle mail bag, and pull out an envelope at random which contained a squiggle or a doodle sent in by one of his viewers. Then, with what could only be some sort of magical pen, because I could never duplicate anything he drew, Tom would transform that squiggle into an actual drawing. It was so COOL. I told you, this guy was the bomb.
When the musical “Annie” came into town in 1978, my mom bought us tickets. Although, I was excited to see the show (because I had that soundtrack memorized, naturally), mostly I was totally stoked to see Tom Hatten play the role of “Franklin Delano Roosevelt.” After the show, I finally felt like I had a reason to send Tom a “fan” letter. Sadly, even though I watched every week with fingers crossed, Tom never read my letter on the air. However, because Tom was probably the coolest guy on the planet (and, dare I say, still is), he did write me back.
My Letter from Tom Hatten
I was over the moon. You see, one year earlier, I had a somewhat less successful encounter with a television celebrity. But that story will have to wait for another day. Thank you, Tom Hatten, for hosting an awesome show and for being an all around good guy. You ROCK!
Ken Szukalski said
TO: Tom Hatten
First of all I hope I am sending this to the write address, because I would like to thank a man that at one point of my life made a very needy young child happy. I guess I should start off by saying when I was about eight years old I went to a party in Culver City I believe on Washington. The party was for underprivileged children back in the mid to early 60′s and Tom Hatten was the host. He answered questions talked about his cartoon show and most importantly drew pictures using letters from kids names arraigning them in different places and then connected the letters to make a picture. Well you guessed it, he picked me out of the crowd and asked me my name. I jumped up with joy yelling out my name Ken, I said and Tom turned his large drawing pad around so we could not see what he was drawing. I was really excited about what he would draw and tha fact that I hadn’t had to many good things going in my life. I felt lucky that at least I had To Hatten Draw me a picture that I couldremember and show my friends and family. Well when Mr. Hatten got done he turned the picture around and much to my surprise he drew a Donkie, I could have died, everyone in the room started laughing and he said ” SORRY I MISTOOK YOU FOR THE GUY IN BACK OF YOU”. Well,I was mad, my hero draw a Donkey out of my name for all to see. But do you know what, I never did foreget that drawing and I wish I still had it because after all it was from my hero and it was my SPECIAL DAY.
Now that I am in my Fifties alot of my heros are no longer here to say thanks to, so I would like to say from some you helped make happy, THANKS !!!
Sincerely, Ken (the Donkey) Szukalski
kimlno said
Ken, that was a wonderful story so I hope you don’t mind me posting it. However, I am just a fan as well, but I did find his talent agency you can write to for fan mail. Here’s a link to their website: http://www.thegerleragency.com/ I would simply email them and ask if they still represent Mr. Hatten, and, if they do, if you could have an address or email to send your comments to. I used to be in casting about a million years ago, and I always remember the Gerler Agency as being very nice and helpful. Good luck to you, and thanks for stopping by.