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	In the upper left you can see the neon sign for The Pig Coffee Shop, which was later the Whistlin’ Pig, on Broadway near Taylor. They featured “Glorified Ham and Eggs” for 75 cents.




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		Mel Blanc was the voice of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Elmer Fudd, Woody Woodpecker, Barney Rubble and a host of other cartoon characters, but not too many people know that he got his start working in the early days of radio on the air in Portland at KGW and KEX. Mel Blank was born in 1911 in San Francisco. In 1915, he moved with his family to Portland, when vaudeville was at its peak. He later changed the spelling of his name to Blanc.


	The Oregonian, Thursday Nov. 24, 1938.

Airing for the first time on November 25, 1937, a magical radio show about the adventures of The Cinnamon Bear filled the airwaves in the days before television. Each year, it became a ritual to listen to The Cinnamon Bear on the radio and count down the days to Christmas.

Judy and Jimmy (two of the nicest playmates you could want) were starting to decorate for Christmas and they discovered that the Silver Star for the Christmas Tree was missing. They went up to the attic to find it and met Paddy O’Cinnamon (The Cinnamon Bear), Santa’s right hand man. He tells them the star was taken to Maybeland by the wicked Crazy Quilt Dragon.

They all embark on a journey to find and retrieve the Silver Star and run into such characters as King Blotto, Willie the Stork and Captain Taffy and the Candy Pirates, among others.

Lipman’s sponsored the radio broadcasts in Portland, and the Cinnamon Bear took up residence at Lipman and Wolfe Stores at Christmas time. He would sit in the window and draw throngs of kids to the store so they could tell their parents what they wanted for Christmas and if they were good, they might get to visit the Chocolate Lounge.

Portland's long association with The Cinnamon Bear began on a radio serial program 73 years ago. The Cinnamon Bear was created and written in 1937 by Glanville "Glan" & his wife Elizabeth Heisch for "Transco" Productions in Hollywood. Glan was working as a radio writer and director at KFI in Los Angeles, and the idea for the Christmas radio series came from Lindsay MacHarrie, Transco's Production Manager.


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When 4:30 rolls around every Monday through Friday, you would hear Harry the Heron yell, “Come on gang, it’s time for Mr. Moon”. Over 100,000 youngsters in Oregon and Southwest Washington flocked to their TV sets to follow the fabulous adventures of Mr. Moon and his hilarious puppet crew. Beginning as a radio show in the early 1950s, Mr. Moon became one of the most popular kid shows in Portland.

Behind the Mr. Moon mask was longtime radio disc jockey Ed Leahy. He created the cast of characters from the Mother Goose Rhyme “Hey Diddle Diddle”. Another well-known Portland broadcaster, Art Morey, joined the show as the voice of Harry the Heron and other animal characters.

While Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, Hopalong, Sky King and The Lone Ranger were stars we saw on the silver screen, our stars were Mr. Duffy, Rusty Nails, Heck Harper, Addie Bobkins and Ramblin’ Rod. We grew up with them and they were our pals. When television was in its first decade in Portland, in the 1950s and 60s, They were there for us, to entertain and educate us; helping us to get a healthy start in life. Every kid who grew up in the Portland area, will remember what fun it was to visit their shows where they brought our favorite cartoons to us everyday with their own flair, style and schtick.

In 1958, Frank Kinkaid auditioned at KOIN TV to produce a children’s show. His predecessor, Heck Harper, had just been hired by rival station KGW TV to produce a similar show there. Frank had been in acting and show business all of his life, spending over 15 years in Seattle and he decided to try something new in Portland. He brought his many talents to KOIN where he stayed until retiring in 1983 after 25 years. Frank had been the Frederick & Nelson Santa Claus in Seattle for 15 years and he used his Santa voice combined with his riverboat captain’s voice from his days in “Showboat” to land the job of “Mr. Duffy” and Cartoon Circus was born.


	Kinkaid Family Collection

KOIN’s set builders built a very colorful set for Frank Kinkaid’s Cartoon Circus.



		Kinkaid Family Collection

KOIN’s popular Cartoon Circus got lots of letters and Mr. Duffy had his own mailbox.






		Just added: Fairview Farms


	Early view of Mayflower Dairy.


	Early view of the Damascus Creamery.

Alpenrose Dairy in the Hayhurst neighborhood of Southwest Portland in 1917.


	View of a Mt. Hood Cream Co. delivery wagon. The Mt. Hood Creamery was located at 230 East Sixth St.


	Alvin Steigerwald’s Dairy was one of the earliest dairies in East Portland.


	Updates to Oregon Photographers. . .


	New information about A.L. Thomas of Newport was added. Thanks to Jodi Weeber, Museum Archivist at the Lincoln County Historical Society for submitting the information.


	Eugene Everett Lavalleur (right) enjoys fried chicken as he takes a break from operating the camera.

	Edwin Patton hired Eugene Everett Lavalleur as the lead photographer for Patton Post Card Company. Lavalleur held this position from 1911 to 1918 and was probably Oregon’s most prolific postcard photographer. First, he photographed and documented the settlement and development of early Oregon, then he traveled to Washington, Idaho, California and states to the east, photographing all along the way. Lavalleur acquired the post card business from Patton Brothers in 1918 and renamed it Pacific Photo Company. In the 1920s, Lavalleur sold the negatives and equipment to Wesley Andrews who republished many of Lavalleur’s photo cards. Many of these are mistakenly credited as being Wesley Andrew’s work.


	Planes on the Tarmac and field at Portland Airport at Swan Island in 1930.


	Look for updates to Portland’s Radio Days, KWJJ Radio and KGW Radio.



	Willie Nelson began singing at the age of 12 in his native Texas and started in radio at age 15. Soon thereafter, Willie moved to the Portland area and debuted at KVAN on April 8, 1956. Ad courtesy of Craig Adams.


	Portland Radio Historian Craig Adams has written a history of Rose Festival Broadcasts.

On June 11, 1937, The Oregonian reported that KEX’s Chet Huntley, Rollie Truitt and Phil Irwin anchored radio coverage of the Grand Floral Rose Parade from The Stadium where the parade began. It was reported that KEX had a total of seven announcers at the mikes at several locations along the parade route. Rollie Truitt had joined KEX as The Voice of The Portland Beavers while Chet Huntley would eventually join with David Brinkley on NBC-TV's Huntley-Brinkley Report. Thanks to Craig Adams for discovering more of Portland’s full color radio history.


	Revised Chapters: Toledo, Pdx Airport, Steigerwald Dairy, KGW TV, KPTV, KOIN TV & KATU TV, Baker Theatre, Hollywood and Oriental Theatre.

REVISIONS: Look for updates to Portland Streets and Broadway. Look for additions to Kenton, Olds Wortman & King and the Tillamook Blimps. Our page on Portland Radio has some new information and pictures. Look for revisions to Portland Neighborhoods where we added a new page on the Hollywood District as well as a bit of information about Woodstock. We have made changes to Sellwood, Pixieland, Department Stores, Jantzen Beach, Lotus Isle and Newport as well as Meier & Frank, Hazelwood, the Multnomah Hotel and Post Card History. Discover the histories in our newer chapters: Portland’s Theaters, St. Johns, Lents and Astoria. Keep watching for more .


	Thanks to Brian Thompson for sharing his memories of working at Lipmans from 1972 to 1977. We have added them to the Lipmans story.


		Last updated 11-22-11


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