History
The Wallace and Ladmo Show ran from April 1, 1954 to December 29, 1989–36 years—making it one of the longest-running, daily, locally produced children's television shows in American broadcasting.
It premiered as It's Wallace?, a vehicle to showcase cartoons for KPHO. The show was hosted by Bill Thompson, who created the character of Wallace Snead when he appeared on the Golddust Charlie Show (also on KPHO). It aired on Tuesday and Thursday evenings at 6:30 PM. Within a year, Ladimir Kwiatkowski (who had been a cameraman for the station) joined the show as Ladmo, the rubber-faced sidekick to Wallace. In 1960, Pat McMahon joined the cast and developed a list of characters (such as Gerald, Aunt Maud, Captain Super and Marshall Good) that parodied various popular culture icons. (McMahon was also a popular talk radio host for KTAR in the Phoenix market.) In addition to the daily broadcasts, the cast of the show performed regular stage shows at such venues as local movie theaters and malls, Encanto Park (in central Phoenix), and the Legend City theme park.
In 1968 the show was renamed Wallace & Company and again in 1970, to its better known title, The Wallace & Ladmo Show. In 1973, the time slot of the show split with a morning and afternoon show but taping of the two shows was still in the afternoon so children could attend the audience after school.
The show ended with the final taping on December 29, 1989. By that time it had won many awards, including nine Emmy awards.
In recent years, the show has been airing reruns on and off the KAZT-TV (Channel 7.1 in Prescott and Phoenix) schedule. On June 6, 2009 the show returned to the KAZT schedule airing Saturdays at 6:00 PM.
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