Marlo and the Magic Movie Machine

Last updated
Marlo and the Magic Movie Machine
Genre Children's television series
Created byCharles Grinker, Mert Koplin and Sanford Fisher
StarringLaurie Faso
Voices ofMert Koplin (Machine)
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
Production
Executive producerSanford Fisher
ProducerCharles Grinker
Running time60 min. (1977)
30 min. (1978 - 1980)
Production companiesCorporation for Education and Learning, Inc.
Original release
Network CBS (WFSB)
Release1977 (1977) 
1980 (1980)

Marlo and the Magic Movie Machine is a 1977-1980 children's television show originating from WFSB-TV in Hartford. [1] The storyline involved Marlo Higgins (Laurie Faso) who is a mustachioed and frizzy-haired computer programming genius working for the L. Dullo computer company. He was banished to the "sub-sub-basement" by his boss, Leo Dullo. By day Marlo works for L. Dullo. At night he builds, programs, and interacts with his Magic Movie Machine (Mert Koplin, voice) built using L. Dullo hardware. The waveform from a real-time audio oscilloscope was displayed on the Magic Movie Machine's screen whenever it talked and it played short clips. The two (man and computer) traded tips and quips. [2]

Contents

Marlo sat at a console with a slight resemblance to master control consoles of the time. He would call up the various film clips featured on the show by entering codes using a numeric keypad with round, yellow number buttons and pressing an orange rectangular Start button to start the selected film. In earlier episodes, a split-flap display mounted on the console showed the code entered on the keypad. In later episodes, this was changed to an LED display, and the buttons were made to sound like the DTMF tones made by a touch-tone telephone as Marlo pressed them. Most of the time, Marlo used a small keypad consisting of two columns of buttons flanking a CRT, located in front of him when he was sitting at the console of the Magic Movie Machine. However, a similar but larger keypad located on the wall was sometimes used (see below).

Segments

Regularly featured segments, conceived and written by Producer/Story Editor Charles Grinker, included:

Production information

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Atari 5200</span> Home video game console

The Atari 5200 SuperSystem or simply Atari 5200 is a home video game console introduced in 1982 by Atari, Inc. as a higher-end complement for the popular Atari Video Computer System. The VCS was renamed to the Atari 2600 at the time of the 5200's launch. Created to compete with Mattel's Intellivision, the 5200 wound up a direct competitor of ColecoVision shortly after its release. While the Coleco system shipped with the first home version of Nintendo's Donkey Kong, the 5200 included the 1978 arcade game Super Breakout which had already appeared on the Atari 8-bit family and Atari VCS in 1979 and 1981 respectively.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Microvision</span> First handheld game console that used interchangeable ROM cartridges

The Microvision is the first handheld game console that used interchangeable cartridges and in that sense is reprogrammable. It was released by the Milton Bradley Company in November 1979 for a retail price of $49.99, equivalent to $212.00 in 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Porky Pig</span> Warner Bros. theatrical cartoon character

Porky Pig is an animated character in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons. He was the first character created by the studio to draw audiences based on his star power, and the animators created many critically acclaimed shorts featuring the character. Even after he was supplanted by later characters, Porky continued to be popular with moviegoers and, more importantly, the Warners directors, who recast him in numerous everyman and sidekick roles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">IBM 1620</span> Small IBM scientific computer released in 1959

The IBM 1620 was announced by IBM on October 21, 1959, and marketed as an inexpensive scientific computer. After a total production of about two thousand machines, it was withdrawn on November 19, 1970. Modified versions of the 1620 were used as the CPU of the IBM 1710 and IBM 1720 Industrial Process Control Systems.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Telephone keypad</span> Keypad that appears on some telephones

A telephone keypad is a keypad installed on a push-button telephone or similar telecommunication device for dialing a telephone number. It was standardized when the dual-tone multi-frequency signaling (DTMF) system was developed in the Bell System in the United States in the 1960s that replaced rotary dialing originally developed in electromechanical switching systems. Because of the installed abundance of rotary dial equipment well into the 1990s, many telephone keypads were also designed to produce loop-disconnect pulses electronically, and some could be optionally switched to produce either DTMF or pulses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Function key</span> Key on a computer or terminal keyboard

A function key is a key on a computer or terminal keyboard that can be programmed to cause the operating system or an application program to perform certain actions, a form of soft key. On some keyboards/computers, function keys may have default actions, accessible on power-on.

<i>Shooting Stars</i> (1993 TV series) British television comedy panel game (1993–2011)

Shooting Stars is a British television comedy panel game broadcast on BBC Two as a pilot in 1993, then as three full series from 1995 to 1997, then on BBC Choice from January to December 2002 with two series before returning to BBC Two for another three series from 2008 until its cancellation in 2011. Created and hosted by double-act Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer, it uses the panel show format but with the comedians' often slapstick, surreal and anarchic humour that does not rely on rules in order to function, with the pair apparently ignoring existing rules or inventing new ones as and when the mood takes them.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Speak & Spell (toy)</span> Electronic toy made by Texas Instruments

The Speak & Spell line is a series of electronic hand-held child computers by Texas Instruments that consisted of a TMC0280 linear predictive coding speech synthesizer, a keyboard, and a receptor slot to receive one of a collection of ROM game library modules. The first Speak & Spell was introduced at the summer Consumer Electronics Show in June 1978, making it one of the earliest handheld electronic devices with a visual display to use interchangeable game cartridges. The company Basic Fun brought back the classic Speak & Spell in 2019 with some minor changes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Safe-cracking</span> Process of opening a safe without either the combination or the key

Safe-cracking is the process of opening a safe without either the combination or the key.

Shrek 4-D is an animated 4D film based on the Shrek franchise created by DreamWorks Animation, itself based on the book by William Steig. It also is a 4D simulator ride attraction with motion-based effects and water sprayers located at various theme parks around the world. It is currently shown at Universal Destinations & Experiences in Japan, Singapore, and previously in Universal Studios Florida and Hollywood, where it closed on August 14, 2017, in Hollywood to make way for the DreamWorks Theatre attraction while the one in Orlando closed on January 10, 2022 and was replaced by Illumination's Villain-Con Minion Blast. Outside the Universal parks, the movie was shown at Movie Park Germany in Germany from May 2008 until July 2011, and Warner Bros. Movie World in Australia from September 2005 until August 2010. A spin-off attraction titled Donkey's Photo Finish is located at the Florida venue while Meet Shrek and Donkey is located at the Hollywood venue. In Universal Studios Japan, the attraction is shown in the same theater as Sesame Street 4-D Movie Magic, with the Shrek 4-D film shown for the first 12 hours of the day, and the Sesame Street film shown for the next 12 hours of the day.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Japanese input method</span> Methods used to input Japanese characters on a computer

Japanese input methods are used to input Japanese characters on a computer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">T9 (predictive text)</span> T9 is a predictive text technology for mobile phones with a 3×4 numeric keypad

T9 is a predictive text technology for mobile phones, originally developed by Tegic Communications, now part of Nuance Communications. T9 stands for Text on 9 keys.

On personal computers with numeric keypads that use Microsoft operating systems, such as Windows, many characters that do not have a dedicated key combination on the keyboard may nevertheless be entered using the Alt code. This is done by pressing and holding the Alt key, then typing a number on the keyboard's numeric keypad that identifies the character and then releasing Alt.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Front panel</span>

A front panel was used on early electronic computers to display and allow the alteration of the state of the machine's internal registers and memory. The front panel usually consisted of arrays of indicator lamps, digit and symbol displays, toggle switches, dials, and push buttons mounted on a sheet metal face plate. In early machines, CRTs might also be present. Prior to the development of CRT system consoles, many computers such as the IBM 1620 had console typewriters.

Various accessories for the PlayStation 3 video game console have been produced by Sony and third-party companies. These include controllers, audio and video input devices like microphones, video cameras, and cables for better sound and picture quality.

<i>Video & Arcade Top 10</i> Canadian game show

Video & Arcade Top 10 was a Canadian game show broadcast on YTV from 1991 to 2006. Filmed in Toronto, Ontario, it was a competitive game show in which contestants played against each other in video games for prizes, with assorted review and profile segments on current games, music, and movies featured as well. V&A Top 10 is one of a select few English language Canadian game shows to run nationally for at least 15 years, joining Front Page Challenge, Reach For The Top, and Definition in that category. Reruns of the series from the late 1990s and 2000s aired on GameTV from November 2011 to September 2012.

Encounter in the Third Dimension is a 3-D film directed by Ben Stassen and Sean McLeod Phillips. It was released in the US on March 31, 1999. It has been shown in 3-D theaters and released on DVD with 3-D glasses, in both 2-D and 3-D format.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Numeric keypad</span> Section of computer keyboard

A numeric keypad, number pad, numpad, or ten key, is the palm-sized, usually-17-key section of a standard computer keyboard, usually on the far right. It provides calculator-style efficiency for entering numbers. The idea of a 10-key number pad cluster was originally introduced by Tadao Kashio, the developer of Casio electronic calculators.

<i>Barbie Dolphin Magic</i> 2017 Barbie television film

Barbie Dolphin Magic or Barbie: Dolphin Magic is a 2017 animated adventure television film directed by Conrad Helten and written by Jennifer Skelly.

<i>Barbie: Mermaid Power</i> 2022 Animated television film

Barbie: Mermaid Power or Barbie Mermaid Power is a 2022 animated musical adventure comedy children's television film directed by Emory Ronald "Ron" Myrick and written by Ann Austen.

References

  1. Hyatt, Wesley (1997). The Encyclopedia of Daytime Television . Watson-Guptill Publications. p.  279. ISBN   978-0823083152 . Retrieved 22 March 2020.
  2. Woolery, George W. (1985). Children's Television: The First Thirty-Five Years, 1946-1981, Part II: Live, Film, and Tape Series. The Scarecrow Press. pp. 326–328. ISBN   0-8108-1651-2.