{"id":3330,"date":"2011-05-23T14:18:36","date_gmt":"2011-05-23T18:18:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=3330"},"modified":"2011-05-23T14:18:36","modified_gmt":"2011-05-23T18:18:36","slug":"real-starr-power-for-memorial-day-parade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=3330","title":{"rendered":"Real ‘Starr’ power for Memorial Day Parade"},"content":{"rendered":"

‘Our Gal’\u00a0 Sally Starr to Participate in the Kennett Square\u00a0 for 19th time.<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

By Ginna Goodall<\/strong>, Correspondent, UnionvilleTimes.com<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

TV legend Sally Starr will be a highlight of this year's Memorial Day Parade in Kennett.<\/p><\/div>\n

KENNETT SQUARE \u2014 Captain Kangaroo, Bozo the Clown and Howdy Dowdy all were national kiddie show stars of the past.\u00a0 Then there were the myriad of local broadcasting stations with their own children\u2019s programming hosts such as \u201cSalty\u201d Brine in Rhode Island or Miss Merrily from the Magic Toy Shop in upstate New York.\u00a0\u00a0 Sally Starr, aka \u201cYour Gal Sal\u201d, was the beloved children\u2019s personality of Philadelphia\u2019s WFIL-TV\u2019s Popeye Theater from 1950 to the early 1970\u2019s.\u00a0 And now she\u2019s coming back to Kennett Square for her 19th visit, as part of the annual Memorial Day Parade on Monday, May 30th.<\/p>\n

Many local baby boomers fondly remember Sally Starr, dressed in sparkly cowgirl outfits with a pair of six-shooters on her hips as she introduced the daily cartoons.\u00a0 An Official Sally Starr Facebook Fan Page has dozens of entries from admirers who reminisce about Sally singing country tunes and gently instilling wholesome values in her young audience.\u00a0 A fan from Unionville told of sending away for a Sally Starr \u201cfundraiser kit\u201d that guided youngsters in organizing their own benefit for charity.\u00a0 Mary recalls holding a backyard fair with carnival games, a gypsy fortune-teller, and other simple activities and then sending the profits back to Sally\u2019s personal charity.<\/p>\n

Born Alleen Mae Beller in Kansas City, Missouri in 1923, Sally Starr debuted on radio with her sister at the age of 12.\u00a0\u00a0 Eventually coming to Philadelphia for a country radio program, Sally became a veritable television pioneer, making her mark in what was once a traditionally male business.\u00a0\u00a0 In addition to her tenure on television, Sally also recorded country tunes and kiddie songs with Bill Haley & the Comets, performed in several movies including the last feature film of The Three Stooges, and authored a couple of children\u2019s books.\u00a0 She eventually returned to her original roots on radio and retired at the age of 88 with her final Suppertime Jamboree program on WVLT this past April.\u00a0\u00a0 Sally signed off that show, as she always did on television, with a wish for \u201cLove, Luck, and Lollipops.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sally especially enjoyed making special appearances at fairs, store openings, fundraisers, and, of course, local parades.\u00a0 At one point, she rode her palomino horse \u201cPal\u201d in the parades.\u00a0 This year, Sally will be riding in one of the vintage convertibles for the May 30th Kennett Square Memorial Day Parade.<\/p>\n

The parade is organized by volunteer Bill Taylor in order to honor local veterans.\u00a0 Besides Sally Star, there will be several high school bands \u2014 including Unionville and Kennett high schools \u2014 fife and drum corps, bag pipers, and color guard groups.\u00a0 A wonderful assortment of antique military vehicles and convertibles are presented, along with Civil War and Revolutionary War Re-enactors, local sports teams and much more.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

From marching bands, to military reenactors, this year's Kennett Memorial Day Parade will have it all -- topping even 2010, which featured Uncle Sam riding in a classic car.<\/p><\/div>\n

Beginning at 10 am, the parade route starts at the Kennett High School on East South Street, progresses up South Union Street to East Cypress.\u00a0 The marchers will wend their way through Kennett Borough on South Broad Street to State Street and eventually to the Union Hill Cemetery on North Union Street.\u00a0 A special ceremony commemorating\u00a0\u00a0 There will be four Grand Marshals for this year\u2019s parade, honoring the veterans of World War II – Anthony N. Basilio Sr. , Raymond\u00a0 Basilio, and Ralph DiCarlo all of Kennett Square, and Charles Leonzis of Wilmington, De.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

‘Our Gal’\u00a0 Sally Starr to Participate in the Kennett Square\u00a0 for 19th time. By Ginna Goodall, Correspondent, UnionvilleTimes.com KENNETT SQUARE \u2014 Captain Kangaroo, Bozo the Clown and Howdy Dowdy all were national kiddie show stars of the past.\u00a0 Then there were the myriad of local broadcasting stations with their own children\u2019s programming hosts such as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3334,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,7],"tags":[25,326,327,328],"class_list":["post-3330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","category-featured","tag-kennett","tag-memorial-day","tag-parade","tag-sally-starr"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3330"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3330\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3334"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}