Richard Ruelas

If you didn’t grow up in Phoenix, you’ll never really understand. It is the ultimate, “You had to be there” thing. You can watch the old videotapes, you can see the display in the museum, you can read the various books that are out there – but you aren’t going to get it. “It’s Wallace” (later “Wallace and Co.” then “Wallace and Ladmo” – this last what we all called it no matter what the actual name) was a kid show developed by a kid who never grew up and never show more talked down to the kids. The cartoons were the original excuse, but they soon became an afterthought. It was the skits which you really watched for. A superhero who is about to get fired from the show and asks everyone to go to their windows and shout, “I’m mad as heck and I’m not going to take it anymore.” A clown (originally named Ozob – get it? – but then renamed Boffo when the Bozo people threatened to sue) who made balloon animals by blowing up a single long balloon and calling it a snake. A Cowboy Marshall who rode a bicycle covered with a plastic horse. A spoiled rich kid who, at one point in the shows history, would enter to the strains of Culture Club. You had to be there.

This biography does as good a job as any book in explaining how it all got started. For the long-time fan of the show it provides the background to understand how such a show could exist and (important to all of us who always wondered) why it finally came to an end. (And for me, I finally got a decent explanation of why Pat McMahon disappeared for year.)

The book isn’t perfect. Some events are told out of order (I was there, I remember) and the early chapters of the book are not well-constructed – single sentence paragraphs that chop through the history. But it smoothes out as the book moves along. And once the story turns to the show, every fan will be taken back in the Way Back Machine. (You had to be there.) Those of us who grew up watching in the 60s will be taken back further than those who grew up in the 80s (my kids), but it is all there. If you were there, if you understand, then you will want to read this. And, even if you want to try and get a small hint of what it was all about, read this, take two video tapes and call me in the morning. show less

This book, published circa 2004, is probably the best source of information available on Arizona television legend The Wallace and Ladmo Show, other than talking to Pat McMahon (since Bill Thompson, aka Wallace, and Ladimir Kwiatkowski, aka Ladmo, have both passed on). It gives Bill Thompson's biography, which is not particularly interesting, and then explains Thompson's creation of the show; the show's antecedents; and probably every significant incident or circumstance that ever happened show more during Wallace and Ladmo's 35 years on the air. show less

Thanks for Tuning in is a biography of Bill Thompson, better known as Wallace of Wallace and Ladmo. It is a must read for anyone who grew up in Phoenix watching those guys. I found it interesting what his starting salary in 1953 was. It was nearly $100 more than I made starting at KOOL-TV in 1973 doing much the same things as he. Hmmm? The market must not have changed much in 20 years. Beside that I loved the behind the scenes stories of how the show as created and grew over the 35 years it show more was on the air. show less