WGN Channel 9 - Ray Rayner and His Friends - "A Visit From Buster Crabbe" (1980)

Here's another cool clip from Ray Rayner salvaged from the dustbin of history! This one features a visit from the original "Flash Gordon," Mr. Buster Crabbe.

As the tape starts, Ray mentions that Buster had also played Buck Rogers at one time, and will be appearing the next day (March 29th) at 8:00pm and also on Sunday, March 30th at 2:00pm at the Northwest Federal Community Center, 4901 West Irving Park Road, and that recognized charities are asking for $3.00 donations, and those who go will get a postcard-sized picture of Mr. Crabbe as Flash Gordon, and that he will autograph it.

Buster starts off at the gate promoting his new book, Buster Crabbe's Arthritis Exercise Book, which will come out after April Fool's Day. He explains how he'd recently turned 72, and attributes his good health to swimming every day and not being "far away from the water, all of my life." He emphasizes that swimming is a far better exercise for older people, and advises them against jogging while recommending biking instead. The topic then turns to his 400 meter swim in the 1928 Olympics in Amsterdam, which Buster had specifically advised Ray not to mention (he had done better in that category in the 1932 Olympics in Los Angeles). Mr. Crabbe then mentions that 9 out of 10 exercise books on the market are geared towards younger people, with older people basically being ignored entirely, and that's where he came in with his book. He mentions how most people, when they turn 65, "just give up" and enter into a sedentary lifestyle which will most surely ensure they won't live another 20 years unless they start a little swimming exercise.

After Ray mentions he too is a swimmer, the topic then turns to the subject of arthritis. Buster credits co-writer Raphael Cilento ("an Englishman by way of Australia") for the expertise in that field as well as of rheumatism.

Ray then tries to get Buster to do a Tarzan yell, but Mr. Crabbe indicates it was neither him nor the first movie Tarzan, Johnny Weissmuller, but rather a combination of three voices - a baritone, a tenor, and a hog caller - cut together by an editor who was Buster's father-in-law, Tom Hill. With that revelation, the segment ends, and the last image we see is a "We'll Be Right Back After These Messages" bumper slide.

A very brief shot of the opening moments of a commercial are seen before the tape cuts out.

Quality Note: This was transferred to digital from a VHS dub of a Betamax recording. The Betamax-to-VHS transfer was not done by us, and sadly, it suffers from some tracking problems that are "burned in" to the VHS dub. Suffice it to say, this is the best possible transfer that could be done.

My thanks to George Marshall, who recorded this all those years ago, and saved it from being tossed out. :-)

"Nobody gives a damn about the people 55 and 60 and 65, except Buster Crabbe."

This aired on local Chicago TV on Friday, March 28th 1980 at about 8:35am.

About The Museum of Classic Chicago Television:

The Museum of Classic Chicago Television's primary mission is the preservation and display of off-air, early home videotape recordings (70s and early 80s, primarily) recorded off of any and all Chicago TV channels; footage which would likely be lost if not sought out and preserved digitally. Even though (mostly) short clips are displayed here, we preserve the entire broadcasts in our archives - the complete programs with breaks (or however much is present on the tape), for historical purposes. For information on how to help in our mission, to donate or lend tapes to be converted to DVD, and to view more of the 4,600+ (and counting) video clips available for viewing in our online archive, please visit us at:
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