Turn Off the Motor, Turn Off the Light
That was the first line of the obituary for Betty Lou McVay Varnum, the legendary Iowa television personality who died last week at the age of 90. And it was such a poignant statement for those of us who grew up watching “The Magic Window”, a children’s program which originated at WOI-TV when the station was part of Iowa State University.
If you didn’t ever see the “Magic Window” show, when it was time to show a cartoon or feature, in a nod to the film projectors of the era, Betty Lou would say, “turn on the motor, turn on the light”…and that’s why the line in the obituary tugs at the heartstring.
It holds the record for longest-running locally-produced children’s program in America, some 43 years, and thousands of us watched Felix the Cat cartoons, enjoyed the exploits of Hammy Hamster on “Tales of the Riverbank”, learned to cut construction paper with snubby-nosed scissors, and watched Betty Lou interact with Gregory Lion, Dusty the Unicorn, and Catrina Crocodile.
There was much more to Betty Lou, of course…including the fact that she was the long-time public affairs director for the TV station, meaning she hosted interview programs, televised VEISHEA parades, and was in charge of election coverage. That’s where I met her in 1990; I was doing election coverage for WOI radio, which was at the time in the same building as Channel 5 on campus. She looked like Betty Lou from the Magic Window…but she was directing traffic in a TV newsroom on election night with an edge like the focused and skilled professional she was.
For Baby Boomers, it’s another sad sign of our age. But it’s also a nice reminder of our simpler times, times today’s children unfortunately have missed. Her children noted in the obituary that even though she is gone, “the Magic Forest continues in all of us. Come and sit on the Magic Forest bench in the Ames Municipal Cemetery, and reflect on the fun and happy memories you had in the House with the Magic Window.”
I’ll do that the next time I’m in Ames. I’m doing it here today, and it helps make the sadness of her passing go away.
