Ray Rayner

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American television presenter

title: "Ray Rayner" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1919-births", "2004-deaths", "television-personalities-from-new-york-city", "male-actors-from-albuquerque,-new-mexico", "military-personnel-from-chicago", "people-from-fort-myers,-florida", "mass-media-people-from-queens,-new-york", "fordham-university-alumni", "united-states-army-air-forces-officers", "united-states-army-air-forces-personnel-of-world-war-ii", "american-prisoners-of-war-in-world-war-ii", "world-war-ii-prisoners-of-war-held-by-germany", "university-of-chicago-alumni", "stalag-luft-iii-prisoners-of-world-war-ii", "shot-down-aviators", "college-of-the-holy-cross-alumni", "male-actors-from-florida"] description: "American television presenter" topic_path: "history" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Rayner" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American television presenter ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox presenter"]

FieldValue
nameRay Rayner
imageRay Rayner Show 1968.JPG
captionRayner with Chelveston and Cuddly Dudley on Ray Rayner and His Friends in 1968
birth_nameRaymond M. Rahner
birth_date
birth_placeQueens, New York, U.S.
death_date
death_placeFort Myers, Florida, U.S.
spouse{{plainlist
* {{marriageJeanne Rahner
children2
showRayner Shine
The Ray Rayner Show
The Little Show
Popeye's Firehouse
The Dick Tracy Show
Ray Rayner and His Friends
Rocket to Adventure
Bozo's Circus
stationWGGB
WOOD (AM)
WBKB-TV (later WLS-TV)
WBBM-TV
WGN-TV
KGGM-TV
countryUS
educationCollege of the Holy Cross
Fordham University
University of Chicago
::

| name = Ray Rayner | image = Ray Rayner Show 1968.JPG | caption = Rayner with Chelveston and Cuddly Dudley on Ray Rayner and His Friends in 1968 | birth_name = Raymond M. Rahner | birth_date = | birth_place = Queens, New York, U.S. | death_date = | death_place = Fort Myers, Florida, U.S. | spouse = {{plainlist|

| children = 2 | show =Rayner Shine The Ray Rayner Show The Little Show Popeye's Firehouse The Dick Tracy Show Ray Rayner and His Friends Rocket to Adventure Bozo's Circus | station =WGGB WOOD (AM) WBKB-TV (later WLS-TV) WBBM-TV WGN-TV KGGM-TV | network = | timeslot = | show2 = | station2 = | network2 = | timeslot2 = | style = | country = US | prevshow = | parents = | partner = | web = |education=College of the Holy Cross Fordham University University of Chicago}} Ray Rayner (born Raymond M. Rahner; July 23, 1919 – January 21, 2004) was an American television presenter, actor and author. He was a staple of Chicago children's television in the 1960s and 1970s on WGN-TV.

Early life and education

Rayner (the name was initially spelled "Rahner" but pronounced "Rayner") grew up in Queens, New York. He attended the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. Rayner's first media job was for WGBB radio in Freeport on Long Island while he was attending night school at Fordham University.

World War II service

He enlisted in the Army Air Forces, serving as the navigator of a B-17 during World War II, when he was shot down over France on April 3, 1943.

Chicago

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ed/Ray_Rayner_circa_1960s.JPG" caption="Rayner circa 1960"] ::

After briefly working in radio at WOOD in Grand Rapids, Michigan, as well as in New York and Dayton, Ohio following the war, Rayner joined what was then WBKB, later to become WBBM-TV in Chicago as a staff announcer; he also worked on a local morning program called Rayner Shine in 1953. This was Rayner's first work with puppets, who were provided for the show by the Mulqueens. The show, geared towards teens, ran for five years.

WBBM asked Rayner to switch to a children's program in 1958, though reluctant at first, he did so with The Little Show, which was very much like Ray Rayner and His Friends; on this version, the duck he worked with had the name of Havelock. It ran two years; he also hosted Popeye's Firehouse (as Chief Abernathy) for another two. He moved to WGN-TV in 1961.

WGN-TV Channel 9

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/33/Ray_Rayner_Sergeant_Pettibone_Dick_Tracy_WGN-TV.JPG" caption="Rayner as Sergeant Pettibone, with Tracer puppet, circa 1961–1967"] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b3/Bozos_Circus_postcard_1960s.JPG" caption="Bozo's Circus]]'' in 1966"] ::

His first role on WGN was as Sergeant Pettibone, the host of The Dick Tracy Show. After that, he occasionally appeared on the show as Oliver and filled in for Ned Locke as "Mr. Ray" when needed. Following the cancellation of The Dick Tracy Show, a new afternoon program called Rocket to Adventure ran until 1968; this featured early appearances by Gigantor and Tobor the Eighth Man. Rayner hosted the show appearing as an astronaut.

''Ray Rayner and His Friends''

Starting in 1962, Rayner began hosting his own long-running Ray Rayner and His Friends, which had the title Breakfast With Bugs Bunny when he became its host; it was renamed in 1964.

Rayner also had a talking dog puppet, Cuddly Dudley, created and voiced by Roy Brown, a.k.a. "Cooky the Cook" from Bozo's Circus and The Bozo Show. The segment highlighted viewer mail which included many hand-drawn pictures submitted by children. The segment was often humorous as it was a chance for Rayner and Brown to interact and use comedic ad-libs. He would also simulcast traffic reports from sister station WGN Radio over stock footage of traffic moving along the Chicago-area Interstates. During baseball season, he showed and narrated highlights of the Cubs and White Sox games from the previous day, wearing a custom-sewn ball cap that had the front half of each team's cap, resulting in a two-billed cap which he spun around, depending on which team's highlights were being shown. Rayner would do the same thing for the Bears during football season.

The arts-and-crafts was a regular segment that always began with a finished version prepared in advance by someone "behind the scenes" (often the wife of Producer Dick Flanders) that was displayed to the audience, followed by Rayner's attempts to demonstrate the process in an amusing, all-thumbs effort, also set to music, that resulted in a comically sub-par facsimile that more resembled a random collection of felt, construction paper and glue. Rayner's version would then be displayed alongside the original further emphasizing his comical ineptitude regarding crafts. Rayner also featured a "How and Why" segment on his shows with J. Bruce Mitchell of Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry, as did Garfield Goose and Friends. Along with Bozo's Circus, a video game was added to Rayner's show that viewers could play by phone called TV Powww. Rayner hosted this show until his 1980 retirement from WGN.

During his time at Channel 9, starting in 1974, Rayner also hosted a Thursday night broadcast of the Illinois State Lottery's then-weekly drawings, which featured a top prize of $300,000 ("Weekly Bonanza") and a second prize of $50,000 to a field of about a dozen contestants who had won a special lottery game over the preceding seven-day period. The show aired at 7:00 PM CT.

Cartoon segments

The cartoons on the program contain mostly Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies cartoons from their Golden Age of American animation, including some syndicated cartoon and action segments such as Flash Gordon and Superman. After each cartoon, a view of a clock will display on-screen with a background drawing of a sun.

Actor and author

During his years in Chicago, he also frequently appeared in live theater, including plays at the Forum Dinner Theater in suburban Summit; receiving a Jefferson award nomination for one of his roles.

Rayner also wrote a book titled The Story of Television published in 1972. It is basically an industry guide to how a television show is made featuring many photos of Rayner from his Ray Rayner and Friends show. The book is quite rare and commands a high price, when available, from on-line auction sites. One copy was donated to the Museum of Broadcast Communications about seven months after Rayner's passing.

Later years and legacy

He moved to KGGM-TV, the CBS affiliate in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 1981, before retiring from television in 1989. He cited the harsh Chicago winters as the motivating factor. He returned to Chicago for the 25th and 30th anniversary shows for Bozo's Circus. Rayner continued to accept some Chicago theater roles and took some time to patiently answer children's questions about his work even after moving to Albuquerque. He did a week-long stint filling in at weather and other duties at Chicago's Fox Thing in the Morning on WFLD in May 1995. Rayner took some courses at the University of New Mexico, did some teaching and wrote a column for a local newspaper there.

Rayner moved to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, after his wife, Jeanne, a former nurse, died of lung cancer in 1995. His activities there included reading to the blind, Grant A Wish (for terminally ill children), and delivering Meals on Wheels.

He died on 21 January 2004, of complications from pneumonia in Fort Myers, Florida, at the age of 84. He is survived by his second wife, Marie, a daughter and a son, and four grandchildren.

Clips from Rayner's shows are featured in the WGN Christmas special, Bozo, Gar and Ray: WGN TV Classics. In 2005, the Museum of Broadcast Communications awarded WGN-TV's Studio 1 a plaque to commemorate the forty years of children's television broadcast from the studio. Ray Rayner and Friends with a likeness of Rayner and Chelveston, is on the plaque along with Frazier Thomas and Garfield Goose and Friends and Bob Bell and Bozo's Circus. Rayner's coveralls, complete with notes, is part of the museum's collection. Cuddly Dudley and his doghouse from The Bozo Show are also part of the museum's collection. A photo of Rayner on the set of his television show with two guests was chosen as the cover photo for Chicago Television, published for the Museum of Broadcast Communications in 2010.

References

Bibliography

References

  1. (21 January 2004). "Ray Rayner, Star Of "Ray Rayner and his Friends," on WGN-TV In The 1960s And '70s, Dies". WGN-TV.
  2. Hageman, William. (21 January 2004). "WGN personality Ray Rayner dead at 84".
  3. Plotnik, Gene. (19 May 1951). "Vox Jox". [[Billboard (magazine).
  4. Plotnik, Gene. (16 May 1953). "Vox Jox". [[Billboard (magazine).
  5. Libman, Norma. (27 September 1992). "Coming To Chicago-a Career Decision That Made His Career".
  6. (13 November 1954). "Disk Jockey Move To Video Is Still A Long, Hard Trip". [[Billboard (magazine).
  7. Plotnik, Gene. (4 December 1954). "Vox Jox". [[Billboard (magazine).
  8. "Forgotten Friends".
  9. Johnson, Allan. (3 April 1988). "At 50, WGN Finds The TV Picture and Audiences Have Changed". Chicago Tribune.
  10. "Bozo Timeline-1960s". WGN-TV.
  11. "Bozo Timeline-1970s". WGN-TV.
  12. Ellin, Harlene. (8 November 1991). "Rayner's Pecking Pal In Duck Heaven".
  13. "Roy Brown".
  14. Dale, Steve. (28 June 2010). "Ark in the Park With Ray Rayner and Dr. Lester Fisher".
  15. Mueller, Jim. (20 September 1998). "If the face looks familiar, think back 25 years to...". Chicago Tribune.
  16. (2000). "Ray Rayner-Silver Circle Award".
  17. (1963–1964). "Chicago Emmy Awards".
  18. (1960–1961). "Chicago Emmy Awards".
  19. (1962–1963). "Chicago Emmy Awards".
  20. (1972). "The Story of Television: (Inside Creative Careers)". Hubbard Press.
  21. Anderson, Jon. (27 December 1993). "Bozo Days".
  22. "Bozo Timeline-1990s". WGN-TV.
  23. Nidetz, Steve. (7 May 1995). "Channel 7 Still Rules The Roost With Late News".
  24. "Ray Rayner and Friends".
  25. (23 January 2004). "TV Host Rayner Clowned Around".
  26. "WGN-TV Studio 1 Plaque Photo". Mark DeCarlo.
  27. (5 December 2005). "WGN-TV Studio 1 To Be Honored For Its Historic Role In Children's Television". Museum of Broadcast Communications.
  28. "Bozo Timeline-2000". WGN-TV.
  29. Hageman, William. (18 February 2009). "In search of Bozo".
  30. (2010). "Chicago Television". Arcadia Publishing.

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