Fred Scott, a pioneer in early television and one of the original "rangers" on "Captain Video and his Video Rangers," has died after a long illness. He was 88.
His son, Larry, said his father had most recently lived in Ridge, though spent most of his life in Muttontown, and later, Syosset. Scott was a well-known figure at WNEW-TV (now WNYW/5) - then called WABD, after founder Dr. Allen B. DuMont - which was the flagship of the old DuMont Network. He spent a 30-year career at the station as an announcer, and was particularly well-known as Uncle Fred, a host of various daytime children's shows for Channel 5 through the '50s and '60s. As such, he was a longtime colleague of other figures of classic New York television, including Sonny Fox (whom Scott succeeded as host of the Saturday morning game show "Just for Fun"), Sandy Becker and Soupy Sales. In an interview with Channel 5's resident critic Stewart Klein some years ago, Scott recalled meeting a little boy at an amusement park who started to cry when Scott didn't recognize him: When Scott wondered why the boy was so upset, he recalled him saying, "'You know me, Uncle Fred. I watch you every day.'" Scott began his career at Channel 5's "Captain Video" as Communications Officer Rogers. "Video" was one of the iconic shows of '50s TV. The show quickly established itself at the forefront of TV's science fiction splurge, which played to the country's obsession with the space race and the Cold War. A sensation among kids and adults - who had probably long wondered what the sci-fi radio shows of their youth actually looked like - "Video" couldn't save the DuMont Network from extinction, but it possibly forestalled that eventual fate. Born in Dayton, Ohio, Scott, who served in the Army Medical Corps in World War II, moved to Long Island after the war, later working in radio and summer stock theater upstate. By joining Channel 5 in 1949, he went directly into the emerging field of television. Later, he moved from Muttontown to Syosset, where he opened a real estate business. He retired from television in 1978, and retired from his real estate business in 1985. Besides Larry, of Northport, he is survived by three other children - Sharon, of Spotsylvania, Va; Fred Jr., of Oyster Bay; and Robert, of Southold - 14 grandchildren and one great-grandchild. A daughter, Barbara Ann, died in 1994. His wife, Barbara, died in 1988. Scott's wake will be held tomorrow afternoon and evening at O.B. Davis Funeral Home in Miller Place, and a funeral Mass is scheduled for Wednesday morning at St. Mark's in Rocky Point. The family requests that donations be made to the American Cancer Society or Catholic charities. Regards, KGB ----- Kevin G. Barkes Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] KGB Report: http://www.kgbreport.com Commentwear by KGB: http://www.commentwear.com National Temperature Index: http://nationaltemperatureindex.com DCL Dialogue on line: http://www.dcldialogue.com Random Quotations Generator: http://www.goodquotations.com Over 13,000 searchable quotations. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "World News Now Discussion List" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/wnndl?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
