Jon Arthur 5:6:24 5.13 PM

Jon was an American entertainer as big Jon Arthur. He was the host of the Saturday morning children's radio series big John and Sparkie. Sparkie, "the little elf from the land of make-believe, who wants more than anything else in the world to be a real boy,” was actually the recorded voice of Jon Arthur played at a fast speed.

At WSAI in Cincinnati, Arthur began the Big Jon and Sparkie show, carried daily on 181 ABC stations beginning in 1950. ABC also aired his two-hour Saturday show, No School Today, heard weekly by 12 million listeners on 275 stations.The show's theme song was "Teddy Bears' Picnic" as sung by Ann Stephens. Cincinnati's Don Kortekamp, who was an editor at WSAI, teamed up with Arthur to become the scriptwriter of Big Jon and Sparkie. Arthur voiced all of the various characters while Kortekamp provided the scripts for their adventures.

And now, coming up next: Big Jon and Sparkie.