Trivia

It was rumored that Albert Einstein liked it so much, he stopped work every day to watch. He was addressing a group of Nobel prize winners in 1950, and stopped abruptly, telling his audience he had to leave since it was "Time for Beany". Groucho Marx of the Marx Brothers wrote that it was the only show adult enough for his young daughter Melinda to watch. In fact, Groucho even made "Time For Beany" references on his own popular early television program, "You Bet Your Life".

Actor Jimmy Stewart pleaded with Paramount not to change the show's air time so that he would not be forced to miss it. When actor Lionel Barrymore worked on the MGM set, studio head Louis B. Mayer forbade television sets on the lot because he felt they were a threat to the motion picture industry. So, Barrymore was forced to send his chauffeur to a local bar to watch "Time For Beany" and return to report on the plot developments in the puppet show when he wasn't able to see it himself because of the shooting schedule.

Thanks primarily to Robert Clampett's clever scripts and the outstanding voice work of Daws Butler and Stan Freberg, "Time For Beany" was a show whose appeal stretched well beyond that of the average children's show of the time. This is evidenced by the fact that the show's fans included Albert Einstein, Lionel Barrymore, Ethel Barrymore, Aldous Huxley and Adlai Stevenson.

"Time For Beany" originated from Paramount's KTLA-TV studio and did fifteen minute shows, five days a week, fifty-two weeks a year for six years. During that time winning three Emmys for Best Children's Program in 1949, 1950 and 1952. The show also nominated in 1954 but didn't win, winning the Peabody award. Stan Freberg was nominated, as Cecil, for a Best Actor Emmy in 1950 but didn't win.

Clampet won the first of his three Emmys for the Beany show, At the dinner he presented his Emmy to his mother in thanks for helping make the first Cecil puppet.

Bob Clampett gave birth to Time For Beany in his garage, as he opens door to let Stan Freberg and Daws Butler inside. The garage was just off the main drag of LaBrea Ave. in the middle of Hollywood, near Beverly Boulevard. It housed the puppets in the late 1940s.

Bob Clampett's Time for Beany featuring Cecil, the Sea Sick Sea Serpent, made out of pale green terry-cloth for skin with sewn on eyes and buttons representing nostrils, premiered on February 28, 1949 from Los Angeles television station KTLA-Channel 5 that was adjacent to the Paramount movie lot, "Time for Beany" ran live Monday through Friday in fifteen minute installments for five years. (Kinescopes, the videotape equivalent of the day, were later sent to stations nationwide.)