Mark A. Hicks, artist & illustrator

On Romper Room School

Yes, I was on Romper Room School on two separate occasions. (No, I didn't flunk out the first time -- I was invited back for another week to substitute for another student.) The shows were done live and it was a lot of fun for me. As I recall, it all went well. (Except for spilling the water for the flower I brought for the teacher, Miss Jo Ann, right before show time. And, oh yeah, that funny little incident during the Holsum Bread promo I did with Miss Jo Ann.)

Interesting fact: In 1962, my Romper Room teacher, Miss Jo Ann (pictured above) replaced Miss Sherri on the show. (By the way, Miss Sherri was my sister's Romper Room Teacher*.) Miss Sherri (Sherri Finkbine) was replaced on the show because she had sought medical approval for an abortion on the grounds that she had been taking the drug thalidomide and believed her child would be born severe birth defects. Finkbine decided to go public about the dangers of thalidomide but was sadly denied the abortion in Arizona following very intense negative publicity surrounding her story. Her doctor had tried to get a court order to proceed with the abortion because of the strong possibility of multiple birth defects but the case was dismissed. (There are lots of interesting facts about the Arizona judge in the case, Yale McFate, too.) Ultimately she traveled to Sweden for the abortion. After the medical procedure, Swedish doctors confirmed that the fetus had no legs and only one arm. 

Thalidomide, while not available in the United States, was an over-the-counter drug primarily used as a sedative in Germany and other European countries. It was also used to alleviate morning sickness in pregnant women. Mrs. Finkbine's husband, a high school teacher, had legally purchased the drug in London while chaperoning a school trip and brought it home to his wife. Thalidomide was eventually linked to fetal malformation of limbs and other birth defects and banned in most countries where it was sold. 

In 1992 there was a made-for-TV movie produced about the incident. It was titled A Private Matter and starred Sissy Spacek as Finkbine. I'm not a film critic so I won't comment the acting or the production. However, it seemed they did changed some names and facts. Not to mention it sure looked like it was filmed in southern California. (Just put a few cacti in pots and scatter them around the set and it looks just like Phoenix in the 1960s. Yeah, right.)

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