Miss Marcia

Miss Marcia. Role model. Teacher. Musician. Singer of Happy Birthday using the highest notes imaginable. She took over a show originally called "Romper Room" in 1962 and a year later the show was renamed "Funtime". Every kid back then knew that at 9:00 am, Miss Marcia was on the television, channel 9, (one of three channels we could get with our rabbit ears antenna). You could look forward to possibly hearing her call out your name during the famous Happy Birthday segment, but she also introduced generations of kids to music, how to tie your shoes, and how to tell time. Clocks were a mystery to me until I figured out that when the big hand was on the 12, and the little hand was on the 9, that was 9 o’clock: Funtime!

I was actually on her show twice, once when my piano teacher volunteered me to play a song for her, (I think I was eight or nine) playing the same piano she used each week to play Happy Birthday! It was too cool! The second time I was part of a group of young piano players promoting an upcoming Pianorama event at Memorial Auditorium. Both times I remember the hot, very bright lights, but also how small the actual studio was, (and how cold!) and how the big cameras on wheels would easily roll to their next assignment, guided by men who had to be the luckiest people on the planet to be that close to Miss Marcia every single day! 

For more information about Miss Marcia, I'm going to quote David Carroll who was part of the media scene in Chattanooga for many years and wrote a book called, "Hello Chattanooga!". 

"Miss Marcia’s morning kiddie show featured games and songs with actual children in the studio (lucky them!). She would often talk about her own son, John David (even luckier!). The highlight of each day was when she sang her own “Happy Birthday” song. As Chattanooga area baby boomers know, this wasn’t the traditional birthday song. It was unique to Miss Marcia, and featured high notes most humans can’t hope to reach. It doesn’t keep us from trying, but we learned quickly that Miss Marcia was often imitated but never duplicated.

A New York native, she came to Maryville, Tennessee for her education in the late 1950s, moving to Chattanooga a few years later taking a job at a church, then as a school teacher. In 1962, the original host of WTVC’s “Romper Room” left the show, and Marcia was recruited to try out. She was an immediate hit, and a year later the show was renamed “Funtime,” enduring for fifteen years.

If this sounds like a fairy tale, just know that there were some rough spots along the way. In the early 1970s, Miss Marcia was diagnosed with oral cancer. Her absence was noticeable to her young audience but WTVC knew she was irreplaceable. Rather than try to come up with an interim host, the station ran nonstop cartoons on the show during her illness. Entertaining, yes. Educational, no. Fortunately, she was back at the piano several months later, good as new.

What few people knew at the time was, this was no ordinary illness, the kind where you just need a few months of rest and recuperation. Miss Marcia had to learn to speak again, from word one. This extraordinary hostess, teacher and entertainer, who had spoken so clearly and sang so beautifully, would have to work hard to return to this most visible job. Obviously, she overcame this huge obstacle and soon resumed life as our eloquent Miss Marcia.

She remained at WTVC after the children’s show ended, and has continued to produce and host shows for slightly older kids (“Nifty Nine”) and in recent years, older adults (“Lifewatch” and appearances on Don Welch’s “This n That” midday program). On May 30, 2013,she hung up her microphone for the final time." - David Carroll

Miss Marcia is still alive, serving in her church, and greeting fans, children of fans, and great-grand children of fans as she goes throughout her day. What a life!