April 22, 2004

By William LaRue
Staff writer - Syracuse Post Standard

He was known to youngsters in the 1950s and 1960s as "Uncle Skip," the Syracuse TV host who launched cartoons with the phrase: "Presto-chango, by-jingo, get going projector.

John Lawrence "Skip" Scott, 73, died April 14 at his home in Peterborough, N.H. The family said the cause of death was congestive heart failure. A native of Portsmouth, N.H., he went to work at WTVH-TV (Channel 5), in 1954 when the station was known as WHEN-TV (Channel 8). He previously served in the U.S. Air Force in the Office of Public Information at Sampson Air Force Base in Geneva.

At WHEN, he was hired as an announcer for the TV station and program director for WHEN-AM (620). But much of the public best knew him for work in front of the camera, first in the 1950s as Uncle Skip, host of "Cartoon Clubhouse."

His "presto-chango" phrase came about because the production crew needed a five-second cue to get the projector up to speed, recalls retired Channel 5 producer and director Jean Daugherty, who worked closely with Scott during those years.

But she says Scott and others took seriously his promise to children that cartoons could never begin until he spoke those magic words. One night when he forgot during the live program, Daugherty says, she refused to start the cartoons until he did.

"I'm telling you, (if he hadn't), we would have been there this very day, because that would have ruined all the magic if I had started the projector," she says.

Daugherty estimated that, at one time, about 10,000 children in Central New York had signed up to be members of "Cartoon Clubhouse."

Later, Scott played "Colonel Skip" on another Channel 8 children's show, "Jet Set," in which he pretended to talk to children from outer space.

He also played Santa Claus each year on Channel 8 and during personal appearances for the station's children's show, "The Magic Toy Shop."

"He was the best anybody had ever seen," Daugherty says. "We believed it really was Santa. His own children had their picture taken with him and didn't know."

In 1970, Scott became general manager at WHEN-AM. While at the radio station, Scott is credited with helping to launch Syracuse's first air-traffic reports. He also created "The Music Is the Message," a talk-radio program that brought together religious leaders and local scholars to explore the meaning of contemporary music.

He also worked with public radio's WCNY-FM (91.3) to raise money for the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra. This effort led to a series of symphony marathons that raised millions of dollars for symphonies across the country.