Anyone who came of age between the dayglo 60’s and the Reagan 80’s in New York City knows The Magic Garden on WPIX-TV. Sure, it was no Soupy Sales or Patchwork Family but the show had a pretty strong following among the “Diaper Dan” set. One of the highlights of my totally bizarre career in the media biz was an early 80’s internship at channel 11 where the show was shot. As much as I begged to see the set, no one would issue me a pass to go check it out. I did, however, get to hang out with the guys in the control room who controlled the “Pix Pix Pix” interactive video game. But that’s another story for a different time. So imagine my surprise when I saw this passage in today’s NY Times profile about the show’s stars and creators, Paula and Carole, and how they’re still going strong at 68 years of age:
NY Times: Keepers of The Magic Garden: Ms. Demas and Ms. Janis were born and raised in Brooklyn and crossed paths many times on their own roads to adulthood: as students at Midwood High School; at the graduate school of New York University, where they studied early childhood education; and, in 1964, as teachers at Public School 7, an experimental middle school in Brooklyn Heights made up largely of minority students from low-income backgrounds.
