Carter and Pat Merbreier

Inducted 2001

Carter: Born: August 2, 1926, Pleasantville, NJ
Patricia: Born: July 12, 1924, Cleveland, OH

Carter and Pat Merbreier are the husband and wife team behind the highly successful and enormously popular children's show, Captain Noah and His Magical Ark, which ran on WPVI- TV in Philadelphia for 27 years.

Carter, a former clergyman, created the show in 1967 as a weekly public service program under the auspices of the Philadelphia Council of Churches.  Within a few weeks, his wife Pat joined him as puppeteer. Together they hosted, produced, and supported the show financially.  The show soon went into syndication in 17 markets and in 1970, the show became a regular daily morning program sponsored by WPVI.  In 1978 the show moved to a weekly broadcast on Saturday mornings.

Carter Merbreier portrayed Captain Noah, the skipper of the unsinkable ship, The Magical Ark, which sailed the airways for 3,600 broadcasts, ranging from 30 to 90 minutes, over a period of 27 years.  Two-thirds of the broadcasts were live with norehearsals or scripts.  Aided by his crew of mischievous puppet animals and a variety of special guests, Captain Noah explored the treasurers of the universe and the problems children experience in growing up and living together in harmony.

The program made regular use of animals from the Philadelphia Zoo, as well as local museums and science centers, sports celebrities, representatives from ethnic and cultural societies, inventive children and craftspersons. Captain Noah worked with an arkload of animals. sheep to be sheared, cows to be milked, penguins visiting from Sea World, hawks, donkeys, trained pigs and dancing bears from the circus, seals that tooted America the Beautiful on a rack of shiny horns, and even three camels --- all live.

Pat Merbreier, who learned voice placement as a music major, created and gave voice to a company of fascinating puppets, including Maurice the Mouse, Wally the Walrus, and Mumwup the Monster.

Captain and Mrs. Noah led the children in how-to-make it projects, teaching the basics of art and demonstrating how to make playthings from everyday items.  They provided a daily dose of American Folklore, showcasing the legends and drama of the country's history.  They made books and words come alive with Wonderful World of Words.  And they did it all accompanied by live, spontaneous background music provided by Larry Ferrari.

Over the years, the show enjoyed the highest rating of local children's programs.  In 1980 Captain Noah received the Action for Children's Television Award for Outstanding Children's Programming.  Captain and Mrs. Noah retired the show at the end of 1995.