Johnny Downs

John Morey Downs was born on October 10, 1913, in New York City, and raised in Brooklyn. His father, Lt. Morey Downs, served as a naval aviator, and when Downs was eight years old the family relocated to San Diego following his father's military transfer. His mother brought him to Hollywood to audition at Hal Roach Studios, where he appeared in a silent film before being cast as Johnny in the Our Gang short comedy series. He remained a regular in the series from 1923 to 1926, appearing in 24 episodes.

After outgrowing the Our Gang series at age 14, Downs joined fellow alumni Mary Kornman and Scooter Lowry in performing vaudeville acts. He returned to Hollywood in 1934 and secured a small role in the musical Babes in Toyland. The following year he began appearing in a string of college-themed musical films, beginning with College Scandal in 1935 and College Holiday in 1936, in which he was frequently cast as a team captain or cheerleader. Additional film musicals followed through 1944, concluding with What a Man. In 1945 he made a cameo appearance in Rhapsody in Blue, dancing to Robert Alda's piano performance of "Swanee." He also had a bit part in Cruisin' Down the River and appeared in nearly 100 films over the course of his career.

Downs was active on Broadway between 1933 and 1948. His stage credits included the play Ragged Army, the play Growing Pains, and the musicals Hold It! and Are You With It?, the latter of which was considered a particular success. During this period and beyond, he also worked extensively in summer stock. In the late 1950s he served as choreographer on a production called Lock Up Your Daughters, an experience described in Carleton Carpenter's autobiography as unconventional in its results. He also appeared as the Tin Woodsman in the San Diego Starlight Opera production of The Wizard of Oz.

In 1949 Downs co-hosted Manhattan Showcase, a 15-minute talent-discovery program on CBS television. He subsequently settled in Coronado, California, where he sold real estate and became an amateur tennis player. From 1953 to 1968 he hosted The Johnny Downs Show, an after-school children's television program on Channel 10, which broadcast under the call letters KFSD until 1961 and KOGO thereafter. The show's format evolved over its run: it began with Downs playing a former World War II pilot named Johnny Jet in an airport hangar setting, later shifted to a train engineer theme, and eventually featured him as a boat captain at the San Diego harbor as the program incorporated more Popeye cartoons. One of the show's sponsors, Golden Arrow Dairy, regularly featured Downs as a superimposed miniature dancer atop a milk bottle. Children were invited to attend tapings at the studio, and Downs allowed young visitors to put on his coat and cap and imitate his signature greeting. A morning edition of the show briefly invited students to participate in math competitions.

Downs and his wife June had five children: Mary, Claudia, John Jr., Mollie, and Maureen. He died of cancer on June 6, 1994, in Coronado, California, at the age of 80.