Uncle Smiley Goes Recycling

[@robroddy7033]

OMG This is real! It was a special treat when my second grade teacher (1974-75ish) showed this at the end of the school day. I have vague recollection, but Googled this out of the blue for some reason today. The song and everything is real. The 1970s at their best, indeed. Thanks for posting!

[@aquarianage3953]

I remember this series growing up as a boy in the 1970's.Great memories!👍❤

[@toddmiller5656]

Me, too. Never went for Uncle Smiley's wardrobe, though.

[@cliftoneggers529]

I saw some of these on a reel to reel film strip in the mid 80s. My first grade teacher would sometimes show them as a treat, particularly when we were ahead in our class work. I had the same teacher in fourth grade, and asked her about Uncle Smiley. She acted as if she had no idea what I was talking about. I have no idea why she was trying to gaslight me. Although I do not recall this particular episode, I am absolutely sure that this is the same series. I particularly remember the song that said “Uncle Smiley get up and go”.

[@westy123]

It was a real special day if our teacher played the film backwards! No audio but we laughed so hard at everything going in reverse.

[@cliftoneggers529]

Wow! I remember the exact same thing. I don’t imagine too many teachers would have thought to play it backwards. The teachers name was Mrs. Cody. She drank cans of Diet Coke by the pallet.

[@samanthagharris1967]

Grew up loving this man. He taught me kindness and laughter.Thank you to my 5th grade teacher Mrs. Trimm for the days in the library watching My Uncle Smiley.

[@po9318]

For me it was in second grade with Mrs. Nelson in Mosinee, WI

[@randylivengood3112]

These were shown at our school in the early 90s.

[@sammeow1835]

My childhood!

[@glencruciani]

I used to always look forward to watching these in elementary school.

[@toddmiller5656]

That means you're my age. We used to watch this in my elementary school too. I think that the idea at the time was that television would replace teachers.

[@TheTomvaliente]

I sure do remember this! I was in 5th grade when these came out and I watched them when I was home, sick from school! Too bad we can`t see the rest of this series now. Word to the kids in this film: instead of laughing at poor Uncle Smiley every time his cart falls over, help him pick all of those cans up!

[@stephenharris8221]

I actually have a copy of every one of them. KZbin blocks all of them but the two I have posted.

[@TheTomvaliente]

@@stephenharris8221 : it's a shame. I know that KZbin blocks a lot of material for copyright reasons.

[@doctorfeinstone6524]

@@TheTomvaliente weird because this show is so obscure that I wouldn't think KZbin would even know who the copyright holder is

[@dustinlewis24]

It was so sad what happen to Uncle Smiley. Sometimes such darkness hoses behind the most smiley surfaces

[@KICKYOASH]

What happened ?

[@robashlicarrafa4876]

This is awesome ha ha! I was born in '79 so I have no recollection - was this show on regular cable or was it like a local area station? Wherever it came from it's really well done, especially if I read the copyright correctly - 1972? The innocence of the Seventies! When strange men could show up in your neighborhood, under no suspicion, load their car with young children and take them to the park to teach them about "recycling!" The days before missing kid's faces were printed on milk cartons!

[@stephenharris8221]

This was not shown on TV to my knowledge. This was part of a film series that was distributed to local schools in the early 1970s. There is very little information online about the Uncle Smiley series, there is no Wikipedia page for instance. I saw these films when I was growing up in the small town of West Grove, PA while attending the Avon-Grove Elementary School. Apparently educators can still order the film for rental but as you point out the images of a single man hanging with a group of children is taboo in this day and age so its probably why most people don't know Uncle Smiley. Thanks for watching and I hope I answered your question.

[@robashlicarrafa4876]

Yes, that answers my question! The thought did cross my mind as I watched it that it could have been something shown in a classroom. It definitely has the blend of education and humor that I recall from films in my grade school days. That and the diversity of kids in the film - boys and girls, both white and black. Reminded me of "Reading Rainbow" with Levar Burton lol. Very well done and very informative. Uncle Smiley was way ahead of his time. He was promoting recycling and environmental awareness well before most people had a clue what it was. I grew up in central Ohio. About 40 miles north of Columbus.

[@mattunderwood7023]

I was born in 1964, these were shown to us in grade school.

[@jimnapier9045]

This show was on regular cable on PBS. I watched them firsthand as a 4 year old along with Sesame Street, Mister Rogers, Zoom and the Electric Company. Zoom and Uncle Smiley were my favorites. I was able to find a homemade DVD online with 6 episodes, but the quality of this one is much better.

[@TheObservationlounge]

I can also attest to the fact that they were shown on PBS in the 70s and 80s. In fact, it was not uncommon for a PBS show to be shown in the classroom. That was the way they were created and produced... for classroom viewing and learning, and for PBS as a supplementary educational broadcast. These days, though, it sadly *is* pretty uncommon to do both. Yes, PBS has gotten quite "commercial" in their kids' offerings....

[@ginapollack]

Do you have a high resolution version of this by chance? Would love to use in a PBS documentary

[@samanthagharris1967]

Check and let me know please😇