Monday, October 7, 2024
The truth behind Albert the Alley Cat, the cat puppet that did the weather on Milwaukee TV
Chris Foran
For more than a decade, one of Milwaukee's best-loved celebrities was a cat puppet that did the weather on TV.
What, or who, was Albert the Alley Cat? How did a cat puppet become a fixture on Milwaukee television? Why did he leave the air? And what happened to Albert?
As part of the Journal Sentinel's What the Wisconsin? series — where reporters take on questions about our state, our communities and the people in them — we looked at the story behind Albert the Alley Cat, and what happened to the famous TV puppet.
Meet Albert the Alley Cat (and the man who created him)
Albert the Alley Cat was the creation of Jack DuBlon, a broadcaster and puppeteer who joined Milwaukee's WITI-TV (Channel 6) in 1960. He brought with him several puppets and an idea for a kids show, "Cartoon Alley," that he developed at a station in his native Texas.
Among "Cartoon Alley's" characters when it debuted on Channel 6 in April 1961 was Albert the Alley Cat, a wisecracking feline who hung out with DuBlon's other creations, including Rocky the Gorilla and Lucius the Lion, as well as the show's host, Barbara Becker. Becker also did the weather on Channel 6's newscasts; until the early 1970s, most TV stations had a personality do the weather instead of a trained meteorologist.
In 1965, when Becker dropped the weather gig, Channel 6 General Manager Roger LeGrand decided to replace her with staff announcer Ward Allen — and Albert, with DuBlon doing the voice and manning the puppet just like on "Cartoon Alley." While Allen played it straight reading the weather, Albert the Alley Cat provided the comic relief, tossing in corny jokes and mispronouncing weather terminology (example: humidity, from Albert, came out "humidiry").
In a 1982 interview with The Milwaukee Journal, DuBlon — whose roles at Channel 6 also included hosting a horror-movie show, "Shock Theatre," as Dr. Cadaverino — said he was dubious about having Albert join the station's 6 and 10 p.m. newscasts.
"It was not my idea, and I did not want to do it," DuBlon said. " … I thought Albert was too outlandish for the newscast." Instead, he suggested using another of his "Cartoon's Alley" puppets, Waldo the Bear.
"But Roger (LeGrand) was bent on Albert's personality," DuBlon said. "He thought there was something smart-assed about Albert and Waldo was too loving."
Albert the Alley Cat: America's No. 1 weather cat
Viewers didn't know what to make of a cat puppet on the local news. But it wasn't long before Channel 6 had Milwaukee's most-watched newscasts — and in Albert, a bona fide local celebrity.
Viewers sent hundreds of knit hats and sweaters — Albert's uniform — to the station. The cat puppet was in demand: In 1971, Albert (with DuBlon, of course) performed with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, narrating a performance of Saint-Saens' "The Carnival of the Animals." The station gave out copies of "Did'ya Hear the One About … Albert's TV6 Joke Book."
It wasn't just Milwaukee TV viewers who rooted for Albert. In 1968, he and Allen were named the nation's No. 1 weather show by the National Association of Television Program Executives.
Albert the Alley Cat causes trouble
As with so many celebrities, Albert sometimes got himself, and his employer, in hot water.
After rival WTMJ-TV (Channel 4) hired a trained meteorologist, Paul Joseph, Channel 6 in 1975 hired Tom Skilling, who also had the seal of approval from the American Meteorological Society. Skilling was to do its 10 p.m. weather forecast, with Allen relegated to the noon and 6 p.m. newscasts. Albert worked with both of them.
The AMS told Skilling he would lose the group's seal of approval if he continued to work with, well, a cat puppet. Station management stood with Albert; Skilling lost the seal.
(Skilling left Channel 6 three years later — not because of Albert or the seal of approval, but in a dispute over how much time weather forecasts received on the station's newscasts. Not long after, Skilling was hired by WGN-TV in Chicago, where he was a weather-forecasting fixture for the next 45 years; he retired this year.)
When word got out that Channel 6 might drop Albert, the station received more than 10,000 letters from viewers backing the weather cat.
The same year Skilling left Channel 6, Albert — actually, DuBlon — got in trouble for meddling in Wisconsin politics.
In 1978, Lee Dreyfus, then chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, was running for governor as a Republican against acting Gov. Martin Schreiber; the symbol of Dreyfus' campaign was the red vest he wore on campus. DuBlon reportedly reached out to the campaign and offered to give Dreyfus a boost — by dressing Albert in a red vest for his stints on camera on Channel 6.
Albert donned the red vest on just two newscasts before Jill Geisler, Channel 6's news director, told DuBlon the vest had to go. DuBlon protested, but, after both he and Albert boycotted one broadcast, they both returned the next day — minus the red vest.
Albert the Alley Cat signs off
In mid-1981, Channel 6 bowed to years of reports from consultants saying a cat puppet doing the weather hurt the station's credibility and shifted Albert to sports, where he bantered with longtime sportscaster Earl Gillespie. But by the end of that year, Albert was off the newscasts for good. He remained on Channel 6's Saturday morning kids show, "Albert and Friends," and continued to do promotional segments and events for the station.
But the viewers didn't forget the cat puppet who did the weather.
To mark Albert's 25th "birthday," in August 1985 the station held a party at the Milwaukee County Zoo, where people stood in line in the rain to wish the cat puppet well. That fall, DuBlon and Albert received the Semi-Sacred Cat Award from the Milwaukee Press Club (the Press Club's mascot is a mummified cat).
DuBlon left Channel 6 at the end of 1985, returning to his hometown of San Angelo, Texas. He died in 1988 of pancreatic and liver cancer; he was 58.
So, where did Albert the Alley Cat go?
In that 1982 interview with The Journal, DuBlon said the then-current Albert the Alley Cat puppet was actually the eighth one. "Throughout the years, I had to get new ones made because the puppet wore out," DuBlon said. "All the other puppets that wore out I usually threw out, but I just couldn't do that to Albert — he's that special. I always thought Albert had nine lives; I guess he is on his last one."
But when DuBlon went back to Texas, he took all of his puppets with him, including Albert, seemingly never to be seen again.
Until 2017, when Channel 6 reporter Brad Hicks set out to "find" the missing Albert. He tracked down one of DuBlon's daughters, Michelle DuBlon, in Prescott, Arizona. She not only had Albert; he was sitting on her couch. Hicks and photojournalist Jeff Frings put together a segment about Albert's "retirement" days, including FaceTime-ing with Ward Allen. (Allen died in 2022 at age 87.)
You can find the segment, along with archival clips of some of Albert's "performances," at fox6now.com.
Sources: Journal Sentinel archives; "Milwaukee Television History: The Analog Years" by Dick Golembiewski (Marquette University Press); fox6now.com.
I loved watching Albert make Tom Skilling uncomfortable on weather forecasts.
Sunday, October 6, 2024
Trump in Juneau Sunday for 4th Wisconsin appearance in 8 days
Donald Trump's fourth scheduled stop in eight days in Wisconsin is a sign of his increased attention as Republicans fret about the former president's ability to match the Democrats' enthusiasm and turnout machine.
“In the political chatter class, they’re worried," said Brandon Scholz, a retired Republican strategist and longtime political observer in Wisconsin who voted for Trump in 2020 but said he is not voting for Trump or Democratic nominee Kamala Harris this year. “I think Republicans are right to be concerned.”
Trump's latest rally was planned for 2 p.m. Central time Sunday in Juneau in Dodge County, which he won in 2020 with 65% of the vote. Jack Yuds, chairman of the county Republican Party, said support for Trump is stronger in his part of the state than it was in 2016 or 2020. “I can’t keep signs in,” Yuds said. “They want everything he’s got. If it says Trump on it, you can sell it.”
Wisconsin is perennially tight in presidential elections but has gone for the Republicans just once in the past 40 years, when Trump won the state in 2016. A win in November could make it impossible for Harris to take the White House.
Trump won in 2016 over Democrat Hillary Clinton by fewer than 23,000 votes and lost to Democrat Joe Biden in 2020 by just under 21,000 votes.
On Tuesday, Trump made his first-ever visit to Dane County, home to the liberal capital city of Madison, in an effort to turn out the Republican vote even in the state's Democratic strongholds. Dane is Wisconsin’s second most-populous and fastest-growing county; Biden received more than 75% of the vote four years ago.
“To win statewide you’ve got to have a 72-county strategy,” former Gov. Scott Walker, a Republican, said at that event.
Trump’s campaign and outside groups supporting his candidacy have outspent Harris and her allies on advertising in Wisconsin, $35 million to $31 million, since she became a candidate on July 23, according to the media-tracking firm AdImpact.
Harris and outside groups supporting her candidacy had more advertising time reserved in Wisconsin from Oct. 1 through Nov. 5, more than $25 million compared with $20 million for Trump and his allies.
The Harris campaign has 50 offices across 43 counties with more than 250 staff in Wisconsin, said her spokesperson Timothy White. The Trump campaign said it has 40 offices in the state and dozens of staff.
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Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump arrives at a campaign event at Dane Manufacturing, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024, in Waunakee, Wis. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
Harris rallied supporters in Madison in September at an even that drew more than 10,000 people. On Thursday, she made an appeal to moderate and disgruntled conservatives by holding an event in Ripon, the birthplace of the Republican Party, along with former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, one of Trump’s most prominent Republican antagonists.
Harris and Trump are focusing on Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, the “blue wall” states that went for Trump in 2016 and flipped to Biden in the next election.
While Trump’s campaign is bullish on its chances in Pennsylvania as well as Sunbelt states, Wisconsin is seen as more of a challenge.
“Wisconsin, tough state,” said Trump campaign senior adviser Chris LaCivita, who worked on Republican Sen. Ron Johnson’s winning reelection campaign in 2022.
“I mean, look, that’s going to be a very tight — very, very tight, all the way to the end. But where we are organizationally now, comparative to where we were organizationally four years ago, I mean, it’s completely different,” LaCivita said.
He also cited Michigan as more of a challenge. “But again, these are states that Biden won and carried and so they’re going to be brawls all the way until the end and we’re not ceding any of that ground.”
The candidates are about even in Wisconsin, based on a series of polls that have shown little movement since Biden dropped out in late July. Those same polls also show high enthusiasm among both parties.
Mark Graul, who ran then-President George W. Bush’s 2004 campaign in Wisconsin, said the number of campaign visits speaks to Wisconsin’s decisive election role.
The key for both sides, he said, is persuading infrequent voters to turn out.
“Much more important, in my opinion, than rallies,” Graul said.
Associated Press writers Thomas Beaumont in Des Moines, Iowa, and Jill Colvin in Butler, Pennsylvania, contributed to this report.
Saturday, October 5, 2024
Burlington woman who pleaded guilty to sexual assault is ordered to pay restitution
RACINE — A Burlington woman who was sentenced to 13 years for sexually assaulting a 12-year-old boy has been ordered to pay restitution, according to online records.
Kerry Hughes, who is 41, accepted a plea offer in April and pleaded guilty to one count of first-degree child sexual assault.
The prosecution and defense stipulated to nearly $6,000 in restitution for mileage and loss of wages, and the court ordered $2,299.36 in restitution for medical expenses, according to court records.
According to previous Journal Times reporting, Hughes communicated with the boy through text messages from August to November 2023. The relationship reportedly escalated to include sexual contact.
After serving her sentence, Hughes will be placed on extended supervision for five years. She also must register as a lifetime sex offender.
Friday, October 4, 2024
President Joe Biden returns to Milwaukee next week to discuss lead pipes, economy
President Joe Biden plans to return to Wisconsin on Tuesday to deliver remarks in Milwaukee focused on his administration's efforts to bolster the economy and replace lead pipes, the White House announced Friday.
The visit will mark Biden's second to the battleground state since he dropped out of the race in July and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris. Biden last traveled to Wisconsin in September for a stop in Westby.
Additional details on Biden's upcoming visit were not immediately available. Biden will then hold a campaign event in Pennsylvania, another key battleground state in the upcoming presidential election.
With the Nov. 5 election now a month away, former President Donald Trump and Harris, along with their running mates — Ohio Sen. JD Vance and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, respectively — have made repeated visits to Wisconsin.
Harris held a campaign stop on Thursday in Ripon, commonly referred to as the birthplace of the Republican Party, alongside former GOP U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney.
Trump, meanwhile, courted Republican voters in Waunakee and Milwaukee on Tuesday. The former president is also scheduled to hold a rally Sunday at the Dodge County Airport in Juneau.
Recent polling shows that the Democratic ticket is holding onto a narrow lead in the state. Marquette Law School's latest poll, released Wednesday, found that among likely voters and registered voters, 48% preferred Trump while 52% preferred Harris, although the results are within the margin of error for both groups.
Cops Gone Wild: Family whose house was raided by Elyria police files federal lawsuit against city, chief, officers
Caledonia man charged with child sex assault and possessing child porn
RACINE — A 44-year-old Caledonia man was charged Tuesday with one count of repeated sexual assault of a child and four counts of possessing child pornography.
Each charge is a felony.
If convicted of the assault charge, Patrick Hagen could spend at least 25 years in prison.
The pornography charges carry up to a $100,000 fine, a 25-year prison sentence, or both. The court can also impose a $500 surcharge for each image or copy of an image recovered.
According to the criminal complaint, a girl who is now 13, alleged that Hagen inappropriately touched her on multiple occasions during visits to Caledonia when she was 10 years old.
Police searched Kagen’s residence and reportedly found four images depicting child pornography and hundreds of images depicting beastiality.
Kagen reportedly denied the assault charges.
His cash bail was set at $100,000 on Tuesday, and he is expected to appear in the Racine County Courthouse for a preliminary hearing Oct. 9.
I have said for years that SE Wisconsin is a hotbed of pedophilia. The recent spate of arrests for sex crimes against children is proof of that.
RPD arrests man in ongoing homicide investigation
RACINE — U.S. Marshals arrested a man Wednesday in connection to the shooting death of 49-year-old Willie May on Aug. 8 in Racine.
Latrell Davis, who is 18, was charged with one count of first-degree homicide; two counts of attempted first-degree homicide; and one count of carjacking. Each count is a felony.
May and another man were shot in the 5500 block of Byrd Avenue. The other man, who is 44, survived.
According to a news release from the Racine Police Department, 17-year-old Cincere Davis and 15-year-old Alexjandro Medina are also suspects in the case.
Cincere Davis and Medina were taken into custody in August and face charges identical to Latrell Davis.
Cincere Davis is scheduled to appear in court for a status conference Oct. 23. Medina is scheduled for a status conference Oct. 7.
According to RPD, the U.S. Marshals Service found Latrell Davis at a residence in the 6300 block of 26th Avenue in Kenosha
Because the marshals were conducting an active search, Jerstad-Agerholm School, 3535 Lasalle St., and HOPE Christian School Via, 3502 Douglas Ave., were put on lockdown for a short time Wednesday.
Latrell Davis appeared in Racine County Court on Thursday. Commissioner Alice Rudebusch set a $1 million cash bond, according to online court records.
He is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on Oct. 1
Thursday, October 3, 2024
Judge blocks attorney general review of sealed Milwaukee Archdiocese bankruptcy documents
Jessie OpoienLaura Schulte
MADISON — A federal judge ruled this week against allowing access to court documents sealed nearly a decade ago in a bankruptcy filing by the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, denying a request made by the state Department of Justice as part of an investigation into sexual abuse committed by faith leaders in Wisconsin.
U.S. District Judge G. Michael Halfenger wrote in a Sept. 30 decision that the agency failed to make a valid case for revisiting the bankruptcy decision and did not provide a sufficient plan for notifying clergy abuse victims of its request for access to sealed records.
In a motion filed last year with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, Attorney General Josh Kaul requested a confidential review of "sealed claims by survivors, objections to those claims, briefing on such objections, and rulings on the objections." Kaul argued the Archdiocese of Milwaukee had not voluntarily provided records sought by the agency.
Under the request, information from the documents would have been used to further a state DOJ investigation into the scope of faith leader abuse in Wisconsin, but no documents would be released publicly.
"Given the decades of secrecy and subversion surrounding abuse reports and the findings in other states in which inquiries into faith leader abuse were conducted, DOJ’s independent review of the lists of credibly accused priests published by dioceses in Wisconsin is amply justified," Kaul argued in the motion.
The DOJ motion sought to reopen the 2015 case that resulted in a settlement between the Archdiocese of Milwaukee and hundreds of survivors, in which the organization agreed to pay $21 million to compensate victims of sexual abuse. The settlement brought an end to a long-running case in bankruptcy court.
Kaul's request to reopen the case was limited to the DOJ's request to access sealed documents.
"DOJ does not ask for anything to be unsealed; it only asks that the DOJ be included among those that are permitted to confidentially review claims and related documents," the motion read.
The Archdiocese objected, arguing that abuse survivors filed their claims with the understanding they would be "received and maintained in the strictest confidence, under permanent seal, and that access to them be given only to a small and specified number of individuals who agreed in writing to comply with detailed confidentiality protocols," Halfenger wrote in his decision.
"The sheer magnitude of the State’s request is staggering, and that is without even considering the substantial logistical hurdles that would need to be cleared (and the monetary and other costs that would need to be incurred) to provide Abuse Survivors with adequate notice of the State’s request in this complex case that has been closed since 2016," the judge wrote.
According to Halfenger's ruling, more than 580 claims were filed by survivors of clergy abuse, and more than 550 remain permanently under seal.
The decision "completely dismisses what survivors wanted and still want," Nate's Mission program director Peter Isely told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Nate's Mission is an advocacy group aimed at ending clergy abuse in Wisconsin, named for Nate Lindstrom, who accused multiple priests at St. Norbert Abbey in De Pere of sexually abusing him in the 1980s. He died by suicide in 2020, nearly one year after the abbey stopped sending secret payments he received for 10 years.
The Archdiocese of Milwaukee filed for bankruptcy protection in 2011 as it faced more than a dozen civil lawsuits over its handling of abuse claims. The Archdiocese moved to reorganize, as the claims for financial compensation exceeded its means.
Under the eventual settlement agreement, 330 of about 570 people who filed sexual abuse claims in the case received financial settlements. At the time, the settlement payout paled in comparison to those in similar Catholic Church bankruptcy cases, such as Boston's $85 million settlement in 2003.
Kaul alleged the claims that weren't part of the settlement meant abusers could have gotten away with their crimes, and that some survivors never got the justice they deserved.
"To the extent that names of abusers who should be on these lists are not — even if those abusers are deceased — their survivors may have lived not only with the trauma from abuse but also with the compounding harm of not having their abuse acknowledged," he wrote. "Having their abuser named, and their abuse recognized, can provide a sense of healing for survivors of abuse."
The motion outlined how obtaining information included in the settlement might help complete reports made during the DOJ's faith leader inquiry.
The bankruptcy filings would provide a "unique opportunity to corroborate," Kaul argued.
The motion could have also granted the DOJ access to claims made against individuals within the Archdiocese who weren't clergy members, such as visiting priests, teachers and volunteers.
Frank LoCoco, the attorney representing the Archdiocese of Milwaukee., noted that Halfenger referred to the DOJ case as a “massive fishing expedition.”
“We are thankful for Judge Halfenger’s ruling because a breach of confidentiality like that would have been devastating to abuse survivors who see this case as closed, and want their claim kept under seal by the court,” LoCoco said in a statement. “In his ruling, Judge Halfenger reasserts the bankruptcy court’s finding at the time that because the abuse happened so long ago in the 1950s-70s, there are no longer any public safety concerns."
The DOJ did not immediately provide comment on the decision.
This story will be updated.
Cops Gone Wild: Nephew of Ojibwe leader Maulson claims he was targeted by Oneida County sheriff's deputy
Frank Vaisvilas
RHINELANDER - An Oneida County man with a well-known family name in the Northwoods claims he was targeted by a sheriff's deputy because he is Indigenous, following an incident in a Walmart parking lot that left him with a head injury.
He also contends the incident reflects broader hostility toward tribal members in the area.
A Sheriff's Department captain said the treatment of Thomas Maulson was well within bounds, and that being a member of the Lac du Flambeau tribe was irrelevant. He said he was disappointed that Maulson raised the issue of targeting and being Indigenous, and said he feared it would foster unnecessary divisiveness.
Maulson, 43, of Woodruff, said he was the subject of a road rage incident March 30 in which a driver followed him into a Rhinelander parking lot and challenged him to a fight. The two briefly tussled, but soon made up and the other driver drove away.
However, an Oneida County sheriff's deputy pulled up, approached the vehicle and asked Maulson for his driver’s license and registration. Maulson asked, “For what?” according to the police report. Oneida County Sheriff’s Deputy Will Taege then asked Maulson why he was breathing heavily, according to the report, and Maulson replied, “Does it matter?”
At that point, Taege said in his report, he realized Maulson was a “no” person and was not complying, so the deputy pulled Maulson out of his car to arrest him. Maulson repeatedly asked, "What did I do?" Taege’s dashcam video shows Taege handling Maulson, who is handcuffed, and Maulson falling to the pavement, hitting his head.
Maulson’s attorney, Maggie Hogan, said Taege did not give Maulson enough time to comply. Maulson and Hogan also argue Taege tripped Maulson while pushing him hard, causing the fall. Moments later, another officer arrived and helped lift Maulson from the ground. In the dashcam video, blood is seen streaming across Maulson’s face.
Captain Tyler Young of the Oneida County Sheriff’s Department reviewed the incident and said Taege acted appropriately. Young said Taege also had the options of a taser, pepper spray or focused strikes, which he did not use.
He said Taege observed that Maulson was agitated, and Taege was trying to get the situation under control. As for the fall, the sheriff's office contends Maulson’s legs were crossed and he tripped himself.
Maulson said nothing was ever out of control.
He contends he was targeted by Taege because he is a member of the Lac du Flambeau Ojibwe Nation. He said many residents in the area hold animosity toward the tribe, dating back to the so-called Walleye Wars in the 1980s and early '90s, and continuing to this day because of an ongoing dispute over access to non-tribal homes located on the Lac du Flambeau reservation.
Notably, the police dispatcher told Taege before the altercation and arrest that he should be looking for Maulson from Flambeau, according to a motion filed by Maulson's attorney. But Taege later said he didn’t know Maulson was a tribal member.
Maulson shares a name with his uncle, a well-known former tribal president and leader of the tribe during the Walleye Wars. Books have been written about his uncle, and about his actions leading up to a federal court decision that the state wrongfully prohibited Ojibwe members from harvesting fish in the Northwoods outside of the state-designated fishing season. The judge said those rights were guaranteed by treaty.
Many non-tribal people in the area protested the decision.
Young acknowledged some isolated incidents of harassment against tribal members harvesting walleye do still occur. But, he said, Taege is too young to remember the controversy. Further, he said the road access issue affects only a small number of people and is essentially a private matter. Maulson’s "actions are what caused him to be on the ground,” Young said.
Maulson also said he and other tribal members choose not to have or display tribal license plates for fear of being targeted by police outside the reservations. Maulson uses Wisconsin plates.
Young said plates are not a big deal. “I feel bad that somebody feels scared to have tribal plates,” he said.
Maulson was charged with misdemeanor disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. The other driver was caught by Rhinelander police and charged with disorderly conduct.
Maulson’s wife, Rachel Maulson, said their children, ages 6 and 2 at the time, were traumatized by the incident. She said the older one still has a visceral reaction when he sees police. “He was taught to respect authority, so he’s confused why they would hurt his loved one,” Rachel Maulson said. “When a cop drives by he’s nervous.”
Maulson received 13 stitches above his right eye, and said he still has medical issues affecting his vision and orientation.
Maulsen said he plans to sue the sheriff's office and the deputy, but his attorney told him to hold off until this case is settled. Hogan said a trial is scheduled for early January.
Frank Vaisvilas is a former Report for America corps member who covers Native American issues in Wisconsin based at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Contact him at fvaisvilas@gannett.com or 815-260-2262. Follow him on Twitter at @vaisvilas_frank.
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