Dr. Marilyn P. Arnone: Lessons in Reinvention

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From a painfully shy kindergartner, she became a child TV star at the age of eleven. Later in life, as a young mother recently widowed, she reinvented herself again by earning a Ph.D. from Syracuse University, creating a brand-new career path for herself.

Dr. Marilyn Arnone today, as professor of practice in the Library and Information Science program at Syracuse University’s iSchool, brings the lessons she learned to succeed in life to help children find their direction. With the COVID-19 epidemic ravaging traditional classroom teaching, her research and practical instructional applications are providing critical solutions for librarians to reach students in a virtual learning environment.

While struggling to overcome her public shyness, Marilyn was inspired by The Shari Lewis Show and viewing the soft-spoken Shari on television take on a new wisecracking personality while performing as her puppet, "Lambchop." Immediately Arnone sensed a different path of self-expression for herself and quickly learned all she could about ventriloquism and puppetmaking.

“My curiosity fueled my learning – the library was my new home and my excitement at discovering this new passion pushed me to research and develop skills I never knew I could possess,” Arnone explains.

The first puppet she created was a sombrero-wearing donkey named “Calico.” “Through the technology of puppetry, I could say things I previously couldn’t because of my shyness, and by embracing “Calico’s” personality as an extension of my own, I overcame my fear of interacting with people,” recalls Arnone.

It was also her first foray into using a visual medium to teach, as she developed skits with lessons that she would bring door-todoor in her neighborhood. For the lucky neighbors who let her in, she would perform her own puppet show from behind their living room sofa. Her five- to eight-minute performances included lessons about life and a clever song summing up what was learned. So impressed was one neighbor, a call was made to the Boston Globe and the nine-year-old was featured in an article showcasing her traveling show and budding talents.

The Boston Globe publicity eventually led Marilyn to being offered her own Saturday morning TV program for kids on Boston’s CBS affiliate WHDH at age eleven. Her donkey puppet partner also made the cut, and so was born Marilyn and Calico, an hour-long show where Marilyn performed skits, sang songs with “Calico,” and introduced cartoons. It’s hard to imagine the shock the kindergarten teacher who wrote a concerned note home to Marilyn’s parents about her shyness would have experienced viewing this new, gregarious TV star!

After the show ended, and shyness no longer a part of her persona, Marilyn enjoyed a successful high school career at the top of her class and then attended Emerson College in Boston, graduating with a degree in communications.

Shortly thereafter, Marilyn heard of auditions taking place in New York City for The New Howdy Doody Show. Host “Buffalo Bob Smith” and his marionette sidekick, “Howdy Doody” had been a staple of children’s television programming in the 1950s, and now an updated version of the program was being produced for “Through the technology of puppetry, I could say things I previously couldn’t because of my shyness, and by embracing “Calico’s” personality as an extension of my own, I overcame my fear of interacting with people.” — Marilyn P. Arnone

Marilyn at age 11 hosting her own TV show, later co-hosting The New Howdy Doody Show with "Buffalo Bob Smith" and at her Harvard graduation.

national syndication. Securing the part of “Happy Harmony,” Marilyn performed side-by-side with “Buffalo Bob” for 130 episodes utilizing her acting, singing, banjo / guitar playing and puppeteering skills.

Ironically, the original Howdy Doody Show was replaced by The Shari Lewis Show on NBC in 1960, helping forge Marilyn’s talents so she was ready when Howdy Doody returned to television.

During her Howdy Doody tenure, Marilyn discovered her interest in the nuts and bolts of producing the program and became a regular presence in the editing room. She also realized that while the content of The New Howdy Doody Show was wholesome entertainment; it was not the edutainment that was enjoying sweeping success nationwide because of TV programs like Sesame Street. Therefore, when she heard there was a master’s program at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education where Children’s Television Workshop’s Gerry Lesser (who developed the curriculum for Sesame Street) could serve as her professor and direct advisor, she passionately pursued this new direction as soon as the last Howdy Doody program was completed and headed back to Boston.

Earning her master’s degree in education from Harvard was a surprising new development to her family and friends. “They thought continued on page 24

I was headed down on a career path of being strictly in front of the camera, but I was evolving,” says Arnone.

Around this time, WTVH - the CBS TV affiliate in Syracuse - ran a trade ad looking for a producer/host for PM Magazine, a syndicated entertainment news program.

She got the job and made the move to Central New York. Shortly thereafter, she met George Plavocos, a well-known Syracuse radio personality and savvy executive. Under his tutelage, WNDR-AM became one of the highest-rated top 40 stations in the country and 93Q-WNTQ first hit the airwaves making possible its current success.

George and Marilyn fell in love and married, their union resulting in the birth of their daughter, Alexis. Blissfully happy, after only a few short years together, Marilyn’s world was turned upside down when George was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer.

“After he passed, my world was shaken to its core,” Marilyn painfully recalls. “I knew I needed to immerse myself in a new direction that would require such dedication I could lose myself, leaving just enough room in my heart to care for Alexis and help her cope with the loss of her daddy.”

Marilyn Plavocos enrolled in the Ph.D. program at Syracuse University’s School of Education, focusing on interactive learning environments, earning her doctorate in 1992. During her years of study and healing, she married Syracuse business executive Joseph Arnone, returning to a full family life.

The now Dr. Arnone then further developed her groundbreaking professional partnership with Mari Rae Dopke, her former colleague at PM Magazine. The pair served as co-producers on the nationally acclaimed kid’s TV show Pappyland, which earned a TV Guide Top Ten New Kid’s Show award in its first season on The Learning Channel (TLC). While Dopke directed, Marilyn ensured the educational content of the program was solid with a hand-picked Advisory Board. Both had performing roles in the series, with Marilyn’s puppeteering skills brought back to the fore.

Today, Dr. Arnone’s distinguished career in education includes many research projects for SU designed to stimulate children's curiosity as a road to scholarship, a new certification in 2015 as environmental educator inspiring innovation from students to protect the environment. Her belief that libraries serve as a core center for learning in communities and schools, Marilyn is developing tools to help them fulfill this role. In the company of her grandson, Dr. Arnone even has time to perform a puppet show or two.

Today, Marilyn lives a life surrounded by family and friends, immersed in daily academic challenges to combat the new normal of COVID learning restrictions. Reflecting on the journey that has brought her here, she marvels at how one step out of shyness in kindergarten led her down a path to reinvention and fulfillment, a road she says is open to anyone willing to follow their heart and inspiration. SWM

Photo montage of special moments in Marilyn's life as a bride, young mother and finally receiving a kiss from her grandson. Framing the photos is "Doodlebug" the puppet she brought to life in Pappyland and other graphics and character creations she uses to inspire children to learn and transform in today's virtual environment.

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