An experiment began on March 3, 1951, in the studios of what is today NBC-5 in Chicago. The question it sought to answer was: Could television use entertainment to educate the children of the country about science?

Within months, the evidence suggested it could. The program that served as the basis for this experiment was “Watch Mr. Wizard,” hosted by Don Herbert, which aired weekly for 30 minutes, originally on Saturdays.

The show had a simple premise. Each week, on a set that resembled a living room more than a laboratory, Herbert used household objects to conduct an easily replicated experiment that illustrated a scientific concept. Herbert wasn’t alone in his work. Initially, he was joined by a boy named Willie, portrayed by 12-year-old Bruce Lindgren, followed by other young assistants over the series’ run.

Although staging the show in a house-like setting and using everyday objects was the result of budgetary limitations, that decision and the inclusion of the assistants proved significant to its success. So did the idea to dub Herbert, who’d developed an interest in stage magic as a child, “Mr. Wizard.”

In June 1951, Tribune TV and radio editor Larry Wolters observed that Herbert “believes that to educate youngsters in the marvels of science you must first entertain them. And he feels that he can win them over more readily with ordinary household props than with fancy instruments.”

The point of the program quickly became clear to young viewers, as well as their parents and educators: The surrounding world offered up mysteries and wonders, but those same mysteries and wonders could be explained through simple experiments that you yourself could do. In other words, anyone and everyone could be a scientist.

Don Herbert, aka Mr. Wizard, circa 1951. Editors’ note: This historic print shows damage. (Maurice Seymour)

“We thought we needed it to look like magic to hook the audience,” Herbert would say years later, “but then we realized that viewers would be engaged with just a simple scientific question, like, why do birds fly and not humans?”

For 14 years, “Watch Mr. Wizard” asked a “simple scientific question” weekly. Every experiment was vetted and tested, initially by Wilber Beauchamp, associate professor of the teaching of science at the University of Chicago, to ensure that it reflected sound science. Many would later be collected in books like “Mr. Wizard’s Science Secrets,” autographed copies of which were available at Marshall Field & Co. in time for Christmas 1953.

Supplementing the show and books were Mr. Wizard science clubs, the formation of which Herbert oversaw directly, naming each chapter after an element from the periodic table. By late 1953 there were 3,200 of these clubs, claiming a total of over 75,000 members, representing 42 states plus the territory of Hawaii. “Watch Mr. Wizard” aired on over 70 NBC affiliates and reached somewhere between 3 million and 5 million children weekly. These numbers only grew in time, with the science clubs and broadcasts of the show expanding to Canada and Mexico.

Praise for the program came from many quarters. Wolters regularly wrote glowingly about it. Educators credited it with students becoming more engaged in the classroom while scientists, particularly those in the United States anxious about advances being made by counterparts in the Soviet Union, regarded it as an investment in the nation’s future.

In 1958, a parents group at Flossmoor Community Church that surveyed children’s television shows gave its highest rating to “Watch Mr. Wizard,” concluding that the “interest and alertness of the children participating and the patience and understanding of the teacher … encourages a healthy outlook toward learning.”

The show received a prestigious George Foster Peabody Award for best program for youths and children in April 1954 and an award from the Thomas Alva Edison Foundation in 1955. Several more awards and citations followed.

The greatest praise came from the millions of weekly viewers, many of whom wrote directly to Herbert. Among them was 13-year-old Lorraine Bachrach of Detroit, who confessed: “Before I watched you, Mr. Wizard, I found science very boring. Now it is my most interesting subject. In the half hour that I see and hear you I learn more about science than I do all week in school.”

Becoming the public face of science, particularly for the nation’s youths, came as something of a surprise to Herbert. In an interview in the early 1970s, he admitted: “I’m afraid I learned more about science after I got out of college.” Born in Minnesota in 1917, he attended college in Wisconsin, where he was most interested in literature and theater.

Don Herbert demonstrates heat resistance in 1952 by applying a blowtorch to a penny as a pile of insulation protects the hand of young assistant Bruce Lindgren. (Toivo Kaitila/NBC)

As with so many people of his generation, Herbert’s life was upended by World War II. He served in the Air Force, piloting a B-24 bomber in more than 50 missions over Europe, receiving a Distinguished Flying Cross as well as other awards honoring his service. By the war’s end, he knew he wanted to work in radio and credits a friend with convincing him that Chicago was the place to start out.

In October 1948 he began hosting 15-minute radio spots on the show “It’s Your Life,” which took listeners into hospitals to learn about advances in health and medicine directly from physicians and patients. The success of that program set the stage for Herbert to transform into Mr. Wizard.

His subsequent successes led to even more work for Herbert. The summer of 1954 saw him hosting a panel quiz show on NBC called “It’s a Curious Thing.” Among the panelists on the first episode were the puppet Oliver J. Dragon and his human creator, Burr Tillstrom.

By the end of 1954, Herbert was traveling each Sunday to New York or Los Angeles to appear on “The General Electric Theater,” where he befriended the series’ host, Ronald Reagan. Herbert returned on Tuesdays to his family and home on Eugenie Street in the Old Town neighborhood, in time to prepare for Saturday’s episode of “Watch Mr. Wizard.”

Like fellow Old Town resident and television star Dave Garroway, Herbert moved to New York when it became clear more opportunities awaited there. “Watch Mr. Wizard” went with him.

The show continued to be produced in New York until the summer of 1965. NBC Vice President Julian Goodman had abruptly announced the cancellation of “Watch Mr. Wizard” in April, stating: “It’s an excellent program and has served its audience well, but we feel the time has come for a new program.”

Television’s Mr. Wizard, Don Herbert, works with laboratory equipment in his home around 1954. (Chicago Tribune historical photo)

Herbert remained in New York and kept busy. He appeared in a series of science films produced for National Educational Television, the precursor to PBS. He brought back Mr. Wizard briefly in a new show in the early 1970s. Later in the decade, he remained recognizable and trusted enough for General Electric to enlist him to help convince the American people of the safety and efficiency of a new kind of nuclear reactor.

His most sustained comeback started in 1983 with the launch of “Mr. Wizard’s World” on the children’s cable network Nickelodeon. Over the span of almost 80 episodes, Herbert used science to explain the world’s mysteries to the children of the generation that had first watched him.

Don Herbert died in California in 2007, about a month shy of his 90th birthday.

During the time “Mr. Wizard’s World” was on Nickelodeon, the National Science Foundation’s George Tressell reflected upon Herbert’s legacy, concluding: “Don has been personally responsible for more people going into the sciences than any other single person in the country. … They all say that Mr. Wizard taught them how to think.”

Among those inspired by Herbert was another TV scientist who became a hit with young viewers, Bill Nye the Science Guy. Interviewed in 1995, Nye called Herbert “a genius. Without him we wouldn’t have gone to the moon.”

Paul Durica works for the Chicago History Museum and runs historical talks, walks and reenactments at pocketguidetohell.com. Have an idea for Vintage Chicago Tribune? Share it with Marianne Mather at mmather@chicagotribune.com and Kori Rumore at krumore@chicagotribune.com.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/03/08/mr-wizard-don-herbert-vintage-tribune/