Toby David

01 / The Detroit story

The Detroit story

Toby David came to the Detroit area with his family in the mid-1920s, attended the Ford Trade School in Highland Park and got his start in amateur talent shows at Chrysler. His first radio job came in 1935 on The Early Morning Frolic at CKLW in Windsor. He spent the war years in Washington and New York as half of the comedy duo The Kibitzers, then returned to Detroit in 1946 and worked mornings on WJR, WWJ and CKLW, where he read the Sunday comics to children as Uncle Toby. When CKLW-TV bought the Popeye cartoons in 1957, David introduced them as Captain Jolly, a character he created, on a dockside set with his sidekick Poopdeck Paul; the show reached an estimated one million viewers a week until it was canceled in 1964. He also served as president of Detroit's Adcraft Club before retiring to Arizona in 1971. His collection is held by the Detroit Historical Society.

Highlights

1. Began on CKLW radio's The Early Morning Frolic in 1935
2. Read the comics to children as 'Uncle Toby' on WJR and CKLW
3. Created and played Captain Jolly on CKLW-TV's Popeye and Pals, 1958–1964
4. President of the Adcraft Club of Detroit
5. His photographs and papers are in the Detroit Historical Society collection