ELIZABETH "Toots" BARGER

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  Elizabeth "Toots" Barger - Queen of Duckpin Bowling

 

This web site is in the process of being built. It will contain information on Duckpin Bowling during the famous Evening Sun newspaper annual TV shows. We will also include links and other information about duckpin bowling today. However the main focus will be Toots Barger's involvement in Duckpin Bowling and how she shaped the sport.





 


 

 

Newspaper Reports - from the Baltimore Sun newspapers and wire services

 

The Baltimore Sunpapers did more to promote Duckpin bowling in the Maryland area than any other media service. The Annual Evening Sun Bowling Tournament was the highlight of the December holiday season. Thousands would watch the finals on TV. The next day the Morning Sun would feature the entire front page to coverage of this huge event. At the high point in Duckpin bowling most bowling league weekly standings were reported in the Sunpapers.

 

The Hearst News-American newspaper tried to feature tournaments about Duckpin bowling, but their lack of readership forced them to withdraw from publishing. 


Television and Motion Pictures

 

WMAR-TV Channel 2 was the first television station to be on the air in the Baltimore area. Live coverage of their annual Evening Sun bowling tournament was one of their first on-location sports events in 1947. WBAL-TV had a famous show - Duckpins & Dollars. The show was so famous that Duckpin Lanes were installed in the studio. WJZ-TV covered Toots on their Evening Magazine Show many times. Pinbusters was another weekly TV show for the younger set.

 

Motion Pictures of duckpin bowling started in 1950 by RKO Radio Pictures a short bowling film featuring Toots bowling Regular Duckpins, Rubber Band pins, and Candle Pins. The film was featured as a short subject at the Hippodrome Theater on Howard Street. Although Toots was famous for Duckpin Bowling, the producers also had her demonstrate her ability with the other pins used in the other parts of the United States. The NDBC also produced a motion picture for television promotion of Duckpin Bowling.