Remembering PBS "Star Hustler" Jack Horkheimer

The internet is good for nostalgia, if it's not good for much else.  So we caught a brief stargazer segment on PBS tonight, and it made me wonder, whatever happened to that fellow I remember all those years ago on WOSU-TV, out of Ohio State University's PBS broadcasting?  The one who, during the summers when I could stay up late, watching old reruns of Benny Hill, or Man About the House (the show that inspired the 70s American show Three's Company), or Monty Python's Flying Circus, wrapped up the day's lineup?  When the shows were off, there was one thing left before our nation's anthem signaled the end of broadcasting, and it was this little gem:



He always reminded me of Christopher Hewitt from Mr. Belvedere.  He had such an enthusiasm for the subject, I couldn't help but develop an curiosity for the heavens.  I eventually purchased a telescope, though times being what they've been, I have not been able to upgrade as I had hoped.  Still, I credit my interest in astronomy, if even on an amateur scale, to Mr. Horkheimer.  The spit-and-a-handshake sets and graphics, the eerie pseudo-sci-fi theme music, all left an impression that has never gone away.  I was sad to see he passed away only a couple years ago.  But it's the way of all things in the universe, which is why I sometimes think time is not a creation as much as it's simply our way of grasping with the morality of all material.  Nonetheless, some good memories that bring back thoughts of hot summer nights, open windows and fans, and falling asleep on the couch shortly after the TV went to static.