LOS ANGELES (AP) — Louis "Deke" Heyward, a writer and producer who created "Winky Dink and You," a pioneering interactive TV show, died March 26 of complications from pneumonia. He was 81.
Heyward wrote for many TV shows in the 1950s and was head writer for "The Ernie Kovacs Show."
In 1953, he created a Saturday morning children's show with a twist. Viewers at home could help the animated boy called Winky Dink and his dog Woofer by purchasing a 50-cent kit that included a "magic screen."
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The clear sheet of plastic was placed over the television screen so that viewers could help the characters cross a stream, for example, by drawing in a bridge with "magic crayons." The show ran for many years in syndication.