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'Romper Room' host Mary Ann King dies

Posted at 12:39 PM, Jun 18, 2016
and last updated 2016-06-18 15:39:49-04

Mary Ann King, who peered through her "Magic Mirror" to host the children's TV show "Romper Room" in Los Angeles, has died. She was 82.

Her daughter tells the San Gabriel Valley Tribune that King died Thursday at a senior center in Chino Hills.

King locally hosted "Romper Room" from 1966 to 1976. The program aired worldwide with different hosts in each locale.

During the show, King played learning games with children and urged them to be "Do Bees" who behaved well -- not "Don't Bees" who played in the street or failed to clean their plates.

Each episode ended with King holding up a mirror-like frame and looking through it to name child viewers.

Her daughter says long after leaving the show, King carried the mirror because one-time viewers would ask her to say their names.