(photos courtesy of Craig Marin/Flexitoon)

In today's digital age, where everything that is written,  photographed, and otherwise recorded, it's forever. If it's on the  internet, you can find it. It's hard to believe that this was not always  the case.

We are talking, in particular, about the  kids' TV shows of the early 1960's, hosted by such giants and legends of  broadcasting as Chuck McCann, Sonny Fox, Soupy Sales, and most of all, Sandy Becker.

Sandy  Becker hosted a daily kids show, broadcast live on WNEW-TV, Channel 5.  Any fifty-something Boomer who grew up in the greater NYC area in the  1960's watching TV, remembers being entertained by Sandy Becker, and his  cohort of characters and puppets. These shows were broadcast live,  recorded on kinescope (the pre-cursor to videotape), saved for a short  time, then erased and taped over for the next show.

This  includes Sandy Becker's 1961 rendition of "A Christmas Carol", starring  his ensemble of puppets, including Geeba Geeba as Scrooge, and Sir  Clive Clyde as Bob Cratchit. Anyone hoping to get their hands on a video  of this original show is out of luck.

However, New  York City based Craig Marin, of Flexitoon puppet studio, has a  plan. Marin was a friend and protege of Sandy Becker and inherited  Becker's puppets when he died in 1996. "Sandy was a mentor, and we often  talked about and planned to remake his Christmas Carol," says Marin,  who began his career as a puppeteer and ventriloquist as a teenager.  "But sadly, when he passed away, plans were put on old. However, now is  the chance to realize Sandy's dream for Boomers and beyond. Our vision  is to produce a re-imagining of Sandy Becker’s Christmas Carol, using  all the original puppets!"

This will be a 21st Century  rendition of the classic show, using the original puppets, new sets,  high-def cinematography, and state of the art special effects and  editing. In order to finance this project, Craig and Flexitoon, with the  assistance of Jeff Pickens (disclosure:  the author is a collaborator on this project), have launched a  project on Kickstarter, an  all-or-nothing funding platform for artists who seek backing for their  projects. Potential backers pledge a dollar amount, and with the pledges  come premiums, the higher the pledge, the sweeter the premium. No money  changes hands until the project is fully funded by pledges.

To  learn more about this project, please go to the Kickstarter project page at http://bit.ly/c3HeYf. Read the project  description, and the updates, for  everything you need to know about this exciting project.

For  those of us who remember this program, this was tantamount to a kids'  version of Woodstock. With the 50th anniversary approaching, this DVD  will be the perfect Christmas gift, an instant Holiday classic you can enjoy  with your kids, grandkids, and generations to come!

You  can help make this happen by becoming a Becker Backer and making a pledge on the Kickstarter site.