When I was growing up in Rockland County, New York, my parents liked to buy art from artist friends and, when possible, offer other kinds of support. They hired the Hungarian-American artist André Dugo, for example, to paint a portrait of my brother Bo and me sitting in an armchair and reading one of the artist’s children’s books. We often read his book Pete the Crow or the books featuring a cardinal and a blue jay, or the one about the calf that ate the wrong kind of grass and puffed up like a balloon.
One day, Mr. Dugo came to our house to watch television with us. (We had one of the first TVs because my father was writing a story on Dumont for Fortune magazine.) We kept asking Mr. Dugo what he would like to see, and he kept saying he just wanted to see whatever we ordinarily watched.
As we worked our way through several programs, Mr. Dugo noted our reactions, sometimes asking questions.
Not many months after, a children’s book came out. It was called Tom’s Magic TV, and its premise was that a boy traveled through the TV screen and into adventures with sharks, circus clowns, puppets, cowboys and spacemen. Bo and I were not mentioned. The mother didn’t look like my mother. This was an early exposure to children’s-literature research — or poetic license.
I’m pretty sure that Gene Autry was the model for the cowboy adventure.
Suzanne's Mom's Blog 
I certainly remember your TV because my brothers and I lived next door in Suffren. We were always allowed to go to your house on Wednesday evenings to watch Walt Disney World (in black and white) on your magic TV! It was the highlight of our week. But I never knew your TV was famous in another way. I do remember it was a very large console with a very small screen.
The neighborhood curiosity. The Carrs often came, too.
Dugo’s style looks so familiar to me–it makes me wonder if I had a book with his illustrations. As it happens, another friend of mine had a brush with KidLit greatness–he lived across the street from one of the authors of Dick and Jane . . . and he was the inspiration for Dick! Or so he says . . .
The books are all out of print. I think the storytelling may not have been as strong as the art. I got this decommissioned school library version online.
This was my first memorable book. I was 6 when I read it and it made sense to me.
Andre was as formative as Marshal McLuhan.
Cool! So glad you found this post! The idea of becoming part of the TV show must have really struck a chord. Talk about interactive television!