Phoenix Public Library to unveil Wallace and Ladmo commemorative card

The Phoenix Public Library is about to honor Valley icons Wallace and Ladmo with a commemorative library card.

Later this month, library officials will unveil a special-edition card paying tribute to the beloved television personalities whose namesake children’s show aired locally for 35 years.

The special-edition design will debut at an unveiling ceremony at 11 a.m. on Saturday, April 25, at Burton Barr Central Library, 1221 N. Central Ave.

Pat McMahon, the longtime Arizona broadcaster who played Gerald, Captain Super and a parade of offbeat characters on “Wallace & Ladmo,” will appear at the ceremony.

Lee Franklin, community relations director for the library, says the card pays tribute to Wallace and Ladmo and their iconic status in Arizona.

“Their show has this iconic status after all these years. It went off the air in December 2019 and still really resonates with people,” Franklin says. “It created fans across generations.”

Franklin said the idea behind the card is to tap into that shared memory while bringing people back into the library.

“The show wasn’t uniquely just a Phoenix thing, but was an Arizona thing, like shared cultural reference. One of its lasting legacies is it’s known for bringing so many people together,” Franklin says. “And Phoenix Public Library, in recent years, has been issuing special edition library cards. And when this kind of conversation started happening, we thought it really makes sense.”

Why Phoenix Public Library is honoring Wallace and Ladmo

The card is more than a collectible. It’s another layer in a legacy Phoenix has been building around Wallace and Ladmo for decades.

The duo has already been immortalized with statues, a mural and even biographical stage production. In 2025, the Phoenix City Council voted unanimously to rename the intersection of First Avenue and McKinley Street as “Wallace and Ladmo Way.”

The library’s tribute fits squarely into that tradition, connecting a new generation of readers with a piece of local culture that still resonates, Franklin says.

“Wallace and Ladmo resonates with so many people across generations, across different parts of our (state). collective communities that we thought this is a another way the library can bring people together,” Franklin says.

A show that defined generations

For Arizona residents of a certain age, Bill “Wallace” Thompson and Ladimir “Ladmo” Kwiatkowski were childhood icons. Their show, which aired from 1954 to 1989 on KPHO, was smart, subversive and packed with colorfully absurd humor that entertained all ages.

The show became one of the longest-running children’s shows in the country. It mixed cartoons with live skits, low-budget chaos and a cast of characters that leaned weird, irreverent and unmistakably local.

Wallace played the straight man, Ladmo was the lovable goof and villainous spoiled brat Gerald (one of many characters portrayed on the program by Arizona television personality Pat McMahon) was delightfully insufferable.

“The Wallace and Ladmo Show” was a Phoenix institution. Its skits were zany, its humor sharp and its special guests list included the likes of Muhammad Ali and a young Alice Cooper.

Julia Taggart of the Sunnyslope Historical Society in Phoenix says Wallace and Ladmo are firmly a part of Phoenix lore.

“It’s almost like a cult phenomenon, because people who are younger like me don’t really know how deep ‘The Wallace and Ladmo Show’ runs in Arizona’s history,” Taggart says.