- In the days of King Arthur, they lived in Camelot, a source who entertained the royal court with miraculous feet south, magic high.

Above the castle walls, the ancient Necro meets with members of the magic round table.

Come with us now to the secret room of, - Oh, welcome, why that smoke is strong.

Welcome to my secret room.

Nice to see you again.

We have an action packed meeting today, so much to do, so we'll make the mighty sort of caliber rise right now.

Shall we?

Please help me?

I'm gonna say magic words.

Philly die.

Philly Dee, what's that?

Who?

Chauncey.

Chauncey the clown.

But Chauncey shouldn't do.

Come in.

Now I want to do the sword rise.

Oh, you have a trick?

You're going to drop a stick in the bottle.

Oh, I'm going to, I have five.

You think it'll take me five sticks to drop in that bottle?

And you only need to take one stick.

Didn't mean to hit your finger there.

Sorry.

I think I can do it with my first one.

May I try it now?

I think I can do this.

This looks just too easy.

It wasn't too good.

Can I get a little closer?

I am not doing very well at all.

I only have two left outta five.

This has to be the lucky one.

I hope I beat Chauncey at this game.

I I didn't get any in the bottle.

Let's watch Chauncey.

I don't think he can do it either, do you?

He did it right in the bottle.

Congratulations, Chauncey.

Congratulations.

I don't know how in the world he did it.

I'm gonna pick up my sticks right over here.

I don't know how in the world he did it.

That's a thanks a lot, Chauncey.

That was very good.

And I had five and I couldn't do it.

I don't know how in the, oh, that Chauncey, he fooled me again.

He's always playing tricks on me.

But Excalibur over here, the mighty sword.

Excalibur never plays tricks on us.

We can always depend on Excalibur to rise into air when we say the magic words, right?

Certainly.

And then you'll see the theme words on the blade, and we'll know what to talk about for the day.

Well, I think it's time to make Excalibur rise.

So let's say the magic words together.

You ready?

Good.

Here we go.

Fiddly, die fiddly.

D magic sword rise for me.

And the magic word on the blade today is a long one.

Cleanliness.

Cleanliness.

C-L-E-A-N-L-I-N-E-S-S. We're going to talk about cleanliness today.

All body cleanliness or personal hygiene, clean hands and face and neck.

And before we do, before we get too involved, I'm gonna draw some pictures on the sketch pad over here.

And I'd like everyone is interrupting me today.

This is Mike, the page.

Hi Mike.

- Hi Merlin.

- Nice to see you again.

Are you wearing black gloves today?

- No.

- Oh, I see you didn't clean your hands too.

Well, whatcha gonna do about it?

- I'm gonna clean 'em better.

- Why don't you wipe 'em off on that towel there?

That'll help you a little bit gracious.

We're just talking about cleanliness and my, you never do magic tricks.

Fine.

Now that that's happened, we're better off.

You never do magic tricks with, with dirty hands and fat.

Well, you, these are sort of, sort of a dry cleaning.

I'll tell you before you do your trick, why don't you go out and wash your hands real thoroughly with warm soap and water, and then come back in and do your trick.

Alright, Mike.

- Okay.

Bye.

Merlin.

- Fine.

I'll see you later.

Meanwhile, I wanna draw a sketch or two and explain what I mean about cleanliness.

You know, here at Camelot, we don't have all the modern conveniences that you have to keep clean.

For example, when this fellow right here, do you know who this is?

Do you have any idea who that fellow is?

When this fellow right here, when he takes a bath, he does it in a tub that looks something like this.

It's made of wooden boards.

And I have either Chauncey the clown or, or I have Mike the page one or the other, pour warm water in there.

And when it's nice, my knees come right up like that.

It's such a small area.

See, here's a steam coming out of the tub, and the tub leaks a little bit so it isn't too, too good an arrangement.

But you're lucky, you're lucky in your 20th century.

You don't have to take a bath out of a, an old wooden tub.

You have something like this.

I believe, at least this is what my, what my crystal ball told me.

And I envy you that you have such a wonderful method, such a wonderful place to keep clean.

You know what this fellow's doing?

Do you have any idea?

Well, this fellow right here is taking a bath in a 20th century bathtub.

And you know what he's doing?

You know what he's doing?

Well, this fellow is sailing a boat right there.

See?

And this is a bar of soap on the edge of the tub.

But he doesn't seem to be too interested in the bar of soap.

He seems to be more interested in what's in the tub.

And like many boys and girls, I think he's perhaps, well, he's, he's playing in the bathtub.

He's smiling, he's enjoying himself.

Instead of taking a nice bath with warm water, running water in a clean, modern tub, you know what he's doing?

Well, let's listen, listen, listen.

- Look out.

We're heading into a storm.

Man, those pokes.

Watch your house, - Poke tight.

Here comes a big one.

- He thinks he's a captain, and that he's sailing this ship at sea.

He's forgotten all about the important job of washing his hands and feet and scrubbing thoroughly.

He's too busy playing.

When you take a bath, and you should do it daily, make certain that you use plenty of this right here.

Use plenty of what is SOAP spell soap, right?

And use plenty of this.

Please, by all means, use plenty of this hot water soap and water.

And don't do as did, as did Mike, the page.

Don't leave the dirt on your hands.

Let it go down the drain and then wipe it off with a towel.

Don't clean your hands on mother's white towels.

Make sure those fingernails are clean too.

Be positive of that.

Bathe daily.

Get your neck and your ears.

Do a good job.

And don't, don't let your hands get so dirty when you're out playing that you come to the, the, the dining room table with dirty hands.

Clean your hands before you eat.

And, and here's a fellow who had a little trouble with his hands before, and now you wanna do the trick.

May I see your hands?

Oh, they're nice and clean.

Both hands are, this is a rope trick, eh?

- Yes.

- Look, strong.

May I look it?

That's an ordinary rope.

All right.

All right.

What in the world could Mike, the page?

You know, I'm supposed to do the tricks around here.

Mike, you know, I, I, I, I'm, oh, I know you're going to I see.

Making a loop and you're going to, oh, you missed it.

I missed - It.

- You sure did.

He's gotta practice this a little more.

Yes.

And you're going to cut the rope in the middle.

Yes.

And you have all, you have all of these extra ends.

Now you have four ends of rope.

But how, how is he gonna put it back together?

I wonder, has he been reading my book of magic?

I think perhaps that's true on you.

You wanna cut some of the knot off so it won't look as bad?

Cut some of the ends off.

It looks pretty bad.

Yes, when you restore rope by tying it together.

But I hate to say this, Mike.

Anyone, anyone can make a rope come back together by just cutting the ends off or tying it.

Well, you're gonna do it a different way.

Okay.

Wrap it around your hands.

Oh, it's still there.

And the wolfel dust is behind there.

Put a little wolfel dust on there.

Yes.

And the rope is restored.

Thanks, Mike.

You did that very well with clean hands.

You can take the rope and the scissors.

I'm gonna talk to Betty the bookworm.

Bye.

Bye.

Mike Betty knows a lot about cleanliness and health and hygiene.

In fact, she reads this heavy book and as many books as she can find every day.

Very intelligent girl.

And she's my secretary.

Let's see if she's there.

Hello.

Betty Betty.

The bookworm.

- Yes.

Merlin.

What is it?

What what, what?

I'll tell you what, what?

You always get me up here.

Now what do you wanna talk about?

What is it?

Merlin?

- What?

So excited.

Well, I'll tell you what, what?

Just, just, just relax.

Just relax.

Just relax.

Take No, no.

Don't collapse.

Just relax.

Betty.

Up, up.

There you go.

Fine.

Now Betty, please stop playing tricks on me.

Alright?

- Okay, Merlin.

Alright.

I - Will.

What do you know about cleanliness?

- Well, I know lots.

Merlin lots.

- Watch you got my nose again.

- Oh, we, we always get in the way.

- Yes, - But, well, one of the things that we gotta be careful about in being clean is that when you take a nice hot bath, that you use lots and lots of soap and you get rid of all those germs, those little, little things that, that cause disease in things.

Those little things.

- Oh, they're kind of yucky.

How about cleaning the tub?

- Well, that's a good thing.

You know, mom would really appreciate that, you know, 'cause all the dirt, you know, goes off your body and it goes down the drain.

And, and with the washcloth just once over and you get the tub clean and all the germs go down the drain.

- Well, I always clean the tub.

- Do do you really?

Me - And my fingernails too.

- Let, let me see.

They're - Clean.

My gracious, she doesn't believe a word.

I tell her, - You know, Merlin another place.

People don't really clean.

Let me check the back of your neck.

- I'm, I'm a big, I'm a grown man.

I'm not gonna let you look at - My, my neck.

Well, I know that Merlin, but you know, sometimes we miss your eyesight isn't what it used to be.

- Should I let her look at my neck?

- Me Check, - Check.

Look at my neck.

- Come here.

- All right.

- All well, Merlin, I hate to tell - Do I my but - No.

Well, it's, it's, it's acceptable.

But that's all.

But I won't tell anybody - All.

Now, Betty, I think we all learned a lesson about, about keeping clean.

- Merlin.

You don't want to talk anymore.

You're, you're - Trying to, all I'm trying to tell you that our time is up and we're gonna have to say goodbye to our friends.

- Merlin, you're, you're trying to tell me to shut up.

You don't want me to talk anymore to talk to anybody?

And well, can you want me to go and don't apologize, Merlin.

I know when I'm not wanted.

Goodbye.

- Goodbye.

Betty.

She's, oh, she is just, she's just so sensitive and I don't mean to hurt her feelings at all, but she's very, very sensitive.

And she, oh, she did it again.

She got my, she got my, you know, every time I talk to her, she catches my finger.

Oh, gracious.

Oh, be oh, oh my.

That's smart.

That really?

Mm, that really hurts.

Well, let's all remember to keep clean for mother and daddy.

Wash your hands before each meal.

Practice all the rules of good health and cleanliness.

You think about that.

Bye now.

I'll see you soon.

I'm gonna write the rules down here.

Yes.

- Betty the bookworm was portrayed by Helen Siglin.

Chauncey was played by Joe Berman.

Merlin was produced in the studios of Ohio University Television, Athens, Ohio.