Betty Lou Varnum (née McVay; May 3, 1931 – August 2021) was an American television personality, best known as host of the long-running children's show, The Magic Window. Early years Varnum was born in Chicago. Her parents, Glen and Louise McVay, moved to the small town of Platteville, Wisconsin later that same year. Her father was a popular local optometrist and sportsman and her mother was a housewife. The family lived in Platteville during WWII as McVay completed public school. After the war, McVay moved to Madison and attended the University of Wisconsin–Madison where she received a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology with a minor in English literature. After graduation, McVay returned to her hometown, Platteville, and obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in teaching. She took a job teaching literature and speech at the high school in Port Washington, Wisconsin. Career An acquaintance of McVay's who attended the University of Wisconsin, Platteville and worked at WOI-TV in Ames, Iowa suggested her as a host for a television show. In late 1954, after being contacted by WOI-TV managers, McVay left her teaching job and went to work in television. At that time, WOI-TV was owned and operated by Iowa State University and had just signed on the air on February 21, 1950. It was the first commercial television station in the United States to be owned by a major college. Although she had never been in a television studio before and had only been on the job for two days, McVay took over as host of The Magic Window, which would become America's longest-running local children's program. The Magic Window ran continuously from 1951 through 1994. Betty Lou and the House with the Magic Window, as the show was later titled, was a children's show aimed at kindergarten and preschoolers that took place in the Magic Forest. McVay and her special friends, Gregory Lion (a perpetually four-year-old lion), Catrina Crocodile (a witch who had changed herself into a beautiful crocodile), and Dusty the Unicorn (more formally known as Stardust Glimmer, who was 3000 years old – young for a unicorn), would chat with visitors, teach a clever craft, and watch wholesome cartoons such as Felix the Cat and Tales of the Riverbank, a Canadian live-action short about Hammy the Hamster, Roderick the Rat, and friends. Although targeted at young children, The Magic Window would become a favorite of children