Botany Wooly Lamb, as shown in New York PM newspaper, Oct. 15, 1941, via Tralfaz.

Today marks the 85th anniversary of the very first televised weather forecast, on October 14, 1941. It was delivered not by a human, but by a cartoon lamb, Botany Wooly Lamb, over WNBT Channel 1, broadcasting from the Empire State Building. The lamb was voiced by teenage actress Charita Bauer, who would later go on to play matriarch Bertha Bauer on The Guiding Light.

The lamb would start by gazing at the sky and singing a jingle:

It’s hot, it’s cold, it’s rain, it’s fair,

It’s all mixed up together;

But I, as Botany’s little lamb,

Predict tomorrow’s weather.

He would then star in an 80-second sketch tailored to the forecast. Since rain was forecast for October 15, Botany took an evening stroll through a park, but was held up by a masked bandit. When ordered to put his hands up, the lamb opened his umbrella instead, and a downpour drenched the mugger. After the cartoon, a slide showed the official forecast details.

Botany was the brainchild of advertising man Douglas Leigh, famous for some of the spectaculars over Times Square. Animation was by Otto Messmer, creator of Felix the Cat (the wonderful, wonderful cat).