‘Look up, waaaaaaaaaay up’
The Friendly Giant represented a tender way for many children to start their days
First, full disclosure: I have a bias toward children’s television shows of a certain era, such as Mr. Dressup, Fred Penner’s Place, Fraggle Rock and the exceptional Today’s Special.
My first live concert experience was Sharon, Lois and Bram — from my all-time favourite, The Elephant Show. The Rebecca Cohn Auditorium in Halifax never saw a more excited preschooler. Decades later, I can still hum many of these shows’ theme songs.
According to my mother, there is one particular series I watched more than others: The Friendly Giant. She tells me the soothing, calm voice of its star, Americanborn Bob Homme, was a tool she used to quiet me down. (I was a very energetic child.) I can still hear the harp being played during the show’s intro. I can still picture Friendly, as he was known to the other regular characters: Rusty the Rooster, who lived in a large cloth bag, and Jerome, the purple giraffe who frequently stuck his head through Friendly’s window. Both puppets were voiced by Rod Coneybeare, who offered his deep voice for the songs they would sing.
Episodes of The Friendly Giant started with a pan across the model landscape — sometimes winter, sometimes spring — of a very Canadian-looking town. When the camera reached a large leather boot, Friendly told us to “Look up, waaaaaaaaaay up.” His castle was nestled really, really high in the clouds. While the opening credits played to the old English tune of Early One Morning, the drawbridge opened and we were invited inside.
The Friendly Giant made its debut as a radio program in Wisconsin in 1953. It soon moved to state television, and then on to Canada. From 1958 to 1985, the show had a permanent home on CBC Television.
As a kid watching in Nova Scotia, it never got old for me. It was familiar and I knew what to expect. I knew that Friendly would arrange three wooden rocking chairs in front of his fireplace and invite us to settle in. Then he would tell us a story. I liked his stories.
Homme was amazing to me because he spoke to his pals — a pastel giraffe, a rooster who played a tiny harp and the cats Fiddle and Angie — with respect and intelligence. It was a time when imagination mattered and I could sit and listen. When Friendly played his recorder and Rusty played along, their music was enchanting — almost ethereal.
I didn’t realize until I was much older that each episode lasted only about 15 minutes. As a kid, it always seemed the perfect length of time. Just when I started to lose interest, the end credits would begin, playing Early One Morning again. The wooden chairs would wait for us until next time, Friendly would say. He always told the truth.
The Friendly Giant produced more than 3,000 episodes over its 27-year run, and was cancelled after Brian Mulroney’s Conservative government handed down huge budget cuts. Rusty the Rooster and Co. were sent to the chopping block. The show continued in repeat form long after that, providing very good filler until Fred Penner’s Place became more prominent: The times were changing, and children of the day wanted less antiquated music and more energetic action.
Homme was awarded the Order of Canada in 1998, for his contributions to children’s TV. He died of prostate cancer in 2000 at age 81.
After his death, the Homme family donated The Friendly Giant’s puppets and props to the CBC Museum in Toronto. Sadly, the puppets were used for a satirical skit during the 2007 Gemini Awards that was executed in very poor taste. The Homme family took back the puppets, leaving the CBC shamed.
In this age of reboots, perhaps a redo of The Friendly Giant is in order — but I am skeptical. I can’t imagine looking up, waaaaaaaaaay up to hear anyone’s voice but Homme’s. He was the gentlest of giants. His show reached a younger generation through music and storytelling — not fancy animation or hyper graphics. His manner was one of the greatest things about Canadian television.
No matter how many other children watched, I knew there was always a comfy chair waiting for me.