The Friendly Giant

The Friendly Giant is a children's television program that aired on

The Friendly Giant was produced by Daniel McCarthy, who would later become the head of children's programming at the CBC.^[3]

Format

The short, 15-minute show was perhaps most famous for its opening sequence. Each episode would begin with the camera panning to the right over a detailed model of part of a village, farm, harbor, city, etc as Friendly could be heard narrating and observing the goings-on in the land below. The pan would continue until it stops at the Giant's great big boot on the left coming into view at the edge of the valley and Friendly would ask the viewers to "Look up … waaaaay up!" and the Giant would thus invite everyone to come visit his castle, telling them that he will meet them there after letting the drawbridge down and opening the front doors. The traditional tune "Early One Morning" would then be heard being played on harp and recorder, while the camera slowly zoomed into a model of the Giant's castle, the drawbridge slowly dropped down, and the medieval inward-swinging double doors that say "Friendly Giant" opened wide in welcome as promised. Once inside, the Friendly Giant would put out three miniature chairs in front of the fireplace for his viewers beside his feet (with only his feet and hands visible), saying, "Here we are inside, here's one little chair for one of you, and a bigger chair for two more to curl up in, and for someone who likes to rock, a rocking chair in the middle." Then the camera would tilt up, as the Giant gave his iconic invitation to "Now, look up, waaaaaay up, and I'll call Rusty... Rusty?" to which he would then summon his friend, Rusty the Rooster. Typically, Jerome the Giraffe would visit, poking his head in through a high window after being whistled for by Friendly. Rusty the Rooster, who lived in a book bag hanging on the wall by the window, would emerge and produce, from the bag, books to be read and other props, some seemingly larger than could fit in the bag.

The rest of the show focused on gentle, humorous chat between Friendly, Rusty, and Jerome, followed by a story or a musical performance. When extra instrumentation was needed, a pair of otherwise silent puppet cats and raccoons and a rooster — Angie and Fiddle, the Jazz Cats and Patty and Polly, the Raccoons with recorder and bassoon and Buster, a Rooster with electric bass guitar — joined in (puppeteered by Gustáv Hársfai (Sr) and Linda Keogh (Jr). Music for the show was composed by the show's harpist, John Duncan.^[6]

At the conclusion of a typical show, Friendly plays one verse of "Early One Morning" on his recorder, says goodbye to his friends and his viewers as he puts his miniature furniture away: "It's late. This little chair will be waiting for one of you, and a rocking chair for another who likes to rock, and a big armchair for two more to curl up in when you come again to our castle. I'll close the big front doors and pull up the drawbridge after you're gone. Goodbye. Goodbye." His hand gestures farewell as the camera zooms out or fades and the castle's medieval doors are closed and the drawbridge is raised. The slow reprise of “Early One Morning” continues on harp and recorder throughout. Night falls on the castle as a silvery

Throughout the 1960s and into the 1980s, The Friendly Giant was part of a block of children's programming aired by the CBC each weekday morning that included programs such as Chez Hélène, Mr. Dressup, and the Canadian edition of Sesame Street.

Cancellation

In 1985, The Friendly Giant was cancelled. The show's replacement, Fred Penner's Place, has been referred to by some people as "the Giant Killer".^[7] By the time The Friendly Giant ended, more than 3,000 episodes of the show had been produced.

Post-cancellation

After the show's cancellation in 1985, the show continued to air in reruns until September 1987, when the show was removed from the schedule completely to make room for new children's shows.^{[citation needed]}

The star of the show, Bob Homme, was made a member of the Order of Canada^[8] in 1998. He died on May 2, 2000, at the age of 81 of prostate cancer.

Approximately 850 episodes of the show are currently held in the CBC's archive, including kinescopes of the earliest episodes.^{[citation needed]}

The Friendly Giant was honoured as a Masterwork by the Audio-Visual Preservation Trust of Canada in 2005.

The authorized biography of Bob Homme called Look Up — Way Up is based on interviews conducted with Bob after he retired. Links to memorable audio clips were also included.^[9]

The puppeteer of both Jerome the Giraffe and Rusty the rooster, Rod Coneybeare, passed away on September 5, 2019.^[10]

Props controversy

Props, costumes and puppets from the show were on display at the CBC Museum in Toronto as part of an exhibit called Growing Up with CBC. However, The Friendly Giant paraphernalia was removed from the CBC Museum after the puppets Rusty and Jerome appeared, without permission from the Homme family, in a sketch during the 2007 Gemini Awards. Homme's daughter said that the clip was in poor taste and disrespected the memory of her father.^[11][12] Only the castle wall and window on which Friendly would lean and talk to Rusty and Jerome remained in the museum until 2017. The train set of the railway yard used in the show's intro is on display at the Pump House Steam Museum in Kingston, Ontario.^[13]

References