"Look Up, Look Waaayy Up"

-- If you watched CBC Television, Dear Reader, from 1958 to 1985 (and later), you know this phrase well.
The Friendly Giant was a daily 15-minute children's show, featuring Robert Homme (pronounced "hummy") as ‘Friendly,’ and Rod Coneybeare (the voice and manipulator of puppets Rusty the Rooster and Jerome the Giraffe).
(Photo: www.cs.umd.edu)
Each episode began with a soft-spoken narration, with the camera trucking left on a toy town, and then approaching ‘the boot;’ we had to “Look up, look waaayy up," to the head of the ‘giant.’
-- We are going to have fun, Dear Reader, by reciting portions of the regular script together!
For a treat, check out this opening & closing of a show from 1979.
Here we go: "We're on our way to the castle; I'll hurry over first and go in the back door, so I can let the drawbridge down, and open the big front doors for you. Are you ready! Here's my castle.”
The opening theme ("Early One Morning") was played on a recorder, as we entered the castle.
The intro music concluded, as we found ourselves in front of a cozy hearth.
Narration: “Here we are, inside. "Here's one little chair for one of you, an armchair for two or more to curl up in, and for someone who likes to rock a rocking chair in the middle. Now, look up, look waaayy up, and I'll call Rusty."
For the uninitiated, Rusty was a rooster, who spoke with a falsetto voice, and who lived in a book bag hung on the castle wall, and played guitar.
Then we had to whistle for the other character (who never answered on the 1st whistle!), Jerome, the in-your-face giraffe, who liked to wisecrack and direct the music.
The show continued, as the characters engaged in light conversation.
According to Lorne Brown, writing in 'Appleseed Quarterly,' the show was never scripted; instead, themes were worked out in advance on a single sheet of paper, with Homme and Coneybeare ad libbing live on camera. (In addition, the theme music -- both at beginning and end -- was always performed live.)
A topic would come up, and ‘Friendly’ would ask Rusty to dig into the book bag and produce a book, which they / we would all read together, page by page.
The story, which would be caught by the close-up camera, was often punctuated by drawings of the characters, or of a colourful butterfly or flower.
Sometimes, the show would feature a musical concert, either by our trio or with the addition of two furry puppets, Fiddle and Angie, who lived down the hall.
After the book reading and/or music, they would say their good-byes, and we heard the closing lines:
“It IS late. This little chair will be waiting for one of you, and a rocking chair for someone who likes to rock, and a big armchair for two or more to curl up in, when you come again to our castle. I'll close the big front door pull up the drawbridge after you've gone. Good-bye. Good-bye."
(The rate of the delivery of these lines probably depended on the amount of time that was left on the clock!)
We then left the castle as the closing theme was being played, and the credits rolled.
There was one small -- but important -- element yet to come: a paper Moon rose over the castle, and a paper cow jumped over it! (On one occasion this action was omitted, and the CBC switchboard lit up with calls from parents of despondent children!)
‘Friendly’ and his characters never appeared in public, because Homme felt that it would be ‘puzzling’ for children to see them in real size. They were once featured as reviewers of the Grey Cup Parade, but the show was clumsy, and not repeated.
He was made a member of the Order of Canada in 1998, and passed away in May 2000, at the age of 81.
He left us a great legacy: he introduced whole generations of Canadian children to books and reading, as well as to a variety of music!