Today marks the final airing of Mr. Dressup on CBC TV. Ernie Coombs, the man behind the moniker, retired in 1996 but CBC continued airing re-runs. It had been on the air for nearly 30 years. According to CBC spokesperson Jeff Keay: “The thinking is that 11 years of reruns is enough. We have to think about other things to do with our children’s programming.”
And, says this blogger, “There’s little doubt that ‘other programming’ will be more frenetic, less gentle, and completely lacking a Tickle Trunk.” The blogger writes:
When I heard that Ernie Coombs had died, a part of me was happy. He died in the early days of September of 2001, news of his death obscured by the bigger things that happened that autumn. When I heard the news, a few days after he had died, after “everything changed,” I remember thinking that I was glad that Mr. Dressup hadn’t lived to see that. Ernie Coombs died on September 18, 2001, after a stoke on September 10. Amid my grief, that distant and acute grief of losing an icon of childhood, I felt relief that a man most often described as gentle hadn’t had to see what the rest of us had.
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I posted this comment on the blog referenced in this article, but I figure I’ll cross post it here.
It is sad to hear that CBC is dropping this show. I’d love to see Mr. Dressup continue in re-runs, offering my child the same opportunities to grow and learn from the show the way I did. Unfortunately that won’t happen (and yes, I have heard about the DVD’s, but that’s not the same… sure - you can get a few DVD’s, but once you’ve seen them 8, 10, 20 or more times, you need some new content).
I’d like to suggest that anyone who would like to continue to see Mr. Dressup re-runs to continue to have a home somewhere to take a moment to contact Treehouse TV and suggest the show be added to their lineup. For anyone who doesn’t know, Treehouse is a Canadian Cable TV / Satttellite channel which runs programming (all day long) aimed at the 6 and under age. In fact, a lot of the other programming which runs as a part of CBC Kids’ lineup also gets shown on Treehouse. In my opinion, Treehouse would be a good home for Mr. Dressup. I don’t know if they would consider adding the show, but if enough people emailed them, they just might consider it. Here’s their contact info:
http://www.treehousetv.com/parents/contact.asp
I agree that it is probably (sadly) true that new children’s programming will be more frenetic and less gentle than Mr. Dressup or The Friendly Giant. Back in 1968, working at CKX radio/tv in Brandon, I remember that some of us timed our morning coffee breaks so we could watch Friendly and Jerome (I have carried a book bag ever since). Sure, we laughed at what we saw, coming at it from an adult perspective, but there was also something of the big kid, that ever-present child who ought to be alive and well in every adult, in us as we imitated the characters in loud voices and with much humour.
Children need less, not more frenetic programming, and certainly they need to see powerful models of gentleness. There are studies now that show little children do not benefit from over-stimulation, and that indeed they may be harmed by it in terms of psycho-neurological development. It is being proved that it does not hold that if a little stimulation is good, more is better. While Maggie Muggins, Flubadub, and Casey & Fiinigan may not appeal to today’s kids, they nonetheless need an alternative to the ever more frenetic fare offered to them.
Daly, heading for his book bag by the big chair
Did we ever know if Casey was a boy or a girl?
I guess it never mattered.
Goodbye Mr. Dressup. I thank you for the early childhood happiness.
The drawings and the crafts, the dressing up and listening to story time.
I know it encouraged my young imagination.
You did Canadian parents a great service in helping raise their children right.
Thank you Mr. D and all who helped in the production that show.
May there be more shows of that same caliber.
I will imagine that it is possible.
I didn’t know about the ending of Mr. Dressup episodes on CBC. It’s sad, as my 5-year old still likes to watch it. Oddly enough, my wife, kids and I were in the CBC museum that very day. We saw the tickle trunk and touched Casey’s treehouse. It was a nice stroll down memory lane.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/onecog2many/tags/mrdressup/
It is indeed a sad day. Mr. Dressup had a way about him. He made you feel that he was talking to you, and you only. He spoke to kids.
That piece was a little on the saccharine side, don’t you think?
I mean. Mr. Dressup was mortal, after all.
Even so, I think Ernie Coombs earned it. More power to his memory.