TIL: Mr. Dressup is essentially a spin-off of Mr. Rogers, a show Fred Rogers first introduced on the CBC in 1962.
Posted by
Mop🧹 (aka rburriel)
Aug 18 '23, 21:29
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From a Facebook post:
Without the CBC, there may have never been a Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, and without Fred Rogers, there may have never been a Mr. Dressup.
This is the story of the friendship between Fred Rogers and Ernie Coombs.
After Ernie Coombs began to pursue a career in children's entertainment, he became an assistant puppeteer to Fred Rogers at WQED in Pittsburgh on The Children's Corner.
He created several puppets including Lady Elaine Fairchild.
The two became close friends while working together. Fred Rogers was the best man at Ernie Coombs' wedding, and was also the godfather to Ernie's children.
In 1962, CBC offered Fred Rogers his own show. Together, they drove up to Canada to create this new show.
This show was an early version of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood called Misterogers. It was on this show that Fred Rogers first appeared on camera.
When Fred Rogers moved back to the United States to launch his famous show he recommended to CBC that they build a show around Ernie Coombs.
As a result, Ernie Coombs stayed in Canada and joined Butternut Square.
Rogers told Coombs:
"If you are restrained, the kids will come to you."
That show lasted from 1964 to 1967 and it was there he started to develop the character of Mr. Dressup.
When Butternut Square ended, it was immediately replaced with Mr. Dressup.
That show ran for 3,000 episodes before it ended in 1996. By then, Ernie Coombs had become a Canadian icon.
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