Mr. Dressup (Ernie Coombs) was a beloved, iconic Canadian children's TV performer, who was born and raised in the U.S., got his start performing with Fred Rogers (yes, THAT Fred Rogers!) on TV in Pittsburgh in the 1950s, and came with him to Canada to do the very first "Misterogers" show for CBC in Toronto. When Rogers returned to the U.S. a few years later, he took "Misterogers" with him, but Coombs stayed on to become part of a new children's program on CBC, "Butternut Square." He treated children (and, well, everyone!) with the same kindness and respect that Fred Rogers was famous for, and encouraged them to foster their imaginations and creativity, using simple materials that almost everyone has around the house -- paper, pens/markers/crayons, tape, scissors, empty cardboard tubes. He sang songs and drew pictures for his audience on an easel.
"Butternut Square" ran from 1964 to 1967. (My sister and I had dolls we named Susan and Sandy, after the girls who appeared with him on the show.) The show was cancelled, but happily, Coombs's character of Mr. Dressup was offered his own CBC show -- called, naturally, "Mr. Dressup." It ran for almost 30 years (!) -- until Coombs retired in 1996 -- and lived on in reruns for another 10 years after that. Generations of Canadian children grew up to know and love Mr. Dressup, his Tickle Trunk full of costumes, and his puppet sidekicks Casey and Finnegan, whose treehouse now resides in the atrium at the CBC Broadcast Centre in Toronto. (I have walked by the CBC building many times but never gone inside... something I really need to do someday. I want to have my photo taken with the treehouse!) In addition to the TV show, Mr. Dressup took his act on the road across Canada -- and after he retired, he kept busy touring university and college campuses, where he was met with enthusiastic crowds of young adults who had grown up watching him.
Sadly, Ernie Coombs died at age 73 --far too young -- in September 2001 (days after the events of 9/11 -- one trauma after another...!), following a stroke, just a few years after he retired from the show, and nine years after his wife was killed in a freak car/pedestrian accident on Toronto's Yonge Street. But his memory lives on, and he remains a cultural touchstone for generations of Canadians (including me!).
I've told this story many times over the years, but I searched my blog, and apparently I've never written it down here! I met Coombs/Mr. Dressup, in the late 1990s -- after he retired from the show in 1996, but before he died. (I don't remember if that was before or after losing Katie in 1998, but I do remember feeling sad, when the show ended, that my future children would never know Mr. Dressup, as I had.) He actually lived in the same Toronto suburban community where we did, and was making a personal appearance one Saturday at the bookstore at the local mall.
Dh & I walked by the store that afternoon, towards the end of his visit and saw the sign outside announcing his appearance. There was no one else there just then except the manager, who was chatting to him. "Go on, you know you want to!" dh said, giving me a shove.
So I went in, walked up to him, extended my hand, and said, "Mr. Dressup, I'm so happy to meet you... I remember watching you on "Butternut Square!" "
Dear man, he looked at me and said, "You can't POSSIBLY be that old!"
No wonder I loved him! ;)
You can find more of this week's #MicroblogMondays posts here.
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