Garfield Goose and Friends
Encyclopedia
Garfield Goose and Friends was a children's television show produced by WGN-TV
in Chicago
, Illinois
, United States
from 1955 to 1976. The show was known as Garfield Goose and Friend from 1952 to 1955 when it aired on WBKB and WBBM-TV. It was the longest running puppet show on television. The host of the show was Frazier Thomas
, who did all of the talking. The show centered on a clacking goose puppet
named Garfield Goose, who considered himself "King of the United States." There were many other puppet characters such as Romberg Rabbit, Macintosh Mouse, Chris Goose (Garfield's nephew who was born on Christmas, hence "Christmas Goose") and a sleepy bloodhound called Beauregard Burnside III (whose name happened to be a mix of two American Civil War
generals). The show used a "Little Theater Screen", upon which the camera would zoom before cartoons such as Clutch Cargo
and Space Angel
were broadcast.
. Thomas, who was an Indiana
native and had worked on Cincinnati local radio since before World War II
, said he got the idea when he saw Catholic
nuns with a sock puppet in the form of a goose, with which they invited children to "feed the goose" with donations for charity. He wanted to do something special to award prizes to children on his television show, so he created a Garfield Goose puppet for that purpose. "Garfield" was the television station's telephone exchange. In Cincinnati, Garfield Goose lived in a cuckoo clock
, since he had always wanted to be a cuckoo bird.
's Howdy Doody
. In early broadcasts, Thomas hosted the show in a suit and tie, but on October 16, 1952, Garfield appointed him Admiral of his navy and his Prime Minister. making it necessary for Thomas to wear the uniform he is most remembered in. The uniform is now part of the Museum of Broadcast Communications
collection.
At the time the show began, the American Federation of Radio Artists union began to recognize those working in television, becoming the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists
. This made it necessary for television performers to become members of the union and to receive at least union scale wages for their work, which was above current station salaries in many cases. Those who appeared on camera or who had voice roles were now subject to union regulations. The television station indicated that it was only willing to pay a union-scale wage for one performer on the Garfield Goose program. This obviously was Frazier Thomas, and it meant that any role played by Bruce Newton would be paid as non-union scale; he had to stay off-camera and could not speak.
Newton had Garfield Goose communicate with Thomas through an off-screen typewriter
but Newton was soon replaced by Roy Brown
; Brown later created the rest of the show's puppet characters. Newton's own account in an interview for The Golden Age of Chicago Children's Television has him quitting the show and suggesting Thomas contact the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts for a replacement. Thomas did just that and became connected with Roy Brown in this way.
Roy Brown became the graphic artist for the show; he and Thomas quickly redesigned the Garfield puppet. Although Brown was still an art student and had no previous experience as a puppeteer when Thomas hired him for the show, Brown's talents for this type of work were quickly visible. Years after the program had left the air, Brown talked about his time working with Thomas, whom he described as a perfectionist. During those years of working together, Thomas granted Brown the ability to be creative with the show's characters; Brown discovered a slight hand movement which made it appear as if Garfield Goose was smiling. Thomas was able to converse with the show's characters as if they were friends or neighbors, and to talk with his young audience without talking down to them. It was the working chemistry between the two men which made the show memorable and allowed it to become the longest-running puppet show on television.
The program was popular enough with Chicago area children in 1953 to inspire Frazier Thomas and Roy Brown to collaborate for a book, Garfield Goose Memory Book, with Thomas writing the story of Garfield Goose and Brown doing the illustrations for it. In it, Thomas detailed information such as the names of Garfield's parents, Georgia (born in the state), and Godfrey, that he had a sister, Gloria, a brother in law, Gilbert, and a young nephew, Christmas. This branch of the Goose family spent summers in Goosejaw, Saskatchewan, and wintered in Goose Bay, Florida. Thomas and Brown also provided a picture of Garfield's average day in his castle along with information about his younger years. The book was also able to be used as a coloring book.
The first addition to the cast came when the show was just over a year old. The storyline was that Garfield had hired a butler without the knowledge of Frazier, who learned of it through a phone call from the employment agency. He arrived on Thanksgiving Day
1953, and was a capuchin monkey
named Geronimo. Geronimo was with the show even after it moved to WGN-TV. The next new cast member appeared on Christmas Day
after some confusion. Garfield gave Frazier a note saying he would be having Christmas Goose for the holidays. Thomas was aghast at the thought of roast goose being served. Garfield's hastily typed reply said that Christmas Goose, his nephew, was staying with his uncle for the holidays.
WBKB-TV was sold in February 1953 and became WBBM-TV
, the CBS
owned-and-operated station, which moved to Channel 2. The initial sale contract for WBKB to CBS called for a one year period where the new ownership agreed to keep all present programs on the station. Before the transition period was over, Garfield Goose and Friend moved to the new WBKB-TV, an ABC
owned-and-operated station which jumped to channel 7
. During this period, the show was briefly carried nationally on the ABC network. At the time, Chicago did not have a Thanksgiving Day parade to usher in the beginning of the Christmas holiday season. The State Street Council produced a television show instead, featuring popular local children's shows. Shown on both WBKB and WGN-TV in 1954, Garfield Goose was part of the broadcast. On the show's last day on WBKB in 1955, Garfield said he would drive the castle away, while Thomas tried telling him it was impossible. The castle then rolled out of camera range, thanks to caster
s installed by the stage crew. The show began airing on its permanent television home, WGN-TV, the next day.
Other characters were also introduced. They included: bloodhound Beauregard Burnside III, who was the chief of Garfield's secret service and who readily fell asleep, prompting Thomas to call out "hot dogs, hamburgers, spaghetti and meatballs!" to rouse him; Macintosh Mouse, who was in charge of the castle's mailroom. Some of Garfield's relatives visited regularly, including nephew Christmas "Chris" Goose and seasonal visitor "Mama" Goose (actually the Garfield Goose puppet with a wig and granny glasses). Since only Thomas could understand what Romberg and the other characters communicated, Thomas would repeat what the puppets "said" for viewers to understand. Garfield would also go down into his castle and type a note (viewers would hear the sound of a typewriter), bringing it up for Thomas to read aloud.
The program was both entertaining and subtly educational. Guests from the Museum of Science and Industry
, Lincoln Park Zoo
, and the show's own viewers with their hobby projects made learning interesting and also fun. In 1968, the understated educational aspect of the program saved a four year old boy's life. He and his older brother had fallen through ice at a creek near their home. The boys' mother responded to her older son's cries for help; after rescuing them, her younger son was not breathing. The mother knew how to respond to this emergency because of a Garfield Goose segment about scouting where a short film about life saving was shown. Remembering what she had seen in the film when she watched the program with her sons, she was able to revive her four year old. The show also had a quiet moral tone, as Thomas would explain to Garfield why something he had done or wanted to do was wrong.
Thomas' performances with a Jew's harp
either drove the King of the United States to find a place in his castle out of earshot or to simply hit his Prime Minister and Admiral of his navy on the head. When Thomas sang "Jingle Bells" in Latin
on the program during the holidays, he explained the meaning of the words to his young audience, and offered to send copies of the words to anyone who wrote to him. He was inundated with requests; it took weeks to deal with sending all the replies. In addition to hosting the weekday show, Thomas wrote all the scripts and produced the program. The local chapter of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences
did not begin awarding Emmys until 1958; the first recipient of the Best Male Children's Performer was Thomas; he won another award in 1964.
The show remained on WGN-TV (channel 9), which bought the rights in 1955, for over two decades, most of this time running in the late afternoon after children had come home from school. In 1957, Pat Weaver, who created the Today and Tonight
shows for NBC
, had hopes of starting a fourth network. WGN-TV also hoped to be able to syndicate some of its more popular programs through it; one of them was Garfield Goose and Friends. During the early 1970s, the program slowly lost viewership to competition and was moved to weekday mornings. The show's long run ended on September 10, 1976.
in 1976. Thomas cleverly kept his puppets on the air with a storyline in which Garfield "bought" Bozo's Circus. The puppets made daily appearances until 1981. Thomas worked on Bozo's Circus, later retitled The Bozo Show, until his death in 1985. In 1987, the puppets were donated to The Museum of Broadcast Communications
in Chicago. The display initially included Garfield Goose, Romberg Rabbit, Macintosh Mouse, Beauregard Burnside III, Christmas Goose, and Ali Gator (the latter a character who appeared only briefly in a serialized adventure during the show's early years). Ali Gator was later removed from the museum's display.
As often happened during the 1950s and early 1960s (such as with The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
or the first Super Bowl
game), Garfield Goose and Friends aired live for much of its history. WGN did not keep many tapes of its local productions, including Garfield Goose And Friends. Rather, since the reels of videotape
were very costly, they were thriftily recycled. Station management did not foresee how valuable recordings of these broadcasts would have become. Only four episodes were preserved: March 14–15, 1974, and September 9–10, 1976 (the latter two being the final two shows aired in the series).
In December 2005, WGN-TV ran a primetime special called Bozo, Gar and Ray: WGN TV Classics
, which carried the earliest known saved clip of the show, wherein Garfield Goose had "luckily" gotten hold of tickets to the 1959 World Series
at Chicago's Comiskey Park
. As it happened at the time of this 2005 broadcast, the White Sox had won the 2005 World Series, which moreover was their first World Series appearance since 1959. Additional color kinescope footage from 1965 came from a vintage WGN-TV sales film which also includes some scenes from Bozo's Circus. The broadcast garnered #1 ratings in the Chicago market and is rerun annually during the holiday season.
In 2005, the Museum of Broadcast Communications
awarded WGN-TV's Studio 1 a plaque to commemorate the forty years of children's television broadcast from the studio. Garfield Goose and Friends with a likeness of Frazier Thomas
and Garfield, is on the plaque along with Ray Rayner
for Ray Rayner and Friends and Bob Bell
with Bozo's Circus
.
WGN-TV
WGN-TV, virtual channel 9 , is the CW-affiliated television station in Chicago, Illinois built, signed on, and owned by the Tribune Company. WGN-TV's studios and offices are located at 2501 W...
in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
from 1955 to 1976. The show was known as Garfield Goose and Friend from 1952 to 1955 when it aired on WBKB and WBBM-TV. It was the longest running puppet show on television. The host of the show was Frazier Thomas
Frazier Thomas
William Frazier Thomas was a Chicago television personality. While Thomas became the author of nine children's books, he was best known for creating, hosting, writing and producing the long-running children's television program Garfield Goose and Friends on WGN-TV.-Magic and broadcasting:Thomas...
, who did all of the talking. The show centered on a clacking goose puppet
Puppet
A puppet is an inanimate object or representational figure animated or manipulated by an entertainer, who is called a puppeteer. It is used in puppetry, a play or a presentation that is a very ancient form of theatre....
named Garfield Goose, who considered himself "King of the United States." There were many other puppet characters such as Romberg Rabbit, Macintosh Mouse, Chris Goose (Garfield's nephew who was born on Christmas, hence "Christmas Goose") and a sleepy bloodhound called Beauregard Burnside III (whose name happened to be a mix of two American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
generals). The show used a "Little Theater Screen", upon which the camera would zoom before cartoons such as Clutch Cargo
Clutch Cargo
Clutch Cargo is an animated television series produced by Cambria Productions and syndicated beginning on March 9, 1959. Notable for its very limited animation, yet imaginative stories, the series was a surprise hit at the time, and could be seen on 65 stations nationwide in 1960.- Plot :The...
and Space Angel
Space Angel
Space Angel was an animated science fiction television series produced in the United States from early 1962 through 1964. It used the same Synchro-Vox lip technique as Clutch Cargo, the first cartoon produced by the same studio, Cambria Productions....
were broadcast.
Cincinnati
Thomas created Garfield Goose for a local television program he hosted in Cincinnati, OhioCincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio. Cincinnati is the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located to north of the Ohio River at the Ohio-Kentucky border, near Indiana. The population within city limits is 296,943 according to the 2010 census, making it Ohio's...
. Thomas, who was an Indiana
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
native and had worked on Cincinnati local radio since before World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, said he got the idea when he saw Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
nuns with a sock puppet in the form of a goose, with which they invited children to "feed the goose" with donations for charity. He wanted to do something special to award prizes to children on his television show, so he created a Garfield Goose puppet for that purpose. "Garfield" was the television station's telephone exchange. In Cincinnati, Garfield Goose lived in a cuckoo clock
Cuckoo clock
A cuckoo clock is a clock, typically pendulum-regulated, that strikes the hours with a sound like a common cuckoo's call and typically has a mechanical cuckoo that emerges with each note...
, since he had always wanted to be a cuckoo bird.
Chicago and WBKB
In 1951 Thomas and Garfield Goose moved to Chicago and CBS affiliate WBKB-TV, which was then on Channel 4. At first, the goose was a character on Petticoat Party, a variety show hosted by Thomas. Later, when the character was thought to have enough appeal for a show of its own, Garfield Goose and Friend debuted on September 29, 1952 with Chicago puppeteer Bruce Newton. The actual first puppeteer for Garfield was a WBKB secretary, Lee Ann Prineas, who left her clerical duties while the show was on the air. The show aired directly opposite NBCNBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
's Howdy Doody
Howdy Doody
Howdy Doody is an American children's television program that was created and produced by E. Roger Muir and telecast on NBC in the United States from 1947 until 1960. It was a pioneer in children's television programming and set the pattern for many similar shows...
. In early broadcasts, Thomas hosted the show in a suit and tie, but on October 16, 1952, Garfield appointed him Admiral of his navy and his Prime Minister. making it necessary for Thomas to wear the uniform he is most remembered in. The uniform is now part of the Museum of Broadcast Communications
Museum of Broadcast Communications
The Museum of Broadcast Communications is an American museum that currently exists exclusively on the Internet and not in any physical capacity. Its stated mission is "to collect, preserve, and present historic and contemporary radio and television content as well as educate, inform and entertain...
collection.
At the time the show began, the American Federation of Radio Artists union began to recognize those working in television, becoming the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists
American Federation of Television and Radio Artists
The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists is a performers' union that represents a wide variety of talent, including actors in radio and television, as well as radio and television announcers and newspersons, singers and recording artists , promo and voice-over announcers and other...
. This made it necessary for television performers to become members of the union and to receive at least union scale wages for their work, which was above current station salaries in many cases. Those who appeared on camera or who had voice roles were now subject to union regulations. The television station indicated that it was only willing to pay a union-scale wage for one performer on the Garfield Goose program. This obviously was Frazier Thomas, and it meant that any role played by Bruce Newton would be paid as non-union scale; he had to stay off-camera and could not speak.
Newton had Garfield Goose communicate with Thomas through an off-screen typewriter
Typewriter
A typewriter is a mechanical or electromechanical device with keys that, when pressed, cause characters to be printed on a medium, usually paper. Typically one character is printed per keypress, and the machine prints the characters by making ink impressions of type elements similar to the pieces...
but Newton was soon replaced by Roy Brown
Roy Brown (clown)
Roy Thomas Brown was an American television personality, puppeteer, clown and artist best known for playing "Cooky the Cook" on Chicago's long running Bozo's Circus.-Early years:...
; Brown later created the rest of the show's puppet characters. Newton's own account in an interview for The Golden Age of Chicago Children's Television has him quitting the show and suggesting Thomas contact the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts for a replacement. Thomas did just that and became connected with Roy Brown in this way.
Roy Brown became the graphic artist for the show; he and Thomas quickly redesigned the Garfield puppet. Although Brown was still an art student and had no previous experience as a puppeteer when Thomas hired him for the show, Brown's talents for this type of work were quickly visible. Years after the program had left the air, Brown talked about his time working with Thomas, whom he described as a perfectionist. During those years of working together, Thomas granted Brown the ability to be creative with the show's characters; Brown discovered a slight hand movement which made it appear as if Garfield Goose was smiling. Thomas was able to converse with the show's characters as if they were friends or neighbors, and to talk with his young audience without talking down to them. It was the working chemistry between the two men which made the show memorable and allowed it to become the longest-running puppet show on television.
The program was popular enough with Chicago area children in 1953 to inspire Frazier Thomas and Roy Brown to collaborate for a book, Garfield Goose Memory Book, with Thomas writing the story of Garfield Goose and Brown doing the illustrations for it. In it, Thomas detailed information such as the names of Garfield's parents, Georgia (born in the state), and Godfrey, that he had a sister, Gloria, a brother in law, Gilbert, and a young nephew, Christmas. This branch of the Goose family spent summers in Goosejaw, Saskatchewan, and wintered in Goose Bay, Florida. Thomas and Brown also provided a picture of Garfield's average day in his castle along with information about his younger years. The book was also able to be used as a coloring book.
The first addition to the cast came when the show was just over a year old. The storyline was that Garfield had hired a butler without the knowledge of Frazier, who learned of it through a phone call from the employment agency. He arrived on Thanksgiving Day
Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving Day is a holiday celebrated primarily in the United States and Canada. Thanksgiving is celebrated each year on the second Monday of October in Canada and on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States. In Canada, Thanksgiving falls on the same day as Columbus Day in the...
1953, and was a capuchin monkey
Capuchin monkey
The capuchins are New World monkeys of the genus Cebus. The range of capuchin monkeys includes Central America and South America as far south as northern Argentina...
named Geronimo. Geronimo was with the show even after it moved to WGN-TV. The next new cast member appeared on Christmas Day
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
after some confusion. Garfield gave Frazier a note saying he would be having Christmas Goose for the holidays. Thomas was aghast at the thought of roast goose being served. Garfield's hastily typed reply said that Christmas Goose, his nephew, was staying with his uncle for the holidays.
WBKB-TV was sold in February 1953 and became WBBM-TV
WBBM-TV
WBBM-TV, virtual channel 2 , is the CBS owned-and-operated television station in Chicago, Illinois. WBBM-TV's main studios and offices are located in The Loop section of Chicago, as part of the development at Block 37, and its transmitter is atop the Willis Tower.-History:WBBM-TV traces its history...
, the CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
owned-and-operated station, which moved to Channel 2. The initial sale contract for WBKB to CBS called for a one year period where the new ownership agreed to keep all present programs on the station. Before the transition period was over, Garfield Goose and Friend moved to the new WBKB-TV, an ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
owned-and-operated station which jumped to channel 7
WLS-TV
WLS-TV, virtual channel 7, is an owned-and-operated television station of the Walt Disney Company-owned American Broadcasting Company, located in Chicago, Illinois, USA. The station operates their full power digital operations on UHF channel 44, with their digital fill-in translator on VHF channel...
. During this period, the show was briefly carried nationally on the ABC network. At the time, Chicago did not have a Thanksgiving Day parade to usher in the beginning of the Christmas holiday season. The State Street Council produced a television show instead, featuring popular local children's shows. Shown on both WBKB and WGN-TV in 1954, Garfield Goose was part of the broadcast. On the show's last day on WBKB in 1955, Garfield said he would drive the castle away, while Thomas tried telling him it was impossible. The castle then rolled out of camera range, thanks to caster
Caster
A caster is an undriven, single, double, or compound wheel that is designed to be mounted to the bottom of a larger object so as to enable that object to be easily moved...
s installed by the stage crew. The show began airing on its permanent television home, WGN-TV, the next day.
WGN
Roy Brown created, built, and/or performed numerous puppet characters for other WGN-TV children's shows; one of the first of Brown's new characters to be introduced to Garfield Goose was Romberg Rabbit, after the show moved to WGN-TV. Romberg had been featured on another children's show, Quiet Riot (hosted by Buddy Black) and after that show left the air, Romberg joined Garfield Goose, where he was introduced as an "unemployed magician's assistant." With the addition of Romberg Rabbit, Thomas began calling the program Garfield Goose and Friends and Romberg began "translating" for Garfield.Other characters were also introduced. They included: bloodhound Beauregard Burnside III, who was the chief of Garfield's secret service and who readily fell asleep, prompting Thomas to call out "hot dogs, hamburgers, spaghetti and meatballs!" to rouse him; Macintosh Mouse, who was in charge of the castle's mailroom. Some of Garfield's relatives visited regularly, including nephew Christmas "Chris" Goose and seasonal visitor "Mama" Goose (actually the Garfield Goose puppet with a wig and granny glasses). Since only Thomas could understand what Romberg and the other characters communicated, Thomas would repeat what the puppets "said" for viewers to understand. Garfield would also go down into his castle and type a note (viewers would hear the sound of a typewriter), bringing it up for Thomas to read aloud.
The program was both entertaining and subtly educational. Guests from the Museum of Science and Industry
Museum of Science and Industry
MOSI may refer to:* MoSi — molybdenum silicide, an important material in the semiconductor industry* MOSI - Master Out Slave In, a signal on the Serial Peripheral Interface Bus* MOSI protocol, an extension of the basic MSI cache coherency protocol...
, Lincoln Park Zoo
Lincoln Park Zoo
Lincoln Park Zoo is a free zoo located in Lincoln Park in Chicago, Illinois. The zoo was founded in 1868, making it one of the oldest zoos in the nation. The zoo is an accredited member of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums ....
, and the show's own viewers with their hobby projects made learning interesting and also fun. In 1968, the understated educational aspect of the program saved a four year old boy's life. He and his older brother had fallen through ice at a creek near their home. The boys' mother responded to her older son's cries for help; after rescuing them, her younger son was not breathing. The mother knew how to respond to this emergency because of a Garfield Goose segment about scouting where a short film about life saving was shown. Remembering what she had seen in the film when she watched the program with her sons, she was able to revive her four year old. The show also had a quiet moral tone, as Thomas would explain to Garfield why something he had done or wanted to do was wrong.
Thomas' performances with a Jew's harp
Jew's harp
The Jew's harp, jaw harp, mouth harp, Ozark harp, trump or juice harp, is thought to be one of the oldest musical instruments in the world; a musician apparently playing it can be seen in a Chinese drawing from the 4th century BC...
either drove the King of the United States to find a place in his castle out of earshot or to simply hit his Prime Minister and Admiral of his navy on the head. When Thomas sang "Jingle Bells" in Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
on the program during the holidays, he explained the meaning of the words to his young audience, and offered to send copies of the words to anyone who wrote to him. He was inundated with requests; it took weeks to deal with sending all the replies. In addition to hosting the weekday show, Thomas wrote all the scripts and produced the program. The local chapter of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences
Academy of Television Arts and Sciences
The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences was founded in 1946, just one month after network television was born. It is a nonprofit organization devoted to the advancement of telecommunications arts and sciences and to fostering creative leadership in the telecommunications industry...
did not begin awarding Emmys until 1958; the first recipient of the Best Male Children's Performer was Thomas; he won another award in 1964.
The show remained on WGN-TV (channel 9), which bought the rights in 1955, for over two decades, most of this time running in the late afternoon after children had come home from school. In 1957, Pat Weaver, who created the Today and Tonight
The Tonight Show
The Tonight Show is an American late-night talk show that has aired on NBC since 1954. It is the longest currently running regularly scheduled entertainment program in the United States, and the third longest-running show on NBC, after Meet the Press and Today.The Tonight Show has been hosted by...
shows for NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
, had hopes of starting a fourth network. WGN-TV also hoped to be able to syndicate some of its more popular programs through it; one of them was Garfield Goose and Friends. During the early 1970s, the program slowly lost viewership to competition and was moved to weekday mornings. The show's long run ended on September 10, 1976.
Bozo's Circus
Frazier Thomas had taken the role of "circus manager" on WGN-TV's longtime hit program Bozo's Circus after the retirement of Ringmaster Ned LockeNed Locke
Norbert Locke, better known as Ned Locke , was an American television personality and radio announcer, best known for the role of "Ringmaster Ned" on WGN-TV's Bozo's Circus from 1961 - 1976....
in 1976. Thomas cleverly kept his puppets on the air with a storyline in which Garfield "bought" Bozo's Circus. The puppets made daily appearances until 1981. Thomas worked on Bozo's Circus, later retitled The Bozo Show, until his death in 1985. In 1987, the puppets were donated to The Museum of Broadcast Communications
Museum of Broadcast Communications
The Museum of Broadcast Communications is an American museum that currently exists exclusively on the Internet and not in any physical capacity. Its stated mission is "to collect, preserve, and present historic and contemporary radio and television content as well as educate, inform and entertain...
in Chicago. The display initially included Garfield Goose, Romberg Rabbit, Macintosh Mouse, Beauregard Burnside III, Christmas Goose, and Ali Gator (the latter a character who appeared only briefly in a serialized adventure during the show's early years). Ali Gator was later removed from the museum's display.
Aftermath
After quitting the show early on and against Frazier Thomas and Roy Brown's wishes, Bruce and Claire Newton mounted a live, traveling Garfield Goose Telepuppets show at neighborhood events for many years after the series had gone off the air, alongside other non-Garfield Goose puppets built and performed by the pair for other shows. To Thomas and Brown's chagrin, WGN-TV management chose not to pursue the matter. Although Bruce Newton would later claim his traveling show featured the first Garfield Goose puppet used on WBKB-TV, a 1991 news story described this puppet as a prototype. After Thomas' death, Newton attempted to claim that Garfield Goose was entirely his idea. The general manager of WBKB-TV at the time the program first went on the air, Sterling "Red" Quinlan, says it was Frazier Thomas who came up with the concept of Garfield Goose.As often happened during the 1950s and early 1960s (such as with The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson is a talk show hosted by Johnny Carson under the Tonight Show franchise from 1962 to 1992. It originally aired during late-night....
or the first Super Bowl
Super Bowl
The Super Bowl is the championship game of the National Football League , the highest level of professional American football in the United States, culminating a season that begins in the late summer of the previous calendar year. The Super Bowl uses Roman numerals to identify each game, rather...
game), Garfield Goose and Friends aired live for much of its history. WGN did not keep many tapes of its local productions, including Garfield Goose And Friends. Rather, since the reels of videotape
Videotape
A videotape is a recording of images and sounds on to magnetic tape as opposed to film stock or random access digital media. Videotapes are also used for storing scientific or medical data, such as the data produced by an electrocardiogram...
were very costly, they were thriftily recycled. Station management did not foresee how valuable recordings of these broadcasts would have become. Only four episodes were preserved: March 14–15, 1974, and September 9–10, 1976 (the latter two being the final two shows aired in the series).
In December 2005, WGN-TV ran a primetime special called Bozo, Gar and Ray: WGN TV Classics
Bozo, Gar and Ray: WGN TV Classics
Bozo, Gar and Ray: WGN TV Classics is a two-hour television special produced by WGN-TV in Chicago, Illinois. It debuted in 2005 and featured on both WGN-TV and its superstation simulcast, WGN America...
, which carried the earliest known saved clip of the show, wherein Garfield Goose had "luckily" gotten hold of tickets to the 1959 World Series
1959 World Series
The 1959 World Series featured the National League champion Los Angeles Dodgers beating the American League champion Chicago White Sox, four games to two. It was the first pennant for the White Sox in 40 years . They would have to wait until 2005 to win another championship...
at Chicago's Comiskey Park
Comiskey Park
Comiskey Park was the ballpark in which the Chicago White Sox played from 1910 to 1990. It was built by Charles Comiskey after a design by Zachary Taylor Davis, and was the site of four World Series and more than 6,000 major league games...
. As it happened at the time of this 2005 broadcast, the White Sox had won the 2005 World Series, which moreover was their first World Series appearance since 1959. Additional color kinescope footage from 1965 came from a vintage WGN-TV sales film which also includes some scenes from Bozo's Circus. The broadcast garnered #1 ratings in the Chicago market and is rerun annually during the holiday season.
In 2005, the Museum of Broadcast Communications
Museum of Broadcast Communications
The Museum of Broadcast Communications is an American museum that currently exists exclusively on the Internet and not in any physical capacity. Its stated mission is "to collect, preserve, and present historic and contemporary radio and television content as well as educate, inform and entertain...
awarded WGN-TV's Studio 1 a plaque to commemorate the forty years of children's television broadcast from the studio. Garfield Goose and Friends with a likeness of Frazier Thomas
Frazier Thomas
William Frazier Thomas was a Chicago television personality. While Thomas became the author of nine children's books, he was best known for creating, hosting, writing and producing the long-running children's television program Garfield Goose and Friends on WGN-TV.-Magic and broadcasting:Thomas...
and Garfield, is on the plaque along with Ray Rayner
Ray Rayner
Ray Rayner was a staple of Chicago children's television in the 1960s and 1970s on WGN-TV.-Early life:...
for Ray Rayner and Friends and Bob Bell
Bob Bell (actor)
Robert Lewis Bell , better known as Bob Bell, was famous for his alter-ego, Bozo the Clown. He was the original portrayer of the character for Chicago superstation WGN-TV.- Early life :...
with Bozo's Circus
The Bozo Show
The Bozo Show is a locally-produced children's television program that aired on WGN-TV in Chicago and nationally on what is now WGN America. Recognized as the most popular and successful locally-produced children's program in the history of television, it only aired under this title for 14 of its...
.
External links
- Frazier Thomas: Friend and More Bill Granger, 15 April 1985, Chicago Tribune
Watch
- Rare off-air recording of Garfield Goose and Friends, Circa 1971 at The Museum of Classic Chicago TelevisionThe Museum of Classic Chicago TelevisionThe Museum of Classic Chicago Television is an online museum dedicated to the preservation of Chicago television broadcasts...
(www.FuzzyMemories.TV) - [mms://208.100.39.213:80/MGWMS/MBC/features/chicagotv/garfield1959.wmv Garfield Goose and Friends clip] Live commercial 1959. Museum of Broadcast Communications (Windows Media PlayerWindows Media PlayerWindows Media Player is a media player and media library application developed by Microsoft that is used for playing audio, video and viewing images on personal computers running the Microsoft Windows operating system, as well as on Pocket PC and Windows Mobile-based devices...
) - [mms://208.100.39.213:80/MGWMS/MBC/TV%20Radio%20News/TV_00251-1/stream0.asf Garfield Goose and Friends clip] circa 1970s Museum of Broadcast Communications (Windows Media PlayerWindows Media PlayerWindows Media Player is a media player and media library application developed by Microsoft that is used for playing audio, video and viewing images on personal computers running the Microsoft Windows operating system, as well as on Pocket PC and Windows Mobile-based devices...
) - [mms://208.100.39.213:80/MGWMS/MBC/TV%20Radio%20News/TV_00926/stream0.asf Garfield Goose and Friends clips] circa 1970s Museum of Broadcast Communications (Windows Media PlayerWindows Media PlayerWindows Media Player is a media player and media library application developed by Microsoft that is used for playing audio, video and viewing images on personal computers running the Microsoft Windows operating system, as well as on Pocket PC and Windows Mobile-based devices...
) - [mms://208.100.39.213:80/MGWMS/MBC/TV%20Radio%20News/TV_00251-2/stream0.asf Garfield Goose and Friends clip] circa 1970s Museum of Broadcast Communications (Windows Media PlayerWindows Media PlayerWindows Media Player is a media player and media library application developed by Microsoft that is used for playing audio, video and viewing images on personal computers running the Microsoft Windows operating system, as well as on Pocket PC and Windows Mobile-based devices...
)