Buster and Me

This program was an intrinsic part of my childhood and I am sad there isn't much info on it here. It was about a lady named Robin who had adopted two chimpanzee siblings (both puppets), Buster and his little sister Vanilla. Buster's best friend Russel (an orangutan puppet) was also a main character. I remember the show dealt with the issue of adoption a bit as well as various other life lessons. Buster and Russel were always getting into trouble and Vanilla was always doing typical little sister things like tattling or crying to Robin that the boys wouldn't let her play, etc. Anyways either the same puppet that "played" Buster or a look-a-like was used in the movie "Mrs. Doubtfire" at the end, in the children's program where Mrs. Doubtfire is the host, and her co-host is a chimpanzee puppet. That puppet looks *just* like Buster, and that movie always brings back memories of "Buster and Me". If this show ever surfaced on DVD I would buy it in an instant.

But it was a good show. I put it in the same category as "The Great Space Coaster". Creepy but fun. I always found Robin to be very annoying, though. She was way too "nice" and so very San Francisco. This was the beginning of nicey-nicey children's television, where every show had to have a life lesson learned.

I was probably about 5 years too old to be watching this show. Not the target audience. Why this show made such an indelible mark on my memory is beyond me. I always imagined it was filmed somewhere in a recreation building in Golden Gate Park. It's got SUCH a San Francisco vibe. Complete with the single mom human adoptive parent and the gay orangutan best friend (Russell).

The show where there was a flood and Buster made some kind of pump that was powered by Russel's love of peanut butter (there was a crank and spoons that would feed Russel peanut butter and create a pumping action... that episode was seared into my memory. Also, me sister and I used to fight and instead of swearing we'd yell "Mookie" at each other... the sound we thought Buster and Vanilla made at each other when they fought.

Hello Permalink, You made the comment that you were sad that there was not a lot of info for Buster and Me. I was fortunate to have worked as a crew member and that show for many years and I will attempt to add some of my perspective.

Buster and Me was a very carefully considered show, it was written with total care for the young audience that it was targeted for. My experience with the show was both challenging and fun. Challenging because because, as the audio engineer, I had to mic the people manipulating the puppets and that was difficult because they were often all twisted up in their effort to make the puppets do what they needed to do, which was not always good for the microphones that they were wearing. Fun! I never had as much fun with anything that I did in my TV career as I did with that show. The actors/puppeteers and the show's producer, Christina Metcalfe were the best! They were honest, genuine and, great fun to work with!

Every show had a message, something that was meant to convey to young people, a way of living their lives to the fullest, with treating other people as you would have them treat you, as the most common theme. I was proud to be a part of it.

The actors/puppeteers were all amazing people and accomplished in many areas. Cristopher Pray was an improv comic and an actor with many credits including several of the the Dirty Harry movies. John Gilkerson was a brilliant costumer for the SF Opera and was the builder of all of the puppets used on Buster and Me. John passed away in 1989 due to complications from Aids. Tom Hanks dedicated his Oscar for Philadelphia in 1993 to John, as they had gone to high school together in Oakland California. Robin Goodrow was the principal writer for the show and had been involved in the Bread and Roses organization for many years in addition to being one of the main characters on the show. She also won an Emmy award for a song written for the show that became Buster and Me.

Working in TV was often hard to justify in terms of what value you are adding to the world and to society as a whole. Working on this show and being involved with these people never left me wondering about that. This was by far the best thing that I ever did in TV and I thank all of these people for the opportunity to have done that. John Gilkerson RIP



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