Mr. Dressup

One of the great Canadian icons of my youth was Mr. Dressup. I forgot all about Mr. Rodgers and Captain Kangaroo and Uncle Bobby. Mr. Dressup was where it was at when I was a kid. Ernie Combs was truly a gem to kids who were born between 1967-1996. He seemed to know exactly what kids would relate to. I always related to Casey and Finnigan. I was quite upset when the puppeteer who voiced Casey and Finnigan retired but I knew that everyone, no matter what the profession, retires when the time comes. The thing that I'll miss the most about Mr. Dressup is his smile and the way that he made me feel everytime I watched the show. I'll miss you Mr. Dressup and I hope that you'll still be doing your show in heaven. :)

Right now even in my teen years, I remember those precious toddler years when I was still learning my abcs. Every morning I would watch Mr. Dressup with my friends and everytime we watched it, it was like a magical spell was put over us. We watched quietly without speaking a word and I think I learned from this show more than any other kids show I've ever seen. When I get a holiday and watch the present children's programs, I see shows that do not benefit the children's learning in any way. The shows are meant for entertainment and I found a small increase of violence in the shows. But even if they stopped filming Mr. Dressup, it is still broadcast on TV and his kind and loving spirit is still greatly appreciated in Canadian children's television.

And as for Mr. Dressup, thank you for all those wonderful years of all those crafts, songs and stories. I loved this show even more than Sesame Street or any other show in my early years.

This was a cool show. I use to watch it all the time when I was younger. It's a really good show for children. The puppets were neat too. It They need to make more shows like this for children. If you ever see a rerun of this show I recommend your kids watching this show. It's a great show for kids.

Mr. Dressup was and continues to be a wonderful educational show for young children. It is timeless, teaching the basics such as manners, courtesy and encouraging imagination and creativity.

There is so much junk on television for kids these days, with the focus more on entertainment and ratings and $$$. Mr Dressup is definitely recommended and refreshing watching. Children will find that he talks to them, not AT them - that he is not interested in the 25 second sound bite or being "popular".

And on a personal note - I will miss him greatly. He was inspirational and made generations of Canadians better people. A hero...

Ernie Coombs was an American cartoonist cum television personality who was hired by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation to appear as a character named Mr. Dressup in a children's program, "Butternut Square". While the show became popular, Mr. Dressup had the most appeal and got his own series within a few years. The opening animation was always interesting - this was animated for many years by crack CBC staffer Gary Pearson, who did a great job of duplicating Coombs drawing style and putting it in motion.

The two puppets Casey and Finnegan were great characters for Mr. Dressup to play off. Casey, the naive little boy with a slight British accent and his silly dog Finnegan, who made us all laugh. Coombs style was simple, tasteful and respectful. It wasn't the zany, condescending, almost lewd style some kid's programs, like "Tree House", "Soupy Sales", "Uncle Floyd" and others embraced. He, Casey and Finnegan would have a challenging craft, or dress up for a fun little skit, but it never got lascivious, or offensive. I have to take my Napoleon hat off to him for that!

CBC always recognized the importance of quality children's programming, with shows like "Chez Helene", "Friendly Giant", the first incarnation of "Mister Rogers" and later on "Sesame Street", "Fred Penner" and so on. Puppeteer Judith Lawrence retired and Coombs died in the mid-1990s, effectively ending production. However, the show remains extremely popular with kids in reruns, as CBC occasionally shows them today.