Jellybean Comedy Clubhouse

Actually the program was called "Lunchtime Little Theatre" and I and thousands of other grade school children were devoted to watching Johnnie Jellybean during our lunch hour at home. He was the wackiest, most imaginative person and had a great crew to support him. Another character on the show was Toomie the Duck played by Bill Merrill, who later became Vice-President of Programming at CFCF TV in Montreal. There was the "Squawk Box" that Johnnie would whack with a wooden mallet and most days destroy. He would receive mail that sometimes would get thrown at him and one day unknown and unseen by the viewers when he opened the door there was a woman without a top on. We only ever saw his expressions which were a riot ( and now we know why ). My favorite part of the show ( besides him ) was when he had these contraptions where he would drop a ball bearing and it would go through flippers and sand buckets etc. to get to the bottom of the maze. They were fascinating. We all loved Johnnie Jellybean and his whirly hat and striped jacket. We wish now that the TV station had saved the episodes so that we could have enjoyed them in later years. I was very saddened to hear of his passing and still wish that I could have thanked him for the many hours of enjoyment he gave to us over the years!!

In my opinion, it IS true to say that Ted Ziegler was on par with Robin Williams as his humour was all ad lib with very little preparation and always unpredicatable and wild. Ted did many "in person" ad lib appearances throughout Montreal at family restaurants and was loved by young and old alike. Ted was not only funny, we was loved.

I was on the Johnny Jellybean show when I was about 5 or 6 right after I was on Romper Room (What an irony that turned out to be: I went from being a good "Do Bee" to smoking them). I have this vivid memory of asking Johhny Jellybean on the show if I could smash the squawk box before he pounded it and he said no because I wouldn't be able to reach it. About 10 years later, I ran into Ted in a Ralphs parking lot in Sherman Oaks, California. I told him we had that earlier connection and he lit up - on the news, not a Do Bee. I wish those shows were available for viewing for both entertainment and nostalgia. I do know that wherever he is, he's still cracking people up. Peace to him and his family.

As a young child I lived just outside Montreal - RCAF Station St Hubert. I recall watching this noontime show, eating my lunch on the living room floor. Lunch absolutely had to have jello for dessert. Personally, I think Ted (Johnny) would have made a better spokesman than Bill. Three things have stayed in my memory: 1]the "gong" special effects when he hit his jello with the spoon. 2]the flea circus. 3]the dummy that parachuted in from time to time. You had to have seen them to truly appreciate the zany genius of this show. Whew! ten lines are tough! What else can I tell you. For many years , later as an adult, I enjoyed Ted's contributions to Wayne & Shuster.

Ted Zeigler was a master of the ad lib and could make parents laugh as hard as their kids. In front of a live camera he was like Robin Williams, but more than a dozen years before Williams made it onto the scene.

The Johnny Jellybean show, made for little kids, was a cult-classic with teens as well and many parents as well. He and Peter Cullen (The Buddies) were a marvelous team in subsequent years and CFCF incarnations. When they and a slew of other Canadian talent made the exodus to LA (a return to the US for Zeigler) with Aussie Chris Beard (CBC's Nightcap) to do Laugh In, Sonny & Cher, etc., they left quite a gap in Canadian TV. Sadly, I think they were all largely underutilized (at least in front of the camera).

"You never know what lonesome is, until you get to herding cows."

The Ol' Wrangler