Please take a look at my new gallery page!
Thursday, December 19, 2024
Thursday, December 12, 2024
Do you remember the Treehouse TV show hosted by Danny Coughlan?
Above is a record album based on the TV show Treehouse that was hosted by Danny Coughlan. I received this record today as a Christmas gift from my friend Liam, who in addition to being a puppeteer is also a huge puppet geek just like me! Liam said it was okay if I opened the gift early, which I'm glad for because I was super curious to find out what it was!
This past August while Liam was in town for the Puppets Up Festival, we talked about all sorts of different puppet TV shows and I briefly mentioned Treehouse to him, but as I was only 6 or 7 years old when I watched the show I didn't remember very much about it other than the title and the catchy theme song (which I still know the words for!), and that it was hosted by a blond guy who played the guitar along with two puppet pals.
So I'm quite surprised that a mere three months later Liam has sent me a record album based on that very show! Liam has the most uncanny ability to find rare and obscure puppet memorabilia. It happens so frequently that I honestly think it's one of his superpowers! He once found an original 1930's Charlie McCarthy hand puppet at a thrift store of all places! On other occasions he found a poster of Boot from TVO's Readalong, an antique hand puppet of Noddy that is in pristine condition, and an extremely rare plush toy of Barkley the Dog from Sesame Street that was made by the Applause toy company. And now this obscure record, which also happens to be signed by Danny Coughlan on the back cover!
I honestly don't know how Liam does it but I'm glad he does! I was so happy to see this record that I actually got quite emotional and may have got a little something in my eye. He literally sent me a piece of my childhood!
The back of the record cover with Danny Coughlan's signature!
So now I know that the host of the show was Danny Coughlan who lived in Stratford Ontario, and that the show itself was recorded in Kitchener Ontario! It's awesome to know that it was a Canadian show! I did a little bit of searching online to see what else I could find out. Here is what I found:
Treehouse was produced from 1972 to 1990 at CKCO-TV, the CTV station in Kitchener, and ran for an additional three years in reruns. At first it was only shown locally but became so popular that it was shown all across Canada on CTV stations. It was also seen by Americans along the border. The program was created in Stratford Ontario by Ted Rooney who based it on his series of educational books. Rooney was also the show's producer with Betty Thompson as Assistant Producer. Prior to working on Treehouse, Thompson was in charge of CKCO-TV's version of Romper Room, which she continued to do while also working on Treehouse. Romper Room was for very young children up to age six, while Treehouse was for slightly older children.
This is one of the very few photos that I found online of Danny Coughlan and the puppets on the original set of Treehouse. It's too bad there isn't more visual materials available online, it was such a long running and popular show in it's day that it really deserves to be documented and remembered.
The original version of the program began with an outdoor scene of Danny Coughlan with his guitar leading a small group of children Pied Piper style over the island bridge on the Avon River in Stratford, Ontario. Then they arrive at a treehouse and climb up the ladder to go inside. A newspaper article written by Jackie Hayes quotes Mr. Rooney as he explained the intro. "When we started, I mentioned at home that we needed a treehouse for the opening segment and my son Chris, who was six, led me to one in the neighbourhood which was just perfect. [...] I told him to round up his friends and we took pictures of them climbing up the tree and playing in the treehouse."
During the show Coughlan would play his guitar as he sang children's songs to the kids who were in the studio as well as to the camera for the kids at home. He wrote all the songs himself, which is also the case for all 12 tracks on the record album. Pat Ludwig was the show's organ player. Later in the program Coughlan would do a drawing as the kids in the studio followed along. He was always joined by two puppet pals who would banter with him throughout the show, Leroy and Ralph. They appeared together through a puppet theatre style window on the left side of the Treehouse set. The puppets were performed by Ken Copeman and Terry Thomas. One of the shows regular visitors was Lisa the mail girl, who delivered letters from viewers for Coughlan to read on the show, and she would also do exercises with the kids.
The label on the record itself has an illustration of a treehouse!
Later on in the shows run during the 80's, the program was updated with a completely new set, a new version of the intro and theme song, and the original puppets were replaced with new puppet characters, Jo Jo and Frank, performed by puppeteers Peter McCowatt and Mark Hodgson.
Some episodes included on location segments, such as when Danny Coughlan interviewed Wayne Gretzky who appeared on the show three times. One of their studio guests who appeared on the show in Sept 1984 was Stratford Ontario's own local legend, body builder Jim Morris. During his retirement in Waterloo, Ted Rooney created a two hour video featuring clips from Treehouse and made three copies, which he donated to the libraries in Waterloo, Kitchener and Stratford.
Here is a closer view of the pictures on the back cover of the record.
I now know that R and L refer to Ralph and Leroy.
In addition to hosting Treehouse, Coughlan appeared on CKCO-TV's Canadian Bandstand with Wally Crouter and Reg Seller. In 1963 he recorded several singles with Capital records that were released on four 45rpm records, including the songs Beach Boy and Odd Man Out which have been posted on YouTube. From 1965 to 1972 he recorded seven more singles that were released with various labels. In addition to the Treehouse record album he released two more full length albums, Jelly Beans: A Collection of Fun and Inspirational Songs, and Show Time in Stratford at the Victorian Inn. A fourth album, Danny Coughlan: Jelly Beans II, was released on cassette tape in 1984.
Sadly, Mr. Coughlan passed away at the age of 57 on Nov 18, 1990 due to a poor recovery from a recent operation, he also had diabetes. His wife pre-deceased him by two years and he had four children. Due to his untimely passing the Treehouse show ended production. Treehouse was the longest running Canadian produced children's show featuring an all Canadian cast. Thank you for the wonderful childhood memories Mr. Coughlan!
And thank you Liam for such an awesome Christmas present!
Come along with me we're going to the treehouse
Everybody's welcome come along with me
You can be free way up in the treehouse
Everybody's welcome come along with me
Tell everybody we want you to know
You're always welcome right here on our show
So come along with me we're going to the treehouse
Everybody's welcome come along with me
Information for this article was found on the following websites:
"Remembering CKCO_TV" Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/groups/510522872346833/
Treehouse full episode 1987: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtrHm3RAuQ8
Treehouse full episode 1987: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NPB60QaYtk
Treehouse Intro 1989: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8F7aROXvAk
Song - Odd Man Out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEoprWmp0kM
Song - Beach Boy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zc5G8SMHSL8
https://capitol6000.com/72000.html (scroll down to "Capital 72121" for an image of the 45 "School Boy Blues/That's the Way I'd Be". Coughlan's other 45s are likely listed here as well.)
Friday, July 5, 2024
Getting ready for the Puppets Up Festival in Almonte!
Mikey Artelle and the Fuzzy Gang
Monday, September 25, 2023
John Conway and Uncle Chichimus: A documentary about a pioneer of Canadian television
Well at long last I've posted my documentary about puppeteer John Conway on YouTube! I really should have posted it long ago but better late than never. I'm glad to finally have this online for everyone to see! Enjoy! - Mikey
Click here to read more about John Conway and Uncle Chichimus!
Friday, December 30, 2022
Canadian Crusader from Pythor Comics
You are what you eat!
Canadian Crusader enjoying his favourite food, a hero sandwich!
Now with his own comic book "Canadian Crusader: Heroes Past and Present"!
Canadian Crusader Book 1 from Pythor Comics!
Wednesday, November 2, 2022
Superhero News: Canadian Crusader is a registered trademark!
Hi everyone. I've posted a video on YouTube in order to create more awareness that the character name "Canadian Crusader" is my registered trademark. I really don't like having to contact people to tell them that they are infringing on my trademark, it's totally an unpleasant thing to do, but I will do whatever is necessary to protect my trademark... which is why I registered it in the first place.
Here's the video:
It's unfortunate (and very frustrating) that some people don't bother doing any research before they start using a fictional character name for their online content, or for other media such as cosplay, mascots or illustrated characters. Some people simply don't care about respecting intellectual property rights and so they use whatever name they want to. However, if a fictional character name that you use as your persona online, for example, is actually someone else's registered trademark then you are guilty of trademark infringement.
Granted, sometimes the infringement is totally unintentional and no ill will was intended by the person responsible, that's fine and I get that. However, ignorance of the law is not a valid defense, and as such the trademark owner has the right to request financial compensation if they feel the infringement caused damage to their trademark. Once made aware of the infringement, the decent thing to do is to stop using the name rather than to cause a fuss and refuse to give it up. The person who has the name registered as a trademark isn't the one causing the problem, the person who is using the name without permission is. And it's totally avoidable.
It only takes a few seconds to do a Google search to see if a fictional character name belongs to someone else. If it pops up, don't use it! When people do a search, it avoids so much fuss and bother for everyone involved! It's also simply the professional thing to do if it's your plan to create your own character and start promoting that character in various media formats, or to start licensing that character on T-shirts and so on. It's not just your job as a creator to do your research to make sure the name you want to use is in the clear, it's your legal responsibility to do so.
So, to those of you who do care about respecting someone else's trademark rights, I sincerely thank you! The world needs more people like you! People who care enough to do their homework.
It's kind of ironic, people often complain when big businesses have too much control of the market, yet how many of those same people couldn't be bothered to do an easy online search to make sure that they're not infringing on an independent artist's trademark? And doing a quick google search is such a simple thing to do! Or better yet, go to the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) website and do a trademark search. It's just as easy and fast as a Google search. And since you're at the CIPO website, do a copyright search too just to be on the safe side. It's so easy peasy!
And I have to say, the elephant in the room is that the folks who don't care about respecting intellectual property rights would be foaming at the mouth if something they created was copied or taken from them and used by someone else without permission. It's so hypocritical!
Well, hopefully this posting will have some positive influence, we'll see!
-Mikey Artelle
aka: Owner of "Canadian Crusader" trademark registration
Monday, July 18, 2022
Ice Hogs Collection!
Many of you know that I am a puppetry geek, but did you know that my geekiness extends to mascots too! Why yes, it does!!! And today (Monday) while thrift store hopping I found one of my "holy grail" items which I've been searching for, for about 30 years!!! I'm talking about the very rare and illusive 1980's Winterlude Ice Hogs plush toy based on the original Ice Hog costume before the mascots were redesigned in the early 1990's!
The one I found is in awesome condition too! Looks like it either sat on a shelf untouched or was forgotten in storage for several decades. Many years ago I bought a pin of the 1980's Ice Hog off of ebay, so I attached it to the scarf. There's also a light brown version of this plush toy which I'm still hoping to find someday! I had no idea that this dark brown one existed until I found it today! The last picture below shows my Ice Hogs collection, which now includes all three of the Ice Hogs plush toys that were made! Someday I'm going to donate this little collection to a museum or the city archives! So happy to have finally found his guy! LOL
Update July 19, 2022
On a hunch, the next day I went back to the thrift shop where I found the dark brown Ice Hog plush toy to have a better look around, and I found the light brown one! I'm just amazed!!!!
They're both in such amazing condition, I'm so happy to have found them! The light brown one was the one I knew about, and I'm so glad to finally have found it! I think these super rare, original Ice Hog plush toys are awesome!!! :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)