Homme_Panel_v1 Robert Homme The Friendly Giant Robert Homme was born in Stoughton, Wisconsin on March 8, 1919. Growing up, he learned to play the clarinet and recorder. At the University of Wisconsin, while he was earning an economics degree, he began a broadcasting career on the side at the campus radio station. With the advent of television, he found himself working on a children's bedtime show for the university's TV station. The show's set was decorated with miniature props. During one broadcast he caught a glimpse of his seemingly giant hand rearranging the tiny furniture, and the idea for The Friendly Giant was born. In 1958, the CBC offered Homme a 26-episode contract. He accepted and moved to Toronto. There he was joined by Rod Coneybeare as puppeteer, and an amazing team was born. Characters, format and miniature set never changed during the program's more than 3,000 episodes. Each episode followed the big guy as he and his hand-puppet pals, Jerome the Giraffe and Rusty the Rooster explored a single topic. At the core of the show's success was the fact that to children, all adults appear to be giants. But Homme proved that grown-ups can share kids' sense of play and wonder. Over the years, The Friendly Giant hosted many of Canada's top musicians, including Moe Kaufman and Peter Appleyard. Homme introduced his young audience to eclectic styles as well as performers - everything from Cole Porter to Elizabethan madrigals. Many will remember the unfailing opening scene as the camera panned slowly across a miniature village. Then, in a rich baritone voice, the Friendly Giant encouraged his viewers to "Look waaayyy up" and to join him in his medieval castle (complete with turrets and drawbridge). As he went to the back door to open up for you, the welcoming theme, "Early one morning", drew you in. The Friendly Giant always offered "a little chair for one of you, an armchair for two more to curl up in, and for someone who likes to rock, a rocking chair in the middle." It was an invitation into a televised world of music, books and fantasy that millions of young Canadian viewers happily accepted between 1958 and 1985. At the end of each show, the sun set and the cow jumped over the moon. Courtesy of the Canadian Museum of History Friendly Giant's Castle by Paul Gorbould - Flickr