''Puppet People'' is a TV series produced from 1973 to 1975 at

CFCF-TV CFCF-DT (channel 12) is a television station in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, part of the CTV Television Network. It is owned and operated by network parent Bell Media alongside Noovo flagship CFJP-DT (channel 35). Both stations share studios at the ...

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Government of Canada, Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is ...

, and telecast on most

CTV CTV may refer to: Television * Connected TV, or Smart TV, a TV set with integrated internet North America and South America * CTV Television Network, a Canadian television network owned by Bell Media ** CTV 2, a secondary Canadian televisio ...

affiliates throughout

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...

. It was hosted by the

ventriloquist Ventriloquism, or ventriloquy, is a performance act of stagecraft in which a person (a ventriloquist) creates the illusion that their voice is coming from elsewhere, usually a puppeteered prop known as a "dummy". The act of ventriloquism is v ...

Jerry Layne Jerry Blake Layne (born September 28, 1958) is an American umpire in Major League Baseball who has worked in the National League between 1989 and 1999, and throughout both major leagues since 2000. He wore uniform number 24 in the NL, but when M ...

who worked with his "friends" Lester and Herbie, puppets created for the show by Don Keller, who was a CFCF staff member who designed sets but originally was a ventriloquist in Montreal area. These puppets had a movable lip as opposed to moveable chin in classical puppet design. ''Puppet People'' combined pre-taped comedy sketches with a cast of full-size figures. These sketches were played into a game show with children answering questions based on the sketches. Before the show the studio audience was given kazoos and they played the theme song which ended with “Puppet People. Puppet People. Puppet People. Yeah!” A boy contestant was always matched with a girl contestant. Peter megoudis was one of the contestants in 1974. He won some science books and a years supply of C plus orange juice (which only lasted 5 months, what with all his friends coming to partake). He still remembers with embarrassment how in the audition interview he did not know that Clark Kent was superman (well one was wearing glasses, the other not). He thought he blew right there his one time chance for fame. It took him 40 years before he could get back on TV, this time on BNN to talk about US taxation. He does not remember being asked any US tax questions during the Puppet People show. He has pitched a modern day version of Puppet People with puppets asking contestants questions on US tax. It has not garnered any interest as of yet. Peter contacted Jerry Layne recently to see if there were any surviving tapes of the show. Jerry informed him that unfortunately CFCF erased over its recordings of the show (which was common practice.). It thus only lives in the memories of the people who watched the show. The series was the first production for the producer/director

Sidney M. Cohen Sidney M. Cohen is a Canadian television director specializing in live multi-camera productions requiring minimal editing and is also a TV program creator. Cohen was born in Montreal, Quebec and began his career with CFCF-TV and later CBC Televis ...

. The Lester puppet once appeared on an episode of ''

The Love Boat ''The Love Boat'' is an American romantic comedy/drama television series that aired on ABC from 1977 to 1986; in addition, four three-hour specials aired in 1986, 1987, and 1990. The series was set on the luxury passenger cruise ship MS ''Pa ...

''.

References

External links

''Puppet People''
at ''TV Archive'' 1970s Canadian children's television series Canadian television shows featuring puppetry 1973 Canadian television series debuts 1975 Canadian television series endings CTV Television Network original programming Television shows filmed in Montreal 1970s Canadian game shows {{Canada-kids-tv-prog-stub