''Uncle Bobby'' is a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

children's television Children's television series (or children's television shows) are Television show, television programs designed specifically for Child, children. They are typically characterised by easy-going content devoid of sensitive or adult themes and are ...

show that aired from 1964 to 1979 on

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

CFTO CFTO-DT (channel 9) is a television station in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, serving as the flagship station of the CTV Television Network. It is owned and operated by network parent Bell Media alongside Barrie-based CTV 2 flagship CKVR-DT, channel ...

and, for two years beginning in 1968, was a weekly show on the

CTV television network The CTV Television Network, commonly known as CTV, is a Television in Canada, Canadian English-language terrestrial television network. Launched in 1961 and acquired by BCE Inc. in 2000, CTV is Canada's largest privately owned List of Canadian ...

(although it continued to be aired on local CTV stations across Canada thereafter). In its later run the show was known as ''Uncle Bobby and Friends'' and, in 1979, the show was renamed ''Kid's Corner'' and lasted for a few more years as a syndicated Saturday morning offering (and into the early 1990s in repeats on YTV). The half-hour show starred Bobby Ash (1924–2007), a former comedian and

circus A circus is a company of performers who put on diverse entertainment shows that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, dancers, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, magicians, ventriloquists, and unicy ...

clown A clown is a person who performs physical comedy and arts in an Improvisational theatre#Comedy, open-ended fashion, typically while wearing distinct cosmetics, makeup or costume, costuming and reversing social norm, folkway-norms. The art of ...

who had moved to Canada from the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. The show aired weekdays over noonhour and featured staples such as "Bimbo: The Birthday Clown", a stationary cardboard cut-out who would come out of his closet, with a booming laugh, to the tune of

Jim Reeves James Travis Reeves (August 20, 1923July 31, 1964) was an American singer, songwriter, and musician. One of the earliest pioneers and practitioners of the Nashville sound, he played a central role in the sonic development of country music in th ...

's ''

Bimbo ''Bimbo'' is slang for a conventionally attractive, sexualized naive woman. The term was originally used in the United States as early as 1919 for an unintelligent or brutish man. As of the early 21st century, the "stereotypical bimbo" appea ...

'' as Uncle Bobby announced that day's birthday greetings. Accompanying Bimbo were three

puppet A puppet is an object, often resembling a human, animal or Legendary creature, mythical figure, that is animated or manipulated by a person called a puppeteer. Puppetry is an ancient form of theatre which dates back to the 5th century BC in anci ...

s on a string,

Wilson, Keppel and Betty Wilson, Keppel and Betty formed a popular British music hall and vaudeville act in the middle decades of the 20th century. They capitalised on the fashion for Ancient Egyptian imagery following the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun. The "Sa ...

, named after British

music hall Music hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment that was most popular from the early Victorian era, beginning around 1850, through the World War I, Great War. It faded away after 1918 as the halls rebranded their entertainment as Varie ...

performers, who would "dance" to Bimbo's theme. The show featured regulars such as guitarist and singer Alex Laurier, Meredith Cutting (the singing police officer),

ventriloquists Ventriloquism or ventriloquy is an act of stagecraft in which a person (a ventriloquist) speaks in such a way that it seems like their voice is coming from a different location, usually through a puppet known as a "dummy". The act of ventrilo ...

Jack O'Reilly with his partner Daniel O'Rourke, and Cy Leonard and his partner Happy, magician Ron Leonard,

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German language, German ', from '—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a Reed (mou ...

ist Nancy McCaig, wildlife artist Barry Kent MacKay, clay artist Ruth Winkler, and Traffic Officer John (Big Big John) with safety tips for children. Uncle Bobby's catch phrase was "MMMM...BOBBY'S HERE!!!" Produced out of CFTO's Channel Nine Court studios, executive producers were Gerry Rochon, and, in the later years, Wayne Dayton. Children would also appear on the show and would be referred to by Uncle Bobby as "bobbysoxers." ''

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'' magazine described Uncle Bobby as "avuncular without being condescending." Ash had previously played a clown on ''Professor's Hideaway'' starring former

BBC Radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927. The service provides national radio stations cove ...

star Stan Francis. He then went to

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for three years and, upon his return, was given the job of Uncle Bobby on his own show. He did not earn very much from the show and had to support himself by moonlighting as a

school bus A school bus is any type of bus owned, leased, contracted to, or operated by a school or school district. It is regularly used to Student transport, transport students to and from school or school-related activities, but not including a charter ...

driver in

Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, sub ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

. He retired to

Elliot Lake Elliot Lake is a city in Algoma District, Ontario, Canada. It is north of Lake Huron, midway between the cities of Greater Sudbury, Sudbury and Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Sault Ste. Marie in the Northern Ontario region. Once dubbed the "uranium ca ...

, where he died May 20, 2007, of a heart attack at age 82. Ash was reportedly on set during the filming of the 1976's motion picture ''

Network Network, networking and networked may refer to: Science and technology * Network theory, the study of graphs as a representation of relations between discrete objects * Network science, an academic field that studies complex networks Mathematics ...

''. The film was shot partially at the

CTV News CTV News is the news division of the CTV Television Network in Canada. The name ''CTV News'' is also applied as the title of local and regional newscasts on the network's owned-and-operated stations (O&Os), which are closely tied to the nationa ...

studios in Toronto, and Ash was reportedly just off camera during the filming of the famous scene where Howard Beale (portrayed by

Peter Finch Frederick George Peter Ingle Finch (28 September 191614 January 1977) was an English-Australian actor of theatre, film and radio. Born in London, he emigrated to Australia at the age of ten and was raised in Sydney, where he worked in vaudevi ...

) proclaimed "I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!"

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, id=0199279, title=The Uncle Bobby Show
History of Canadian Broadcasting
CTV Television Network original programming Canadian television shows featuring puppetry Television series by Glen-Warren Productions 1964 Canadian television series debuts 1979 Canadian television series endings 1960s Canadian children's television series 1970s Canadian children's television series Black-and-white Canadian television shows Television shows about clowns