Press Record.

The Friendly Giant


Video: circa 1958 CBC
Themesong

A guitar-playing chicken hangs in a sack on a castle wall while a giraffe with blue spots sticks his head in through a nearby window. They are, of course, Rusty and Jerome, there at the invitation of Friendly Giant, an affable father figure in a medieval costume. Together the three were some of the most enduring characters in the history of CBC children's programming.
A creation of Bob Homme, the program began at a small commercial TV station in Wisconsin in 1954. In the late 1960s The Friendly Giant was pulled from Educational TV stations all over the United States in favor of a new concept entitled SESAME STREET. Consequently, the easy-going giant (a precursor to the gentle-natured Mr. Rogers) moved to the Canadian Broadcast Network but his show continued to be offered in the US. Originally there were two puppeteers - one each for Rusty and Jerome - but soon Rod Coneybeare, a CBC radio veteran, was operating both.
For 26 years, young viewers were greeted by the harp-and-tin-whistle tune "Early One Morning" as Friendly (played by Homme) lowered the drawbridge on the miniature castle. He would invite them to have a seat:

"One little chair for one of you, and a bigger chair for two to curl up in, and
for someone who likes to rock, a rocking chair in the middle." Then: "Look up,
look wa-a-ay up…"

and there was Friendly, soon joined by Rusty and Jerome. The rest of the show's 15 minutes were occupied by gentle chat among the trio, followed by a story or a musical performance. Friendly played the recorder, Rusty was on harp or guitar, and Jerome sang. Each week a pair of puppet cats - Angie and Fiddle, the Jazz Cats - also performed.

At the conclusion of each show, the castle's drawbridge slowly closed as night
fell over the castle, and a cow jumped over a full moon.

In 1984 the federal government made considerable cuts to the CBC budget. Friendly Giant was cancelled shortly thereafter, though CBC executives said it wasn't related to the cuts.
-Many thought that CBC canceled FG instead of other less popular shows to try and create enough public outrage to get the cuts reversed (CBC is government funded). Now when other government funded enterprises are given budget cuts, and then turn around and announce some popular/needed program will be cut because of it to try and get the cuts canceled, the strategy is called 'killing the Friendly Giant'.