Garfield Goose and Friends facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Garfield Goose and Friends |
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Romberg Rabbit, Beauregard Burnside III, Garfield Goose, Mackintosh Mouse, Frazier Thomas and Chris Goose on Garfield Goose and Friends.
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| Genre | Children's program |
| Created by | Frazier Thomas |
| Written by | Frazier Thomas |
| Directed by | Ron Weiner |
| Starring | Frazier Thomas Roy Brown |
| Theme music composer | Ethel Smith |
| Opening theme | "Monkey on a String" Trumpets heard are from "Cinderella" and were added through editing. |
| Ending theme | "Monkey on a String" |
| Country of origin | USA |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 24 (2 on WBKB/WBBM, 1 on WBKB (now WLS), 21 on WGN) |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Frazier Thomas |
| Release | |
| Original network | WBKB-TV/WBBM-TV (1952–1954) WBKB-TV (now WLS-TV) (1954–1955) |
| Original release | September 29, 1952 – October 1, 1976 |
Garfield Goose and Friends was a super popular children's television show. It was made by WGN-TV in Chicago, Illinois, USA. The show ran for a long time, from 1955 to 1976. Before that, it was called Garfield Goose and Friend from 1952 to 1955. It was the longest-running puppet show on TV for many years. Later, Sesame Street broke its record.
The main person on the show was Frazier Thomas. He did all the talking and interacting. The show was all about a puppet goose named Garfield Goose. Garfield thought he was the "King of the United States." There were many other fun puppet characters too! These included Romberg Rabbit and Macintosh Mouse. There was also Chris Goose, who was Garfield's nephew. He was born on Christmas, which is why his name was "Christmas Goose." Another character was a sleepy bloodhound named Beauregard Burnside III. His name was a mix of two American Civil War generals. The show also used a "Little Theater Screen." The camera would zoom in on this screen to show cartoons. Some of these cartoons were Commander McBragg, The Funny Company, Clutch Cargo, Mr. Magoo, Jay Ward, Hanna-Barbera, Space Angel, and The Mighty Hercules.
The Show's Legacy
Garfield Goose and Friends was often shown live. This was common for TV shows in the 1950s and early 1960s. Because of this, WGN-TV did not save many recordings of its local shows. Videotapes were very expensive back then. So, they were often reused to save money. Station managers did not realize how valuable these recordings would become later.
Only four full episodes of Garfield Goose and Friends were saved. These were from March 14–15, 1974, and September 9–10, 1976. The last two were the very final shows of the series.
Remembering Garfield Goose
In December 2005, WGN-TV aired a special show called Bozo, Gar and Ray: WGN TV Classics. This special included the oldest known saved clip of Garfield Goose and Friends. In the clip, Garfield Goose "luckily" got tickets to the 1959 World Series. This was at Chicago's Comiskey Park. It was a special moment because the Chicago White Sox had just won the 2005 World Series. This was their first World Series win since 1959. The special also showed color footage from 1965. This came from an old WGN-TV sales film. It also had scenes from Bozo's Circus. The special was very popular in Chicago. It is still shown every year during the holiday season.
In 2005, the Museum of Broadcast Communications honored WGN-TV's Studio 1. They gave it a special plaque. This plaque celebrated forty years of children's television from that studio. Garfield Goose and Friends is on the plaque. It shows a picture of Frazier Thomas and Garfield. Also on the plaque are Ray Rayner from Ray Rayner and Friends and Bob Bell as Bozo from Bozo's Circus.
Images for kids
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Ad for the show before July 1953 when WBBM-TV began to broadcast as Channel 2.
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Geronimo, the butler, arrives: Thanksgiving Day, 1953.
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Frazier and Garfield join Bozo's Circus in 1976. Roy Brown (Cooky the Clown) and Bob Bell (Bozo) are also pictured.
