''Uncle Bobby'' is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) 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 ...

children's television Children's television series (or children's television shows) are television programs designed for children, normally scheduled for broadcast during the morning and afternoon when children are awake. They can sometimes run during the early evenin ...

show that aired from 1964 to 1979 on

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

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 outlet CKVR-DT, channel 3 ...

and, for two years beginning in 1968, was a weekly show on the CTV television network (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 unicyclis ...

clown 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 Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, 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 country and popular music singer-songwriter. With records charting from the 1950s to the 1980s, he became well known as a practitioner of the Nashville Sound. Known as "Gentleman ...

's ''

Bimbo Bimbo is slang for a conventionally attractive, sexualized, naive, and unintelligent 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 "stereotypic ...

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

, named after British music hall 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 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 ve ...

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

Maclean's ''Maclean's'', founded in 1905, is a Canadian news magazine reporting on Canadian issues such as politics, pop culture, and current events. Its founder, publisher John Bayne Maclean, established the magazine to provide a uniquely Canadian persp ...

'' 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 (which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927). The service provides national radio stations covering ...

star Stan Francis. He then went to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

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 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, su ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

. He retired to Elliot Lake, where he died May 20, 2007, of a heart attack at age 82.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, id=0199279, title=The Uncle Bobby Show * 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