''Sailor Bob'' was an American children's television program produced by WRVA (then the Richmond, Virginia
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
affiliate) that aired from 1959 through 1969.
Early years
The program, built around
Popeye
Popeye the Sailor Man is a fictional cartoon character created by Elzie Crisler Segar.cartoon segments, was hosted by "Sailor Bob" (Bob Griggs), a former
cameraman
A camera operator, or depending on the context cameraman or camerawoman, is a professional operator of a film camera or video camera as part of a film crew. The term "cameraman" does not imply that a male is performing the task.
In filmmakin ...
for WRVA who had studied commercial art at the
Richmond Professional Institute
The Richmond Professional Institute (RPI) was an educational institution established in 1917 which merged with the Medical College of Virginia to form Virginia Commonwealth University. RPI was located on what is now known as the Monroe Park Campus ...
. Various puppets designed by Griggs himself, including Gilly Gull, Squeeky Mouse, Captain Paddles, Sparkey and Mr. Bluebird, starred alongside the title sailor. When he was not conversing with these puppets or showing Popeye cartoons, "Sailor Bob" would often draw his own cartoons on
camera
A camera is an optical instrument that can capture an image. Most cameras can capture 2D images, with some more advanced models being able to capture 3D images. At a basic level, most cameras consist of sealed boxes (the camera body), with a ...
for the audience. Although the program's broadcast was confined to the central
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
area, ''Sailor Bob'' built a substantial viewership, receiving as many as 8,000 fan letters per month.
In 2011, the show was the subject of a 90-minute
documentary film
A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...
, ''The Sailor Bob Story''. The film debuted at the
Byrd Theatre
The Byrd Theatre is a cinema in the Carytown neighborhood of Richmond, Virginia. It was named after William Byrd II, the founder of the city. The theater opened on December 24, 1928 to much excitement and is affectionately referred to as "Richmon ...
in Richmond on January 11, 2011, and was later broadcast on the local
PBS
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...
stations WCVE-TV and WHTJ.
Bob Griggs passed away on February 20, 2019.