How Mr. Dressup prepared for retirement
CBC Archives | Posted: June 20, 2018 8:36 PM | Last Updated: November 22, 2019
'I had never realized what taping the last show would be ... it's going to be very, very emotional'
In 1996, a legend of Canadian television was getting ready to retire.
His name was Ernie Coombs, though most people knew him better by his on-screen identity — Mr. Dressup.
A short time before taping his last show, Coombs sat down with CBC's Midday to talk about his long career. (That interview can be viewed at the top of this page.)
The interview took place on the set of Mr. Dressup, with the well-known tickle trunk in view, as well as the treehouse where Casey and Finnegan often hung out.
Asked to describe what made Mr. Dressup such a success, Coombs pointed to its gentle nature and its ability to connect with its young viewers.
"It's quite real — I think kids feel that we are real people, even the puppets are real people," he said.
Coombs wasn't sure how to put into words that his life as Mr. Dressup was coming to an end, after nearly three decades on air.
"I had never realized what taping the last show would be — what it would be like — I still don't know what it's going to be like, but it's going to be very, very emotional," Coombs said.
The last episodes were taped in February of that year, with Coombs being honoured at a party after his last show.
And a few months after retiring, he was invested into the Order of Canada.
In 2001, Coombs died at the age of 73.