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Memory of my last stageshow seemed buried in some long ago mist, but sure enough on this sunny day, December 5th, 2009, there was my name peeking from the marquee of the classic Lake Theater in Oak Park, Illinois. Chicago's Museum of Broadcast Communications, commonly called the MBC to keep you from getting winded, resurrected me for this one last performance as a fund raiser toward its own ressurrection.

Truth be told, I was unsure how my return would be received. So many years had passed, burial rites for my kind of children's television had long been rendered, the recession had picked everyone's pocket...dear Lord, what awaited me as I cautiously entered Theater Number Seven?

Astounded by the reception, my first words were, "All I can say is...are...you...ready?" and I immediately launched the show with the old favorite drawing quiz "Whozit."


		First up was Sponge Bob, followed by Garfield, Homer Simpson, and my old favorite, Donald Duck.		Then...

We began the video clips, which included Hokey Theater Players, Blob (as a mountain stream), Gigglesnort Comics, highlights from the rocking, bopping Thumptwangers, and the final "strap yourself to the chair" episode of Blast off to Mars!

Early in the show I introduced my beautiful wife Jo who was sitting on the front row. In her hair you can see the confetti that Wally and Weird so abundantly tossed as they led my entrance.

Sprinkled among the clips were hilarious games with the audience conducted by my dear friend Jim Engel,who produced the show and served as my excellent co-host.

Note the fun attire Jim provided the Trivia Contest contestants, transforming them into the Old Prof, Dirty Dragon and Maynard Thumptwanter.

Borrowing a page from old time radio comedian Fred Allen, I took a trip down Allen's Alley and met my puppet friends along the way. Asked what she was up to, Mother Plumtree, fiesty as ever, piped "About four foot three!" The Old Professor recited "Instant Poetry" about Chocolate Muzzie. Weird flummoxed Wally with a knock-knock joke in reverse. Maynard announced that he had moved from Gurneyville to Hogtickle where the pigs liked to party. Dirty giggled his delight in getting a dragon's perfect Christmas present: a lump of coal. And for old time's sake, he roared, "There's no mail today! FIIIIIIIIEEEEEE on the mail!"

Then out of the past came a favorite of many--"I Want to Be"--the instantaneous drawing of hopes and dreams from someone's initials.


Selected from random seat numbers, Jim Martin said he wanted to be thinner. I began with how happy he was going to be, then drew him with more hair and a very skinny body.

At one point, co-host Jim roamed the audience taking questions, and one nice lady asked, "How do you make the dragon smoke?" Choosing fantasy over fact, I answered, "Well, first we stand on his tail." Okay, I didn't want to destroy the magic.

The most uproariously funny audience segment was the "I Speak Blob" contest. In unison, every one in the entire theater yelled Blob impersonations as Jim covered the room to select three candidates. Any one wandering into the wrong theater would have thought he had entered a mad house.

Unfortunately I don't have his name, but his hilarious combination of voice and body language delighted the audience and it rewarded him with the loudest applause.

Near the end of the show, I received a note that a certain someone was ready and I promptly introduced our surprise guest--the Blob!

What an entrance he made! Bedecked in the Christmas spirit, with Wally and Weird toting him on his pedestal, he came down the aisle greeting one and all with his uproarious laughter as the audience whistled and cheered his arrival. Onstage, he let me know, in his incomparable way, that he wanted to be Rudolph the Red-nosed...Moose.

And in the midst of his grumping and guffawing it came to pass: Blob the Red-nosed Moose, complete with a very large and blinking snout. He was a happy mound of clay.

How do you do that, if it, indeed, is your farewell to performing? Why, you make that final exit in a lively fashion, and I grabbed a cane and doffed a hat and did just that.

Dedicating my exit to Jo, who always cracks up when I dance "happy"...

...I called to Mr. Mike, the audio/video engineer, and with Jerry Lee Lewis belting Roll Over Beethoven, I boogied my way across the theater, out the door, and into the world of memory.

Bruce DuMont

President of the MBC, the man whose vision is bringing back the Museum

Jim Engel

Producer-co-host of the show and creator of the exceptional art work decorating it.

Gina Loizzo

Head of the MBC office and the person who gets things done.

David Plier

Vice President of MBC who gave invaluable assistance to all aspects of the show.

Jeanne Sparrow

Sparkling WCIU-TV talk show host who warmly welcomed the audience and interviewed me after the show.

Rich Koz

WCIU-TV's irrepressible Svengoolie who worked his eerie powers behind the scenes.

Wally Podrazik

Normally a normal acting man, he brought Wally Goodscout to life.

Kevin Ervin

No, this man is not headed for the Mardi Gras, but he did give gave new meaning to "Weird."

Cal Engel

The outstanding photographer who so thoroughly covered the event for the MBC.