tugs (04/28/83)
The Friendly Giant had two companions (has two companions?). Rusty the Rooster lives in the bag that hangs on the wall, and Jerome the Giraffe sticks his head in through the window to talk. The puppeteer who manipulates them (yes! it's true! they aren't really animals!) is named Ron Coneybeane, I believe. When Friendly (for that is what they called him) wanted to call Jerome, he'd whistle this tune (using Sherman notation): gf#ga-ge (pause) ag#ab-af# The actor playing Friendly really does play the recorder, and provides the music for the show, including the title theme. Chez Helene had two companions, a teenage girl and a mouse (one of them was really a puppet; can you guess which one?). The mouse's name was Suzie, but I can think of the girl's name (I think they may have gone through several girls during the run of the show, actually...). The show was supposed to teach you French, I think, but I never learned a word from it - at the same time, I always knew what was going on, so they certainly were able (through gesture and picture cards) to communicate with their Anglo audience. steve hull decvax!utzoo!utcsrgv!tugs