Shaybo: Here's a little history for you.
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Robert Homme created and played The Friendly Giant. It ran for 28 years. I remember the tune of the little recorder that he played. The song was called Early One Morning, but no lyrics were sung.
The Friendly Giant had several friends at the Castle: Jerome the Giraffe, a speckled know-it-all with a low voice who came when The Friendly Giant whistled (Jerome usually returned the whistle as he approached the castle window); Rusty the Rooster, the harp-playing bird with a high-pitched voice who lived in a cloth sack hanging on the castle's wall; and puppet cats Angie and Fiddle.
Each show began as the castle's drawbridge lowered and The Friendly Giant welcomed viewers with the words "Once upon a time, not long ago and not far away..." The show's theme song played to the the sound of a harp and tin whistle. To see the face of The Friendly Giant, the camera started at the boot of the giant and panned up his towering body to his face while the Friendly Giant instructed all his tiny visitors to "look up...W-A-AY UP!" He had the little rocking chair, over in the corner near the fireplace for you to sit.
At the conclusion of each show, the castle's drawbridge slowly closed as night fell over the castle, and a cow jumped over a full moon.
In 1998, Bob Homme was made a Member of the Order of Canada. Robert Homme died May 2, 2000 of prostate cancer at his home in Grafton, Ontario, Canada. He was 81.