There are few personalities that unite Canadians rather like Mr. Dressup.

For 29 years, spanning an excellent 4,000 episodes, the loved youngsters’s display host seemed on tv monitors around the nation, inviting youngsters to discover his iconic Tickle Trunk along a legion of puppet sidekicks, together with the liked duo of Casey and Finnegan.

And even if many are acquainted with the nature portrayed through Ernie Coombs, some distance fewer know the endearing tale of ways Mr. Dressup got here to be a mainstay on Canadian TV.

Now, a brand new documentary is about to discover that, taking a deep dive into the Mr. Dressup’s legacy in addition to his profound have an effect on on youngsters’s programming.

“There’s no longer sufficient time to talk about the issues that I discovered (whilst making the documentary),” Rob McCallum, the director of Mr. Dressup: The Magic of Make-Imagine, advised International Information.

“What in reality moves me, if we wish to get actual for a 2nd, was once that up to this was once a youngsters’ display at the floor – made for youngsters to really feel secure and really feel liked through everyone – gazing it with my youngsters it become a lot more about ‘Wow, I’m nonetheless finding out from Mr. Dressup’. And, boy, I want I used to be extra affected person like Ernie. I want I used to be extra within the second and no longer distracted with the whole thing that’s happening outdoor my house…how come we will be able to’t be a bit bit extra like Mr. Dressup?”

Weaving in combination interviews from Canadian celebrities like Michael J. Fox, the Barenaked Women and Bif Bare, with archival photos from the display and tales from the past due Coombs’ private existence, Mr. Dressup: The International of Make-Imagine takes a better glance into the lifetime of a person identified for his kindness, inclusiveness and creativity.

“Ernie’s programming, and the programming round that time frame, in reality concerned with creativity from its simplicity,” Jani Lauzon, a puppeteer at the display, advised International Information. “You’ll in reality create one thing out of not anything, and that was once the fantastic wonderful thing about the display. All you wanted was once a work of paper and a few scissors and a few glue or tape and it’s essential to create one thing.”

International Information sat down with McCallum, Lauzon and fellow puppeteer Jim Parker to talk about all issues Mr. Dressup, the documentary, and the endearing and lasting courting Coombs maintained with fellow youngsters’s display host, Fred Rogers, of Mr. Rogers Neighbourhood reputation. Watch the interview above.

Mr. Dressup: The Magic of Make-Imagine might be to be had for streaming on Amazon High Video on Oct. 10.

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Mr. Dressup: The Magic of Make-Imagine screening at AIFF

&replica 2023 International Information, a department of Corus Leisure Inc.