Mr. Dressup: The Magic of Make-Believe

4 outta 5

Mr. Dressup: The Magic of Make-Believe is a heartfelt documentary about a heartfelt Canadian children’s entertainer. Canadian childhood memories may get entangled in which was Mr. Dressup and which was Mr. Rogers, but it turns out they worked together in their early years on CBC. It’s like an Avengers style team up of children’s entertainers. Mr. Rogers went back to the US and PBS and Mr. Dressup stayed in Canada and CBC. Both had the same gentle and inclusive vibe featuring talking puppets; for Mr. Rogers the puppets lived in a castle and for Mr. Dressup the puppets lived in a tree. This documentary shows a good-hearted person can continue to spread joy, even long after their viewers have aged out of the demographic, as seeing Mr. Dressup brings a smile to all ages. It isn’t exactly a hard hitting, in depth gripping documentary but it’s more about examining an entertainer that resonated throughout multiple generations.

Ernie Coombs was an American entertainer who made a trek to Toronto and the CBC in the 1960s with co-worker, Fred Rogers. Ernie worked as a painter and puppeteer with Fred Rogers and that is probably why the two shows are so intertwined in style and childhood memories. The genial gentleman talking at the same level as the kids with an inclusive cast of characters and puppets is in both shows. Mr. Dressup was a spin off of a spin off, so in TV terms it’s kind of like the 2023 version of Fraiser. CBC cut Coombs’ previous show with a news talk show, This Hour Has Seven Days. But an enterprising producer asked CBC to split the talk show studio in two, and half of the studio was for Mr. Dressup. The set was simple but easy to remember; there’s the inside of the house with Mr. Dressup and his Tickle Trunk that had the costumes. And outside was the treehouse with two of Mr. Dressup’s good puppet friends, Casey and Finnegan.

Coombs was apparently not good at scripted scenes as he’d forget half the lines, so the producers came up with vague guidelines for the scenes and they would improvise. Coombs’ costar, and genius improvisor, was Judith Lawrence who did the puppeteering and voices of Casey and Finnegan. Casey was ahead of their time with a gender-neutral design and portrayal by Lawrence. The idea was every kid could see themselves in Casey so no one would feel left out. Whenever Lawrence was asked if Casey was a boy or a girl, they would respond with “Yes”. Finnegan was the silent assistant to Casey, they would simply nod their head and whisper to Casey, kind of like the chatty person and silent partner comedy duos. Lawrence added a lot of soul to the puppets and would come up with creative improvisational responses to Mr. Dressup.

Lawrence eventually became discontent with what CBC was doing with the show, so Lawrence left and took the puppets with them, as their creator and owner. This leads to a different era of Mr. Dressup with all new characters but while it is interesting to see this late era of the show acknowledged, the new crew never resonated as profoundly as the original. There’s an interesting and strange moment showing Lawrence in their later years portraying Casey and Finnegan at a gig at a bar. The contrast between the rowdy bar patrons and the childhood puppets of Casey and Finnegan is amusingly jarring. Casey even gets out a great quip that they learned a lot of new words at this bar tonight.

Coombs was devoted to his wife of many years, saying they had cheap dates because she would come see him work at painting the puppets and chat. Their relationship is so caring that the moment in the documentary when it is revealed how his wife passed away is gut-wrenching. There is a bunch of nifty revelations about Coombs time away from the Mr. Dressup show, like him touring around the country as a solo act. Some of the behind-the-scenes footage is pretty gold and shows how Coombs was good at comedic timing and improvisation, like when he talks to the camera about how his manager “takes 100 percent and I get the rest” emptying out his pockets in a funny gesture of poverty. Later in life, Coombs finally became a Canadian citizen and there is a bizarrely amusing moment when Mr. Dressup at a Canada Day celebration does a corny rap about Canada. There is also footage of Coombs engaging with college students while on tour and having funny answers to their questions. When a college student asks where Casey’s parents were, he answers they let the smart aleck kids to answer that themselves.

There is also a bountiful amount of celebrity interviews spliced throughout the documentary, Eric McCormack, Michael J. Fox, Paul Sun-Hyung Lee, Graham Greene, the Barenaked Ladies and more, all espousing their love for Mr. Dressup. When Jonathan Torrens talks about the highest rated episodes of his talk show, Johnovision, he says the two highest rated episodes were the Degrassi reunion and Mr. Dressup reunion. This shows for how many generations Mr. Dressup resonated. Mr. Dressup: The Magic of Make-Believe goes through Coombs’ life all the way to an emotionally resonant finale. He simply had a children’s entertainment show but its legacy lasts forever.