Peter Mehegan hosts a segment with Boston television legends Rex Trailer and Capt. Bob Cottle. From WCVB's 20 year anniversary special that aired on 3/25/92.
Captain Bob was my neighbor when he lived in Norwell when I was a kid. I remember his live pet crow and also he gave my friend and I Jasper and Gramps dolls. Wish I still had Gramps.
I haven't seen the show in over 20 years, and I couldn't have been more than 8 the last time, but I can still hear the Captain Bob theme like it was being played in this very room.
Capt Bob was a huge influence on my love of art! I used to watch him in the 1970's and he sent me a couple of letters which I still have. I wish I could get some of of his old shows on DVD!
Captain Bob changed my life. I watched him when I got up for early cartoons. I lived on Martha's Vineyard, year round, and I'd run downstairs to see Captain Bob after "Farm Report" ended. I learned to draw and won the MV Elementary Art Show Competition. I loved the show-and I know it was the inspiration for Sponge Bob Square par. In fact, we had a teacher named Bumpass, as in Roger Bumpass. He was called Bumpy-Portuguese I'd say. Captain Bob was like your nicest uncle. Thank You WGBH and Captain Bob. You made it so easy to draw your instructional artwork., even at 6AM.
The more recent "Captain Bob" show was just Bob Cottle showing kids how to draw on his easel, but his original show had puppets, music, cartoons ("Ruff 'n' Reddy"), as well as the drawing element.
Yes, I remember watching "Captain Bob" on his original show on the old Channel 5 (WHDH, then owned by the now-defunct Boston Herald Traveler), which was also home to the Boston franchise of Bozo The Clown (ours played by Frank Avruch, who would go on to host "The Great Entertainment" movie show & still announces for on the current Channel 5, WCVB).
@wb1f I used to watch your cousin's original program when I was a boy of between five and six years old. My sister had a poster of "Captain Bob," probably sent out from the old WHDH-TV, as it had the station's call letters above or below the photo of your cousin (wearing his captain's hat & suit) on the poster. I wish we had saved that poster.
i'm with numerous posters here: Captain Bob's show was a weekly ritual. i used to look forward to it, love it, and consider it a major influence on my artistic/creative side as a kid. it was warm, inviting, endlessly entertaining - i so wish someone could find/post a few episodes. i used to love the part where he'd show drawings sent in by others. i think i sent one or two in, but i was pretty young and they were pretty terrible.
@wb1f More than the teaching of drawing/sketching, for which he became more noted on his WCVB program of the 1970s/'80s, I most fondly remember the puppets ("Jasper & Gramps") that appeared on "The Captain Bob Show" of the early 1960s. "Captain Bob" was so good he was hired to host wrap segments of the national "Ruff & Reddy" cartoon series.
@wb1f And, of course, Frank Avruch, Boston's "Bozo" (before Mayor Tom Menino), was also hired by Larry Harmon (who bought the rights to the "Bozo the Clown" character from originators Capitol Records) to be the beloved circus clown for the syndicated "Bozo" series, for locales not having their own "Bozo" program. So Boston TV viewers may be quite proud of their pioneering children's television program hosts, who appeared on both the original WHDH and on WCVB, Boston's Channel 5.
Check out Rex Trailer's websites, rextrailer dot tv, and boomtownmemories dot com,for more info about Rex. Also the Massachusetts Country Music Awards Association website at mcmaa dot net.Rex is a member of the Massachusetts Country Music Hall Of Fame and performs at the annual awards show.There are clips here on youtube of his most recent performance.
@wb1f Do you know if any kinescopes or videotapes exist of your cousin, "Captain" Bob Cottle, hosting his original morning kids' show on the original Channel 5, WHDH-TV (not the Channel 5 of today, which is WCVB) ? Did your cousin ever show you any older films or videos of himself on his TV program? .
No relation as far as I can tell. Captain Bob's obituary (April '99) makes mention of a number of family members but not Tom. Dr. Cottle is currently a professor at BU.
Does anyone, including the uploader of this video, know if "Captain Bob" Cottle is the father of or any relation to Dr. Tom Cottle, a psychologist who used to do the call-in portion of the Channel 5 midday news, as well appeared on the old WCVB morning show, "Good Day!"?
I'd love to find the opening for Captain Bob's drawing show with the harmonica theme and the shack on the pier. I was trying to describe it to a friend. Anyone know if it's been uploaded by anyone?
