Bill Jackson

Bill Jackson (ca. 1937-) is an American television personality, cartoonist and educator. He is best known for having hosted the children's programs "The BJ and Dirty Dragon Show" and "Gigglesnort Hotel".

Early life and career

Jackson was born in Unionville, Missouri. His father worked with a traveling carnival. Jackson graduated from the University of Missouri's school of journalism with a degree in television production. His earliest appearance in the public eye was in 1960 when he hosted a program in Fort Wayne, Indiana called the "Popeye and Little Rascals Club"; this was broadcast for three years. The show was such a success that he moved on to Indianapolis for another two years with the Mickey Mouse Club on WLWI (now WTHR), later renamed The Bill Jackson Show, where he created his most enduring character, Dirty Dragon (who was said to have been based on a co-worker in Indy.) His work attracted the attention of WBBM-TV in Chicago, which gave him a program in 1965, known variously as "Clown Alley" (weekday version) or "Here Comes Freckles" (Sunday morning version). Unfortunately in spite of wide critical praise the show drew poor ratings largely because it was aired early in the morning, and was cancelled after two seasons. Jackson played the title character, Freckles the Clown; although many of the puppet characters would continue to appear on later series, Jackson usually would play himself (or "B.J.," as his puppet co-stars called him) throughout the remainder of his career.

Chicago

Jackson's work did not go unnoticed, however, and he was hired by another Chicago station, the then-independent WFLD, which was looking for a show to go opposite WGN-TV's highly popular "Garfield Goose and Friends". Jackson, a gifted artist, comedian and puppeteer, responded in 1968 with a program initially called "Cartoon Town", but later renamed "The BJ and Dirty Dragon Show". It was here that Jackson, playing the mayor of the cartoon town, reached great heights with characters such as Dirty Dragon, "Weird" and "Wally Goodscout", "Mother Plumtree", the "Old Professor", and a town monument called "Blob" (no relation to the movie) who was made of clay and could, with Jackson's help, assume any form. Jackson wrote and produced the show, performed all of the puppet characters' voices, built and designed the sets and puppets. The show featured a variety of cartoons, including "Underdog," "Popeye" (the early 1960s made-for-TV King Features version), "Out Of The Inkwell" (the made-for-TV version produced by Hal Seeger), and "George Of The Jungle," among others. The show aired for five years on WFLD, but ended after the station's owner, Field Communications, sold an interest to Kaiser Broadcasting, and Kaiser streamlined local productions on its group of stations. The final WFLD episode (#1311) aired July 27, 1973; one month later, The BJ & Dirty Dragon Show (now set in "Carefree Corners") began a one-year run on WGN. Meanwhile, Jackson began commuting between Chicago and New York, where he produced and hosted another local show, "BJ's Bunch", featuring many of the same chartacters. By the fall of 1974, WGN cancelled The BJ & Dirty Dragon Show, after which Jackson produced a one-shot holiday special, A Gift For Granny, which aired on WMAQ-TV, Chicago's NBC affiliate.

Later career

Jackson and his puppets next appeared in the educationally-themed program "Gigglesnort Hotel" in 1975, which brought most of the old Cartoon Town characters back, plus a few new creations. Produced and aired by WLS-TV, Chicago's ABC affiliate, the show was very popular with the critics, though less so with the public, and ran for three seasons. Jackson made a final program called "Firehouse Follies" using the characters in 1979-1980, then left television to teach at California Institute of the Arts for 12 years. By the end of its run, Gigglesnort Hotel was syndicated nationally, and reruns continued to air on WLS in Chicago through 1985. Several episodes were released by Karl-Lorimar Home Video in the 1980s in a series of six volumes (one of which actually consisted of two holiday specials Jackson produced in California after he left Chicago: "Billy Joe's Thanksgiving" --aka "Salute To The Turkey"-- and a later remake of "A Gift For Granny", which featured a green incarnation of Dirty Dragon and a female voice artist as Mother Plumtree).

In recent years, Jackson has put up a website to sell DVDs of his old programs online. He lives quietly in California.

External links

* [http://www.dirtydragon.com/ Bill Jackson's official wesbite]
* [http://www.tvparty.com Thanks to TV Party.com for the information]