A GIANT OF A TALE
This is a true story—a story of an actual giant appearing at my home before my very own eyes. When I was a young boy, one of the benefits of contracting the dreaded stomach flu was being able to stay home all day with my mom. The TLC was greatly appreciated of course, but there was another gift in it as well. The morning line-up on the old CBC television was second to none. There was Romper Room, but that was CTV, then Chez Helene on CBC and then The Friendly Giant with the whole cast of characters –mainly Rusty the Rooster and Gerome the Giraffe. The drawbridge, the chairs by the fireplace—this one to curl up in-and THE BOOT-- look up---waaayyy up- The castle wall, and the bag—why a rooster was in a bag---we didn't ask at that age—part of the magic—the the dulcet tones of the voice of Bob Homme---THE FRIENDLY GIANT----when summoned, Gerome would awkwardly poke his head in through the castle wall window and began his slow-paced banter with Friendly. Flash forward forty or so years. I am now hosting an afternoon drive show on CFMX radio out of Cobourg ON. I am also an accomplished clarinetist and musician. I start getting phone calls during my show from—none other than—Bob Homme himself, The Friendly Giant—he has retired to the hamlet of Grafton, outside of Cobourg and listens to my program every afternoon---I'm gobsmacked---turns out Friendly is also a clarinetist and has taken a keen interest after listening to me on the radio. Eventually, Friendly requests that I try out his clarinets that he has recently had over-hauled—telling me that his is too out of shape to really assess the work he had done on them. So, I gladly arrange to meet at my home at his convenience early in the day—before my broadcast time. Mr. Homme arrived in my driveway—wearing his cowboy hat and boots, walking gingerly as he had had recent prostate surgery---Oh, and by the way, my Mom just happened to be with us visiting her grandsons Chris and James.| So, the scenario was like this----Mom was in the adjoining kitchen doing Mom stuff—The Friendly Giant and I were seated in the bay window of the dining room with our clarinets playing back and forth for each other, switching clarinets, I played a little classical, he played a little blues—his son Rick by the way is a first call jazz bassist in Toronto-- and Mom peering in from the kitchen just beaming. It was a perfect afternoon----when he left, he brought me two shoe boxes from his car and said I want you to have these---the boxes were filled with cassette tapes—recordings made with his partner and friend who became Gerome the Giraffe. They were tapes they made in college in Wisconsin for university radio—including yes, a pilot for a radio show called-- The Friendly Giant