The Polka Dot Door

A long time ago, when I was 22, my first child was born.  That kid grew up on a little Canadian kid's show called Polka Dot Door, produced by the TV Ontario network.  And Dad, more often than not, sat through those shows with his little one.

Nine or so years later when a brother, and a year after that when a sister came along number one son was moving on to Knight Rider and The Dukes of Hazzard.  But there was a nice overlap where his siblings picked up where he had left off with Polka Dot Door.  And Dad was right there to welcome them.

So you're looking at a Polka Dot Door veteran.  The show began in 1971 and ran to 1993.  I didn't watch the full run but I did get in my fair share.  The formula was pretty simple.  A young male and female host, which seemed to change every week, sang songs, told stories, made crafts and generally did their best stimulate little brains.  The show opened as follows...



Imagination Day!  Oh boy!  You know what happens on Imagination Day?  That's the day Polkaroo visits.  TV Ontario wasn't stupid.  They made Imagination Day Thursday so kids would watch Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday to see if he might show up and Friday in case he came back.

But you know something?  There was a strange occurrence every time Polkaroo showed up.  You know what it was?  The male host disappeared.  Yeah, that's right.  For some strange reason he disappeared every single time Polkaroo was on camera.  I think he actually had a weak bladder but you never know.  And Polkaroo wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer.  He didn't talk.  All he did was in a hallow, owl voice exclaim "POLKAROO" when the female host accurately guessed the meaning of his mimed motions.  And this is what happened every time the male host came back...



"The Polkaroo was...here.  And I missed him...again?  Yep every week we laughed at the guy with the bad bladder.  It seemed every Thursday when he rushed to the washroom - or at least we think that was the explanation - the Polkaroo showed up.

Yep, for 22 years the male host never saw Polkaroo.  That's Polkaroo...with a capital pee...on The Polka Dot Door.  I wonder if the kids ever caught on?

And that's what I think of when I think of polka dots, the topic for this week's Theme Thursday.  Check them out and see what other bloggers came up with.