Tough Guys visit Floppy on TV

When you’ve moved into a neighborhood where there’s no one for your young son to play with, you round them up from his kindergarten class and come up with activities for them.

Dan decided to call his group Tough Guys. Four boys came to our house every other week the summer of 1981, for a planned activity, then time just to play in the back yard.

One week we took the kids to the Floppy Show on WHO-TV.

According to historian Jeff Stein, WHO-TV in Des Moines asked Duane Ellett in 1957 to come up with an idea to help teach children how to better care for their pets. “Ellett created Floppy, a high-voiced beagle dog puppet that became his sidekick for the next 30 years.” I was in junior high in those days and didn’t notice Duane and Floppy.

But two dozen years later, our young son Dan enjoyed the Floppy Show on weekday afternoons, which featured a studio audience and cartoons. The kids in the audience also asked Floppy riddles, mostly lame ones, but Floppy laughed at them all. He had a high voice and a silly high chuckle. Oh, and the kids were allowed to beep Floppy’s nose for luck.

I don’t remember whether the kids told riddles that day, but Duane and Floppy also was a hit with families at the Iowa State Fair, on a stage along the Grand Concourse near the Grandstand. Dan got to tell Floppy a riddle, probably that same year. I asked a popular one with the kids, “Why did the man put the car in the oven? Because he wanted a hot rod.” Oh, Floppy giggled, and so did all of us.

Remember the Floppy t-shirt that Dan’s wearing in the photo? Dan’s own daughter Kate has enjoyed it as well!

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Floppy even has his own book, The Floppy Show, by author Jeff Stein who is recognized as Iowa’s leading broadcast historian. His books and DVDs have earned multiple awards. A native of Toledo, Iowa, Jeff received the Award of Merit from the American Association for State and Local History for his work preserving broadcasting history. He is also a recipient of the Iowa Broadcast News Association’s Jack Shelley Award, the highest honor in Iowa broadcast journalism.

He taught mass communication at the college level for 25 years and is now heard daily statewide on News/Talk 1540 KXEL. He is the author of five books, including three on Iowa broadcasting.

“Even now, 30 years after their last television appearance, Duane and Floppy still hold a warm place in the hearts of baby boomers across America,” according to the author. That’s what makes this book such a treasure. Filled with photos, there’s even one of Governor Robert Ray beeping Floppy’s nose.

You may even own Floppy DVDs! Books by Jeff Stein are also available through Totally Iowa.

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That summer sorta set me up to become a Den Mom when Dan was old enough for Cub Scouts, and a couple of those boys were in our den.