Mr. Dressup: The Magic of Make-Believe: Heart, a Tickle Trunk and Tears

By Jim Slotek

Rating: A

Stoics be warned. If you fought to not emotionally “break” during the Mr. Rogers doc Won’t You Be My Neighbor, you may be even more inclined to snap, “I’m not crying, you’re crying!” during Mr. Dressup: The Magic of Make-Believe.

Robert McCallum’s touching and terrific tribute to Ernie Coombs, the man generations of Canadian children knew as Mr. Dressup, was a deserved winner of the People’s Choice Best Documentary at the recent Toronto International Film Festival.

Mr. Dressup (Ernie Coombs) all dressed up.

The similarities between the stories of Coombs and Fred Rogers are synchronous and personal. The two were actually great friends, who met as puppeteer colleagues on the latter’s children’s show in Pittsburgh. They came to Toronto together with their families to work on Rogers’ career-starting CBC show.

Coombs stayed. And Canadian kids would grow up with Mr. Dressup, Casey & Finnegan, and whatever objects they could repurpose for fun from the Tickle Trunk.

Eventually, Mr. Dressup would become a road act, with the same concert manager, Don Jones, who handled Alice Cooper.

Whatever mysterious cultural alchemy turned what was effectively an arts and crafts show for kids into a generational influence, the influence is there in the guest commentary. Barenaked Ladies, Kids in the Hall, Michael J. Fox, singer-songwriter Bif Naked, Fred Penner, Eric McCormack and more, all lend their memories and gratitude for the influence of the man who encouraged, “an open mind and an open heart.”

His grown children attest that Mr. Dressup was not an act. The man who came home from the studio loved his wife passionately, his children and people in general.

But about the sobbing. Among the key performers we meet in Mr. Dressup: The Magic of Make-Believe is Judith Lawrence, who was for decades the voice of both Casey & Finnegan. Now retired to Hornby Island near Vancouver, she staged a community performance with the two characters in her new home and was shocked to see the audience break into tears.

Her conclusion was that it was a reaction to the realization of lost childhood. But between Mr. Dressup: The Magic of Make-Believe and Won’t You Be My Neighbour, I feel the mourning may be for these men’s message. In the mean-spirited era in which we now live, compassion, civility and positivity are not generally on offer.

The reminder that things needn’t be that way is worth a tear or two.

Mr. Dressup: The Magic of Make-Believe. Directed by Robert McCallum. Starring Ernie Coombs, Judith Lawrence, Chris Coombs. Opens at the TIFF Bell Lightbox, Friday, September 29. Begins streaming on Prime Video October 10.