Polka Dot Door - Polkaroo

Polkaroo

Each day's episode had a particular theme. Monday was "Treasure Day", Tuesday was "Dress-Up Day", Wednesday was "Animal Day", Thursday was "Imagination Day", and Friday was "Finding Out Day". On "Imagination Day", the character Polkaroo (sometimes referred to as "the Polkaroo") appeared. The actor playing Polkaroo donned a tall, green plush costume that resembled a kangaroo. In its mended, yellow and multi-coloured polka-dot muumuu, the creature spoke using various repeated exclamations of its own name accompanied by elaborate gestures. The meaning of this pantomime was to be guessed by the audience. This was usually followed by a song whose lyrics began "Imagine, imagine, you can imagine Polkaroo...". In the first two seasons, Polkaroo would appeared to one of the hosts while the other host was absent for some reason The co host would return upon Polkaroo's departure, habitually exclaiming, "The Polkaroo was here?!?And I missed him again?!?" Both hosts took turns as the Polkaroo. Starting in the third season, only the male host donned the Polkaroo costume.

In the late 1990s, TVOntario capitalized on the success of Polkaroo by placing him and the other animal characters, now also actors dressed in costumes, in a new series, Polka Dot Shorts, which also had its own catchphrase moment, as each episode included the unlikely discovery of a pair of polka dot shorts, leading to the exchange:

(Character): A great big pair of polka dot shorts? Polkaroo: How did they get there?!

The Polkaroo costume as seen above and on the original series was handmade in Toronto, Ontario by Tanya Petrova, a relatively unknown artist who made brief appearances on numerous television shows from Mr Dressup to The Steve Allen Show in the late 1960s to early 1970s. Petrova also created Charlie Horse for Shari Lewis, along with many other puppets, including costumes for Ontario Place theme park, Eaton's (i.e. Glump) and other events and attractions.

There were several other versions of the Polkaroo costume as well: the one with the long slender neck was built by Lorraine Cramp in 1982. She also made the Moose and Beaver costumes for Cucumber, the Sidney the Kangaroo costume for Math Patrol, and the Subterranean Monster costume for Mathmakers.