Editing Bob Homme (section)

==Career==
===''The Friendly Giant''===
{{see also|The Friendly Giant}}
While working at WHA radio, Homme regularly drove from [[Madison, Wisconsin|Madison]] to [[Chicago]] to watch rehearsals of a pioneering network television variety show called ''[[The Dave Garroway Show (TV program)|The Dave Garroway Show]]''. From these trips, Bob developed an interest in programming. In 1953 as he was driving back from Chicago to Madison, he imagined creating a children's program.{{sfnp|Fairley|2010|p=30-31}} His wife Esther came up with the idea of a "friendly giant." Bob recognized that taking what is usually associated with a scary character and making it nice makes it doubly nice. A friendly giant, therefore, becomes an even more friendly giant when compared to the [[Jack and the Beanstalk]] variety giant.{{sfnp|Fairley|2010|p=34}} Homme approached the program director of WHA radio, which was in the process of developing a television station. While continuing to work full-time on radio, he began developing the new children's television show.{{sfnp|Fairley|2010|p=32-33}}

''The Friendly Giant'' began on [[WHA-TV]] in Madison on May 8, 1954.<ref name="CE 1"/><ref name="CCF 1">{{Cite web |url=http://www.broadcasting-history.ca/personalities/homme-robert |title=Homme, Robert {{!}} History of Canadian Broadcasting |last=Chrysdale |first=Joseph |date=April 2005 |website=History of Canadian Broadcasting |publisher=[[Canadian Communications Foundation]] |access-date=May 22, 2019}}</ref> [[National Educational Television]] carried it in the [[United States]] from 1955 to 1968. [[Kinescope]]s of early episodes caught the attention of the [[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation]], and production of the program moved to [[CBC Television]]'s [[Toronto]] studios in 1958. CBC produced and aired ''The Friendly Giant'' until 1986, and it was later run in syndication on Canada's [[YTV (TV channel)|YTV]].

The show was outlined but was never scripted. Homme's style was minimalist. He recognized that television was a "hot medium" that tends to exaggerate actions and dialogue. Consistent with his personality, he tended to underplay his performances. This was in contrast to other high-energy early television programs such as ''[[Howdy Doody]]''. Bob and his puppeteer partner (originally Ken Ohst in Wisconsin and then [[Rod Coneybeare]] in Canada) used the comfortable repartee of old radio programs Bob had enjoyed like ''[[Vic and Sade]]'', ''[[Burns and Allen]]'', ''[[Bob and Ray]]'', and the ''[[Easy Aces]]''.<ref name="CCF 1" />{{sfnp|Fairley|2010|p=39}}

====Television production innovation====
One of his television production innovations was to change the perspective of the camera. Instead of the usual camera angles, he had the miniatures raised to camera height and placed the human being (himself) as the unusual shot above the set, giving the impression of a giant. Using a tight cover-shot and a loose close-up might have violated the newly established rules of television, but in this case it worked. It contrasts with the ''[[Godzilla]]'' effect in which a full-size monster walks around a miniature set. Homme always kept the giant character somewhere in the shot to emotionally reassure his preschool audience and to minimize the jarring effect of appearing suddenly.{{sfnp|Fairley|2010|p=34}}

===Music===
Growing up in a musical family, they enjoyed singing together and performing for the extended family each other on a Saturday night. Young Homme and his father had a little vaudeville act that was available when needed in the community.{{sfnp|Fairley|2010|p=50}} He later joined the school band at the University of Wisconsin. While Bob is best known for playing the recorder, his first instruments were the clarinet and the saxophone. He first purchased a [[Recorder (musical instrument)|recorder]] while stationed in [[New York City]] during his military service to give him an inexpensive and portable instrument during his travels. The recorder would become his signature instrument. On each episode of the show, he played three different recorders to match the pitch of each to the desired tone at that stage of the show.{{sfnp|Fairley|2010|p=75}}

===Other===
[[File:Bob-Esther-Homme-Molly2.jpg|thumb|An image of Homme, his wife, Esther, and their dog, Molly, during retirement.]]
Bob Homme was the model in a number of paintings by his friend and Canadian artist, [[James Lumbers]]. Lumbers' "Moments in Time" paintings often featured images from the present together with a faded image of a person and things from the past at the same location. Homme's likeness was used in the images of grandfather types in these paintings such as "Lucky Strike" and "Gone Fishing." The Springer spaniel in "Old Friends" was the Homme's dog, Molly. In one painting of a honky-tonk piano player called "Billy Nine Fingers," Bob and Esther are one of the couples sitting at a table in the foreground.{{sfnp|Fairley|2010|p=91}}