Hello Permalink,
You made the comment that you were sad that there was not a lot of info for Buster and Me. I was fortunate to have worked as a crew member and that show for many years and I will attempt to add some of my perspective.
Buster and Me was a very carefully considered show, it was written with total care for the young audience that it was targeted for. My experience with the show was both challenging and fun. Challenging because because, as the audio engineer, I had to mic the people manipulating the puppets and that was difficult because they were often all twisted up in their effort to make the puppets do what they needed to do, which was not always good for the microphones that they were wearing. Fun! I never had as much fun with anything that I did in my TV career as I did with that show. The actors/puppeteers and the show's producer, Christina Metcalfe were the best! They were honest, genuine and, great fun to work with!
Every show had a message, something that was meant to convey to young people, a way of living their lives to the fullest, with treating other people as you would have them treat you, as the most common theme. I was proud to be a part of it.
The actors/puppeteers were all amazing people and accomplished in many areas. Cristopher Pray was an improv comic and an actor with many credits including several of the the Dirty Harry movies. John Gilkerson was a brilliant costumer for the SF Opera and was the builder of all of the puppets used on Buster and Me. John passed away in 1989 due to complications from Aids. Tom Hanks dedicated his Oscar for Philadelphia in 1993 to John, as they had gone to high school together in Oakland California. Robin Goodrow was the principal writer for the show and had been involved in the Bread and Roses organization for many years in addition to being one of the main characters on the show. She also won an Emmy award for a song written for the show that became Buster and Me.
Working in TV was often hard to justify in terms of what value you are adding to the world and to society as a whole. Working on this show and being involved with these people never left me wondering about that. This was by far the best thing that I ever did in TV and I thank all of these people for the opportunity to have done that. John Gilkerson RIP
.
Buster and Me was a very carefully considered show, it was written with total care for the young audience that it was targeted for. My experience with the show was both challenging and fun. Challenging because because, as the audio engineer, I had to mic the people manipulating the puppets and that was difficult because they were often all twisted up in their effort to make the puppets do what they needed to do, which was not always good for the microphones that they were wearing. Fun! I never had as much fun with anything that I did in my TV career as I did with that show. The actors/puppeteers and the show's producer, Christina Metcalfe were the best! They were honest, genuine and, great fun to work with!
Every show had a message, something that was meant to convey to young people, a way of living their lives to the fullest, with treating other people as you would have them treat you, as the most common theme. I was proud to be a part of it.
The actors/puppeteers were all amazing people and accomplished in many areas. Cristopher Pray was an improv comic and an actor with many credits including several of the the Dirty Harry movies. John Gilkerson was a brilliant costumer for the SF Opera and was the builder of all of the puppets used on Buster and Me. John passed away in 1989 due to complications from Aids. Tom Hanks dedicated his Oscar for Philadelphia in 1993 to John, as they had gone to high school together in Oakland California. Robin Goodrow was the principal writer for the show and had been involved in the Bread and Roses organization for many years in addition to being one of the main characters on the show. She also won an Emmy award for a song written for the show that became Buster and Me.
Working in TV was often hard to justify in terms of what value you are adding to the world and to society as a whole. Working on this show and being involved with these people never left me wondering about that. This was by far the best thing that I ever did in TV and I thank all of these people for the opportunity to have done that. John Gilkerson RIP
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