The show truly was the best and worst of times for Michele. She admits she wasn’t a great student but when it became known by her teachers that she was making more money than they were, she somehow began to get failing grades. She would get occasional ribbing at school from other students. Michele still went to school every day, did the show and then had two hours with a tutor. As things would occasionally derail during the show, Howard was the one who was able to get things back on track. Howard was also the only one who had the script. She says Howard was very real to her and had great conversations during breaks and after the show. It was Howard who was not only beloved by the audience but became a second father to Michele. John Keogh was the puppeteer behind Howard The Turtle. While Michele had memorized the script, Al needed his lines taped everywhere. She says he had a wonderful sense of humor and got along really well with him. Her co-host, Al Hamel was 10 years older than her.
She took the advice and grew to love the gig. Her father told her to try to take it one day at a time. She was mature for her age, had been honing her skills for about three years and she had close to a photographic memory which definitely helped in memorizing the daily 30-minute script.Īfter her first day she didn’t want to do the show. And that’s when her career on Razzle Dazzle began. She didn’t get that role but she was asked to be part of a new kid’s show.
#Razzle dazzle tv#
She says she was able to work with wonderful theatrical actresses who really taught her the craft.Īt the age of 11 she auditioned for a TV adventure series. She also did TV dramas, some magazine print work and performed on many live children’s radio programs. Walking the runway helped her overcome that shyness. Michele says she was painfully shy but started to do some childhood modeling at eight years old. When Michele was born her mom gave up the theatre life and her dad started working with CBC. They immigrated to Canada and settled in Toronto. Her mom was in Vaudeville and her father was a theatrical manager. Michele was an only child of British parents.
I was still an 8-year old fan talking to who I considered to be one of the biggest stars in the world. For me it was a glorious hour and a half conversation. To my utter joy she agreed and we set up a phone call. I sent her a message and asked if she would be willing to do an interview about her time on Razzle Dazzle and what she’s been up to since. Could this be THEE Michele Finney? Turns out it was. I found a write-up and a few photos on Wikipedia and I discovered that Michele Finney was on Facebook. I don’t know what stirred my memory banks but I felt a compulsion to Google Razzle Dazzle to see if there was any archival photos or videos. And of course like so any other kids my age, I had a crush on Michele.įlash forward to 2019. As far as I was concerned, Razzle Dazzle was required viewing. As an 8-year old boy there was a sense of comfort that made me feel like I was a part of their family. They welcomed you into their fun, adventurous lives, kept things moving as smoothly as possible and had a tremendous chemistry between them. It can be argued that Howard The Turtle was the star of the show but the two original hosts, Alan Hamel and Michele Finney were its backbone.
Usually I sat at home and ate an entire bag of Old Dutch Potato Chips which I then saved for an appearance on Kids Bids. You could write in and get an awesome secret decoder wheel, there was a segment on kid’s news and in the final five minutes we could watch continuing episodes of The Adventures of the Terrible Ten or The Forest Rangers. It was a half-hour kid’s show produced by CBC that came on Monday to Friday afternoon and featured characters like Howard The Turtle, Percy Q. Saturday was always hamburger night unless someone “took a wrong turn at Albuquerque.”Īnd then there was Razzle Dazzle. What baby boomer wasn’t brought up on the variety of entertainment offered on The Ed Sullivan Show Sunday night at 8pm followed by the exploits of the Cartwrights on Bonanza at 9? (We often had to go to bed at 9:30 unless Little Joe was hanging perilously from a cliff and we had to make sure Hoss was going to show up to save him.) The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour was a tradition on Saturday. When I think about my childhood growing up in little old Lethbridge in the early 60s I would have to say that a big part of it was watching TV.
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