The BJ and Dirty Dragon Show

From 1968 to 1974, Chicago kids could tune into *The BJ and Dirty Dragon Show* (originally titled *Cartoon Town*) on WFLD and later WGN-TV. The program starred Bill Jackson—the "BJ"—alongside his puppet creations. Jackson had previously hosted *Clown Alley* on WBBM-TV, a critically praised show that struggled in the ratings due to an early morning slot. Impressed by his work, WFLD (then an independent station) offered him a time slot opposite WGN's popular *Garfield Goose and Friends*. Unlike his earlier role as a clown character, Jackson appeared as himself on the new show. He brought along many puppets from *Clown Alley*, most notably Dirty Dragon, a gruff, smoke-snorting creature based on a former coworker in Indianapolis.

The show’s premise cast Jackson as the mayor of the fictional Cartoon Town, with the puppets as its residents. Dirty Dragon served as postmaster but usually ate most of the mail. A large clay blob, simply called the Blob, was the town monument; he spoke in a strange, distorted voice only Jackson could understand, and Jackson would manipulate him at the Blob’s request each day. The program is credited with boosting the market for UHF-compatible televisions in Chicago. Facing tough competition from WGN, Jackson overhauled the format in fall 1971. The show moved to a noon time slot (opposite *Bozo’s Circus*), was retitled *The BJ & Dirty Dragon Show*, and introduced a live studio audience with the puppet characters performed by full-size costumed actors. This version mirrored Jackson’s successful live performances but fared less well on TV, soon reverting to its original format while keeping the new title. Both Jackson and his producer earned local Emmys for the season with live actors. The show aired its last episode on WFLD on July 27, 1973, after 1,311 episodes. The following month, it moved to WGN-TV for a one-year run ending in August 1974. During that time, Jackson commuted between Chicago and New York, also performing *BJ’s Bunch* for WNBC. He later used the characters in a one-shot holiday special, *A Gift For Granny*, which aired on Chicago’s NBC affiliate WMAQ in December 1974 (a later Los Angeles-produced version was released on VHS by Karl-Lorimar Home Video in the early 1980s).

In January 1975, WLS-TV (Chicago’s ABC affiliate) picked up the show as a weekly Sunday morning series with a revised format under the new title *Gigglesnort Hotel*. Jackson developed this version as an educational series to meet FCC requirements, playing the hotel’s desk clerk while his puppet cast appeared as employees or guests at the hotel owned by new character Captain Gigglesnort. *Gigglesnort Hotel* ran for three years, producing 78 half-hour episodes that were syndicated nationally; seven VHS volumes were released by Karl-Lorimar in the 1980s. During the 1978–79 season, Jackson did *The Too Late Show starring Dirty Dragon*, a parody of Johnny Carson’s *Tonight Show*, as a local feature on ABC’s *Kids Are People Too* (also on WLS-TV). His final Chicago TV series was another WLS production, *Firehouse Follies*, which followed a similar format and ran for 13 episodes in 1980. WLS aired each episode twice before returning to reruns of *Gigglesnort Hotel*, which continued on Saturday and Sunday mornings through 1985. In 1995, Jackson donated the show’s puppets to the Museum of Broadcast Communications.

Still a Chicago favorite, Jackson appeared for a Museum of Broadcast Communications presentation, “Saturday Morning with B.J. and Dirty Dragon: Bill Jackson, Live in Person—One Last Time,” in December 2009. The sold-out performance was his last as a performer; Jackson had also received two Iris Awards for best locally produced children’s show in the United States.