From Kate, 9/1/00:
Hi Karen,
My name is Kate Ellett. I'm Duane Ellett's grandaughter. I was recently combing through the web and came across the page you dedicated to him and The Floppy Show. My family and I would like to personally thank you for you for being such a loyal friend to The Floppy Show. Feel free to e-mail me. . . = )
Kate Ellet
From Dawn, 8/2/00:
Why did the man throw the clock out the window???
Thanks for your GREAT Floppy page. My name is Dawn, I live in Kansas
City now, but grew up in Des Moines. A childhood friend recently
emailed me with the following "You must be an Iowan if..." and this brought
about much discussion between me and my "Iowa" friends here in Kansas
City. We have decided that this list is missing the following items:
You know you're an Iowan if....
You've watched Duane and Floppy, or have been on the show.
You tell jokes on Trick or Treat night. (No one outside of Iowa practices this! So weird!)
You know what a May basket is and you've received one from your best friend.
Enjoy the rest of the Iowan if.... list.
Thank again. I will be sure to let all of my friends know about this
page.
Dawn
You must be an IOWAN if...
You've never met any celebrities.
Your idea of a traffic jam is ten cars waiting to pass a tractor on the highway.
"Vacation" means driving through the Amanas, going to Adventureland or Okoboji.
You've seen all the biggest bands ten years after they were popular.
Snow tires are standard on your car.
You think Cookies BBQ Sauce is good.
You "go into town"
The local bar has Busch Light and Milwaukee's Best on Tap.
You have no concept of public transportation.
The only reason you go to Missouri is for fireworks
You wear shorts when it's 50 degrees out in March, but bundle up and complain in August when it goes below 60 degrees.
You have gone trick-or-treating in 2 feet of snow.
You warsh your clothes.
State Wresting was a big deal at your high school.
You measure distance in minutes.
The nearest GAP is at least 90 minutes away.
Down south to you means Missouri
You know several people who have hit a deer.
You were allowed to get a "school permit" to drive at age 14 if you lived more than a mile from school.
You have no problem spelling or pronouncing "Des Moines"
You could play "Iowa Bingo" with county road names when traveling from town to town (C65, D15, P36, N19 etc)
You know the answer to the question, "Is this Heaven?"
Your school classes were cancelled because of cold
Your School classes were cancelled because of heat
You know where all the Yoders live
You know what "Hawks" and "Clones" are
You've ridden the school bus for an hour each way
You've ever had to switch from "heat" to "A/C" in the same day
You think ethanol makes your truck "run a lot better".
You know what's knee-high by the Fourth of July
Stores don't have bags, they have sacks
You see people wear bib overalls at funerals.
You see a car running in the parking lot at the store with no one in it no matter what time of the year.
You end your sentences with an unnecessary preposition. Example: "Where's my coat at?" or "If you go to the mall I wanna go with."
All the festivals across the state are named after a fruit or vegetable
You can locate Iowa on the United States map
Detassling was your first job
You've ever been on a "Geode Hunt"
Your idea of a really great tenderloin is when the meat is twice as big as the bun and accompanied only by ketchup and a dill pickle slice
You say catty wampes instead of kitty-corner
You learn your pickup will run without a muffler
You install security lights on your house and garage and leave both unlocked
You think of the major four food groups as beef, pork, beer, and Jell-O salad with marshmallows
You drink "pop."
When asked how your trip was to any foreign, exotic place, you say, "It was different."
Going to Wal-mart is your idea of FUN
Being a bit younger, you remember Terry Branstad as governor the whole time you were growing up.
You consider being called a "Pork Queen" an honor.
People from other states love to hear you say "Iowa" and other words with O's in them
You carry jumper cables in your car
You know what the numbers I-80, 280 and 380 mean
You know what "cow tipping" is.
From Julie, approximately 4/6/00:
OH MAN!!! A Floppy tribute page, I am SO glad!! I appeared on the Floppy show twice, once for my fifth birthday, and for my youngest sisteršs fourth birthday. My fifth birthday was the memorable one; it was the first time I ever consciously felt embarrassed, and it HAD to happen on TV!!
Herešs what I remember about it. Išm not sure how long before my birthday it actually was when my mom asked me, "Would you like to go on the Floppy show?", but OF COURSE I said yes!! The big day came, and my mom, who was pregnant with my brother at the time, dropped my sister off at my grandparents' house and took me downtown. That alone was a huge treat, cause we only went downtown for special things. I remember us driving up the circular ramp at the 10th and Locust parking ramp, and then we walked the block and a half to the WHO studio. In the lobby were the other children who would appear on the show, with their parents. About fifteen minutes before air time, Duane came out into the lobby. He looked the way he did in the picture at the bottom of your page, and I remember feeling sort of
awestruck. He took us into the studio. It was HUGE; they did all their locally-produced programming in this one room. There was the news set, the little sign they used for graphics for the Early Show (the movie they showed in the late afternoon), the little set they used for the noon Floppy Show (15 minutes after the noon news). Directly in front of us were the wooden boxes the kids sat on for the show. Since I was short, they sat me in the front row. My mom took a seat well offstage, but I could see her. I had my riddle all ready for Floppy, since "birthday kids" got to go first. Then, we waited.
At that time, the Floppy Show still used a hostess; Duane didnšt take over hosting the entire show until around 1970 or so. When the theme music came on and we all waved as the camera panned, I was so excited I didnšt know what to do. And then, to get to holler, "Where's Floppy?" It was a little kidšs dream come true.
Back then, they had rights to a number of the old Hanna-Barbera cartoons that are now being shown as shorts on the Cartoon Network. They would show (in order): Lippy the Lion, Wally Gator, Touché Turtle, and Popeye (the mid 50's ones that you can see on the Cartoon Network as well). It was a LONG time before they started showing the Warner Bros. Classics. It was between the Touché Turtle and Popeye cartoons when Duane would come out from behind the little stage where Floppy would banter with the hostess and allow the kids to ask riddles. Well, they came out of the commercial, and Duane, with Floppy in his box, was sitting on the front row. Duane, of course, was "conversing" with Floppy, and he asked, "Floppy, who's that pretty little girl in the brown dress?" I looked around to see who Duane was talking
about. No other little girl on the show that day had a brown dress on; I was wearing a brown jumper dress with brown and white checked sleeves. I looked at Duane and Floppy, and of course, he was looking right back at me, smiling. I looked at my mom offstage, who was grinning from ear to ear, and managed to tell him my name. He had Floppy look at him as he said, "Ohhhhhhhh, she's Julie!" I wanted to crawl behind the box I was sitting on and hide SO bad, but I had to do my riddle, which by the way, was "What do you get when you put six ducks in a box? A box of quackers!" They gave us the autographed picture, a top, a bag of Hiland chips, and a small bottle of Mountain Dew, which had just been introduced that year......1965. As you can doubtless tell, it made a memory that has lasted in detail for a long time.
Thanks for taking the time to do even a small page that I am sure brings smiles of nostalgia to anyone who ever watched or was on the Floppy Show during the 30 years it aired.
Julie J
