"Gigglesnort Hotel" was one of three shows Bill Jackson did for the Chicago children's TV market. "Gigglesnort" aired Sunday mornings on the ABC affiliate, WLS/Channel 7. The show would be his last effort (of which I'm aware). Prior to that, he starred in "The B.J. And Dirty Dragon Hour" on WFLD/Channel 32 (now a Fox station). His very first effort (if memory serves me) was "B.J. and Dirty Dragon", also on WFLD. "The B.J. and Dirty Dragon Hour" differed from its predecessor mainly in that it had a live studio audience, much like the Chicago behemoth of the time, WGN-TV's "Bozo's Circus".
All three shows featured the same crew of puppets - Dirty Dragon, the somewhat belligerent, smoke-snorting dragon; Mother Plum Tree, a dowdy gray-haired woman; The Old Professor, a white-haired eccentric; W.C., a corncob-smoking do-nothing who sounded like W.C. Fields; Wally and Weird, a couple of weirdos akin to Ernie and Bert (one silly one, one not so silly); and The Lemon Joke Kid (the character Weird in an all-yellow zoot-suit tossing lemons inscribed with really bad jokes).
In addition to bantering with the characters, Jackson was an accomplished cartoonist and at least once per show gave a delightful exhibition of his skills.
The Bill Jackson era was a time when children's shows really were for children, were quite entertaining, and were hugely free from the marketing and commercialism now present in children's TV.
All three shows featured the same crew of puppets - Dirty Dragon, the somewhat belligerent, smoke-snorting dragon; Mother Plum Tree, a dowdy gray-haired woman; The Old Professor, a white-haired eccentric; W.C., a corncob-smoking do-nothing who sounded like W.C. Fields; Wally and Weird, a couple of weirdos akin to Ernie and Bert (one silly one, one not so silly); and The Lemon Joke Kid (the character Weird in an all-yellow zoot-suit tossing lemons inscribed with really bad jokes).
In addition to bantering with the characters, Jackson was an accomplished cartoonist and at least once per show gave a delightful exhibition of his skills.
The Bill Jackson era was a time when children's shows really were for children, were quite entertaining, and were hugely free from the marketing and commercialism now present in children's TV.