My Dog's Name
Childhood Memories, Coincidences and a Dog named for a Monkee
One day shortly after the passing of Davy Jones, I was chatting with an old friend. I shared the news of Jones' passing, as he had not heard of the Monkee's Lead Singer's death. Then, we reminisced a bit about watching the Monkees when we were younger.
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Then our conversation turned to other shows we had watched when young. As usual, we found ourselves in a bit of a “bidding contest” to see who could remember the oldest, most obscure shows. We discussed Yancey Derringer, Peter Gunn, Wild Kingdom, and others, talked about movie series like Bomba the Jungle Boy, and so on, finally working our way back into the real kid shows of the 1950s.
Suddenly my friend shouted “Circus Boy!”
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“What? What was that?” I asked “Was that a sort of Bomba the Jungle Boy in the Circus?”
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Then the memory floodgate began to open! I did remember “Circus Boy!” Not only the TV show, but the books as well! In fact, I remembered, I am pretty sure my daughter has one of my old “Circus Boy” books on her bookshelf, in her collection of children's books.
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I grabbed my Keyboard, popped open Wikipedia, and there was “Circus Boy!” Yeah I remember this!
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For those handicapped by age, too young to remember such gems, Circus Boy was a half-hour kids show that aired at various times between 1956 and 1960. The protagonist was a young lad who was adopted by Joey the Clown (played by Noah Beery, Jr.) and who lived and worked in the circus owned by Robert Lowery. The back story was that the lad's parents had been performers in the circus who had been killed in an accident, and he had been adopted by his parents' friends in the Circus.
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There staring out from Wikipedia at me was young Corky, just as I remembered him. Wow the memory floodgates opened. Something I had completely forgotten came to the surface. About 1960 or so I got my first dog, a Beagle named Corky. I had completely forgotten where I got the name for my dog! Corky was my dog from before age ten until I moved away from home. Later I got another Beagle, and he was dubbed Corky too.
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But here's the real kicker. Young Corky, the Circus Water Boy, was played by none other than young Mickey Dolenz, of the Monkees!
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ain't that something.....