Ron 'Buck Shot' Barge sings to sidekick Benny the Bear on CFCN's The Buck Shot Show. The Calgary children's show, which ran from 1967 to 1997, aired at lunch hour six days a week and featured songs, sketches, birthday greetings, stories and cartoons.University of Calgary Digital Collections
Brenda Barge was around five years old when she realized her dad, Ron Barge, was different from other fathers.
They were at the Chinook Centre, a Calgary mall that opened in 1960, near Woodward’s, a Western Canadian department store of old.
“People recognized his voice,” Ms. Barge said in an interview shortly after her father’s death. “Then all of a sudden, there was like 25 people standing around us and wanting his autograph.”
Mr. Barge starred in The Buck Shot Show, a children’s television program that ran for three decades in Calgary. The show was a lunchtime staple for a generation of children in southern Alberta and Mr. Barge’s character, Buck Shot, was so ingrained in Calgary culture that his voice alone was enough to attract a crowd.
“I can remember just backing up and going: ‘Whoa,’” Ms. Barge recalled.
The Buck Shot Show wrapped in 1997, but Mr. Barge sparked awe until his death. He spent his final months in a hospital bed in the family home and just days before he died, a member of the palliative care team asked the family if they wanted someone to join them in prayer. The family told their guest about Mr. Barge’s alter ego.
“Her mouth just dropped open,” Ms. Barge said. “She’s like: ‘Oh my gosh. I know who Buck Shot is. I watched him all the time.’”
Mr. Barge died on Aug. 17 at his home in Calgary, 10 days shy of his 88th birthday.
He was born Aug. 27, 1936, in Trail, B.C. He and his wife, Shirley, were married 68 years.
“They showed us what true love is,” Ms. Barge said.
Mr. Barge’s television career started behind the camera in Swift Current, Sask., before he migrated to Saskatoon. He landed at CFCN in Calgary in 1961 as a cameraman and floor director. Years later, CFCN asked him to host a children’s program, and The Buck Shot Show first aired in 1967.
It was the longest-running children’s television show in Canada at the time of its cancellation, according to the family. Mr. Dressup ran for 29 years and The Friendly Giant broadcast for 27. Buck Shot, known for his scrunched up cowboy hat and puppet pals Benny the Bear and Clyde the Owl, continued to entertain at parades and other events after the show ended.
Each episode concluded with Buck Shot offering kids the same advice: “Be good for your mommy or whoever looks after you.”
Mr. Barge loved music, from Van Halen to Charley Pride. He could play by ear, with the piano, accordion and guitar in his repertoire. When Ms. Barge hears Three Dog Night’s Joy To the World, she thinks of her dad.
DerRic Starlight, an Indigenous puppeteer in Calgary who performs on a Fraggle Rock reboot, idolized Buck Shot and modelled some of his own career in showbiz after Mr. Barge. Buck Shot, Mr. Starlight said, was a key part of growing up on a reserve in southern Alberta, where cable TV was scarce. Mr. Barge would also visit First Nations communities as part of his road show, Mr. Starlight said.
But for Mr. Starlight, Buck Shot shone brightest at the Calgary Stampede. The TV idol would visit the Indian Village and gush over the kids.
“He wanted to know more about us than talk about his show,” Mr. Starlight said. Seeing Buck Shot perform live at the Stampede, Mr. Starlight said, came with the same sparkle and anticipation as visiting Santa Claus in December.
“We got to see Buck Shot. It was one of the most exciting things,” Mr. Starlight said.
Mr. Barge influenced Mr. Starlight’s act, both aesthetically and stylistically. Mr. Starlight, who spent his early years on Tsuut’ina Nation adjacent to Calgary, said he wears a cowboy hat as a tribute to his dad and a nod to Buck Shot. And the puppeteer said he studied Buck Shot’s facial expressions and the way he interacted with children to improve his rapport with young audiences.
“That’s where I learned how to do my show,” Mr. Starlight said. When the pair performed together in the late 90s, Mr. Starlight fantasized about becoming the next Buck Shot – the star of appointment television for children. But the technological shift from bunny ears to cable to streaming meant that Mr. Barge’s status as a Calgary icon would be difficult to replicate.
“That local hero – I think he would be the last of it for children’s programming,” Mr. Starlight said.
Ken Barge explained how his father elicited responses from his audience.
“Dad’s trick was never to talk down to people. Even if you were a puppet, you got talked to. That’s a great learning to have, because when you talk to someone, they learn,” he said.
“That was Dad. He would see a kid, wave and just engage that person for 30 or 45 seconds, and that’s all it took to make them feel special. And I think that’s the best part of Dad.”
Ron Barge loved kids, even when he was out of character. “That was my dad outside Buck Shot as well,” said Ms. Barge, one of four siblings.
Mr. Barge also adored the Calgary Flames, having once stood in line to be the 383rd fan to purchase a pair of season tickets. He watched every game at the arena, and then would return home and watch it again on VHS.
The family spent what would have Mr. Barge’s 88th birthday with about 35 people, reminiscing over a meal, including desserts that would have satisfied his sweet tooth.
“He loved my brownies,” Ms. Barge said, “and my mom’s caramel fudge icing.”
With files from The Canadian Press
You can find more obituaries from The Globe and Mail here.
To submit a memory about someone we have recently profiled on the Obituaries page, e-mail us at obit@globeandmail.com.