Floppy

Across Iowa, nearly every television market in the 50's, 60's and 70's had a local cartoon show hosted by a character or by puppets - or in some cases both.  The Quad Cities had Cap'n Ernie.  Cedar Rapids had Dr. Max and Mombo.  Des Moines had a couple, including Betty Lou McVay-Varnum and "The House With the Magic Window", which happened to be the longest running children's program in television history. 

But the most popular show of its kind was "The Floppy Show", shown at noon and at 3:30 p.m. on WHO-TV out of Des Moines.  It was hosted by Duane Ellett and his sidekick, Floppy, a dog puppet that he held in a box. 

For as much as Floppy was a cultural phenomenon in Central Iowa, the show was about as hokey as it could be, especially as it got on in years.  The daily "riddle" sequence offered a number of young kids continually asking Floppy questions such as, "What's the biggest pencil in the world?"  Or, "Why did the man man throw a clock out the window?"  (The answer to the first question is "Pennsylvania" and the second is "He wanted to see time fly.")

My favorite one was when the little kid came up to Duane and Floppy and asked, "What did Batman and Robin do when they passed a gas station?"

Floppy said, "I don't know, honey.  What did they do?"

The little kid said, "They passed gas."  Duane Ellett knew he'd been had by some little kid, obviously coached by some ne'er-do-well parent. 

They used to have great Popeye cartoons on the Floppy Show when I was growing up.   But after some fun haters associated with local P.T.A.'s started complaining about the violence the cartoons displayed, they went with some pretty lame Warner Brothers cartoons.  And no Road Runner cartoons, at that!

From 1974 thru 1979, I used to throw these big beer parties in my parents pasture between Kellogg and Newton, IA.  We'd have bands, kegs of beer, a lot of people and even though it was a lot of work - and money - we had a good time.  Each year the party got bigger and bigger.  And we looked for more diverse things to do to make it unique.

A high school buddy of mine who went to Iowa State University told me of a fraternity party that he went to one time where they had Duane Ellett and Floppy there for entertainment.  He said it was a real hoot.  So, I got the idea - I'd have Duane Ellett and Floppy come to my party in 1979.

In May of '79, I called up WHO-TV to find out how to get hold of Duane Ellett to see if he would be interested in doing our party.  They gave me his home phone number in Ankeny and I gave him a call.  When he answered I told him who I was and that I put on an annual beer festival near Newton and I wanted to hire him for a late Saturday night appearance.  Duane was a little incredulous at first.  He kept asking, "Now, what's this for again?"

He didn't want to do it at first - he told me that he was going to have to be in three towns earlier in the day - and he was kind of skeptical of appearing at a party in a pasture.  He said, "It may be after 11 p.m. when I get there."  I told him that was perfect.  He told me his fee would be $300, with half up-front.  I told him that would be no problem.  Each time he tried to shoot me down, I was able to come back with something positive for him.   The more we got to talking, he finally figured out that I was serious and really wanted him to show up.  I even stayed in touch with him over the next few weeks just to allay any fears he would have about showing up. 

July 14 rolls around and we have 2500 people in our pasture.  We have three bands playing.  We have 365 kegs of beer on a semi-trailer.  The place is rockin'.  Along about 11:30, here comes Duane Ellett in his "Floppymobile", which was a VW van that he drove around to his appearances.  He pulls up and I go over to him and introduce myself as we meet face-to-face for the first time.  His day consisted of a stop in Creston, then back up to Boone, then all the way back down to Lamoni, then a trip from Lamoni to my parents place outside of Kellogg.  (Click here to see the map as to where he drove that particular day - he put on nearly 500 miles on the Floppymobile just that day alone.)

My parents and a load of their friends would spend the evening of our annual party sitting in the front yard watching the cars come in and having a few drinks.  I took Duane over and introduced him to my parents and their friends.  My mom asked him if he would like a drink.  Duane said, "I'll take a vodka sour, if you have one." 

15 years prior, I would have thought, "Oh my GOD!  Floppy's daddy DRINKS!!"  But I was 23 at the time and I thought, "Wow!  Duane Ellett is going to drink with my parents!" 

I wanted Duane and Floppy to go on between bands so he sat with my parents and their friends talking in the front yard for about 45 minutes.  He had three vodka sours while he was waiting.  He'd had a long day and this was going to be easy money for him.  Plus he got to drink for free!  

Duane held court for my parents and their friends.  My mom said he was charming, self-effacing, and completely incredulous that he and Floppy were going to make an appearance at some beer bash in a pasture.  But he was ready to go at any point, he told me.  I went back over to the stage area to get things in line for Duane and Floppy's appearance.

The second band finished around 12:30 a.m.  I came back to the house and got Duane and Floppy and took them over to the stage in my car.  As we came over the hill, he had this look of "What the hell?" on his face when he saw all the people.  We parked the car and I had one of our security guys to escort him to the stage.  As Duane stood by the side of the stage holding Floppy, I got up on stage and announced to the crowd, "We thought at this year's party we'd bring you a little treat.  Here's a guy that absolutely needs no introduction."  And Duane came out with Floppy.  The place went absolutely berserk. 

Duane was just standing up there, laughing his ass off, looking out over the crowd which is the size of a small Iowa town.  All the while he has Floppy moving around in the box and mugging for the crowd.  And the crowd!  They're going nuts!  20-something hippies who grew up watching Floppy every weekday after school were rushing down to the stage.  They were pleading to "beep" Floppy's nose (a big thing to do to Floppy, whose face was all wood, while Duane - who was a masterful ventriloquist - would provide the "beep").  It was all the security guys could do to keep them from storming the stage to touch Floppy. 

Duane just couldn't get over it.  2500 drunk people in some pasture were going bonkers.  And he was soaking it in like a rock star before a crowd twenty-fold the size it was that evening.  It was getting to the point that he needed to do something to placate the crowd, so I sort of encouraged him to "do something!"  Duane had this little thing where he'd hide Floppy down in the box and he'd count off "1-2-3" and have the kids yell "Where's Floppy!?!".  He finally composes himself, puts Floppy down in the box and he says, "OK, you all know what to do.  A one, two, three..."

And in unison, 2500 drunks yelled out "Where's Floppy!?!"  My sister, Julie, said that she could easily hear it back at the house, nearly a quarter mile away, and it brought tears to her eyes.  She said, "I didn't get to see Floppy perform!"

As the crowd continued to whip into a frenzy, it was obvious that we couldn't keep him up there all that long.  So, Floppy's appearance consisted of one joke - Floppy "asked" Duane, "What's brown and sits on a stool?"

Duane said, "Uh, gee, Floppy.  Uh, what is brown and sits on a stool?"

Floppy replied, "Beethoven's last movement."  The crowd went wild again.   

And with that, Floppy said good-bye and I escorted Dwayne and Floppy off the stage.  The crowd went berserk once again and began to chant, "Floppy!  Floppy!  Floppy!"  It was just insanity. 

As we were walking the short distance back to the car, I had my coat over Floppy's box and I had a security guy on one side and I was on the other side of Duane.  I was seriously thinking a small riot might break out over Floppy.  So, I take my left hand and sort of push down on Duane's head from the back to kind of help conceal him a little bit.  Except my hand went up underneath his toupee.  Whoops!  I sort of pulled it out rather quick and we sort of looked at one another.  We didn't say a word about it on the short car ride back to the house.

We got back over to the house and my mom had a drink waiting for Duane.  He said laughingly, "My, that was quite an experience!  I really didn't know what to expect, but that was beyond what I thought it would be!"  He was almost euphoric in his nature as he sat back down to talk with my parents and their friends.  But I'm also guessing that he was also euphoric in knowing that was probably the easiest $300 bucks he ever made.   

I asked Duane for one more favor.  I asked him if I could get a picture of Floppy drinking a beer.  He obliged and we got this picture.  But you can certainly see the look on his face that he actually didn't want any beer hitting Floppy's mouth.   (Remember, this was taken 26 years ago when I was in shape and hadn't found the joys of cooking or beer yet.  Yes, that's really me in the picture.)

Duane put Floppy into his case and put him into the Floppymobile.  I remember him pulling out onto Highway 6 about 1:30 in the morning, heading west toward Ankeny right into a fast approaching thunderstorm. 

Later in the evening, we had a little trouble with a group of motorcyclists who were at the party and the deputy sheriff we hired to oversee the party for trouble got a little spooked and called in the highway patrol to roust these guys.  Only it was the Iowa Highway Patrol SWAT team - and those guys didn't screw around.  The incident made all the papers and news stories around the state.  That effectively shut down our party for good after that.  

Attending the Iowa State Fair about a month later, I happened to run into Duane selling Floppy t-shirts out of his vans.  I went up and re-introduced myself and he leaned back and laughed out loud.  He said, "Hey, we made the papers!"  We had a great laugh over that.  I did get a Floppy t-shirt from him.  But, of course, I had to pay for it.  Obviously, spending three hundred bucks for an appearance fee doesn't necessarily get you a free t-shirt from Duane.   

When Duane died of a massive heart attack while out jogging one morning in the early 90's, a story in the Des Moines Register outlined his career from starting out as a self-taught ventriloquist to the regional star he had become with Floppy.  When asked what his most strange appearance ever was, Duane didn't hesitate.  "We did an appearance out in a farm pasture for a big beer party one time.  That had to be the most strange place we ever appeared." 

I've since heard stories of Duane Ellett being sort of a disagreeable kind of guy.  But I have nothing but a great memory of the guy.  In my personal encounters with him he was a pretty good guy to deal with.  Every once in a while, people will ask me, "Did Floppy really come to your party when you used to have them all those years ago?"  Yes, children.  He sure did.

Comments

My dates may be mixed up, but I do remember talking to Marc Hansen at the Register around 1991 or 1992 regarding the article that had come out on Ellett and Floppy. That's why I seemed to remember that he died around then.

[Ross Lewis]

Great story. Duane died in 1987, only 8 years after your party.