Green Skin, Sneakers and a Tail
Karen Waterman and Daniel Wood of Waterwood Theatre Projects, Toronto are credited with creating Dudley the Dragon for The Conserving Kingdom. But the man who brought the lovable character to life was Alex Galatis. In 1983 budding young actor had graduated from the theater program at York University. The following year, he embodied the 8-foot-dragon […]
Dudley on Stage
Want to know what Dudley the Dragon looked like in The Conserving Kingdom? Photos of his early appearances can be found at the Canadian Museum of Civilization’s Art of Puppetry exhibit: Waterwood Theatre Projects. Scroll through the images in the middle and click on the image to enlarge it. A shot of Dudley entertaining the […]
Advertising the Dragon
Ontario’s Ministry of Energy sponsored The Conserving Kingdom stage show. Here’s an advertisement for one of the performances. Probably the only similarity between this illustration and the “live” Dudley was the sneakers. Source: The Toronto Star, September 9, 1986.
The Wise Old Bird
When Mr. Crabby Tree was human, he told his friend Dudley, “Ohhh, do you think I could fool Grandpa Robin? Wooo, that would be goooood,” he said gleefully. Grandpa Robin was the eccentric know-it-all of the forest. Spunky and spry, he dispensed his wisdom with good humor and patience, which he especially needed with dimwitted […]
Mr. Crabby Man
Although The Adventures of Dudley the Dragon addressed social concerns in its plots, the show was at its best when the story was vital, or life-changing, to a character. “The Wishing Well” was such a story. In this fifth-season episode, Mr. Crabby Tree has found a second wishing well. But it had one iron-clad rule: […]
The Mobile Tree
Since Mr. Crabby Tree was a plant, rooted to the ground, he couldn’t go anywhere. He couldn’t go to the action. The action had to come to him. In Season Three, “Mr. Crabby Tree’s Really Great Adventure” changed all that. By wishing on a shooting star, he was magically released from the ground, and he […]
One Two Three on Crabby Tree
One night by a campfire, Dudley the Dragon wrapped up a game with little Julia, who recently joined the cast. Nearby is Terry, another newcomer, who’s gazing at the stars through a telescope. And next to him is Mr. Crabby Tree, who wants to play a game. But, being anchored by his roots, he can’t […]
Beneath the Bark, an Actor
Graham Greene played Mr. Crabby Tree for some 13 episodes. At the time he was best known for his work in Dances With Wolves, for which he was nominated Best Supporting Actor in the Oscars in 1990. In 1992’s Thunderheart, Greene played—oddly enough—a gruff cop on an Indian reservation. He played a Rambo-type soldier named […]
A Goof in a Tree Costume
Sesame Street had Oscar the Grouch. Dudley the Dragon had Mr. Crabby Tree. Yes, this unhappy crabapple tree had good reason to be unhappy: He was the only apple tree in the forest. A nearby orchard had been cut down to make room for a highway. Those trees were his friends! Not only that, but […]
