‘I just called him Daddy’: Family of Calgary’s Buck Shot share favourite memories

CALGARY — Brenda Barge did what other kids in southern Alberta did in the 1960s: rush home at noon to watch “The Buck Shot Show” on TV.

“I just called him Daddy. He was always Daddy to me,” Barge said in an interview, along with her older brother, at the home where they grew up with two other siblings.

“We would run home to watch Dad on the TV, because that’s what everybody did and we did too.”

For 30 years, Ron (Buck Shot) Barge and his sidekick Benny the Bear, entertained Calgarians with songs, puppets, the birthday book and his nifty battered cowboy hat.

Barge died at home two weeks ago, 10 days short of his 88th birthday.

“There’s the hat and the bear,” Brenda Barge said, as she rummaged through boxes of photos and memorabilia. She said her mom, Shirley, made sure there were always a few extra hats around in case one went missing.

“This was the one he used for probably the last 10 years. He’s had that same kind of wrinkly old hat since way back when in the ’60s. It didn’t start off with a big beautiful Stetson hat.”

“Buck Shot” was one of the longest-running children’s shows in Canada, surpassing “Mr. Dressup,” which ran for 29 years, and “The Friendly Giant,” which aired for 27.

Barge was asked to develop the show when he was a cameraman and floor director at CFCN in Calgary. He had a knack for interviewing kids in the audience and getting actual responses.

“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,” said Ken Barge.

“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.”

Brenda Barge said she was about five when she started to realize her father was famous. A trip to the mall found the family surrounded by people wanting an autograph.

“I remember just looking at my mom and going, ‘He’s just my dad. Why are these people standing around him?'” she said with a laugh.

“It didn’t make sense to me that the ‘Buck Shot’ thing was his job, and we ran home from school to watch it too.”

There was a downside, added her brother. There was some jealousy and resentment at the show’s success and that filtered down to school.

“They’re talking about your dad in these mean ways,” said Ken Barge.

“People think when your dad’s on TV, you’re rich and you’re famous and have all these things. The reality was I went to the same school and I grew up in the same neighbourhood as they did.”

Ron Barge was at home, in a hospital bed set up in the living room, for eight months before he died Aug. 17.

He played “air piano” to music shortly before he died, said his son.

A musician most of his life, Ron Barge played in bands from the time he was 16. He played piano and sang with the Stardells for more than 20 years in Calgary.

“If you’d have asked Dad what he wanted to be, it was a musician — day and night,” said Ken Barge.

“His high in life was just being busy, busy. He loved it when he was playing music and Buck Shot.”

The family held a birthday party to celebrate what would have been his 88th birthday, complete with cake, brownies, roast beef, coleslaw and potato salad — his favourite meal.

Brenda Barge wiped away tears remembering her father talking to her while she washed windows just before he died.

“He said, ‘Brenda, you’re so beautiful” … that was my dad. Here I am 58 years old, and my dad still is telling how I am beautiful.”

A memorial is set to be held in Calgary on Sept. 20 at noon — the same time his show aired.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 1, 2024.

Bill Graveland, The Canadian Press