Groundhog Day in Penn

If there’s a collection of “ridiculous complaints,” this one gets my vote. For this story let’s go to Punxsutawny, Pennsylvania, a small borough 65 miles north of Pittsburgh.

I was there twice in the early 60s with my little TV puppet character, Doug Bugg, to interview the once–a–year star of that small town, Punxsutawny Phil.

This rendezvous was staged every year on February 2 by my employer, NBC Channel 11 in Pittsburgh. That’s known everywhere as “Groundhog Day.” The legend is that if Phil comes out of his hole in the ground and sees his shadow, he’ll run back into the hole and we can expect six more weeks of winter.

On each of two television interviews Doug Bugg asked Phil to come out of his hole in the ground. But the sun was shining, and Phil was a no-show. Never- theless, NBC’s Today Show

filmed the “almost” interview, and the network audience saw my guy, Doug Bugg, plead with Phil, “Yoo–hoo, Philip, come out, come out, wherever you are.” The interview was not to be, and we experienced six more weeks of hard winter. In Western Pennsylvania winter can get real serious.

Over 50 years times change. Today, the people of Punxsutawny, Penn., have, not just a hole in the ground, but a real–life groundhog they cage and care for all year long. “He gets better treatment from us than the average kid in the State of Pennsylvania,” says a spokesperson for Goundhog Day.

Enter PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. PETA insists the borough’s captive groundhog be released because “It’s unfair to keep the animal in captivity and subject him to the huge crowds and bright lights that accompany tens of thousands of revelers each February 2.” PETA suggests Phil be replaced by a robotic furry look–alike.

I’m glad PETA wasn’t around back when I had a TV kids’ show. How demeaning would it be to interview a robotic figure? My sock and foam puppet, Doug Bugg, would never have agreed to such a thing.

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