The Adventures of Dudley the Dragon is a Canadian children's television series which aired in Canada through TVOntario, and later YTV. Spun off from the 1984 school play The Conserving Kingdom, which introduced Dudley, the series chronicled his adventures after a ten-thousand year hibernation, joined by both puppet friends and children who showed him the ways of the modern world. The series ran for five seasons, in that time acquiring two Gemini Award nominations, and would ultimately be aired both in France, via a specially filmed co-production, and in the United States by way of over 240 PBS stations.
History with the Macy's Parade[]
In the wake of Dudley’s popularity in America, a costumed version of the character was brought to New York City for the 1994 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. For this appearance, Dudley rode alongside Mr. Snail and waved to children in the crowd.
As the float reached 34th Street, the costumed Dudley stepped off his cart to interact with the crowd. The costumed character ultimately exited view of the NBC cameras, causing the character’s chief merchandiser to bemoan the $85,000 appearance as “a total waste.”[1] As it turned out, this would not be the last misfortune Dudley would face in the Parade.
For the following year, in addition to the costumed character reappearing on the Sea Venture float, Dudley was promoted to “balloondom," with a newly-designed, $350,000 balloon being built by Raven Aerostar in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The process started at Macy's Parade Studio in Hoboken in August 1995, with head designer Manfred Bass sketching concept art for the balloon based on images and footage of the costumed character. The finalized design, showing Dudley marching with joy while holding two balloons in his hand, was then translated into a clay sculpture model, in turn soon translated into a fiberglass model constructed at ¹⁄₂₄ scale (a half inch for every foot)[2].
The finalized balloon measured in at 65 feet tall, 45 feet long, and 25 feet wide. The volume of the balloon was measured at 13,000 cubic feet, but only 10,500 cubic feet of helium was used; the remaining chambers were filled with air to ensure the balloon could fly straight. Though the fabric skin, divided into sixteen distinct chambers, weighed 470 pounds, the helium allowed the balloon to fly with 200 pounds of free lift. Now fully constructed, the balloon made its New York debut weeks before the parade, in a test flight filmed at Macy's Herald Square accompanied by two White Macy's Stars.
Hopes were high for the Dudley balloon, and two appearances were planned to promote it on The Today Show. One was a behind-the-scenes segment, featuring Dudley going from a pencil drawing to a giant balloon. The other appearance, featuring the costumed Dudley appearing at the Today studio at Rockefeller Center, did not make it to air due to coverage of the assassination of Israel prime minister Yitzhak Ramin.
Despite the abandoned Today appearance, Dudley kicked off the 1995 Parade, only to find another challenge—high winds that would trouble many of the Parade's balloons. The high winds would come to a head in Columbus Circle, where a gust of wind pushed Dudley into a lamppost. The collision ripped a large hole in Dudley's stomach, who deflated as glass from the shattered lamppost rained into the crowd; the glass would ultimately injure one crowd goer. By 9:24, less than half an hour after the Parade began, Dudley had been pulled out of the lineup.
Although Dudley was out of the live procession, footage from the Herald Square test flight was incorporated into the broadcast, giving the appearance that he had made it to Macy’s after all. Parade director Jean McFaddin defended the decision in a December 1995 issue of New York magazine, explaining that "there is nothing more disappointing as running a blank space and saying 'We're sorry, the balloon didn't make it.'"[3]
Just prior to the Parade's 70th anniversary, McFaddin announced that Dudley would not be making any appearance in that year's procession. When asked why, McFaddin responded "We wanted to find the balloons that the kids love the most." She noted that she expected him to return to the lineup the following year; articles of the time noted that, given his misfortunate past, that it was "unclear whether that's still good news for Dudley."
Dudley ultimately never returned to the Parade, becoming one of just a handful of units never to finish the route. Despite this, the balloon remained at the Macy’s Studio in Hoboken until 2011, when it was largely dismantled and scrapped.
