Wally’s Omena home, at the corner of Omena Point Road and Lake Street – Courtesy Omena Historical Society
There was once a little boy whose parents got divorced, and as sometimes happens, what followed was frequent moves with his mother and little sister from Detroit, to Chicago, to New York, and back to Detroit. Because he was small and thin, he was often targeted by school bullies.
Omena Summers
Wally Cox’s self-portrait from his book “My Life As A Small Boy” 1961
He started coming to Omena in the summer as a small child, and came to think of it as his home…where he was from. He had many happy adventures here. Here is one:
“We had a cat who was smarter than I was. When faced with a problem, she solved it better. Annie was calm as a clam, and tough as nails. But like all cats, Annie loathed water, which is tantamount to a religious belief among cats”. The summer he was ten he got the idea of taking Annie for a ride in a rowboat. “I knew she wouldn’t like the idea, but I figured that I would enjoy having her in my power for a while”, he said in his book “My Life As a Small Boy. “I cast off, seated myself comfortably, took up the oars, started rowing and looked at Annie.”
“Finding herself on the floor of the boat, Annie jumped up on the seat, which caused the boat to teeter which to the mind of a conservative cat, is no way for floors and seats to behave.” Annie quickly observed two things. 1, that she was completely surrounded by water and 2, dry land was quickly receding, by this time about 35 feet away. Here is what happened next. “Annie wasted no time in indecision, but leaped into the water as soon as all the facts were in and swam to shore, nose high in disdain and ears in the position of maximum rage. She hated water so much that she would jump into it to get away from it.” She had solved the problem.
Wally Cox
This little boy was Wally Cox, who grew up to become a television star in the early 50’s in the popular sitcom “Mr. Peepers”. His small stature, tiny frame, glasses and high pitched voice made him an ideal choice for comic roles. His journey from childhood Omena summers with his cat to television star was convoluted. Out of high school, he became a student in City College of New York briefly before being drafted in 1942. He was discharged four months later due to medical reasons, and then enrolled in the New York University’s School of Design.
Wally Cox – Courtesy Omena Historical Society
Circumstances forced him to drop out of college and take up jobs like making and selling sterling silver jewelry in small shops and parties, lugging his jewelry around in a pillowcase. At some parties he started doing impromptu comedy monologues. People urged him to put together a nightclub act which he did in 1948. He took acting lessons, and became affiliated with ‘American Creative Theater Group’. Soon he was making appearances in New York and Hollywood and doing guest stints on Ed Sullivan’s show.
Mr. Peepers
In 1952 his career took off when he starred as the bookish high school science teacher Robinson Peepers in the television show, Mr. Peepers. His small stature as well as his high pitched voice and signature glasses made him an ideal choice for comic roles. His lovable persona became famous for his ability to elicit laughter from the audience with little or no effort. Wally Cox succeeded in most of the entertainment media, especially in television. “Mr. Cox’s specialty,” Jack Gould of The New York Times noted in 1952, “is the small, inhibited character who fights back at the world with his own novel outlook.” His childhood adventures with his cat surely showed that ‘novel outlook’
Credit Wally Cox “My life as a Small Boy” with illustrations by the author, thefamouspeople.com, nytimes.com, Wikipedia