The Granpa Cratchet Corporation

Company History

• 1975
  • The Company started when Sam Bowman was assigned to teach young kids in his local church. Picked up first puppets from local toy store and built a "media wall" at the end of the classroom.
• 1976
  • Sam Bowman took puppets into the elementary school where he was teaching and used with a first grader who had suffered abuse and would not relate to a male. Sam taught her by sticking the puppet out of a box. The school saw the puppets being used and invited him to do shows in the library while waiting for books to arrive.
• 1977
  • Sam saw a show at Northwoods Mall in Peoria which was a cloth on a stick bounced to scratchy records for lots of money and offered to do a back to school show which was a big hit.

• 1978 - 1981
  • Developed the puppetmobile and realistic building concept. The secret agent car was built in January in the garage of a neighbor, Tim Harwood, on Carmel Drive in Peoria,IL with the help of the company's first paid worker, Steve Schaer.
      The show developed itself by trial and error. Secret Agent Ralph developed along with the concept of stages that looked like buildings that fit the characters theme. The puppetmobile concept was developed by fellow puppeteer John Geddes ('79) as a way to get our characters down where the kids could touch and relate with one on one. It also gave us a way to get the character around the mall and in front of the major stores and people who were paying the bill. The PM also offered a way to give two shows for the price of one.
       At this time we also developed the puppet Workshop for pre-schools. The mall would advertise and bring in the schools. We would do a short show, give a puppet demonstration and then help the kids make a sack puppet to take home. This was a great way to get traffic in the mall during the day and build greater attendance on the weekend and evenings because the kids would go home, talk up the show to the whole family and then bring them all back to see the rest of the show.
      Sam worked the business under the name of Puppets Unlimited and ministered at many churches in the central Illinois area. The ministry was under the auspices The Christian Center located in Peoria.
• 1980
  • Became sole proprietorship. A Peoria lady named Cherry Rokoff began to book shows around the local malls. During this time we used the puppets on local Christian cable television through Grace Presbyterian church.

• 1981
  • Presented our first fair show at the Heart of Illinois Fair in Peoria,IL.
• 1984
  • We performed the secret agent Ralph show several years at the Heart of Illinois Fair until a new show was requested. We did the Granpa character driving his old truck from the general store. Granpa turned out to be a big hit and great theme for the fair setting. Sam built the first Huckster wagon in the garage of his father-in-law, Emmett Russell on 2821 W. Bacon Dr. in Peoria. At this time Sam moved back to his home territory near Kokomo, Indiana.
  • Performed at our first amusement park, Four Bears Water Park in North Detroit suburb.
• 1985
  • Sam did ministry at the PTL Network with Rex Williams and met Rev. John W. Smith. John joined the team for that summer and then came on full time in 1986.
  • Met Steve White around 1984 or 5 and started attending fair conventions around the Midwest. Also during this time our Puppetmobiles were contracted by Six Flags Auto world in Flint, Michigan. Here he met Ron Badour who helped Sam build the second Granpa puppetmobile, a pickup style truck, in his back yard. Mike Brody met Sam while at Autoworld and joined the firm as the first full time puppeteer. At this time we began to develop a complete package of promotional materials and the good ole fashioned down home granpa theme. We did our first national TV appearance with Barbara Mandrell and Dick VanPatten. By this time we were beginning to expand to a multiple state appearances. With the addition of Mike and John we had three routes going.

• 1986 - 1988
  • Built twenty-five pieces of new equipment including six new steel old truck bodies. In the spring of 1988 we set up an assembly line in the shop. Ron Badour, Sam Bowman, Mark Smith and Patrick Hazelwood worked two hard weeks and built the bodies and frames for the six new all metal puppet trucks. We developed two new Granpa shows bringing our entourage to two general stores, a farmhouse and a barnyard.
• 1986
  • Contracted Steve White, G.B.A & Attractions out of Lakeland, Florida to book Granpa nationally. We incorporated and produced our first sales video. Jerry Jensen, with Creative Financial Designs sold stock in the company and we began to build new equipment. Sam built the first General store wooden trailer and then later a metal version in the silver shed on his parents property at Rt. 1, Sharpsville. John Smith joins full time and begins to develop the ministry part of the Granpa work.
• 1987
  • Sam buys the old Beatty place. A house and four acres with seven out buildings just around the corner from his parents and moves the business.

• 1987 - 1990
  • We add auto shows, RV shows, trade shows, domes, convention centers, and rodeos to the list of successful clients. We attend the amusement park convention in Atlanta, GA and purchase a nice sales display.
• 1987
  • Attend the NRB (National Religious Broadcasters) and Produce our first entertainment videos: Granpa's Thanksgiving Special at TV 40 in Indianapolis under direction of Dave Striet, and our character Clem Gets A Job at Channel 23 in Lima, OH.
• 1988
  • Developed a complete promotional packet and a corporate sponsor packet.
• 1989
  • Jennifer Cook joined firm as the first secretary and later became office manager.
• 1991
  • Add two new sales videos: RV shows and gas show.

• 1992
  • Finalized the establishment of Family Ministries International, a non-profit sister corporation along side Bowman Entertainment as a basis for growing ministry.
  • Add two new shows to the Granpa portfolio: Granpa's Farmers Market and Roadside Veggie Stand, and Granpa's Workshop. Cast the first fiberglass parts: puppetmobile Ag backs and gas truck backs. Jason Cook built the models and Harmon Boat Co. cast the part
• 1993
  • Land our first national corporate sponsor, Builders Square. Cast first puppetmobile fiberglass Model T truck bodies.
• 1995
  • Reached our high water mark of one hundred contracted events, presenting over eight thousand shows.

• 1998
  • Land our first national sponsor, Children’s Mylanta. Gave out over one million coupons, visited over 50 Kmarts where we sold all the product off the shelf during one-hour visits.
• 1999
  • First video taping of a show with the Granpa Allstar Network Theme: Granpa’s General Store, “Right In The Kisser ” teaching, The Golden Rule, treat others the way you want to be treated along with a wall poster.
• 2000
  • Produce Granpa's Workshop video. "Right to the Moon, Baby" teaching Safety First.
  • Performer Jason Fronczak comes on full time and develops company websites and interactive media.
• 2001
  • Renovate Farmer’s Market and General store touring trailers
  • Produce Granpa’s Chicken Coop, Work Together video. Did major rework of all buildings on grounds, began to renovate the big barn into a video production center by decking the haymow. Met Dr. Scott Goodkin, shaped a loose association with Productive Thinkware and created our first interactive promotional CD to help business sell their ideas and train their people.

• 2002
  • Produce Granpa's Farmers Market "Super Veg Man of the Universe" video teaching , Garbage In Garbage Out.
• 2005
  • Begin to offer videography services through Dream Capture Productions and Web Design through ProDynamic Webs
• 2006
  • Produces First Video Game "Don't be a Chicken and first themed album "Hen House Blues"
  • Renovate top of Barn into full production center and video studio.
  • Granpa becomes spokescharacter for Double J RV's in Chathum, IL.
  • Our cast of characters appear on the Kids Network which goes international on Christian Telivision.
• 2007
  • Produce 2nd game "Takin' out the Trash" and album "Time to take the Garbage Out"