Get ready to paint some happy trees because Today I Found Out is helping us find out about Bob Ross. Even though he did 403 episodes of The Joy of Painting on PBS, we know very little about him.
He dropped out of high school at age 14 to work with his father in carpentry. He also accidentally lost the tip of his index finger while working with him and tried to hide it on his show.
Did you know the most peaceful guy on television was nicknamed Ball Buster in the Air Force and that he spent 20 years in the service?
How about he was never paid by PBS for any of episodes or that he never sold any of the paintings for it.
They are just a few of the cool facts in this amazing lesson which you love the Happy Hippy Painter even more than you already do.
Even though I hate painting, I loved watching Bob Ross. I said love in the past tense because Ellen DeGeneres did something with the late great artist that has destroy him for me like that happy trees would destroy those perfect paintings.
She mashed up Fifty Shades of Darker with his PBS classic and I need to watch one of his shows to make everything all right again. But, I can’t. So I am just a sad cloud hoping his magic touch can somehow make me smile again.
Bob Ross is pure happiness, but his longtime business partner, Annette Kowalski, revealed something about the lovable painter to NPR that made me very sad.
The hair raising news is that that infamous Afro was not real. She explained, “He got this bright idea that he could save money on haircuts. So he let his hair grow, he got a perm, and decided he would never need a haircut again.” Unfortunately for him, he grew to hate his curly hair. He wanted to go back to his straight roots, but it was too late. His signature look became his company’s logo and he was stuck with it for the rest of his life.
All I can say is, “Happy Trees, Happy Trees, Happy Trees.” Nope, didn’t make me feel better.
I like the World better when we don’t know everything.
