- Hi I'm certainly glad
you could join me today.
You ready to do another
fantastic painting with me?
(bright music)
- [Narrator] You recognize
his iconic image.
- Who's this?
This is Bob Ross.
This is the most famous painter
in the history of the universe.
- [Narrator] Signature phrases.
- A happy little cloud
that floats around it,
just has fun all day.
- [Narrator] And soothing voice.
- Anything that you
want you can build here.
This is your world.
- [Narrator] Bob
Ross is one of public
television's most
beloved personalities.
- The Bob you see on the show,
is the Bob that we all knew
even behind the scenes.
- I used to watch Bob
Ross all the time.
The thing I remember
was his positivity.
He made you want to do that.
- He wasn't only
a painter, he was
an entertainer in his own right,
without any flash, his
paintings spoke for him
and he kind of took
you by the hand and
led you along the way.
- I talk to only one
person when I'm filming
and I'm really crazy
about that person.
- [Narrator] Some
watched for his
easy to learn
painting technique.
- When I watch his
method, I go it is,
wow how does he do that?
It's amazing and
he makes it look
incredibly easy,
but the interesting
thing is that when
people actually try to
do it, they have success.
- Once you have
the technique down,
all you need is a
dream in your heart
and a desire to
put it on canvas.
- [Narrator] And some we're just
captivated by his
calming demeanor.
- And I think maybe
that's part of the magic.
I think his voice was
part of it, his presence,
his manner, his tone.
I think his sincerity
came across,
and I think people
relate to that,
they still relate to that.
- Every legend has an intangible
aura or something
and I just imagine
whenever you're
encompass of greatness
you know people just
want to be around it.
- [Narrator] Bob Ross is public
television's most
recognizable artist.
- Everybody knows Bob Ross
and especially his hair.
- [Narrator] This is the
story of a young painter
with a dream to share the joy
of painting with everyone.
- My father, he spent
most of his time
when he came home from work,
watching public television.
He would have us watch Bob Ross,
where we would
learn how to paint
and learn how to
use our imagination.
- I'm sure the word
magic gets used a lot
but I mean it really
is like magic.
I mean, he'd mix
up this color and
I'm gonna take a little
bit of this yellow
and stick it in this
black, and you think
what, right.
That's so
counterintuitive, and then
takes like a palette knife
and gets a little thing and
(whooshing) and there's a tree,
and it's like how'd you do that?
- People continually say I
can't draw a straight line,
I don't have the talent,
Bob, to do what you're doing.
That's baloney.
Talent is a pursued interest.
In other words,
anything that you're
willing to practice, you can do.
- [Narrator] This is Bob
Ross, the happy painter.
(bright music)
But before Bob became one of the
most popular artists
on television,
Robert Norman Ross was just a
boy from Daytona Beach, Florida.
He was born on October 29, 1942
and grew up in the Orlando area.
Each of Bob's parents helped
shape his life in critical ways.
His father Jack was a builder.
- [Bob] I used to be
a carpenter years ago.
My father was a carpenter
and he taught me that trade.
I tell you what, it isn't that
easy to make a shed on a barn.
- He lost a finger
helping his father.
When there's a pallet shot you
can see the missing finger,
but because it was on his left
hand and not his right hand,
it didn't affect his
ability to hold the brush.
- Lender brushes
are very very soft.
My father used to say their
tender as a mother's love
and in my case that
was certainly true.
I'm very prejudiced
but I think I
had the greatest
mother there was.
- [Annette] She had the
largest influence on him.
She's the one who taught
him the love of wildlife.
Second to painting or maybe
even more than painting,
Bob loved wildlife.
- [Bob] I think when
I was a kid I must
have had every kind
of pet imaginable.
I lived in Florida so I had
access to a lot of creatures,
but I had a pet snake.
I mean he got out
of the cage and was
lost in a house for a long time.
My mother got up and went
to the bathroom one night,
he was in there and scared her.
- [Narrator] But Bob's
childhood wasn't all that easy.
- [Annette] Bob says that
they were not wealthy
and really I think he
viewed these wild animals,
anything he could
get his hands on
as toys and entertainment.
- [Narrator] His
mother and father
separated when Bob
was very young.
His mother remarried
briefly and had another son,
Bob's brother Jim.
- [Bob] When I was a kid
I used to sit around and
you know my brother and
I we'd look at clouds
and we'd pick out
all kind of shapes,
we'd see the mean
old which or the
or the Candy Man or whatever.
- [Narrator] 20 years later,
Bob's mom married his dad again,
but they didn't
have long together.
Bob's father died soon
after they remarried.
School was also tough for Bob.
- Do these little X's, see?
Little X's.
There, that's just
the way the teacher
used to grade my
paper in school.
She just run across
it and go (clicking).
- [Narrator] When he
was just 18 years,
old Bob joined the Air force.
- I spent half my
life in the military
and I used to come home, take
off my little soldier hat,
put on my painter's hat.
- [Narrator] He got married
and had a son, Steven.
- He has been painting I
think since he was born.
He was about 12
years old before he
realized everybody didn't paint.
- [Narrator] But Bob soon found
himself raising
a son on his own.
His first marriage
didn't last long.
Bob and his son had
a close relationship
and years later after The Joy
of Painting series took off,
Steve would occasionally
appear on the program
and eventually became
a certified Ross
instructor, himself.
- Steve travels all
over the country,
teaching hundreds and
hundreds of people
the joy of painting
and I've asked him
to come in today
and show you what
he can do in just a few minutes.
So I'm gonna turn
it over to Steve
and I'll be back at
the end of the show.
Steve?
- Thanks a lot, dad.
- Steve was incredibly talented.
Bob said he talks
better than I do
and he paints better than I do,
but Steve never was
someone we could convince
to come on and
work with the show,
and I always
regretted that because
I thought he had
enormous talent.
- [Narrator] Bob and
Steve lived in Florida
for several years until the
military transferred them
to Alaska when Steve
was a young boy.
- I had been born and
raised in Florida,
and was 21 years old
before I ever saw snow.
- [Narrator] Bob
remarried and settled down
near Fairbanks, Alaska
with his new wife, Jane.
She was a civilian worker
with the Air Force.
For more than a decade
Bob worked mainly
as a medical records technician
at the air base hospital
and cultivated his
love of painting.
He was inspired
by the snow capped
mountains that surrounded him,
and sold his
paintings to tourists.
(upbeat bright music)
- He was a part time bartender,
and he was painting
gold pans in Alaska
and selling them in
the bar to make money.
- [Narrator] One
day the tavern's
television was tuned
to a PBS station.
Bob looked up and
saw a painting show
hosted by a German man,
named Bill Alexander.
- How long can you hide a dream?
How long can you
have creative power?
You need that almighty
creative power.
- [Narrator] Alexander
was painting scenery
that Bob was familiar
with, and he was using a
centuries old painting
method called alla prima,
which means direct
painting or all at once.
The basic premise
is that a thin paint
will stick to a thicker paint.
Alexander called it the
wet on wet technique.
- Years ago Bill taught me
this fantastic technique
and I feel as though he
gave me a precious gift,
and I'd like to share
that gift with you.
- [Narrator] This method allows
you to layer colors of paint
on top of one another and
blend them right on the canvas.
Traditional oil
painting requires you to
wait for each application to
dry before adding a new color,
but the wet on wet technique
is more user friendly
because it allows you
to paint very quickly
and if you make a mistake
you can just blend it away.
- [Bob] Because as you know
we don't make mistakes.
In our world we only
have happy accidents
and very quickly, very
quickly you learn to
work with anything that
happens on this canvas.
Anything.
- [Narrator] This
painting style was
exactly what Bob
was looking for.
- I remember when he was in
the Air Force up in Alaska.
We went up there and
he was excited about
watching someone on
television and he says,
"That's what I want.
"I want to paint before
the bubble bursts.
"I want to get my
painting on the canvas
"before I lose my idea."
- About 1975 I saw
Alexander on television
and like millions of other
people I fell in love with him,
and it took me about
a year to find him.
I studied with Bill and when
I retired from the military
they offered me a position
with his Magic Art Company
as a traveling art instructor.
- [Narrator] Bob's wife
Jane and his son Steve
stayed in Alaska for
a couple more years
until Jane was eligible
for retirement.
- So she allowed Bob to
leave Alaska with $1,000
and told him to
either go out and
make his fortune
or come back home.
He promised her,
"I'll go and do this,
"if it doesn't work
I'll come back home
"and do domestic stuff and be
a good husband and father."
And so she stayed in
Alaska and waited.
- [Narrator] Although he
was leaving the land of snow
covered mountains, they left
an indelible mark on Bob.
- I lived in Alaska
for about a dozen years
and it has some of
the most beautiful
mountain scenery there
that I've ever seen.
Absolutely gorgeous.
- [Narrator] That
breathtaking scenery
would serve as his inspiration
for the rest of his life
and would eventually become
Bob's signature subject.
He took that thousand
dollars and set out
to try and spread
the Joy of Painting.
Bob was teaching Bill Alexander
classes all over the country.
He happened to land one in
his native state of Florida
and that's how he
met Annette Kowalski,
in one of his
painting workshops,
and Bob's life would
never be the same.
- I had just lost a child
and was still in mourning.
My husband would
have done anything
to pacify me and make me happy.
So he said, "Okay, I'll
drive you to Florida,
"which is the only place you can
"take a Bill Alexander class."
So I called the Alexander
Company in Oregon
and they said, "Yes, we have
some classes in February."
Unfortunately Bill
Alexander has retired
and there's this
guy named Bob Ross
who's teaching his classes
and I was so unhappy.
- [Narrator] Annette
enrolled in a seminar
that was five full
days of painting.
- [Annette] During that
five days, I became aware
of an effect that Bob was
having on these students.
Very calming effect, very quiet.
I had never seen anything like
it I was mesmerized by him.
- She kept insisting
that there was some
something there that had
to be packaged or bottled
and that's what I was hearing
almost every single night
as we had dinner and I think
that was the driving force.
- [Annette] So the
last day that we
were in Florida
on a Friday night,
we went to a local
hamburger joint
and we invited Bob to
join us, and he agreed.
I said to Bob, "I sure
wish you would come
"to Washington DC
and teach a class."
So he said, "Okay,
okay. I'll do that."
- [Narrator] So Bob
quit working for the
Alexander Magic Company
and formed a partnership
with Walt and Annette Kowalski,
who were living in
Northern Virginia.
Teaching their own painting
classes sounded like a good idea
but getting people to
enroll wasn't easy.
No one had ever
heard of Bob Ross.
- [Walt] We tried to get
Bob into a shopping mall
and demonstrate and in turn
try to recruit students
for the classes that would
occur maybe three days later.
- [Annette] We didn't
have much success,
even though we ran
expensive newspaper ads
and paying all the
salary, and no students.
- [Narrator] They
thought maybe the classes
weren't filling
up because people
were working during the day.
So Bob decided to
offer an evening class.
- One man came to
our evening class,
and I said, "Bob we're not gonna
"stay here teach this one man."
And he said, "Oh yes."
And at the end of the
class the man said,
"I'm so impressed with you.
"The idea that Bob
would take the time
"to teach just me to paint,
"I'd like to make
you a proposition.
"I'm a business
man," which was his
way of saying I
have a lot of money.
"I would like to offer
you a million dollars,"
and in return he wants
40% of what we do
for the rest of our lives.
- [Narrator] They
turned down that offer
and decided to keep pursuing
their dream on their own terms,
teaching painting classes in
art stores and shopping malls,
but they had meager attendance
and mounting expenses.
One of the ways Bob
tried to save money
was by getting his
straight hair permed.
- [Annette] He thought that
if he got his hair permed
he wouldn't have to
pay for haircuts,
and he could save the thousand
dollars Jane had given him.
- He was the best
man in our wedding
and one day a number
of years later
my kids were looking
through our photo album.
They kept saying who is this
man in these wedding pictures?
I said, "Well you
know who that is."
I said, "Well that's
uncle Robert."
They said, "Nah-ah."
(laughs)
And I said, "Yes, it is."
And they said, "Well he
don't have curly hair here.
I said, "That came later."
- [Annette] Probably one
of the most important
things Bob said to me was,
"If you do what you love,
the money will come.
"Don't think about money,
"just do what you like."
- To me the first step
of accomplishing anything
is to believe that
you can do it.
- [Narrator] But they
needed a next move,
a turn in the right direction.
So Annette called Bill Alexander
and asked him to
make a commercial
with Bob promoting his classes.
I hand over that almighty
brush to our mighty man, Bob.
- Thank you very much, Bill.
We've had so many cards
requesting classes
in this area that
we've decided to
set one up here and
we will have a class
going in the near future.
We'll produce some
almighty painters.
- [Narrator] But the
commercial wasn't
recorded on a
standard size tape.
It needed to be
converted to a format
that television
stations could air.
So they took the
commercial to their local
public television station
in Northern Virginia, WNVC.
- When they saw Bob
painting on this tape,
they got very excited
and they came to us
and said, "Wow this
guy is wonderful.
"Would you agree to do
a television series?"
And we said would
we ever (laughs).
- [Narrator] They came
up with the idea for a
show and called it The Joy
of Painting with Bob Ross.
- Hi, I'm Bob Ross and
for the next 13 weeks
I'll be your host as we
experience The Joy of Painting.
- [Narrator] At the
beginning of the show,
Bob would start
with a blank canvas
and finish less than
a half hour later
with a completed oil painting.
- [Annette] Bob told me that he
went through every brush stroke
in his head when he
was in bed at night
of how he would execute
that painting on TV.
- [Narrator] Every element
of the show was thought out,
from Bob's standard long
sleeved dress shirt and jeans
to the soothing
tone of his voice.
- [Annette] He said,
"Annette, these television
"programs could
go on for years."
Little did he know.
"I want to be sure
and wear something
"on television that
looks as good 30 years
"from now as it does now."
I think the hair he was
a little sorry about,
and he couldn't
change that because
we had made a logo out of it.
- He hated his hair but
it was his trademark
and he had to do it, and it
really really bothered him.
- I talked to him about
it a couple of times
and said you know,
"Have you thought
"about changing your hair?"
And he said, "No,
this is my trademark,"
and he had decided that's
what he would look like
and people loved it.
- What a signature look.
Yeah, I mean, it's
like fantastic.
- [Narrator] Even the simplicity
of the set was no accident.
- It was just a black
curtain environment.
Bob and his easel,
three cameras.
I ran the camera
that Bob talked to.
- Richard's been with me
since the first series
and as you can see Richard
has finally got smart
and he now wears a raincoat.
He got tired of all his
clothes being painted.
- Bob's original idea was
to have this elaborate set
that looked like a trapper's
long cabin, whatever,
and this was the
original intent,
but it finally
dawned on Bob that
he would not create the
intimacy with the viewer
with all of that
in the background.
- He liked the intimacy
of the small space
and it allowed him to
feel the kind of intimacy
and to sound intimate and be
intimate with us, the audience.
- [Annette] He said he pretends
like he's talking
to one woman in bed.
- I talk to only one
person when I'm filming,
and I'm really crazy
about that person.
It's a one on one situation
that I think people realize that
and they do feel
that they know me
and I feel that I know them.
- [Narrator] Bob wanted
to publish a how to book
to go along with The
Joy of Painting program.
- WNVC said, "I'm sorry
we can't publish the book,
"if you want a book you're
gonna have to publish it,"
and it was going to cost
thirty thousand dollars.
So Walt mortgaged our house
and we published
Bob's first book.
- [Narrator] The book
had the same step by step
approach of his
television program.
They would go on to
produce a book for
every series of The
Joy of Painting,
and Bob would
dedicate each one to
someone meaningful in his life.
- [Annette] Bob gets all
the credit for these books.
After he filmed a painting
in front of the cameras,
we would then go back home and
he would repaint that painting,
and I would stand
behind Bob with
my Canon 35 millimeter
camera and he would make me
take about 50 photographs, the
whole time he was painting,
and those were the how to photos
that he wanted in that book.
- [Narrator] Series one
aired on many public
television stations
on the East Coast
but the audience was small.
- And the time you sit
around worrying about it
and trying to plan
a painting you could
have completed a
painting already.
- [Narrator] And the quality
of the audio and video
was so poor that the first
series of The Joy of Painting
was never aired again,
and the book that
goes along with
it is a rare find.
The partnership
with WNBC dissolved.
- I think we'll
call that finished
and I want to thank you very
very much for watching us.
I hope to see you again
in the near future.
- [Narrator] Bob
would have to look
for a new home on
public television.
With series one of The Joy
of Painting under his belt,
Bob forged ahead
teaching painting classes
across the country
and looking for a new
television station
to partner with.
- Our dream was to move
this inland to the Midwest.
Walt was tracking
where Bill Alexander's
program was popular.
Those were the cities that we
wanted to hit with our classes.
Phil Donahue was very
big in those days
and he was coming
out of Chicago.
We wanted to run commercials
on the Phil Donahue Show,
but where would we
get a commercial?
- [Narrator] Once again he
turned to public television.
This time in Muncie, Indiana,
just across the state
line from Chicago.
- In 1981 funding for Public
Television got really bad
and a committee was
formed in Congress
called The Temporary Committee
For Alternate Funding,
we called it TCAF, and
out of that committee
there became a legislation
that allowed for
10 public television stations
to actually sell commercials.
WIPB was one of those stations.
Well I was sitting in
my office which happened
to be the upstairs
bedroom of this television
studio which was an old house,
I look out the window and this
VW bus pulls in the driveway
and we're thinking okay and
this bushy haired man gets out
and this lady with him and they
come walking up to the door.
He says, "Well hi.
"My name's Bob Ross and
we're doing a demonstration
"and some classes at your
mall down the street,
"and was wondering if you could
give any publicity to us?"
And I looked at our
production manager and I said,
"Have we got a deal for you."
- [Narrator] WIPB be
produced a commercial
promoting Bob's painting classes
and aired it before and after
Bill Alexandra's program.
Walt and Annette also bought
airtime on the
Phil Donahue Show.
All that advertising paid off.
The class was such a success
that Bob thought about making
WIPB be the permanent home
of The Joy of Painting,
so he went to see
the general manager.
- He said, "Well we
we'd like to talk
"to you about an idea we have."
And I said, "What's that?"
He said, "Would you would
you go to lunch with me?"
And I said sure so
we took him to lunch.
He said, "How about
making a painting series?"
- We did the first one
and he made the painting
in basically 26
minutes and 46 seconds
and so we said well my goodness.
How many of these can you do and
he says how many you want to do?
I said, "Well you
realize we could
"do 13, we'd have a series."
So believe it or not in
like a three day period
we knocked out 13 programs.
- [Narrator] The
next step was to get
The Joy of Painting picked
up around the country.
So they submitted the series
to a national distributor
to see if there was
enough interest from
other stations to
carry the program.
- It went up for a
vote and basically
Bob and Annette and I
and a couple of others
were in our office,
we were actually
watching this vote tally,
and by golly you
know it was a hit.
They said oh yeah we'll take it.
They designed a
marketing campaign
turning over Bill
Alexander's technique
and his legacy to Bob Ross.
- I hand over now
that almighty brush
to a mighty man and
that is Bob Ross.
Congratulations.
- Thank you very much, Bill.
We look forward to seeing you
right here on this channel
for The Joy of
Painting each week.
- [Narrator] Now with
a national audience,
Bob was on the hook to produce a
new program series
every quarter.
The production
schedule was grueling.
- We did the whole 13
programs that would be
in a typical quarter, in
one week here at WIPB.
Bob would show up on Sundays,
he'd place the paintings
actually around the studio
in which we're
sitting right now,
and he'd pick out
the order in which
he was going to produce them,
and we would do the opens
and closes of the shows,
all of them on Monday,
and then we'd do probably two
or three programs on Monday.
Then Tuesday we'd
usually do eight or nine,
and Wednesday we'd
do what was left,
and look at them
again on Thursday
and if we had two
we did retakes.
- The show was generally shot
straight through live to tape.
Occasionally if there
was a technical problem
or something like that
they would go back
and do an edit but he was
producing those paintings
as you saw it on television.
- [Annette] He was
very proud of that,
that there's no
trickery going on.
And I should mention
here that those
paintings were not
all that spontaneous.
There was always a
finished painting hanging
off camera that Bob
was referring to.
- Tell you what let's
get crazy today.
- And he would say all these
funny things like
let's get crazy
but he knew where he was going.
He knew where he was
going, but he's taking
you on that ride
with him, you know.
He's keeping you entertained and
painting all at the same time.
- [Annette] But Bob
insisted that nobody
ever see the finished painting
because sometimes he
didn't have time to do
everything that was
in that painting.
And he would have to
leave out a big tree
or a bush or a boat.
- [Narrator] There
is one exception
to Bob's thoughtful planning,
he did series two completely
off the top of his head.
- One night somebody
broke into our motor home
two days before we
were to start taping,
and they stole all 13 of
the reference paintings.
And that was the most
spontaneous series
that Bob ever did.
- [Narrator] This
new partnership with
the PBS station
in Muncie, Indiana
was the right move for Bob.
He would go on to produce
the remaining 30 series
of The Joy of Painting there.
That's almost 400 episodes.
- There's a lot of super people
that put a lot of work
into making this happen.
It's not done just
by coming up here
and painting a little picture.
There's a lot of people
here in the studio
that work very hard to
bring you a nice production.
They really do a good job.
- It was always fun
to work with Bob.
It was always a
week that I think we
looked forward to when
he would come back.
- Bob had a wonderful
sense of humor
and so our days were
spent more or less
telling jokes and goofing off,
and then when it came
time to be serious
and do the show you
know then the Bob you
see on the show is the
Bob that we all knew
even behind the scenes.
- [Narrator] And when
the work was done,
Bob and some of the
WIPB team would scour
local antique shops for
forgotten treasures.
By 1984 The Joy of
Painting could be
seen in most parts
of the country,
but some stations still
weren't carrying the program.
While Bob was teaching
classes in upstate New York,
he gave every one of
his students the home
phone number of the
local PBS station manager
to convince him to
carry Bob's show.
- [Bob] Give your
station a call.
I don't know, let them
know what you want to see,
and when they need some
help give him a hand.
- [Narrator] Bob's wife
Jane came down from Alaska
to work with Walt on the
business side of things.
- Jane was very much involved.
She did the secretarial
work and the office work.
- We were forever
supplying Bob and Annette
when they were on on the
road teaching classes,
and that's when we were in
the basement of our home.
- I was in college
when they started this,
you know crazy thing and
came home one day for
Thanksgiving or something
and the house was
just transformed it
was no longer home.
It was like a warehouse
and a shipping dock.
- [Narrator] At this
point Bob and Annette
were on the road
teaching painting
classes nearly non stop.
- As Annette and I have
traveled around the country
teaching people we have made
so many fantastic friends
that have been with
us for so long now,
and that might truly
be The Joy of Painting
is the friends that
you make doing it.
- [Narrator] But all
that travel was necessary
for the sake of the business,
because teaching
painting classes
was at the core
of what they did.
- [Annette] I think we all
had a good relationship
with our spouses, all of us did,
but Jane allowed Bob to go out
and do what he wanted to do.
- My wife Jane,
she's stood behind us
and kept this thing going,
and it takes a special lady
to live with a crazy man.
- It wasn't fun for them,
it wasn't necessarily
a lot of fun for us,
but the encouragement
was there from Jane
and certainly I was
going to all lengths to
satisfy my wife as well.
- [Narrator] The Oprah
Winfrey Show called
and asked if Bob
would agree to appear
and I said, "Oh, yes.
"Should I bring the easel
and the canvases and paint?"
They said, "Paint?
"No, we're just looking
for couples that are
"in business together
but don't live together."
- [Narrator] Without
the opportunity to paint
Bob turned down the
guest appearance
on The Oprah Winfrey Show.
- [Annette] To Bob it
was all about painting.
It's always been about
painting with Bob.
- [Narrator] But the
stress of turning this
dream into a reality
wore on them,
and many times
Annette, Walt, or Jane
talked about throwing
in the towel.
- Fortunately there
was never a consensus.
Not all four of us
agreed at the same time,
so it just sort of,
we were on a shift.
Those who objected or wanted
to quit were in favor,
and then the others
would switch over
and decided let's cash it in.
- [Narrator] But Bob's
persistence kept them all going.
- [Annette] Well he
never wanted to quit.
- No, he was
probably one of the--
- And I was the one
who most wanted out.
- [Narrator] His complete
dedication to painting
and teaching others to
paint was the driving force.
What ultimately led to
Bob's unprecedented success
hosting a painting program,
was his unwavering belief
that anyone could
learn to paint.
- You often hear
that to be an artist
you have to be blessed
with your own talent.
I think Bob's really
reversed that notion,
anybody can paint.
He said just a little
bit of practice
and anybody can paint.
- You know just recently I was
doing a demonstration in a mall,
and I had a man come
to me and he said,
"Bob I could never paint
because I'm color blind,
"all I can see is gray tones."
So I thought today we'd
do a picture in gray
just to show you that
anyone can paint.
- That's the
miracle of Bob Ross.
He starts very
simply and it just
layer and layer and he
builds, and anyone can do it.
- [Narrator] That was
part of the magic,
Bob's unyielding encouragement.
He said all you need is a
desire to take that first step.
- I remember putting
my knife out for
the first time and just shaking.
From where I came from with
absolutely no background in art,
not knowing anything about
brushes, paints, canvases,
I didn't know anything
and I actually sat down in
front of the canvas
and did something.
I was amazed that
what I could do.
- It's brought painting
to the, or the ability
to create something
to the average person,
and you know they
know they're never
gonna be a famous artist, I
think, maybe they will be.
But when they sit down they just
get into their own world and
it's a nice place to get.
- [Narrator] Bob nurtured
the confidence of his
viewers and for
many people painting
gives them a feeling
of accomplishment
and that's part of the joy
that Bob was trying to spread.
- There is joy in
that in painting
and creating something
and being proud of it,
and you can see the
looks on people's faces
when they're proud
of their painting.
It's like they just can't
believe they did that.
- You feel so important
when you're doing that.
You know when you're putting
that paint on that canvas,
you are doing something
that up until that moment
was in a couple of tubes and
a blank canvas sitting there.
I mean it wasn't doing
anything for anyone,
and you're taking
those same exact things
and with just a
little bit of energy
you've taken this and
made it into a creative
and a wonderful thing.
- [Narrator] But the fact
that a first timer can
achieve immediate success
using the wet on wet technique
is part of the criticism.
Traditional artists
chastise the method
as being overly simplistic.
And some say his
landscapes use color
combinations not found
in the natural world.
- Most people think
that art is something
that's very complicated that
you have to go to school
for a hundred years to learn,
and we try to teach them that
that you can do a
very good painting
with very little instruction,
a lot of happiness,
and teach them how to create.
- People don't believe that
he had any real talent,
that he just put
paint on a canvas.
In actuality, he
does everything that
traditional artists do.
He just doesn't talk about it.
He just doesn't talk about it.
He doesn't say, he doesn't
use the word perspective,
he'll say make the color
light in the distance.
- I think the hardest
part with painting is
is knowing the balance you know,
where the foreground
and the background
and not putting
things in the middle
and of course when
you watch what he does
as a professional,
you realize that
he does all of that for you,
but he's not telling you
okay these are the rules,
you don't do this and
you don't do that.
He just automatically does it.
- [Narrator] But Bob never
let the critics get to him,
because it was not his goal to
be regarded as a great artist
or even to teach others to be.
- You say out loud your work
will never hang in a museum.
Bob!
- Well maybe it will but
probably not this morning.
- Because why, Bob?
What's the deal here?
What are you telling us?
- Well I'm trying
to teach people
a form of art that
anybody can do.
This is art for
anyone who's ever
wanted to put a dream on canvas.
It's not something, it's
not traditional art,
it's not fine art, and I don't
try to tell anybody it is.
- [Narrator] His goal
was to get people
to experience the
joy of painting,
and he did that by removing
the fear of failure.
- [Walt] I think that's
probably the main ingredient
of Bob's technique,
that he dismissed that
sort of fear of beginning.
- I think that you have
to believe in yourself
and you need the confidence
belief to carry on.
- I'd probably say
he's done more for art
than anyone in the
history of art.
He's got more people involved
just because of his nature
and he told them they
could do it and they can.
- [Narrator] Bob even
acknowledged those criticisms
in a spoof he did as an HBO
filler to run between movies.
Bob interrupts a
formal art class
when he comes to
paint the house.
When the class takes a break,
Bob gives it a try
using his own tools.
With each series of
The Joy of Painting
Bob's familiar image
and soothing voice
filled more and more
homes across the country.
- I think our first
series we managed
fifty stations
around the country,
and probably for the
next two or three years
we didn't rise much
beyond seventy five
of the public
channels and then sort
of exponentially we went to 300.
- It's on almost every
station in the country still.
It's like 95% of stations
which is the highest
of any of the art programs.
- [Narrator] But most people
who watch The Joy of Painting
are just watching,
the Bob Ross Company
estimates that only around
3% of the show's audience
actually paints along with him.
Millions and millions of people
watch him all over the world
and only a small
percentage actually paint.
They watch him because
they just enjoy him.
- I hear people to
this day say you know I
watched that just so that
I can hear his voice.
- My method of viewing
Bob Ross was definitely
turn on the TV and watch and
listen and just be captivated.
I couldn't possibly lift
a brush while Bob Ross
was talking and working because
you just get so sucked
into what he's doing.
It was amazing
because his subject
matter didn't vary too
much, but it never got old.
It never cease to amaze me.
- Every day I just come
home from school and I
like I really unwind
when I watch his show.
He's just like semi enchanting.
He really puts like a good
feeling into my heart.
It's fantastic.
- [Narrator] The secret to
Bob's success was Bob himself.
His warmth and
gentleness were sincere
but once he got in
front of the camera
he was well aware
that his personality
was part of the show.
- His manner, he
just seemed like
the happiest guy in the world.
I think that for me was
very powerful seeing
him and his happiness.
The things that he used to say
and the ways that he
would always talk about
the world and you can see
the way he saw the world.
- You just get swept off
into this magical world
where you're taken out
of the present moment
and you're taken into
a fantasy reality,
and yes it's his but
it can become your own.
- [Bob] You can make up stories,
because this is your
world and in your world
you can have any
fantasy that you want.
- [Narrator] Bob cultivated
a relationship with his
viewers by engaging them in
a one sided conversation.
- If you think about
what Joy of Painting was,
it's TV death, right?
It's a dude
speaking softly
and painting a picture,
but it's one of the
most beloved shows ever.
- The instinct when
you go on television,
you see that red light go on,
you know it's (babbling),
entertain the people.
The worst thing could happen
to me was a moment of silence
and all of a sudden
comes along Bob Ross.
Who's gonna put in a
white cloud here you know,
I remember thinking how'd
this guy get a show?
- [Narrator] And although Bob
was speaking slowly and calmly
he was painting rapidly.
- Bob Ross for as mild as he was
he painted like a bulldog.
I mean he really like
got in there was just,
I mean he worked that canvas,
he worked that painting,
he expected a lot out of
his materials and he got it.
- There's things you
pick up watching him
like the way to do a pine
tree with the fan brush
where you just you know go
straight up, get the little
trunk and then you
do little pieces
all the way down
with the fan brush
and it's so fast and the
next thing you know he
takes a brush and
he does a couple of
swirls with gray and black
and white and they're rocks.
It was like so quick
what he was doing and
it's fascinating to watch.
- [Narrator] Bob had
a passion for life.
- And of course
he had a Corvette
and he loved that Corvette.
- [Narrator] And a
passion for wildlife.
He was known for
having small animals
or critters as he liked
to call them on his show.
- [Jim] This was not
something we were happy with
or encouraged but we
allowed him to do it
because Bob was Bob.
- We had lots of
creatures on the show,
and squirrels of course
became his trademark.
He really loved squirrels
and he had Peapod.
- That's the one that
just became famous
and Peapod lived in his house
with him for about two years
and finally he said
you know he really
needs to be out in the wild
and so he released him.
- [Narrator] Bob
was committed to
rehabilitating injured
or orphaned animals,
and he would build
elaborate cages for them.
- Actually I lived a
couple blocks from him
and every now and then he'd say,
"Oh I made you a cage today."
And he would have made
me one of these enormous
wire cages and they
were lifesavers.
They helped me so much.
- [Narrator] Bob rented
an apartment in Muncie,
near the television studio.
It had a lake right out the
backdoor filled with fish
and Bob would feed
them every day.
- Well Bob had a heart attack
while we were in Muncie.
And he was bedridden
for quite some time,
and he worried about those fish.
I stayed in Muncie with
him while he was sick.
So he said, "Annette,
you have to go buy
"the bread and feed the fish."
- [Narrator] But even when
he wasn't feeling well
Bob always tried
to stay positive.
- He was always up, I
mean he was a person that
and I know he had bad days,
he used to have
terrible headaches,
and I know that he'd
have bad days but
you would not know it if
you didn't know Bob Ross.
- [Narrator] He rose to stardom
on the wings of
public television
and he wanted to
give back to the
system that had
given him so much.
- Most of these
paintings are donated
to PBS stations
across the country.
They auction them often,
they make a happy buck for them.
So if you'd like to
have one you know
get touch with your PBS station.
You know NBC or ABC gets
a thousand phone calls
about a program and they say
oh okay, we'll note that.
PBS gets a half a dozen
phone calls from you
with a pledge especially they
shut down and have a party.
(laughter)
- I'll never forget at an
auction one time we were,
he was painting a painting
live and we sold it
and the person that
bought it said,
"I'm coming in will you wait
for me so I can meet you?"
And the woman walked
in with her walker
about 11:30 at
night and had driven
for about an hour to get here,
and she started crying,
and she said, "I don't have
too many good days anymore,
"but when I watch your show
it's the best part of that day.
"I just want to
thank you for that,
"that's why I had to
have your painting."
And Bob thanked her
and gave her a hug
and he said, "That's
why I do this."
- [Narrator] But
at this point the
main source of income
for Bob's business
came from teaching
painting classes
and selling instruction books,
and then a happy accident.
The Alexander Company
called and said
they couldn't produce
enough paint to
keep up with the
growing demand and
suggested that Bob start
his own line of products.
- [Annette] Bob also
took that opportunity
to refine the product that
Alexander had been using.
- He reduced the size of
the largest brush that
Alexander was using, from
two and a half inches down
to two inches, and he adjusted
the formula of the paint.
- Bob was very adamant
about what he wanted.
He was kind of a perfectionist,
because he knew the system
that he developed would
work for a beginner if it
was formulated a certain way.
- More than the
colors being specific,
is the consistency of the paint.
It's very specific
to the technique.
They're very very firm.
- [Narrator] Here's
what it takes to make
the Bob Ross
landscape oil colors.
- You measure, you put
it in, you let it mix,
and then thicker products
go over a three roll mill,
then the lab chemist
comes and does a job on it
and then if he approves
it then it goes
through to filling equipment.
- [Narrator] Each
tube of paint was
printed with Bob's smiling face.
As his products hit commercial
shelves so did his image
establishing his brand in
the commercial art world.
Now Bob could focus on
growing his business
and that meant training
some instructors to go out
and teach the method and the
message of The Joy of Painting.
As the demand for more
television episodes
plus more painting classes,
both steadily increased
Bob began to realize
that he wouldn't have
enough time to devote to both.
In 1987 he created the first
team of Bob Ross instructors.
These students would go out
and teach in Bob's place.
- One of the things that
we're trying to do is we
travel around and teach
this almighty method
is we're trying to gather
up an army of teachers
and soon we'll have
teachers that travel
this entire beautiful
country teaching this
fantastic method of painting.
- [Narrator] Seminars and
demonstrations gave way
to guest appearances
in big cities.
When he released his first
hardcover book in 1989,
Bob hit the talk-show circuit.
- My next guest has
been creating his magic
for the past 10 years
on his own show,
The Joy of Painting which
I watch all the time.
He is the author of several
books on the subject,
his latest is called The
Best of The Joy of Painting.
Please welcome
America's favorite art
instructor, Bob Ross.
(crowd cheering)
Nice to have you on.
- Thank you, very very much.
- Why are you so popular?
Most people can't paint, yet
I find myself fascinated.
I sit and watch you paint.
- I think it's because
that magic really
does happen in 30 minutes and
there's no editing
to these shows.
What happens really happens.
- What is the easiest
thing to paint,
if somebody wants to start out,
somebody in the audience or me,
what would be the first thing
you would say to somebody?
- Probably just a
little landscape because
nobody knows if a
tree is incorrect.
If you put three eyes on
there either you're Picasso
or something's wrong.
- [Joan] Show me, show me.
- You know it's
very funny you think
that Bob would pull up
in some big limousine
and he would jump
out and the paparazzi
would be clipping
and clip, clip, clip,
but in fact we were
like dragging easels
and we were just a
bunch of country folk
just in the big city.
- [Narrator] He was
also invited to be a
celebrity guest at
the Grand Old Opry.
Bob was a big fan
of country music
and his friend Hank Snow
brought him up on stage.
- And when they introduced
him the crowd just went nuts.
And he went up there and
he was a little nervous
at first and cracked a
joke and everybody laughed
and they cheered and
he was on his way
and they had a great interview.
It was just a really cool
thing to walk in there
and have all these
country music stars
come up the Bob and say
oh you're my favorite,
I watch you all the
time, I paint with you.
- Annette Kowalski and
I had a private class
for one of country western's
living legends Mr. Hanks Snow.
- I've learned more in
the last couple of days
that I could learn
in a year really.
- [Bob] Well thank you.
You're doing almighty
things there.
- [Narrator] By the early
90s nearly 300 episodes
of The Joy of Painting
were on the air
in the US and then Canada.
Soon translation started
cropping up in Mexico,
Costa Rica, Colombia,
the United Kingdom,
the Netherlands,
Germany, Switzerland,
Austria, Turkey, Iran,
South Korea, and Japan.
- It was on in Japan
they said no take
the soundtrack back up
we've got to hear his voice.
I think his sincerity
came across even
if you didn't
understand the words.
- [Narrator] By now
Bob was arguably one of
the biggest stars in the
history of Public Television
and host of the most popular
art show of all time.
- It's just wow.
This guy has got it and that's
kind of what it was,
but he didn't let it go
to his head, not at all.
- I mean you would never know
that he had this
program that clearly had
the attention nationally
of people because he was
just kind of under the radar.
- [Narrator] When his second
hardcover book came out
Bob was once again called
up to the networks.
- Bob was looking at us and
he's painting a mountain.
I don't know.
- Because he's famous
for his landscapes.
He says millions
of people harbor a
desire to paint and
I think he's right.
Wouldn't you love to be able to?
- Well you know we've
talked about this
before I frankly have
no, there's his book,
I have no...
- Artistic talent at all?
- Absolutely not.
None.
- Tell you what if I can get
you to pick up your palettes,
we have a palette
prepared for each of them.
- That's this part, Reg.
- And just sort
of put your thumb
right through the hole
there, there you go.
Hold it like, oh you look good.
- Okay.
- [Bob] This is the
fun part of all this.
We're just gonna paint
a happy tree right here.
- [Regis] Oh look,
what I'm doing here.
I'm painting.
(audience cheers)
- [Narrator] Bob
rose to the status of
pop culture icon with a series
of promotional spots for MTV.
- I do love to paint trees,
you can make it wiggly.
That's how I always do it.
MTV, it's all just
fluffy white clouds.
- [Narrator] And
a tongue in cheek
commercial for
hair care products.
- Subtle color.
- A little bit of color.
- There's no
ammonia or peroxide.
Even conditions your hair.
- You know people
have done spoofs
on Saturday Night Live, they've
done all sorts of things
and you know what can I say
if you reach that stature,
it means something in
life, whether you actually
like what they're doing or not,
the point is that
they know who you are,
and he certainly had
made a reputation
of being a visible icon.
- [Narrator] But Bob learned
just how popular he was
while demonstrating
his products on QVC.
When he got off the air a
producer walked up to Bob
and handed him a phone.
He said, "Bob I got
somebody on the phone
"who wants to talk to you,"
and Bob said, "Who's that?"
He said, "Marlon Brando's on the
"phone and wants
to talk to you."
Bob, who was very humble, he
was like, his jaw dropped.
He just like, Marlon
Brando wants to talk to me?
It was phenomenal.
That's the kind
of magnet Bob was.
- [Narrator] Although his
career was at its pinnacle
his personal life was
starting to come apart.
In 1992, he lost his
wife Jane to cancer.
And his own health was
starting to fail as well.
He was fighting his
second bout of lymphoma.
He'd had surgery for
the original diagnosis
long before The Joy
of Painting started,
and had been in
remission for years,
all of which was kept secret
except to his closest friends.
- He really got
tired easily and that
probably was a precursor
to what was coming.
- [Narrator] But when Bob
knew he was losing the fight,
he began making plans to
carry on The Joy of Painting.
- We had a couple
of years warning
that we were going to lose Bob.
He worried that when he was
gone the landscapes would go too
and so he said, "Annette,
I think you need to go
"public with the florals
that you're painting."
- You know over the
years I've got literally
hundreds of letters
from people saying
teach us how to paint florals.
Well, I'm not really
a floral painter,
I'm really a tree and
mountain type person,
so I've asked a very dear
friend to come in today
and help us with a
little floral painting.
I'd like to introduce
you to my partner
and longtime friend
Annette Kowalski.
Annette welcome to the show.
- Thanks, Bob.
- [Narrator] Around
that same time
they opened the
Bob Ross workshop
in New Smyrna Beach
Florida to train the
army of new instructors
to carry on Bob's legacy.
- It's viral.
You teach five people
to do it and they go out
and they teach ten
people to do it
and then they teach
20 people to do it
and it just keeps rolling.
- That's what he wanted
to happen is that
everybody would still pass
that joy on to the next person.
- [Narrator] Then
in 1994 about a year
before he died,
Bob was invited to
be a guest on the
Phil Donahue Show.
- I recall thinking,
you know when people watch
the Donahue Show, you know,
we hope we're interesting
and then you know
people will watch
it and enjoy it.
When they watch Bob Ross
they went like this.
You were mesmerized
by what he was doing.
I remember just leaning forward
towards the television set.
I couldn't get over this guy.
I was crazy about the guy so,
what do you do when
you're impressed
you invite him on your
show which is what I did.
You know you don't necessarily
jump out of a cake,
I mean you never were
that kind of guy,
put a lampshade on your head.
- No.
- You know you are so cool,
you are so calm,
you are yourself
and you put together
some of the most
beautiful work I've ever seen.
Look at the light shining
in, I mean this is wonderful
and so who's stupid to put his
painting up after
Bob Ross, the pro.
All right, here I am,
I'm about to embarrass the
whole Donahue family here.
All right?
This is what you can do
if you apply yourself
and have more talent than I do.
There you go.
(audience applauds)
The audience was just
totally into this
and you know when you're
29 years on the air
with an audience every day,
you get pretty good
at reading audiences
and this audience at the
time that he did our show
was totally wrapped.
Sir, you wanted to ask.
- [Man] Oh, my mom
watches him all the time.
- [Donahue] Yeah.
- I go over there's she's
always watching this guy paint,
and she says he looks so good
I wonder how they look in person
and they look terrific, mom,
in person, they look great.
- [Donahue] Bob, thank you.
- [Narrator] By the end
of 94 Bob became too weak
to continue to travel to Indiana
from his home in Florida.
- It was pretty
clear as he started
dealing with those
issues that doing
four or five shows in a
matter of three or four hours
was just getting be too much,
and that's when we really just
started saying we need to stop.
- The the worst part of
all for him was his hair,
he was so upset because
his hair, you know,
he did go through a certain
amount of radiation and chemo
and his hair was falling out.
Of course he had a wig
at the end there but,
you know, he had
an image to keep
and that was very
important to him.
- [Narrator] He
had produced over
400 episodes of The
Joy of Painting.
The last series was number 31.
- Bob was unable to
complete series 32.
I think he prepared ten or
twelve of the paintings,
and then he couldn't
paint anymore and so
we were never able to film
or tape those programs
but we do still
have the paintings.
- [Narrator] After he stopped
recording The Joy of Painting,
Bob went home to Florida
and remained very private
in his final months.
Bob's life had always
been about sharing
the joy of painting with others.
And even as his life
was coming to an end,
he wanted to find a way
to share his love of
painting and wildlife
with children,
and so he teamed up
with a crew from Muncie
to produce a children's
program called
The Adventures of
Elmer and friends,
but he was too ill to travel
to Indiana to shoot the pilot.
So the crew came to Florida and
recorded Bob's
parts from his home.
- I'll bet the trees
and animals knew all
about old Walters
treasure like it says.
- But how does that help us?
- I think you should
talk to a tree.
- Talk to a tree?
We don't know any trees.
- Oh yes we do. How about
the happy little tree?
- The happy little tree?
You mean the one
Bob always paints?
- Yeah that's a great idea,
we can ask him
about the diamonds.
- But where is he?
- He's in your imagination
but there might
be a picture of
him in this book.
- It was really heartbreaking
when we walked in
and saw Bob because we
hadn't seen Bob in so long.
He lost a lot of weight,
he'd lost a lot of hair.
Just not the Bob
Ross that we knew
and God bless Bob
he had the spirit
and he had the
willingness to do it,
whether or not he had the
energy was irrelevant.
- [Narrator] In the
end Bob was only able
to participate in
the pilot episode.
On July 4th 1995, Bob
Ross died of lymphoma.
He was 52 years old.
- He really touched
a lot of people and
made a difference in their lives
and I think the painting
made a difference
but what he said
made a difference.
I think we're all looking
for hope in life, even today
and will always be and I
think he was selling hope
as much as he was
selling painting.
- He was just a
wonderful wonderful man
and we were so lucky
to have him come
and spend the time
that he did with us.
He was our friend.
He was our best friend.
- [Narrator] Bob's
legacy lives on
through the thousands
of instructors who
teach his method.
- When I'm painting I feel like
he's there with me, guiding me.
It's so funny, it's
an emotional thing.
I can't describe how
emotional painting
can be for people and for me.
- We continue to
certify teachers at
the same rate as
when he was alive.
There's probably
2,000 of them now
and they're all over the world.
- [Narrator] And Bob himself
still lives on through his
TV series The Best of
The Joy of Painting.
Blue Ridge PBS in
Roanoke, Virginia
presents the program
to America's public
television stations
where more than
90% of the country
can still watch bob paint
happy little trees each week.
- Who knew that like
30 some odd years later
the shows are still
running on TV.
That's just fantastic.
- There was a lot of pressure
on us right after we lost Bob
to replace him with another
painter and we talked about it.
I think the smartest
decision we ever made
was not to replace
Bob with anybody else.
He just will live forever.
- This is 28 years later
now and I can tell you
the phone calls
that we get today
are identical to the calls
we were getting 28 years ago,
this is a new generation
of viewers now.
I don't think a lot of people
understand the age range
and the lives he's touched.
College students,
young kids, old,
middle of the road,
it's incredible,
but yet the one thing
is that man's legacy
does not go away, nor should it.
What he's given many people
have imitated, never duplicated,
but what a ride it was.
- I miss him and I'm sure his
millions of fans do as well.
- Until next time, on behalf
of all the personnel here,
my partner's Walt
and Annette Kowalski,
I'd like to wish
you happy painting.
God bless my friend.
(easy bright music)
- The thing I love the
most about it is he'll go,
and then we'll put a
little tree in here,
dip dip dip do do,
maybe it needs a friend,
and maybe another friend.
I just love that.
- And you'd see like there'd
be a part of the canvas
that's done and he would be
like oh I'm gonna put this here.
All of a sudden
there's a cottage.
Where'd that come from?
- I don't know if I
agree with Bob on that
that anyone can paint.
I think anyone can do
it anyone can enjoy it,
so in that sense
everybody should.
I've seen some paintings
that shouldn't have happened.
(bright upbeat music)
