Emerson Grimes

TRIGGER WARNING!This article contains mentions of child neglect, abuse, bigotry and suicide. Please proceed with caution.
**Emerson Joseph Grimes** (May 31, 1926—June 18, 1972) was the Creator of Candle Cove and uncle to Jodie Silver. Aside from creating the show, he directed, made props, storyboards and wrote for some episodes.

He also played Poppy and Janice's father.

## Production Information

### Portrays

Daniel Stewart,
Poppy

### Jobs

Creator,
Prop master,
Director,
Storyboard Artist,
 Writer

Local 58 greenlit Candle Cove in 1970, making him the first solo black creator on that network.

## Biography

### Early life and education

Grimes was born in Ironton, Ohio on May 31st, 1926. He described his childhood as "chaotic and unstable" with his mother resenting him after birth (which inspired the neglectful nature of Janice's father in the show) and his father being "a strict and angry man who meant well but ultimately hurt [Grimes]". His parents were constantly at each other's throats with his father wanting his mother to quit her job and focus on raising their child, which ended with the two getting divorced when Grimes was young. He was an only child and had stated he felt isolated and described himself as "a shy kid that kept mostly to himself" (which are words he also used to describe Nathan), spending most of his time drawing and watching cartoons or playing near Ohio River, pretending his toys had pirate adventures in the open seas. When he was eight, he slipped and fell in the river, but was saved in time by a man who was out fishing. This event inspired the start of Candle Cove. He attended Ironton Elementary and graduated high school on June 10 1944.

### Personal life

A lot of Candle Cove was inspired from his childhood and the stories he would come up with while playing pirates with his toys on the bank of Ohio River. He would bury "treasure", making maps filled with ciphers and clues, but he had almost nobody to solve them.

He discovered a passion for creating dolls and puppets in order to make his own "friends" when store-bought toys just couldn't cut it. He was inspired by puppet shows he saw on TV to make his first puppet; a glove puppet with a paper mache head with no face and a monocle which he dubbed Horace Horrible. He would later go on to redesign that puppet for Candle Cove.

In 1961, he met Jeremy Kirby and the two became friends and later partners. The two rent an appartment together and in 1966, when Jodie's father lost custody of her because of his alcoholism, Grimes took her in as his own. In an interview, Jodie described her uncle as "the kindest, most loving person [she had] ever known."

### Candle Cove

In 1963, Mary Prescott approached Grimes, having known him since high school and being "charmed by his stories and his work". She proposed they worked together on an experimental children's puppet show. Grimes was more than happy to accept.

Although they had a very miniscule budget, and their project was constantly subjected to strict deadlines and censors by the network, Grimes, Prescott and the rest of the crew tried their best to tell a compelling story with what little they had. Grimes wanted the project to teach children "inclusion, acceptance and empathy" and wanted "kids who didn't have [good parental figures] to get lost in the world of Candle Cove, with all the charming and parent-like characters by their sides, and know that even when an obstacle as scary as the Skin-Taker got in their way, that they could get over it while still being kind." He stated that "[the Skin-Taker and Horace Horrible] are people who lost themselves in their own grief and hurt and became bitter and cynical because of it. Janice is the antithesis to that. She is a bastion of kindness and compassion, even when she's been through so much."

### Health

From a young age, Grimes suffered from chronic bronchitis due to his parents smoking around him so much. When he got a home of his own, he had a "no smoking indoors" rule. He also suffered from anxiety and showed symptoms of autism or ADHD, though he was never properly diagnosed.

While working on Candle Cove, his mental health kept deteriorating to the point he started showing signs of psychosis. News outlets sensationalized his downward spiral as "The Candle Cove Curse" at work, but Kirby stated that Grimes "was a very sensitive man. He saw his life's work being under-funded, rushed and censored by the network and, well, he just couldn't take it."

On June 17, 1972, the network found out about his relationship with Kirby, it gave them another excuse to cancel the already controversial Candle Cove and fire Grimes from the network, giving him only one more episode to work on, to which he responded by creating the Screaming Episode. Where he directed everyone to scream as loud as they could while he destroyed the sets.

### Death

As soon as Candle Cove was unceremoniously cancelled, he headed home with Jodie and Kirby, seeming happy and content despite everything. Upon being asked what he was so happy about, he claimed he was only excited about the possibilities the future held. He told Jodie and Kirby that he was going to his office to brainstorm ideas for a new project they could all work on together on and, after telling them both he loved them and kissing them goodnight, he locked himself in his study. Kirby was reading Jodie to sleep when they heard the gunshot, he rushed downstairs to find Grimes with a bullet wound in the chest and drove him to the hospital. Grimes succumbed to his injuries at 12 am on June 18th.