Gigglesnort Hotel

{{Short description|Television series}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}

{{Infobox television

| image = Gigglesnort reduced.JPG

| alt = Gigglesnort hotel desk

| caption = Desk clerk Bill Jackson and Dirty Dragon at the front desk of the Gigglesnort Hotel

| alt_name =

| genre = Children's program

| creator = Bill Jackson

| writer =

| director =

| presenter =

| starring =

| country = United States

| language = English

| num_seasons =

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| channel = WLS-TV

| first_aired = {{start date|1975}}

| last_aired = {{end date|1978}}

| related =

}}

Gigglesnort Hotel is a syndicated children's television program which ran for 78 episodes between 1975 and 1978. It was hosted by Bill Jackson, previously the host of several Chicago-based children's programs including Clown Alley and The BJ and Dirty Dragon Show. The program was set, as the title implies, at an old hotel, where Jackson's role was a desk clerk. The program featured many of the characters from the previous show, including Dirty Dragon, the Old Professor, Weird, Old Mother Plumtree, and several others who were created just for the program, such as the hotel's owner, Old Man Gigglesnort.{{cite web|url=http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2009-10-01/entertainment/0909300671_1_blob-museum-benefit-bill-jackson|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120921103605/http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2009-10-01/entertainment/0909300671_1_blob-museum-benefit-bill-jackson|url-status=dead|archive-date=September 21, 2012|title=Catching up with local children's TV legend Bill Jackson|date=1 October 2009|author=Caro, Mark|publisher=Chicago Tribune|access-date=13 February 2011}}{{sfn|Okuda|Mulqueen|2004|p=149}}{{sfn|Hollis|2001|p=105}}{{cite news|url=http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1978/08/20/page/249/article/sunday-morning-a-world-apart-from-saturday-kid-shows|title=Sunday Morning a World Apart From Saturday Kid Shows|author=Blecha, Karen Rugen|date=August 20, 1978|page=2|publisher=TV Week-Chicago Tribune|access-date=April 24, 2015}}

The show was widely praised by critics, and it became one of the highest-rated children's shows in WLS-TV history.{{cite web|url=http://www.toonarific.com/interview.php?interview_id=1|title=Bill Jackson Interview|date=1 April 2001|publisher=Toonarific|access-date=13 February 2011|archive-date=19 November 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171119194417/http://www.toonarific.com/interview.php?interview_id=1|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|url=http://chicagoemmyonline.org/files/2013/04/1977-1978_pt1.pdf|title=Chicago Emmy Awards|year=1977–1978|publisher=Chicago chapter-National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences|access-date=13 February 2011}}(PDF){{cite web|url=http://chicagoemmyonline.org/files/2013/04/1976-1977.pdf|title=Chicago Emmy Awards|year=1976–1977|publisher=Chicago chapter-National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences|access-date=13 February 2011}}(PDF) It was syndicated in 1978, airing in several markets nationwide as well as Canada, Italy, and Saudi Arabia.{{cite web|url=http://www.chicagotelevision.com/wfldtv.htm|title=Cartoon Town, BJ and Dirty Dragon|publisher=Chicago Television|access-date=14 February 2011}}

Jackson made a final appearance for a presentation for the Museum of Broadcast Communications, "Saturday Morning with B.J. and Dirty Dragon: Bill Jackson, Live in Person—One Last Time", in December 2009, saying this would be his last time appearing as a performer.{{cite web|url=http://illinoisentertainer.com/2009/10/media-november-2009/|title=Last Chance To Gigglesnort|publisher=Illinois Entertainer|date=30 October 2009|access-date=14 February 2011}}{{cite web|url=https://www.museum.tv/newssection.php?page=535 |title=B.J. and Dirty Dragon's Bill Jackson to Revisit the Golden Age of Chicago Children's Television with LIVE Performance |date=12 November 2009 |publisher=Museum of Broadcast Communications |access-date=13 February 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101205024728/https://www.museum.tv/newssection.php?page=535 |archive-date=December 5, 2010 }} In 1995, he donated all his original puppets to Chicago's Museum of Broadcast Communications.{{sfn|Hollis|2001|p=105}}