Curiosity Shop
Encyclopedia
Curiosity Shop was an American children's educational television
program produced by ABC-TV
in 1971, capitalizing on the success of Sesame Street
.
Sponsored by the Kellogg's cereal company, Curiosity Shop was broadcast Saturday mornings from September 11, 1971 to January 6, 1973. The program featured three inquisitive children (two boys and a girl) who each week visited a shop populated with various puppets and gadgets, discovering interesting things about science, nature and history. Each hour-long show covered a specific theme: music, clothing, dance, weather, the five senses, space, time, etc.
, who contributed two new animated characters to the show:
Noted screenwriter Irving Phillips provided some scripts and animation art for the show, including an animation of his long-running syndicated comic strip "The Strange World of Mr. Mum
." Animations of Mell Lazarus's comic strip Miss Peach
, Johnny Hart
's comic strip Wizard of Id and Virgil Partch's cartoon Big George were also presented on the show. Abe Levitow
animated most of these short segments.
Henry Mancini
composed the program's theme music.
as Pam and Jerelyn Fields
as Cindy.
Barbara Minkus made a regular appearance as Gittle, a witch who magically appeared whenever someone said a phrase that included "which."
Darwin, a chimpanzee, made his home in a treehouse on the show.
A seal named Eunice lived in a waterbed- literally a water tank shaped like a bed.
and two appearances by Dennis the Menace
cartoonist Hank Ketcham
, who presented the first animated cartoons of Dennis.
Shirley Jones
appeared on the show's pilot, "The Curiosity Shop Special," which featured all four children.
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
program produced by ABC-TV
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
in 1971, capitalizing on the success of Sesame Street
Sesame Street
Sesame Street has undergone significant changes in its history. According to writer Michael Davis, by the mid-1970s the show had become "an American institution". The cast and crew expanded during this time, including the hiring of women in the crew and additional minorities in the cast. The...
.
Sponsored by the Kellogg's cereal company, Curiosity Shop was broadcast Saturday mornings from September 11, 1971 to January 6, 1973. The program featured three inquisitive children (two boys and a girl) who each week visited a shop populated with various puppets and gadgets, discovering interesting things about science, nature and history. Each hour-long show covered a specific theme: music, clothing, dance, weather, the five senses, space, time, etc.
Talent
The executive producer was legendary animator Chuck JonesChuck Jones
Charles Martin "Chuck" Jones was an American animator, cartoon artist, screenwriter, producer, and director of animated films, most memorably of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts for the Warner Bros. Cartoons studio...
, who contributed two new animated characters to the show:
- Professor S.I. Trivia, a bespectacled "bookworm," lived in a dictionary and was always on hand to supply a definition to a word the children didn't know.
- Monsueir Cou Cou,a French-accented bird, whose catchphrase was, "That's right!", always tried to catch Prof. Trivia with a nosedive before the worm dodged the bird just in time, causing him to ram into the dictionary and get his beak stuck in it.
Noted screenwriter Irving Phillips provided some scripts and animation art for the show, including an animation of his long-running syndicated comic strip "The Strange World of Mr. Mum
The Strange World of Mr. Mum
The Strange World of Mr. Mum was a surreal humor comic panel by Irving Phillips which was published from 1958 to 1974. At its peak, it appeared daily in 180 newspapers in 22 countries. Initially distributed by the Hall Syndicate, it was later handled by the Field Newspaper Syndicate. A Sunday...
." Animations of Mell Lazarus's comic strip Miss Peach
Miss Peach
Miss Peach was a syndicated comic strip created by American cartoonist Mell Lazarus. It ran for 45 years, from February 4, 1957 to September 8, 2002....
, Johnny Hart
Johnny Hart
Johnny Hart was an American cartoonist noted as the creator of the comic strip B.C. and co-creator of the strip The Wizard of Id. Hart was recognized with several awards, including the Swedish Adamson Award and five from the National Cartoonists Society...
's comic strip Wizard of Id and Virgil Partch's cartoon Big George were also presented on the show. Abe Levitow
Abe Levitow
Abraham "Abe" Levitow was an American animator who worked at Warner Bros. Cartoons, UPA and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer ....
animated most of these short segments.
Henry Mancini
Henry Mancini
Henry Mancini was an American composer, conductor and arranger, best remembered for his film and television scores. He won a record number of Grammy Awards , plus a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award posthumously in 1995...
composed the program's theme music.
Actors
John Levin and Kerry McLane played Gerard and Ralph, the two boys. Alternating the girl's role were Pamelyn FerdinPamelyn Ferdin
Pamelyn Ferdin is a former American television and film child actor, active both in live action and as a voice actress in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s and has since appeared in several voice acting roles as late as 2009...
as Pam and Jerelyn Fields
Jere Fields
Jerelyn Fields is an American actress. As a child, she guest-starred on such iconic television programmes as Gunsmoke and The Brady Bunch. She also starred on Curiosity Shop and did voice work for the animated series Kid Superpower Hour with Shazam! as well as Scooby and Scrappy-Doo. She also...
as Cindy.
Barbara Minkus made a regular appearance as Gittle, a witch who magically appeared whenever someone said a phrase that included "which."
Darwin, a chimpanzee, made his home in a treehouse on the show.
A seal named Eunice lived in a waterbed- literally a water tank shaped like a bed.
Puppet characters
- Flip, an orange hippopotamus with a jive-talking voice.
- Baron Balthazar, a bearded, derby-hatted little man who would spin tales (in animated form about his adventures and inventions back in his homeland, "Downtown Boslia" (The cartoons were originally a series produced in Prague called "Professor Balthazar")
- The Oogle, a marsupial-like creature with a beak-like mouth, a hayseed-style hat, and a demeanor of clownish confusion and disillusion.
- Onomatopoeia, a multi-legged furry beast that spoke in sound effects. Partially inspired by an alien in an PROFESSOR BALTHAZAR episode.
- Eek A. Mouse.
- Woodrow the groundhog, who often yelled "Qui-e-e-e-e-e-t!" when things got out of hand and woke him from his slumber.
- Nostalgia, a chronically forgetful but sweet-tempered elephant.
- Hermione Giraffe.
- Aarthur the Aardvark.
- Ole Factory the Bloodhound.
- Halcyon the Hyena.
Inanimate characters
- A talking computer with tape-reel eyes who satisfied the children's curiosity about any subject and presented educational movies, tapes, cartoons, vocabulary series, etc., on his screen-mouth.
- Hudson, a gravelly-voiced rock who told stories of prehistory.
- Granny TV, a rocking antique television set who presented classic film comedies by Charlie ChaplinCharlie ChaplinSir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin, KBE was an English comic actor, film director and composer best known for his work during the silent film era. He became the most famous film star in the world before the end of World War I...
, Buster KeatonBuster KeatonJoseph Frank "Buster" Keaton was an American comic actor, filmmaker, producer and writer. He was best known for his silent films, in which his trademark was physical comedy with a consistently stoic, deadpan expression, earning him the nickname "The Great Stone Face".Keaton was recognized as the...
, Will RogersWill RogersWilliam "Will" Penn Adair Rogers was an American cowboy, comedian, humorist, social commentator, vaudeville performer, film actor, and one of the world's best-known celebrities in the 1920s and 1930s....
, etc. - Mr. Jones, a tape recorder that played the prerecorded voice of Chuck Jones, the only means of communication between the children and the legendary animator.
Guests
Guests on the program included Vincent PriceVincent Price
Vincent Leonard Price, Jr. was an American actor, well known for his distinctive voice and serio-comic attitude in a series of horror films made in the latter part of his career.-Early life and career:Price was born in St...
and two appearances by Dennis the Menace
Dennis the Menace (U.S.)
Dennis the Menace is a daily syndicated newspaper comic strip originally created, written and illustrated by Hank Ketcham. It debuted on March 12, 1951 in 16 newspapers and was originally distributed by Post-Hall Syndicate...
cartoonist Hank Ketcham
Hank Ketcham
Henry King "Hank" Ketcham was an American cartoonist who created the Dennis the Menace comic strip, writing and drawing it from 1951 to 1994, when he retired from drawing the daily page and took up painting full time in his studio at his home. He received the Reuben Award for the strip in 1953...
, who presented the first animated cartoons of Dennis.
Shirley Jones
Shirley Jones
Shirley Mae Jones is an American singer and actress of stage, film and television. In her six decades of television, she starred as wholesome characters in a number of well-known musical films, such as Oklahoma! , Carousel , and The Music Man...
appeared on the show's pilot, "The Curiosity Shop Special," which featured all four children.
External links
- Curiosity Shop at the Internet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie Database is an online database of information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. It is one of the most popular online entertainment destinations, with over 100 million...