Curiosity Shop is an American children's educational television program produced by ABC. Sponsored by the Kellogg's cereal company and created as a commercial answer to the successful public television seriesSesame Street, Curiosity Shop was broadcast from September 11, 1971 to September 2, 1973. The program featured three inquisitive children 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: clothing, music, dance, weather, the five senses, space, time, rules, flight, dolls, etc.
Professor S. I. Trivia, a bespectacled "bookworm," who lived in a dictionary and was always on hand to supply a definition to a word the children didn't know.
Monsieur Cou Cou was a French-accented bird, whose catchphrase was, "That's right!" He always tried to catch Prof. Trivia with a nosedive before the worm invariably dodged the birdjust in time, repeatedly 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 stripThe Strange World of Mr. Mum. Animations of Mell Lazarus's comic stripMiss Peach, Johnny Hart's comic strip The Wizard Of Id, Virgil Partch's cartoon Big George and Hank Ketcham's Dennis the Menace were also presented on the show. Abraham "Abe" Levitow, late of Motion Picture Screen Cartoonists Local 839, animated most of these short segments. Ray Bradbury is also credited as a writer for the show. Henry Mancini composed the theme music of the program and its animated title sequence. Dean Elliott wrote other music for the show.
Cast
John Levin and Kerry McLane played Gerard and Ralph, the two boys. Alternating in the girl's role were Pamelyn Ferdin 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 was a chimpanzee who made his home in a treehouse on the show. Eunice was a seal who lived in a waterbed — literally a water tank shaped like a bed. Mel Blanc, June Foray, Bob Holt, Don Messick and Les Tremayne provided some of the character voices. Puppet characters Created by Bob Baker, the show's puppets included:
Flip, an orange hippopotamus with a jive-talking voice and oversized sneakers.
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 Bosnia." The cartoons were originally a series called Professor Balthazar that was produced in Croatia when it was part of Yugoslavia.
The Oogle, a marsupial-like silent 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 a Professor Balthazar episode.
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.
Eek A. Mouse, who often emerged from the wall to scream for quiet as well.
Nostalgia, a chronically forgetful but sweet-tempered elephant.
Hermione Giraffe
Aarthur the Aardvark
Ole Factory the Bloodhound
Halcyon the Hyena
Miss Fowler, a flower in a pot.
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.
Mr. Jones, a tape recorder that played the prerecorded voice of Chuck Jones, the only means of communication between the children and the animator. Pamelyn Ferdin often concluded an episode by saying, "Goodbye, Mr. Jones — wherever you are."
Don Herbert as his popular TV scientist personality Mr. Wizard.
Two appearances by Dennis the Menace cartoonist Hank Ketcham, who presented the first animated cartoons of Dennis, as well as comic strips in which Dennis interacted with the kids on the show.
Shirley Jones appeared on the show's pilot, "The Curiosity Shop Special," which featured all four children. It was on this pilot that the first song from Multiplication Rock, "Three Is a Magic Number," would make its debut.
