A couple Christmases ago I gave my brother’s 7-year-old nephew the entire collection of "Schoolhouse Rock!" episodes. The kid looked at me like I gave him socks. Meanwhile, his dad snatched the DVDs from him like he was 7, and it was Christmas Eve 1977.
After the kids went to bed, we spent the evening with hot totties and "Schoolhouse Rock!" Here's one of the episodes, The Tale of Mr. Morton, which was produced for the show's encore run in 1993. It's for all the writers, editors and romantics out there.
The story follows Mr. Morton, a portly writer with crippling social anxiety, as he courts Pearl, the woman he spies on from his window. It’s a love story and a lesson on how to identify the subject and predicate of a sentence — all in three minutes. "Schoolhouse Rock!" was made for YouTube.
Best line: “Hello, cat. You look good.”
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Comments (17)
I grew up on these too! Lucky me, though, my alma mater had Bob Dorough as an alumnus, so they did a story on it a few years back. It was amazing how many from our age group remembered them, could still sing them, and how many of our parents could too! Here's the link to the story: http://www.unt.edu/northtexan/archives/s01/index.htm
What else did I learn? Well, that I've always paid too much attention to the commercials. Very few of the people I know could remember "Don't Drown Your Food" or "Hanker for a Hunk of Cheese." Lots of kids I knew could sing Conjunction Junction, but not the rest.
I'm starting to feel old...
Posted by Nan | November 2, 2009 12:05 PM
Posted on November 2, 2009 12:05
Loved the article. I was just about to write about the death of adverbs--how we drop the "ly" from everything these days. Maybe because we go so quick(ly). ...
BTW, I often use the shortcut "in-law-law" for the relationships you describe. My mother-in-law-law for my sister-in-law's mother, etc. It doesn't go as far as the Swedes do to show heritage: Mormor is "mother's mother"; Farfar is "father's father" "Morfar" is "mother's father"--a nice telling of relationships within words themselves.
But I'm hoping that "in-law-law" will catch on because we are missing out on what to call these folks ...
Posted by Susan | October 9, 2009 4:18 PM
Posted on October 9, 2009 16:18
Just last week my 4-yr-old asked me to count to 100 by fives and I automatically started singing the Schoolhouse Rocks tune "Ready or Not, Here I Come" (counting by fives). After that I headed straight to You Tube and started watching all the those great SHR tunes I remember. My son loved them. Couldn't get enough. Did you know that Jack Johnson's "Three is a Magic Number/3 Rs" is an updated version of the SHR original? I had no idea until I heard the original version on You Tube last week.
Posted by Tracey | October 1, 2009 1:13 PM
Posted on October 1, 2009 13:13
I teach Beginning Composition in college and use Schoolhouse Rock there. Once my students see it, they really get it! Awesome!
Posted by Jan Marcus | September 30, 2009 1:16 PM
Posted on September 30, 2009 13:16
Thanks, Michael. That's some quality kids TV.
Posted by Tim | September 22, 2009 11:39 AM
Posted on September 22, 2009 11:39
Wow! I'm glad every one enjoyed this as much as I did.
And to J. Ghosen ... I think you're calling me out here. As noted in the first sentence of this post, I gave the DVDs to my brother's nephew. That would be his wife's (my sister-in-law's) sister's child. The dad I refer to is my sister-in-law's brother-in-law. For the sake of brevity, I said my "brother's nephew."
And by "hot tottie" I meant a hot drink with whiskey, lemon and, in our case, cinnamon. (Although I've heard it's also served with honey, instead of cinnamon.) I suppose it's also spelled "hot toddy."
Posted by Michael Sebastian | September 22, 2009 11:03 AM
Posted on September 22, 2009 11:03
You beat me to this post. I've been playing all the Schoolhouse Rock songs for my 4-year-old. I hope he learns something. :-)
The grammar songs come in handy for remembering things. I'll agree that Conjunction Junction is #1, but that "lolly, lolly, lolly" song gets stuck in your head for much longer(ly).
Posted by Jeremy Porter | September 22, 2009 10:35 AM
Posted on September 22, 2009 10:35
Great article, but a couple questions: Did you buy the DVDs for your brother's child or your brother's nephew? Do you mean your nephew? And is a hot tottie anything like a hot toddy?
Posted by J. Ghosen | September 22, 2009 8:53 AM
Posted on September 22, 2009 08:53
This is great! I love it!
Posted by Jamie Favreau | September 22, 2009 12:50 AM
Posted on September 22, 2009 00:50
Agreed!
Great post that gave me a few laughs.
Thanks, Michael.
Posted by Anonymous | September 21, 2009 2:31 PM
Posted on September 21, 2009 14:31
My husband and I grew up on Schoolhouse Rock. We have since given the DVD to our 5-year-old son, who can't get enough of "Conjunction Junction," Lolly Lolly, and "Three is a Magic Number." This material transcends generations.
Posted by Laura Brown | September 21, 2009 1:29 PM
Posted on September 21, 2009 13:29
Thanks for the blast from the past!
I'm just a bill, only a bill, and I'm sittin' here on Capital Hill.
Posted by DebbyM | September 21, 2009 12:50 PM
Posted on September 21, 2009 12:50
Thanks! Schoolhouse Rock helped me through more tests and exams than I can count. Some of these cartoons were so sad, though (e.g., "Figure Eight," . . . but that one did help me discover jazz artist Blossom Dearie).
Posted by James Stover | September 21, 2009 10:43 AM
Posted on September 21, 2009 10:43
I pulled up School House Rock's preamble song when my daughter had to learn it for school. She quickly learned the song and taught her entire class! I still remember it to this day and marvel at how well lessons were taught without us kids even knowing it.
Conjunction Junction is excellent as well. "Hookin' up nouns and phrases and clauses..."
Posted by Susan B-N | September 21, 2009 10:16 AM
Posted on September 21, 2009 10:16
I still remember my entire high school history class humming the preamble "we the people" while we took our constitution test.
Posted by Liz | September 21, 2009 9:10 AM
Posted on September 21, 2009 09:10
Conjunction Junction was clearly the best. Awesome vocals by Jackie Sheldon.
Posted by Ann DaButtandore | September 21, 2009 9:00 AM
Posted on September 21, 2009 09:00
Thank you!!! A great treat for a Friday afternoon. (Conjunction Junction is my all time favorite.)
Posted by ColleenH | September 18, 2009 3:57 PM
Posted on September 18, 2009 15:57