Curiosity Shop is an American children's educational television program produced by ABC. The show was executive produced by Chuck Jones, sponsored by the Kellogg's cereal company and created as a commercial rival to the public television series Sesame Street. Curiosity Shop was broadcast from September 11, 1971 to September 2, 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: clothing, music, dance, weather, the five senses, space, time, rules, flight, dolls, etc.

Production

After NET (soon to become PBS) premiered Sesame Street in November 1969, the show proved to be successful and gained high ratings; its success gained attention from Michael Eisner, ABC’s Vice President. He asked animator Chuck Jones to create a series to rival its success and be the executive producer. Kellogg’s signed on to be the show’s sponsor. Unlike Sesame Street, the show is geared more towards young adolescents. Jones and Eisner tapped puppeteer Bob Baker (cofounder of the Bob Baker Marionette Theater) to create the show’s puppets and its setting. Baker was reluctant at first, though he later agreed. Irving Phillips provided some scripts and animation art, including an animation of his syndicated comic strip The Strange World of Mr. Mum. Animations of Mell Lazarus's comic strip Miss 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. Abe Levitow animated most of these short segments. Ray Bradbury is also credited as one of the show's writers. Henry Mancini created the bossa nova theme music for the show's title sequence (animated by Jones). Dean Elliott wrote additional music for the show.

Cast and characters

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". Chuck Jones contributed two new animated characters to the show: Mel Blanc, June Foray, Bob Holt, Don Messick and Les Tremayne provided the voices of the puppets. Puppet characters Created by Bob Baker (co-founder of the Bob Baker Marionette Theater in Los Angeles), the show's puppets included: Other characters Guests Guests on the program included: 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. (The pilot aired in prime time, Thursday, September 2, 1971, pre-empting Alias Smith and Jones.)

Episodes