The Magic Garden (TV series)

Last updated
The Magic Garden
Screenshot of The Magic Garden TV Show.jpg
Hosts Paula Janis (left) and Carole Demas (right)
Created by
Starring
  • Carole Demas
  • Paula Janis
Theme music composer
  • Carole Demas
  • Paula Janis
Opening theme“The Hello Song”
ComposersAlton Alexander
George Kayatta
Country of originUnited States (1972–1984)
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons12
No. of episodes52 plus one holiday special
Production
Production locationsWPIX studios, New York City
Camera setupmulti-camera
Running time30 minutes
Production companyWPIX-TV
Original release
Network WPIX-11
ReleaseMarch 6, 1972 (1972-03-06) 
September 14, 1984 (1984-09-14)

The Magic Garden is a live-action children's television program that aired Mondays through Thursdays from March 6, 1972, to September 14, 1984, on WPIX-11 in the New York City metropolitan area. Produced and broadcast in the world's largest television market, the show became popular with millions of children. As characterized by The New York Times, The Magic Garden "was a cheerful, low-budget, inadvertently psychedelic half-hour show in which Carol and Paula sat on giant toadstools, spoke to flowers, sang songs and told stories." [1]

Contents

Summary

Carole and Paula, the main characters and hosts of the show, sing several songs throughout each episode, often accompanied by Paula's acoustic guitar. The show takes place entirely within the Magic Garden, a colorful set that includes the Magic Tree, which lowers various objects from its branches. Also found throughout the garden are swings, a stone path, a shed, and the Chuckle Patch, a giggling bed of flowers that grows leaves with jokes on one side and the punch line on the other. Many conversations take place at a low stone wall with Sherlock (a mischievous squirrel puppet with a love for peanuts) and Flapper (a colorful bird who was a later addition to the characters in the garden). Stories are often acted out using costumes and props provided by the Story Box. In addition to songs, games, and jokes, the characters provide life lessons for viewers, and extend personal greetings to members of their television audience—for example: "Hello, Judy. Hello, Jeffrey."

The show aired on WPIX at various times during the day on weekdays, but only four days a week, from Monday through Thursday. At some points, it led out of morning cartoons, leading into religious programming. After 1975, it aired afternoons, leading out of religious and public affairs shows into the afternoon cartoons. On Fridays until October 1, 1982, in place of The Magic Garden, another children's show produced at WPIX called Joya's Fun School aired in its time slot. After that other children's shows would replace The Magic Garden in the Friday slot. Finally, WPIX dropped The Magic Garden altogether on September 14, 1984. WPIX wanted to be strictly entertainment programming during daytime hours and modernize its programming. In the year before, WPIX dropped The 700 Club and at the time it canceled The Magic Garden, the station ended its weekday non-commercial hour of public affairs programs as well.

Development and reception

The hosts Carole Demas and Paula Janis, who had met as students at Brooklyn's Midwood High School, and later became New York City school teachers, helped to develop the show. In 1971, Demas (having worked in television and on the professional stage, and in rehearsal for her starring role in Grease on Broadway) was invited by WPIX to host an early-afternoon cartoon program. During the audition, Demas suggested an alternative idea. Asking Janis to come with her to a second audition, Demas and Janis presented a slower-paced show designed to avoid overstimulating young children's developing brains. After being hired, the two women spent the next year developing The Magic Garden, with the help of former Muppets puppeteer Cary Antebi, who created Sherlock. Many of the folk songs featured on the show came from material that Demas and Janis had created as schoolteachers. [1]

52 half-hour episodes, a one-hour holiday special (which aired on December 13, 1981 [2] ), and a one-hour retrospective The Magic Garden: Still Growing (2002) were produced. According to Carole and Paula's website, local ratings were equal to or exceeded those of other shows in its genre, such as Sesame Street . [3] Three record albums were released due to high demand, one of which received a Grammy nomination. The program received citations from Actions for Children's Television and from the Children's Television Workshop for its creative efforts.

On Thanksgiving Day 2002, a special hosted by Carole and Paula aired on WPIX titled The Magic Garden: Still Growing, on which the duo reminisced about the show. This was followed by the broadcast of two episodes shown for the first time on the channel in 18 years. A DVD including ten episodes, as well as CDs, were released in 2008.

On December 13, 2013, WPIX announced via social media [2] [4] that The Magic Garden Christmas Special, which had not been seen since its broadcast 32 years before, had been "recently discovered...in a forgotten basement vault" and would be aired by the station on the following Christmas Day. After popular acclaim, WPIX has repeated the episode at Christmastime every year since.

Demas is married and appears on stage, television, film, concerts, and cabaret. Janis works in television and has three children. They continue to promote The Magic Garden by doing public appearances and live children's shows billed as Carole and Paula: Friends Forever. Demas and Janis are also working with the WPIX Archives department on a series of Magic Garden moments, recollections of the original series for publication on the archive's Facebook page.

Credits

Planned revival

An article in the November 8, 2021, issue of Licensing Magazine stated that Hot Spaghetti Productions was running a crowdfunding campaign for an animated version of the show, to be titled "The New Magic Garden"; it would star younger versions of all the characters, and it would feature the voices of Carole Demas and Paula Janis. [5]

The Robot Chicken episode "Slaughterhouse on the Prairie" (season 3, episode 13) includes a brief sketch titled "Raiders of the Magic Garden"; Carole and Paula open the Story Box, and out come ghosts and destructive energy (like those from the Ark of the Covenant in Raiders of the Lost Ark ), killing the two women. [6]

Related Research Articles

<i>Captain Kangaroo</i> American childrens television series

Captain Kangaroo is an American children's television series that aired weekday mornings on the American television network CBS for 29 years, from 1955 to 1984, making it the longest-running nationally broadcast children's television program of its day. In 1986, the American Program Service integrated some newly produced segments into reruns of past episodes, distributing the newer version of the series to PBS and independent public stations until 1993.

<i>Mister Rogers Neighborhood</i> American childrens television series

Mister Rogers' Neighborhood is an American half-hour educational children's television series that ran from 1968 to 2001. It was created and hosted by Fred Rogers. Its original incarnation, the series Misterogers debuted in Canada on October 15, 1962, on CBC Television. In 1966, Rogers moved back to the United States creating Misterogers' Neighborhood, later called Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, on the regional Eastern Educational Television Network. The U.S. national debut of the show occurred on February 19, 1968. It aired on NET and its successor, PBS, until August 31, 2001.

WPIX is a television station in New York City, serving as the de facto flagship of The CW Television Network. Owned by Mission Broadcasting, the station is operated by CW majority owner Nexstar Media Group under a local marketing agreement (LMA). Since its inception in 1948, WPIX's studios and offices have been located in the Daily News Building on East 42nd Street in Midtown Manhattan. The station's transmitter is located at the Empire State Building.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shari Lewis</span> American ventriloquist and puppeteer (1933–1998)

Shari Lewis was a Peabody-winning American ventriloquist, puppeteer, children's entertainer, television show host, dancer, singer, actress, author, and symphony conductor. She famously created and performed the sock puppet Lamb Chop for Captain Kangaroo in March 1956.

The Yule Log is a television show originating in the United States, which is broadcast traditionally on Christmas Eve or Christmas morning. It originally aired from 1966 to 1989 on New York City television station WPIX, which revived the broadcast in 2001. A radio simulcast of the musical portion was broadcast by WPIX-TV's former sister station, WPIX-FM, until 1988.

<i>Mr. Dressup</i> Canadian childrens television series

Mr. Dressup is a Canadian children's television series, starring Ernie Coombs, a former understudy of Fred Rogers, in the title role. It ran on CBC from 1967 to 1996, soon becoming an iconic presence in Canadian media.

<i>Howdy Doody</i> American childrens television series (1947–1960)

Howdy Doody is an American children's television program that was created and produced by Victor F. Campbell and E. Roger Muir. It was broadcast on the NBC television network in the United States from December 27, 1947, until September 24, 1960. It was a pioneer of children's programming and set the pattern for many similar shows. One of the first television series produced at NBC in Rockefeller Center, in Studio 3A, it pioneered color production in 1956 and NBC used the show to promote color television sets in the late 1950s.

The Magic Door was a Jewish educational television series, aimed at providing kiruv (outreach) to Jewish children in the Chicago metropolitan area but intended to appeal to all children in the 5-to-9-age group. The show was produced by the Chicago Board of Rabbis, and premiered January 1, 1962. The show ran weekly until January 1, 1982. It aired at 9:00 AM every Sunday on WBBM-TV.

The Famous Adventures of Mr. Magoo is an American animated television series produced by United Productions of America that aired for one season on NBC from September 19, 1964 to April 24, 1965. It is the follow-up to the 1960/61 series Mister Magoo, with Jim Backus reprising the title role.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Agro (puppet)</span> Australian puppet and media personality

Agro is an Australian puppet and media personality, not owned although operated by comedian and voice artist Jamie Dunn. He was especially prominent on Australian television in the 1990s due to his co-hosting opposite Ann-Maree Biggar and Terasa Livingstone of Agro's Cartoon Connection, a children's program that was aired from 1989 to 1997 on weekday mornings on the Seven Network.

Adventure Time was a local children's television show on WTAE-TV 4 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from 1958 to 1979. It was hosted by Paul Shannon from 1958 until his retirement in 1975, accompanied by guitarist Joe Negri and puppeteer Jim Martin. Negri took over as the show's host from 1975 until 1979.

The DJ Kat Show was a children's television programme presented by the puppet DJ Kat and his friend Linda de Mol, the sister of Endemol founder John de Mol, which ran from 1 September 1986 to 31 December 1995. The show was first broadcast to Europe on satellite and cable channel Sky Channel and later on Sky One and Sky Europe. The show was aired every weekday morning and afternoon, and throughout its life was home to a particularly large number of imported animated series. A separate version of The DJ Kat Show was later created for the United States where it was aired on stations affiliated with the Fox Broadcasting Company, including WNYW, Fox's flagship station. This article focuses primarily on the original European version.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chuck McCann</span> American actor (1934–2018)

Charles John Thomas McCann was an American actor, comedian, puppeteer, commercial presenter and television host. His career spanned over 70 years. He was best known for his work in presenting children's television programming and animation, as well as his own program The Chuck McCann Show and he also recorded comedy parody style albums.

Captain Noah and His Magical Ark was a television program for children and was generally broadcast around the Philadelphia area. The series aired from 1967 to 1994. It was filmed and produced at the WPVI-TV, Channel 6 studios in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

William Cohen was an American actor born in Philadelphia, to an opera actor and singer. As Bill Britten, he is best known for his portrayal of Bozo the Clown in the New York City market.

TV Powww was a franchised television game show format, in which home viewers controlled a video game via telephone in hopes of winning prizes.

<i>The Rootie Kazootie Club</i> 1950 American TV series or program

Rootie Kazootie was the principal character on the 1950-1954 children's television show The Rootie Kazootie Club. The show was the creation of Steve Carlin and featured human actors along with hand puppets.

The Yogi Bear Show is an American comedy animated television series, and the first entry of the Yogi Bear franchise, produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions. A spin-off of The Huckleberry Hound Show, the show centers on the adventures of forest-dwelling Yogi Bear in Jellystone Park. The show debuted in syndication on January 30, 1961, and ran for 33 episodes until January 6, 1962. Two other segments for the show were Snagglepuss and Yakky Doodle. The show had a two-year production run.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carole Demas</span> American actress

Carole Demas is an American actress, best known for originating the roles of Sandy in the 1971 Broadway musical Grease and the title role in the original 1976 production of The Baker's Wife, for many prime time television roles, hundreds of commercials, and for her role in the long-running children's television show The Magic Garden. The winding path of Carole's career, highlighted in Schirmer, Citadel and Applause Books chronicling the trials and triumphs of Broadway, has taken her from her early days as Miss Vermont in The Miss Universe Contest, to major roles from coast to coast. Her cabaret and concert performances have brought funds and attention to many worthy causes.

An Aniform is a two-dimensional cartoon character operated like a puppet, to be displayed to live audiences or in visual media. The concept was invented by Morey Bunin with his spouse Charlotte, Bunin being a puppeteer who had worked with string marionettes and hand puppets. The distinctive feature of an Aniforms character is that it displays a physical form that appears "animated" on a real or simulated television screen. The technique was used in television production.

References

  1. 1 2 Itzkoff, Dave. "For ‘The Magic Garden,’ It's Spring All Over Again," New York Times (Nov. 10, 2008).
  2. 1 2 "PIX 11's Facebook Timeline Photos". PIX 11's Facebook page. 13 December 2013.
  3. "The Magic Garden," Carole and Paula—Friends Forever Web Site. Accessed May 7, 2014.
  4. "Big news! The Magic Garden Christmas Special, not seen since its 1981 debut, airs 6 p.m. Christmas Day on PIX!". "WPIX TV Archives" Twitter feed. 13 December 2013.
  5. The Magic Garden Looking to Reboot with a New Animated Series at Licensing Magazine
  6. "Robot Chicken does... Indiana Jones (Part 2)" on YouTube