Curiosity Shop

OK I have one word for all those who remember this show, Onemonapeia ( I hope I spelled it right). That was the name of my favorite puppet on this wonderful show. I was like 8 or 9 when this show was on and I remember I even had the lunch box. I remember that puppet in particular because he spoke in sound effects hence the name. I remember there were a lot of famous cartoonist involved in this show including Chuck Jones and voice over artist like Mel Blanc, Daws Butler, and Don Messick. I too wish somebody would release this on DVD along with other childhood memories of mine like Do-Do the Kid From Outer Space, The Bugaloos, Lancelot Link Secret Chimp and The Double Decker London Bus. I would love to have the opportunity to be able to watch these nostalgic favorites.

I have very fond memories of this show. In fact, I think it had a large influence on my career choice in animation. "The Curiosity Shop" would regularly show animated shorts that had no other venue in the US. There was a talking TV character that would show them on her screen. (She was a grandmother character with a shawl over her console and instead of legs, she sat on rockers like a rocking chair. I don't remember who provided the voice. Many of the animated films presented were from the National Film Board of Canada, Zagreb Yugoslavia and often Oscar nominees and/or winners. I distinctly remember some of the short films by Ryan Larkin, especially his Oscar winning "Walking". Interestingly enough, Larkin was the subject of the Oscar winning animated short film for 2003, "Ryan". I must confess that another reason I had to watch the show was my mild crush on child actress Pamelyn Ferdin. My hat is off to the late Chuck Jones for helping to create such a wonderful and influential show.

"Onomatopoeia" is the name of the multi-armed, fuzzy-faced puppet who made sound effects. His nickname was "Ono." One of the main puppets was a short little bearded fellow in a bowler hat who was an inventor. He also was in animated segments where he would talk of things that he did back in the old country in Bosnia—the first time I ever heard of that place. This was the show I saw the animated short "Flatland" on, and possibly "The Dot and the Line." Ray Bradbury did a spooky little poem called "The Groon" that was also animated here. The younger boy, who looked a lot like Boxy on the old Battlestar Galactica show, once had a slogan T-shirt on that said, "Shoelaces are a drag." Thanks to all the other commentators for reminding me of forgotten details. I too had a juvenile crush on Pamelyn Ferdin.

Probably one of the best shows ever made for Saturday morning TV, not the usual animated dreck but a fun show that was also informative and educational. I remember best a show about horror, done for Halloween, where I first saw the unmasking scene from "The Phantom of the Opera". I even had a Curiosity Shop lunchbox! Hopefully, with the ever growing hunger of the cable/satellite TV monster, this show will someday resurface.

I too remember this show. Shirley Jones appeared in the premiere episode. The animal puppets were classic. I had a punch-out book of the Curiosity Shop, that I could set up with all the animal puppets in the wagon or whatever that was they were all in. All I can recall of the puppets was the basset hound, the giraffe and the duck-bill platypus who was a person in a full costume and never spoke. He wore big sneakers too. Pamelyn Ferdin, a child actress all over tv shows back then, perhaps best found as one of the five children in the Guardian Angel episode of the sixties Star Trek, was one of the kids and the older boy can be found in several episodes of Brady Bunch as Bobby's friend, particularly in the episode with Joe Namath. A black girl was eventually brought in, I guess to appeal to affirmative action that was going on back then. I also recall the Halloween episode. All the puppets were dressed up as monsters and the platypus was a vampire. It was very creepy seeing them all like that. Was it the final episode I recall that had the children leave the curiostiy shop, saying good bye and once outside we were treated to them hopping around in multi-colored psychedelic swirls, with only their silhouettes moving, accompanied by some very funky music?

I would love to see this show again. For the longest time I equated Shirley Jones with this show more than I did Partridge Family.