Curiosity Shop

I have been looking for video of this show for decades. Thank God someone has finally put some clips on YouTube. If you haven't seen them, you have to check them out. The opening sequence is there, as well as a commercial and network promos for the whole Saturday morning lineup from 1971. If nothing else, it proves to my family that I didn't make this show up in my own mind.

I wish I could find the Halloween special...as many here have said, it stands out in my mind (few other things from that long ago have made it this far in my memory).

Onomatopoeia was my favorite, which explains a lot about me...

My twin girls, in first grade, just told me that they are learning about "sound" words, and I immediately had a flashback to the "Onomatopoeia" song, which I am pretty sure I first heard on the "Curiousity Shop" all these many years ago. Here are some of the lyrics, as I remember them (yes, I even remember the basic tune): "Onomatopoeia, Onomatopoeia, it's the word you spell by ear. Onomatopoeia, Onomatopoeia, it's a word for a sound that you always hear -- like a crash, bang, boom." I read on Wikipedia that a specific puppet represented the Onomatopoeia and made all kinds of sounds. Can someone, somehow, somewhere post a YouTube video with this song? I'll even settle for the lyrics. The so-called "modern" Onomatopoeia songs don't hold a candle to the Chuck Jones version. PLEASE, Please if anyone knows a link to the lyrics or the right YouTube video, post it in the comments somewhere! This was a truly great show - obviously, since I remember this from more than 40 years ago!

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.

I remember this show and also had the Curiosity Shop lunch box. It was from the good old days when T.V. wasn't only about making money. The major networks served the public interest in those days.

The girl in the show was also on "Lassie" and on the "Brady Bunch" episode where Jan buys the black wig. I think she was an episode of "The Odd Couple" too.

Someone needs to put this thing on DVD. If only to scare the pants off of a new generation of kids. I was fascinated by this show, and remember precious little about it other than it featured three kids (including perennial favorite Pamelyn Ferdin) and a Laugh-In Joke Wall-type series of doors out of which a number of puppets would poke their heads and talk to the kids. And these puppets scared the HELL out of me. But it was a good scared because I loved watching the show. I don't remember anything about the cartoon elements of the show, or even that Chuck Jones and Mel Blanc were involved (when I watched it, at age five). But I read recently that Chuck was pretty heavily involved in the production of the show, so: daughter Linda Jones, if you're listening and you own the rights to this thing, put it on DVD! Does anyone remember the names of the puppets or what creatures they were supposed to be? There was one in particular which really gave me the heeby-jeebies, but I couldn't even describe it now to save my life.