Curiosity Shop

"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.

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.

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.

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.

This was indeed a "lost" children's classic that was never heard from since it's original broadcast more than decades ago. This was probably the best children's show ever made for Saturday Morning TV which basically ran for three seasons on ABC-TV from September of 1971 to September of 1973. I don't know how many episodes were produced for this show,but during its run garnered more Emmy and Peabody awards for best children's programming and likewise this show was at the top of list for execeptional children's entertainment at it's finest,courtesy of its star and also the executive producer of this series,legendary animator Chuck Jones,who was also the CEO and head honcho of children's programming over at ABC-TV during the early 1970's,which Jones was responsible for bringing to the network brilliant shows as well including "Schoolhouse Rock","The Superfriends","The Jackson Five",and other interesting and informative specials which were both live-action and animated.

The Curiosity Shop was not the usual out of the mill animation dreck but out of the ordinary was basically a fun show to watch that was very informative and educational and sometimes there was something special waiting to happen in some of the episodes,but with Chuck Jones behind the helm you'll never know what to expect as long as you got something out of it and you'll learn a great lesson here too. As for the cast,they're were something too,especially the premiere episode which featured actress Shirley Jones of "The Partridge Family" fame,and also cast regulars Pamelyn Ferdin(a well known child actress who was best known for her roles in several TV shows including "Lassie" "The Brady Bunch",and also for her role as Tony Randall's daughter Edna from the series "The Odd Couple"),and also from Kerry MacLane and John Levin,Les Tremayne and Jere Fields,whom the producers brought in during the show's second season and also voiceover work from the greats in the business Mel Blanc,June Foray,Bob Halt,Don Messick,and also from Chuck Jones too.

By the way,the lunchbox from that decade is worth something these days,and its a classic! The Halloween episode is probably the best out of the series,and it explains in detail about horror and also when they did a unmasking scene from "The Phantom Of The Opera"! Impressive! Let's hope that this show resurfaces again especially with the hunger of the cable/satellite markets,or maybe sometime soon cable giant TV Land will bring this back as part of there TV Land Kitschen format,since they have restored countless 1970's Saturday Morning TV classic live-action shows and they may bring this back!