![]() The flowers would giggle after each joke. Other special regulars included a patch of daisies called the Chuckle Patch where the ladies would pull out jokes on little cards. Carole and Paula would pull out props and costumes. But when it was opened, a world of imagination appeared, giving me the tools and encouragement to allow my mind to dream. Carole and Paula had skits-my favorite being the Story Box: it was a beat up trunk box, really. ![]() Watching an episode of The Magic Garden was like going to a music class-the women pushed kids to sing faster and faster with the speed of the music, harmonizing and smiling, their easy melody a break of sorts to all of the outside noise.Īnd like a lot of children’s television shows in the 70s- Romper Room, Sesame Street, The Electric Company, The New Zoo Revue and the king of make-believe, Fred Rogers- The Magic Garden was live-action. With their soft voices and pigtails Paula and Carole had a purpose: they created a serene little oasis while sitting on swings and singing, calling kids to “come and see our garden grow.” In The Magic Garden, there was a garden of make-believe where the “magic tree grows lollypop sticks.” Paula picked on her guitar and Carole encouraged you to stamp your feet or clap your hands on the “pop” during “Pop Goes the Weasel” without sounding like a droning fire alarm. Sesame Street taught us that it was OK to have an imaginary friend (Snuffleupagus used to be Big Birds’s pretend buddy before they allowed everyone to see him).Īnd squeezed in between all of this creative genius was a sweet little interlude broadcasted on a local New York station headed by Carole Demas and Paula Janis called The Magic Garden. Schoolhouse Rock taught us about interjections. There in the comfort of your den (which morphed into the “family room” by the 1980s), the 70s were at its most educational with Sesame Street, the most influential with Fat Albert, the most feminist with Free to Be You and Me, and the most creative with The Muppet Show. The one safe place it seemed for kids of the 1970s was, believe it or not, planted in front of the television. (Urban legend warned the kid from the “ Hey Mikey, he likes it,” Life cereal commercial died from the combination.) (Though that movie, with a female pitcher of an all boys baseball team, happened to be my favorite.) We drank potentially lethal doses of Coke and Pop Rocks to see if our stomach would explode. ![]() Movies for kids revolved around drunk baseball coaches who cursed you out if you didn’t hit a home run. Girls across the US regularly burned their knuckles on the incandescent light bulb used to “cook” brownies in the iconic Easy-Bake Oven. We rolled around in dirty piles of leaves left out on the street. Kids of the 1970s weren’t exactly background noise as they were in the 1950s or worse, used as child labor as they were in the early 1900s, but if you were under 10 between 1971-1978, you probably knew the feeling of getting tossed around in the back seat of a car with no seatbelts. I definitely will need to check them out to relive an aspect of my childhood.This guest post by Hayley Krischer appears as part of our theme week on Children’s Television. They've released DVDs with whatever has survived on tape from the original episodes from the show. (This is all starting to sound like a drug-induced trip.) The funniest part was that no sooner did I see the news article that I was suddenly able to sing the entire opening theme song, which begins like this: "Here in the garden of make believe / the magical garden of make believe / where flowers chuckle and birds play tricks / and the magic tree grows lollipop sticks." Paula and Carol are now in their late 60s and still performing together. And there was the ever ridiculous, peanut-snorfing Sherlock the pink squirrel. There was the Chuckle Patch, planted daisies that had jokes written on their leaves, and when the girls read the jokes aloud, the daisies would giggle. There was the Storybox, a magical trunk that would open and close on its own (you could see the wires!), and when they would open it, there were costumes inside and they would act out a story based on whatever they found. There was always folk singing with Paula playing the guitar and Carole leading the (unseen) children in song. There's a sense of innocence and simplicity in it that I think children's shows have lost. Looking back, I realize now how low-budget and campy it was, but I loved it. The show was on in the 1970s on a local channel here in the New York area. When I was young, I absolutely loved this show. I just had a blast from the past! The New York Times has an article and video clip about one of my all-time favorite childhood television shows, The Magic Garden.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |