CBS STORYBREAK

CBS STORYBREAK

(CBS, March 30, 1985-January 28, 1989)

Southern Star Productions, Hanna-Barbera Australia, CBS Entertainment Productions

MAIN CAST:

Bob Keeshan – Host

Malcolm Jamal-Warner – Host (reruns)

            Spinning out of a regular segment of the just-ended Captain Kangaroo, star Bob Keeshan returned to host an all-new anthology series that saw the adaptation of various children’s books—typically recently-published—into animated form. It was CBS’ first in-house cartoon series since their Terrytoons after acquiring the properties, and was produced by Southern Star Productions and Hanna-Barbera Australia.

Host Bob Keeshan "reading" that episode's book on set.

CBS Storybreak debuted on CBS on March 30, 1985. Each episode saw Keeshan starring in a wraparound segment where he would stand on a set designed to look like an animated park. At the start of the episode, he would introduce the viewers to the original book and its plot, and then at the end would mention additional reading recommended by the Library of Congress (unless a preview for the next episode was shown). While most of the featured books were one-offs, several of them were the first in a series; such as Dragon’s Blood by Jane Yolen, Jeffrey’s Ghost by David A. Adler, The Gammage Cup by Carol Kendall and Ratha’s Creature by Clare Bell. The most notable adaptation was one of the Raggedy Ann and Andy books by Johnny Gruelle. Raggedy Ann had been adapted into animation before; particularly in two specials by Chuck Jones Enterprises that aired on CBS in 1978 and 1979. Their appearance here would lead to an animated series on the network, The Adventures of Raggedy Ann and Andy.

Ad for Storybreak highlighting some of the featured adaptations.

Adapting the books were Sharman Divono, Mark Evanier, Rowby Goren, Gordon Kent, Elana Lesser, Malcolm Marmorstein, Michael Maurer, Michael Reaves, Cliff Ruby, J. Michael Straczynski, and Linda Woolverton. Because the series was an anthology, there wasn’t a stable cast of characters or actors from episode to episode. Among the assortment of notable voice actors featured on the show was Hamilton Camp, Mona Marshall, Frank Welker, Michael Bell, Neil Ross, Peter Renaday, Marilyn Schreffler, June Foray, Pat Fraley, Christina Lange, Kenneth Mars, Lennie Weinrib, Linda Gary, Maurice LaMarche, Jack Angel, Brian Cummings and Joan Gerber, amongst others. The series’ music was composed by Simon Walker, John Stuart, Bruce Rowland, Chris Neal, Artie Butler, Arlon Ober, Edward Karam, Richard Kosinski and Sam Winans.

26 episodes were made in total across three seasons, with a nomination for a Daytime Emmy Award coming during its first season. After leaving the network in 1990, Storybreak returned for an additional round of reruns in 1993; however, Keeshan’s segments were replaced with all-new segments starring The Cosby Show’s Malcolm Jamal-Warner. This “new” batch of episodes ran from September 18, 1993 until August 19, 1995. Notably, they featured open captions by the Caption Center for the Hearing Impaired which not only aided those with hearing disabilities, but allowed others to read along with the adventures as an enhancement of the show’s pro-reading message. Reruns would return to the network one final time from January 3 through September 26 in 1998.

One of the VHS releases.

Through CBS’ distribution deal with 20^th Century Fox, “Arnold of the Ducks”, “C.L.U.T.Z.”, “Chocolate Fever” and “How to Eat Fried Worms” were released to VHS as Video Storybreak through Fox’s Playhouse Video imprint in 1992. In 1998, Fox Home Entertainment released two additional episodes: “Robbut: A Tale of Tails” and “Yeh-Shen: A Cinderella Story”.

EPISODE GUIDE:

Season 1:

“The Great Ringtail Garbage Caper” (3/30/85) – A group of desperate racoons organize bold schemes when their food supply is threatened b a pair of efficient garbage collector.

“Yeh-Shen: A Cinderella Story From China” (4/6/85) – Ye Xian’s wish to attend a festival is granted, but when she runs off after fearing being recognized she leaves a golden slipper behind.

“Robbut: A Tale of Tails” (4/13/85) – Helping a magician out of a trap earns Robbut the rabbit his grandest wish: to have a different tail.

“How to Eat Fried Worms” (4/20/85) – Billy is challenged to eat a worm a day for 15 days for $50, and he proceeds to do so while experimenting with different ways to make the worms tastier.

“Zucchini” (4/27/85) – A ferret named Zucchini seeks freedom and escapes from the zoo, but ends up meeting and becoming the pet and friend of a young boy.

“Hank the Cowdog” (5/4/85) – The adventures of Hank, a dog that views himself the “Head of Ranch Security”.

“The Double Disappearance of Walter Fozbek” (5/11/85) – Young boy Walter wakes up one day in an alternate dimension populated by human-like dinosaurs.

“Chocolate Fever” (5/18/85) – Henry loves and eats so much chocolate that he ends up contracting the rare disease, chocolate fever.

“Dragon’s Blood” (5/25/85) – Jakkin steals a baby dragon to raise and train to fight so that he can earn enough money to buy himself out of bond.

“Arnold of the Ducks” (6/1/85) – A young boy is mistaken for a fish by a nearsighted pelican and dropped into a family of ducks.

Season 2:

“C.L.U.T.Z.” (9/14/85) – Rodney befriends the broken-down robot that comes to work for his family.

“Witch-Cat” (9/21/85) – A cat has to teach a young girl that she is a witch and how to use her magical powers.

“The Pig Plantagenet” (9/28/85) – Plantagenet can’t decide if he likes the free-roaming lifestyle of his cousin more than his barnyard existence when the forest come under threat of destruction.

“Harry, the Fat Bear Spy” (10/12/85) – Bearmania spy Harry is sent to discover why all the macaroons coming out of the factory are a disgusting shade of green.

“Hugh Pine” (10/26/85) – Genius porcupine Hugh decides to emulate being a human being to avoid being flattened on the highway.

“The Roquefort Gang” (11/9/85) – Three mice help another rescue a group of mice from prison.

Season 3:

“Mama Don’t Allow” (9/19/87) – Miles and his Swamp Band find a willing audience in a group of alligators, not realizing they’re intended to become dinner once the show is over.

“The Shy Stegosaurus of Cricket Creek” (9/26/87) – Joan and Joey set out to find dinosaur fossils, and instead find and befriend an actual dinosaur.

“What Happened in Hamelin” (10/3/87) – When a town refuses to pay a piper, he plans to get his payback through the town’s children.

“The Monster’s Ring” (10/10/87) – Russell buys a magic ring from a strange magic shop that ends up being genuine and transforms him into a monster.

“Max and Me and the Time Machine” (10/17/87) – Max doubts Steve’s time machine actually works until they both end up in medieval England in the bodies of a knight and his horse.

“The Gammage Cup” (10/24/87) – Despite not living in harmony, a race of tiny people have to come together to protect their valley against a horde of evil creatures.

“Jeffrey’s Ghost” (9/17/88) – A baseball team comprised of kids nobody wants to play with ends up becoming a team of winners through the machinations of a friendly ghost.

“Grinny” (9/24/88) – Tim and Beth notice a lot of strange things about their Great Aunt Emma when she appears for a visit out of nowhere.

“Raggedy Ann and Andy and the Camel with the Wrinkled Knees” (10/1/88) – Raggedy Ann and Andy team-up with a strange camel doll to rescue Babette from a group of pirates.

“Ratha’s Creature” (1/28/89) – A prehistoric wild cat named Ratha bucks her herd’s trend of only males being herders and is banished to live amongst their enemies, the UnNamed.

THE ADVENTURES OF RAGGEDY ANN AND ANDY

THE ADVENTURES OF RAGGEDY ANN AND ANDY

(CBS, September 17-December 10, 1988)

CBS Entertainment Productions

MAIN CAST:

Christina Lange – Raggedy Ann

Josh Rodine – Raggedy Andy

Charles Adler – Grouchy Bear

Kenneth Mars – The Camel with the Wrinkled Knees

Dana Hill – Raggedy Dog

Katie Leigh – Sunny Bunny

Kath Soucie – Raggedy Cat

Tracy Rowe – Marcella

Raggedy Ann is a rag doll with a candy heart in her chest, making her a gentle and caring sort. Her brother, Raggedy Andy, is more adventurous, bold and mischievous. They have graced the pages of many books and even spawned their own line of actual dolls whose popularity has long surpassed those of the books. Now, while it may have been a given to make fictional toys into real one, they were, in fact, based off of an actual toy.

The original book.

            Author and illustrator Johnny Gruelle was searching for something in the attic of his parents’ home sometime in the early 20^th century and stumbled upon an old homemade ragdoll that belonged to his sister. Gruelle thought the doll would make a good story and kept it; however it wasn’t until his daughter, Marcella, was born that anything came of it. Watching her play with her dolls inspired Gruelle’s stories surrounding the doll he had found.

One of the original handmade dolls.

            Gruelle named the doll “Raggedy Ann” from the James Whitcomb Riley poems “The Raggedy Man” and “Little Orphant Annie” and submitted it to the U.S. Patent office. By the time his patent was granted in 1915, Marcella had died from an infected vaccination at the age of 13. Raggedy Ann was subsequently utilized as the mascot for the anti-vaccination movement at the time. In 1918, Gruelle published the first Raggedy Ann book, Raggedy Ann Stories, through the P.F. Volland Company. A version of the doll was handmade by Gruelle’s family to sell along with the book. The book and the doll proved a success, and Gruelle released the follow-up in 1920, Raggedy Andy Stories, which introduced Ann’s brother Andy, while the doll entered mass production. Their owner in the book, Marcella, was modeled after Gruelle’s daughter.

            Gruelle continued writing new Raggedy Ann stories until his death in 1938, however books kept being made and he received credit for them for the next two decades. In 1941, Fleischer Studios adapted the series into a theatrical short called Raggedy Ann and Andy. They produced two more in 1944 and 1947. Dell and Gold Key published comic books starring the characters between 1946 and 1973.The franchise received a feature film in 1977 called Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Musical Adventure directed by Richard Williams and starring Didi Conn, which was adapted into a stage play in 1981. The next two years, CBS aired two holiday-themed specials directed by legendary director Chuck Jones and starring June Foray and Daws Butler: Raggedy Ann and Andy in the Great Santa Claus Caper and Raggedy Ann and Andy in the Pumpkin Who Couldn’t Smile. An adaptation of the book The Camel with the Wrinkled Knees aired as an episode of CBS Storybreak.

Production cel featuring Ann, Andy, Grouchy, Camel, Raggedy Cat and Raggedy Dog.

            Based on the ratings for the specials it aired, and for the franchise’s 70^th anniversary, CBS commissioned a new animated series starring Raggedy Ann (Christina Lange) and Andy (Josh Rodine). The series revolved around Ann and Andy, as well as their friends Grouchy Bear (Charles Adler), The Camel with the Wrinkled Knees (Kenneth Mars), Sunny Bunny (Katie Leigh), Raggedy Dog (Dana Hill) and Raggedy Cat (Kath Soucie) as they journeyed to foreign lands or alternate dimensions to combat the evil, but inept, sorcerer, Cracklin. Their owner, Marcella (Tracy Rowe) was unaware of their adventures as the toys would remain lifeless in the presence of humans (ala Toy Story).

The evil wizard Cracklin.

            The Adventures of Raggedy Ann and Andy premiered on September 17, 1988. It ran for a single season of 13 episodes, all directed by Jeff Hall and written by Chris Weber, Karen Willson, George Atkins, Gordon Bressack, Sheryl Scarborough, Kayte Kuch, Linda Woolverton, Buzz Dixon and Janis Diamond, who also served as story editor and developed the show. Davis Doi provided the character designs as well as produced the show. Bobby Bennett and David Storrs composed the show’s theme, and animation was handled by Wang Film Production Company’s Cuckoo’s Nest Studios and Hung Long Animation Company.

Off on another adventure!

Despite the show’s short run, CBS kept it on its schedule until the fall of 1990. In 1998, 20^th Century Fox released most of the show on single-episode VHS tapes. In 2014, New Video Group released the complete series to DVD, as well as across three DVD collections containing four episodes each. 

EPISODE GUIDE:

“The Perriwonk Adventure” (9/17/88) – The toys track down Marcella’s missing locket to a village where it will be offered as a sacrifice.

“The Pirate Adventure” (9/24/88) – A treasure hunt leads to Andy being kidnapped by priates.

“The Mabbit Adventure” (10/1/88) – Ann, Andy and Sunny Bunny have to help the Mabbits protect their spell book from Cracklin.

“The Beastly Ghost Adventure” (10/8/88) – The ghosts from Marcella’s ghost story appear to come to “life”.

“The Pixling Adventure” (10/15/88) – Ann and Andy have to return a prince before the evil Count Gerich takes over.

“The Ransom of Sunny Bunny Adventure” (10/22/88) – Cracklin has Sunny Bunny kidnapped in order to lure Ann and Andy into a trap.

“The Megamite Adventure” (10/29/88) – Marcella’s cousin’s robot Magamite is taken to another dimension and used by Cracklin to transform that world’s water into silver.

“The Boogeyman Adventure” (11/5/88) – Ann and Andy have to rescue a good boogeyman from Cracklin before he turns him into his own personal monster.

“The Christmas Adventure” (11/12/88) – Ann and Andy try to help find Santa’s stolen sleigh in order to save Christmas.

“The Sacred Cat Adventure” (11/19/88) – A magic genie kidnaps Raggedy Cat and unintentionally takes the other toys with them.

“The Little Chicken Adventure” (11/26/88) – Marcella’s rocking horse pretends to be a unicorn and ends up in the sights of Little Chicken, an Indian boy that needs to rope a unicorn.

“The Warrior Star Adventure” (12/3/88) – Ann, Andy and friends end up embroiled in a conflict between Marcella’s new toys and have to keep one of them from conquering the universe.

“The Magic Wings Adventure” (12/10/88) – Ann and Andy attempt to return a gigantic purple egg to its nest.

Originally posted in 2017. Updated in 2020.