I've been thinking a lot about 70s children's TV lately, such as Sesame Street and The Electric Company, and in thinking of all this, I vaguely remembered a cartoon with children characters and a female vocalist, who I later realized featured characters by legendary chidlren's author and illustrator Maurice Sendak and equally legendary singer/songwriter Carole King. I searched for what this program was and discovered that it was this.
Maurice Sendak's Really Rosie is a half hour animated version of an off-Broadway musical based on various works of Sendak's with songs written by King. The special aired on CBS in February 1975, although I definitely saw it later than that (only being six months old at the time). It's as charming and well done as one would hope it would be. The special was briefly available on home video, but a DVD has never been released. The stage musical, however, is a staple among live children's theater to this day. Enjoy!
6 comments:
I adore this. Music, story, graphics. Tops.
I remember this showing up on Nickelodeon's "Special Delivery" a bunch of times as a kid, and being shown in segments on The Great Space Coaster (to Goriddle via Roy's movie machine) before that, and I'm sure it made the rounds on HBO, too. It's a great special, and the sort of thing that made me a Carole King fan at a young age. The complete special may not be available on DVD, but certain songs from it are, on one of those limited animation storybook DVDs that my son got as a gift when he was 3 or 4. It has Where the Wild Things Are, In the Night Kitchen, some songs from Chicken Soup with Rice/Really Rosie, and at least one other thing, IIRC. My son really liked One Was Johnny for awhile.
I love REALLY ROSIE. I had Carole King's tape and played it into oblivion. Just wonderful music and lyrics.
We saw ROSIE many years ago. We took our young daughter (then) to see the off-Broadway show. I still have the pin I bought in the theater and the poster. Had the poster for many years until it fell apart.
There was a brief spate of rather good children's work being offered in the early '70s, such as THE POINT and this one and FREE TO BE, to go along with the good kids educational shows on commercial television such as ABC's MAKE A WISH and the syndicated BIG BLUE MARBLE, but most of that activity, save some of the nature productions, was soon ceded back to PBS till the better kids' cable channels popped up, and really even then.
word verification: later So true.
Patti: I'm glad you loved it!
Bill D: thanks for the info, I'll look for them at my library.
Yvette: thanks for sharing, and welcome to the blog! I hope you stick around.
Todd: yes, there was an abundance of good kids TV in the 70s, and I may be exploring more of it here in the future. Later!
We rented the VHS of REALLY ROSIE from our local library and burned a DVD of it for ourselves. Shhh, don't tell.
You can also download the soundtrack at Amazon.com for only $9.99. It's made for lots of fun during long car rides with the family unit:
http://www.amazon.com/Really-Rosie/dp/B0014KDFKM
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