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Summary
Though it ended in 1977 , the half - hour children ’s programNew Zoo Revueis still revered today for its unfearing and innovative tackling of issue that child need help dispense with . The show was melodic in nature , with creator Douglas Momary writing over 600 original songs for the 196 sequence that aired . The serial came into being with the aid of Barbara Atlas , a toy dog society executive who commissioned Momary to craft a show around Freddie the beanbag toad frog . From there , Momary die on to nail a title , indite a theme Sung , and add the characters of Henrietta the Hippo and Charlie the Owl ( who was originally a giraffe ) .
New Zoo Revue ’s success was also in big part due to his wife , Emily Josephine Peden , who joined him onscreen as zoo helper Emmy Jo . Their chemical science and communication helped turn over zillion of children across the body politic — not to mention the world , as the show was translated into Japanese and Mandarin — and build a bequest that has lasted as long as their now 50 - year marriage . However , it was n’t until recently that they tell apart the impact of their workplace , thanks to their daughter Joanna hosting a Facebook page call " The New Zoo Revue " in its pureness . Since then , they ’ve take part in severalFacebook liveswith fans and even been uproariously welcome at San Diego Comic - Con .
Roughly 200 episodes of Sesame Street have been pulled from HBO Max - and , surprisingly , this could be a bigger mistake than Batgirl …
Screen Rantspoke to Doug and Emmy Jo about their doting memories of filmingNew Zoo Revue , their feelings upon happen upon the background of its influence , and their hopes for restoring old episodes as well as craft next ones .
Doug & Emmy Jo Talk New Zoo Revue
Screen Rant : I think you guy cable have one of the most amazing ahead - of - its - clip fry ’s display out there , and also one of the most memorable theme songs . New Zoo Revuejust get stuck in your head as it is . The show was in spades ahead of its prison term in helping kids focus on feelings and relationships . It was a miscellany ofSesame StreetandMr . Rogers . Doug , what trip the approximation forNew Zoo Revueand how did you conceptualize character like Freddie the Frog , Henrietta the Hippo , and Charlie the Owl ?
Doug Momary : Yeah , Henrietta was one of our favorites . Really , it all happened while I was live on to school at Cal State Fullerton , and I was just like any other house child , just out there doing my thing . And my ma worked at a toy store in Whittier , California , and the owner of that toy dog store had a beanbag frog named Freddie and some contacts in LA . So she recite my mom , " I really want to do something with this beanbag toad frog . Do you know anybody who could facilitate ? " My mom , being a good mom , said , " Well , my Logos is in theatre of operations . He could help you save it . “Actually , I was a playwriting major , so I suppose , " Wow , man , do I desire to do this instead of all this other cool stuff and nonsense I ’m doing ? " But I die and forgather with her and she said , " Can you create something around this anuran ? " I said , " Yeah , let me see what I can do . " I run back , started playing the guitar , came up with a root word song , sketched out the exercise set , name the beanbag Freddie , and we really had Henrietta Hippo . I thought , " Man , it ’d be great to have a hippo on this . " And I actually total up with Charlie the Giraffe . It was the first draft of this , and we decided that ’s not go to make for on a solidification because you ’re going to have to have a wide gibe the whole clip . I cash in one’s chips in and played it for Emmy Jo , and she just thought it was great . Emmy Jo Peden : I switch out . Doug Momary : And the next thing we get laid , we were audition for Mattel Toys .
Emmy Jo , let me necessitate you this . Can you divvy up some of your pet memories fromNew Zoo Revue ?
Emmy Jo Peden : Well , it was just wonderful . It was an pureness for me because I have a theater background . I do n’t have a setting in television at all . And to work with the people that we shape with because we had some of the good in the business , and so they were so helpful in helping me learn the ropes because it ’s very unlike performing on tv set than in a openhanded theatre . And it was just great . I loved Henrietta Hippo . Oh my good . Larry Thomas , who was in the costume , was one of the most famous dancers in Hollywood . And then Sharon Baird , who was in the Charlie the Owl costume , was one of the original Mousketeers , and I used to follow her on the Mickey Mouse Club . It was fun . It was a terrific group of people , and we just had lots of fun together .
I did n’t know that Chuck Woolery was in your first season , which is unbelievable .
Doug Momary : Yeah . Well , we feel we needed an older guy , so we dressed Chuck Woolery as an older postman , and it was Mr. Dingle , and that was his first acting gig , so we got a little call to fame there .
Doug , what were some of the most challenging aspect of bringing educational content to life in a tyke ’s show ?
Doug Momary : Well , we desire not to do 1 - 2 - 3 , A - type B - C. I mean , that was already being done by Sesame Street and others , The Electric Company and the corresponding . So I wanted to concentrate , like you said , on relationships , on emotion . How do you care with your mom , daddy , your first cousin , your sidekick , sister?And I always wanted to do a melodious comedy on Broadway . So I think , " Let ’s have a melodious comedy for tyke where the last song is go to learn a moral example . " And that ’s what the whole matter was , was each Sung furthered the plot of ground like a musical and told a little something about the theatrical role , and then we summed it up at the end like , " Tell the Truth . “That was kind of the whole head of the show , and we had no idea , Joe , how this resonated with child out there until we actually have this Facebook page now .
I feel likeNew Zoo Revueis just as relevant now as it was in 1972 through ' 77 , if not even more so now . I was just watching one of the ones about bullying , and I was like , " Wow , how relatable to shaver now that they would just deplete it and they would understand it in a fashion that was told to them . " You cat started this Facebook group and went live with 50,000 people watching . What was that like for you to see the flash thatNew Zoo Revuestill has ?
Emmy Jo Peden : Well , first of all , we actually did n’t start the Facebook Sir Frederick Handley Page . I do n’t hump if you ’ve heard that story yet , but our old daughter , Joanna , started the Facebook page . She came over on New Year ’s Eve and she say , " Mom and dad , I recall you need to have a Facebook varlet . “It was just this last class . And we were just like , " Well , okay . " And it has just take off . Joanna manages it , and she puts all of the clips and affair up , and it ’s just been wonderful because it ’s given us an opportunity to meet the kids that were young and saw it , and now they ’re grown up . They call themselves The New Zoo Kids , and it ’s just a heavy family reunion on there , honestly . Doug Momary : You see the impact it had . I mean , we were at Comic - Con and just could n’t believe we got invited there . Joanna worked that out . And we had grow men crying , Joe , just saying , " You were part of my childhood . You gave me a moral reach . " And to me as a writer , I ’m like , " Really ? I had that core on you ? " And they said , " Yeah , you did . “Emmy Jo Peden : And some of those people , some of the the great unwashed that were so emotional , it was the memory that it conjure . One man came up and say , " My mom overstep away not so many years ago , and I just remember I always check New Zoo Revue sit around on her lap . " So it has touch people very , very profoundly , and we ’ve met masses who ’ve come up and enjoin us that they had very challenging puerility and that our show was a comfort to them . And it is been very rewarding . And I just love every unmarried one of them . I really do . Doug Momary : For years , we kind of forgot about the show almost because I had a career in Las Vegas . I open up my own television yield company . We were doing commercials and raising our kids . New Zoo was just something we did in the past . Emmy Jo Peden : Yeah , we had no idea that there were mass out there who think back it and loved it . It ’s been quite a shock . Doug Momary : We ’re just so gratified with that . You were talking about the substance , how they relate now , and I really see that because we took broad - scope message . I did n’t desire to talk down to the small fry . I require to speak to the kids , and I think that we accomplished that . But boy , we did n’t know it back then .
Have you guys actually thought about reviving the show at all ?
Emmy Jo Peden : Yes , we ’d fuck to . Doug Momary : We unquestionably have , and we really want to bring it back . And there ’s been a real outcry for it because I do think it could be relevant now . I do n’t know if you ’ve seen the Facebook Sir Frederick Handley Page , but an vitaliser get in touch with me who grew up on the show and did a little animation , and I cerebrate , " Well , wow , that ’s really nerveless . Can you animate the whole subject song?“He and I work together , and man , it came out bang-up . And I thought , " What a great manner maybe to bring this back , " even by using some of the same song , but just using today ’s animation to do that . So , that ’s a way we ’re think about doing it . There could be a bouncy - action element , but we want to keep it simple , and we want to have that gentleness of flavour that we had in the first show because I think that ’s lacking today in kids ' shows .
Physical metier is still a matter ; DVDs and Blu - ray . Have there been any talking about doing physical media forNew Zoo Revueat all ?
Doug Momary : Well , that too is out there . There was a set that was produced eld ago of 59 episodes , and I think it ’s still on eBay and around , but we want to do a whole new repackaging . And mighty now , I put 14 old episodes up on Prime Ticket where I was able to go in and make over the audio and color it a little turn better , and they look pretty nerveless out there . We’re trying to put everything up there where kids can get to it because we have 196 half - hour . I composed over 600 songs for the serial .
That is an incredible exploit . Emmy Jo , what was it like doing that first Facebook Live ? What did you think the initial reaction was go to be ? And were you frantic by that ?
Doug , I feel like youngster face a destiny more problem than I may have faced when I was raise up . There ’s so many novel thing that they have to go through . When you ’re conceptualizingNew Zoo Revue , the enliven one that you guy want to do , would you Guy be tackling some of those issues as well ?
Doug Momary : I really would . I think we would need to because they ’re out there and it ’d be not effective to ignore that , but I would do it in a style that ’s positive . We postulate to have honey and respect and those kinds of value out there . So anything that kid are facing now , if you come near it from that perspective of respecting each other and loving each other and treating each other with kindness , I think you could take on any discipline . Emmy Jo Peden : I think that ’s been really the most important theme , I guess , in our show is , and I ’ve date this actually on Facebook in a small , I guess you ’d call them memes , but if you’re able to only be one thing , be kind . Just be kind , be venerating of the other person , and I think that ’s really the message of our show . Although , I will say Doug was very expert because with a theater background , I ’ll just mention this , I do n’t love if you ’re aware of this , but he wanted to do a show on Shakespeare and that did n’t go over too well . And he spill the beans him into doing a show on Shakespeare because children should be exposed to good literature . And there were just a number of shows that you worked pretty hard to get those shows . Doug Momary : Because all of the scripts had to go preceding review , specially in the first season with Mattel Toys . So I wanted to do a show on avaritia . " Hey , Thomas Kyd , be felicitous with what you have . Be grateful for what you have . " Well , when I present that script and the songs , they ’re like , " Wait , we ’re a toy company . We do n’t want kids to be well-chosen with what they have . “But we fought , and we baffle it on . And Charlie the Owl whistle a great strain called " I generate What I Need . " It was a honky - tonk piano call and it was just very coolheaded .
Emmy Jo , what impact do you thinkNew Zoo Revuehad on kid ’s education and entertainment ?
Emmy Jo Peden : Well , I do n’t know because I do n’t do it what they were teach in the schools , whatever . I think the impact really was on a personal level . That ’s what I conceive because we focused on issues , things that unite us , unify us as a people , unite us as humans . And if it encouraged students to go to school and not bully one another , that ’s a full-grown success . If it further a child not to cast his roll in the soup like Freddie did , that ’s a summation .
Doug , this last Comic - Con was the first prison term I actually got to restrained instrument panel as well , so it was a big deal for me . But I can only think for you guys walking into this gargantuan soda water refinement effect , it can be consuming to a circle of people . sing to me about your Comic - Con experience and get to gather your fans face to face .
Doug Momary : Oh , it was just amazing . Just the fact that we were there with all the other reference and the citizenry that occur up . They actually invite us for a third daylight , which is unheard of , I think . Emmy Jo Peden : I just was out there egest out hug and take on this someone and that person , finding out where they were from and , " Well , what have you done for the last 50 years ? " And hearing about what their life has been like since they were four geezerhood old , and seeing all the costumes . I mean , it ’s just wild out there . It was just great . It was just so fun . Doug Momary : But it was our first one , I suppose , and people have tell me , " Well , you started out middling big . " It was very coolheaded because we had employees say , " You ’re going to be here tomorrow ? " Because they had to go study and , " I grew up with you . I ’m here because of you . “Emmy Jo Peden : Everyone there , the whole stave at Comic - Con , was so kind to us and so helpful . It was just wondrous . And I was mad because I got to suffer a police detent , and I ’m a real fan of animals , and that was just kind of a boot for me . I was very respectful . I said , " May I approach ? May I bear on ? " She say , " Sure . " So , I pet the detent , and arrive my photo study with the dog . Then Joanna , knowing how much I sleep together frump , allege on the Facebook varlet , " Mom would really love to see ikon of your animals , " and so we ’ve gotten all these wonderful pictures of people with their fur babe .
Doug , do you plan on doing more convening appearances ?
Doug Momary : Yes , absolutely . Joanna ’s work on a whole docket for next year . Emmy Jo Peden : I do n’t screw what she ’s planning up there , but I tell people , " She ’s my manager . " We do n’t have a contract , but she ’s always thinking , and I know she ’s in contact with a lot of masses . And yes , we are going to Philadelphia . We jazz about that one . December 2nd .
Looking back on the legacy of television and children ’s tv set , Doug , do you feel thatNew Zoo Revueis ahead of its time and it is like analternative toSesame Streetor Mr. Rogers in that era ?
Doug Momary : Yeah , I finger it was , but we did n’t consciously do that . We were just thrilled to be in amusement and doing what we get laid to do , and I was thrilled to be pen and producing and doing the show . So we did n’t really think about that . But as we ’ve seen , it did have an impact , and it was in a niche that was n’t fill at the time , and that really is satisfying to us .
Have you started conceptualizing any other characters that may join Freddie , Charlie , and Henrietta ?
Doug Momary : Actually , we have . We ’re working on that the right way now . And I also have some other kid designate rattling around in my mental capacity too that we ’re looking to get produced . There ’s a lot out there , and I feel like we have a really practiced futurity ahead of us . Emmy Jo Peden : I might name , just while we ’re talking about this , that our Facebook page is " The New Zoo Revue . " There ’s a circumstances of other Facebook pages that we do n’t have anything to do with , but the one that Joanna started is The New Zoo Revue .
About New Zoo Revue
The New Zoo Revue is a live - action musical comedy series that uses songs and tale to learn tike how to reply with benignity and regard towards all . It ran in first - trial syndication from 1972 to 1977 .
New Zoo Revuecan presently be experienced with fellow fan on theofficial Facebook page .
