Last week I told you a bit about the
history of the Nickelodeon Network, this week I would like to tell you about
one of their longest running and one of the most popular programs “Pinwheel”.
If you will remember Nickelodeon
Network began life as the Pinwheel Network then in 1981 the network re-launched
as Nickelodeon – The Young People’s Satellite Network. The name “Pinwheel” was
taken from a children’s television show by the same name and aired every
morning in 3-5 hour time slots and ran from 1979–1999.
Like the Sesame Street program
Pinwheel featured both human and puppet actors interacting with each other to
teach basic everyday good manors as well as teaching children how to use their
imagination, play games and so forth. One of the most beloved and
well-remembered games to come from Pinwheel was the “Gottcha Last” game played
by (puppets) Plus & Minus. Much like “tag” one would tap the other and say
“gottcha last” and run off while the other tries to catch him to “get him
last”, back and forth they’d go all through Pinwheel House and the garden. What
a fun game for children of all ages to play.
Other puppet actors who lived at
Pinwheel House were Aurelia, a gypsy who lived and ran the house and used a special phone to
dial the "Opposite City Operator". Then there was Silas the Snail who
had an elderly-looking face and took an entire episode to go from one end of
the garden to the other. He was a kind and gentle character who was forever on his way to the snails' convention but never
made it on time.
Just the oposite
could be said about the house’s green-faced equivalent to Sesame Street's
"Oscar the Grouch", Ebeneezer T. Squint who was failthful to tend to
his garden of weeds and whose one goal in life was to be on the front page of
the Daily Noodle which was run by Sal & Smitty – but more on them in just a
minute.
Then there was Luigi O'Brien who came from Italy and who ran a talking fruit & veggie stand. Molly O’Mole was an elderly mole who lived in a tree in the backyard. She was kind and
made the most wonderful Root Tea. And last but certainly not last there were the Hobo Bugs Herbert and Lulu, we’re not sure what Hobo
Bugs are or where they come from but these lovely creatures were a joy with
their lovely little faces and bright smiles. (They’re two of my personal
faves.)
As
previously mentioned Pinwheel Puppets interacted with a variety of human
characters as well, they included. A kind and very talented African-American
young man named “Jake.” He collected small boxes which emitted
various sound effects, he also played the guitar and sang. He was played by George James from
1981-1989 and helped write many of the songs sung on the show. I would also like to mention that Mr. James was kind enough to let me
interview him for this blog. Read his interview here.
One
of the most remembered characters from the show was Coco the Mime but what most
people do not know is that two different actresses played her. C.C. Loveheart
originated the role in 1979 and played her until 1981 then from 1982-1989 she
was played by Lindanell Rivera. Both actresses had the same makeup, white base
with red lips and hearts on their cheeks, the only way to tell these ladies
apart is that Ms. Loveheart had straight shorter hair and Ms. Rivera had curly
hair. (See picture above.)
Early I mentioned Sal and Smitty the elderly couple who ran
a newspaper called "The Daily Noodle"; they were played by Dale Engel (Smitty) and
Betty Rozek (Sal). Too me it seemed as if they were everyone grandparents and
lovelier grandparents you could not have found.
In every home there is always an artist and Pinwheel House was no
different, their resident artist was Kim (played by Arline Miyazaki). A young
Asian woman who was perhaps in ther early 20’s (about Jake’s age) who was
always creating very beautiful paintings. Another fact about Kim that most people
do not realize is that she also Aurelia’s niece. This fact was confirmed in the
“Pinwheel Songbook” video which was released on VHS video and can be found on
youtube, or click below.
Pinwheel
was also famous for the variety of foreign cartoons and stop-motion puppet
shorts which aired regularly though out the shows run. After many, many long
hours of research here is a list of the Pinwheel Cartoons.
PINWHEEL
CARTOONS
The
Adventures of the Mole, Alfie Atkins, Bagpuss (maybe), Bod, Bugs, Bunny in the
Suitcase, Charlie's Climbing Tree, Chapi and Chapo, Crystal Tipps and Alister,
Curious George, Emily (Emilie), Flower Stories, Gumby, Hattytown Tales, Jim
& Jam, King Rollo, Lilliputput, Madeline, Magic Coco, The Magic Roundabout,
Mixometric, Mouse On Mars, Musti, Paddington Bear, Picture Pages, The Pilis,
Professor Balthazar, Peelie and Poolie , Schnoodle, Simon in the Land of Chalk
Drawings, Teeny Little Super Guy, Tip and Tap
The
last point I would like to touch on is the shows theme song, which was written
by Jay Lee (music) with lyrics by Janet Gardner:
Pinwheel,
pinwheel, spinning around.
Look
at my Pinwheel and see what I've found.
Pinwheel, pinwheel, where have you been?
Pinwheel, pinwheel, where have you been?
Hello,
how are you, and may I come in?
Pinwheel, pinwheel spinning around.
Pinwheel, pinwheel spinning around.
Look
at my Pinwheel and see what I found.
Pinwheel, pinwheel, breezy and bright.
Pinwheel, pinwheel, breezy and bright.
Spin
me good morning, spin me good night.
