*IF THE VIDEOS
WILL NOT
OPEN THE TITLES ARE CLICKABLE*
Pinwheel
OPEN THE TITLES ARE CLICKABLE*
Showing posts with label Carlo Grossman. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Carlo Grossman. Show all posts
Thursday, January 16, 2025
Thursday, September 26, 2024
Thursday, June 15, 2023
Thursday, January 19, 2023
Thursday, March 31, 2022
Special Delivery
Thursday, September 3, 2020
Thursday, January 24, 2019
Special Delivery
Adventures of Black Beauty – The Pit Pony
Matt and Jenny on the Wilderness Trail 1850
Thunder and Lightning Birds
Vegetable Soup
Spread Your Wings – Tanya's Puppet, Soviet Union
Kids’ Writes
Thursday, May 10, 2018
Children's Theater -- Fresh-Hatched from The Imagination Of Real Kids
Children's Theater --
Fresh-Hatched from The Imagination Of Real Kids
By Louise Sweeney MAY 1, 1985
WASHINGTON — What kind of
wings does a hippopotamus have? When kids write the script, that's the kind of
question actors tussle with. It was crucial to the performance of ``The
Hippopotamas Who Wanted to Fly,'' a story by nine-year-old Allison Elisabeth Clark
which is one of the hits of ``Kids' Writes in the Nation's Capital'' at the
Kennedy Center.
``You have to be willing to do what kids want you to,'' says James Mairs, the
director of a Kids' Writes troupe of adults known as the Magic Carpet Band,
which tours the country and appears on TV performing stories written by
children from 5 to 14. In this case, it was Allison's story about a baby
hippopotamus adopted by eagles who have to use a helicopter to lift their heavy
baby into their nest. When they learn that ``hippopotomas [the child's
spelling] had a dream to fly,'' they teach him. Next he grows wings, and ``as
he flew through the brilliant sunlight, he was filled with unending joy,''
Allison writes. The end.
Refreshingly and obviously,
it's not a TV sitcom script written about kids, but one that comes
fresh-hatched from the imagination of a real child. That may be why children
lap up Kids' Writes fare like chocolate Popsicles on a July day; when the
series played Nickelodeon cable television, 8,000 kids from all over the United
States wrote in, sending their own stories, poems, and thoughts. For the 17
half-hour shows that aired, 300 authors were chosen, and they were present in
the audience to take a bow the night their stories were performed on camera.
Forty-five Washington-area children contributed scripts to the Kids' Writes performances at Kennedy Center, which were part of a two-week ``Imagination Celebration'' Children's Arts Festival earlier last month. ``Kids' Writes from the Nation's Capital'' included numbers on ``The First Time I Ate a Lima Bean,'' ``My Invisible Friend,'' ``When My Hamster Died,'' ``Creepy Things in the Night,'' ``The Sandman and the Fairy,'' ``Small But Brave,'' ``A Big Triceratops,'' and ``Horrible, Horrible Supper.''
One of the biggest hits was
``Presidential Speech,'' by Andrew Maraniss, 14, in which the president puts on
dark glasses and sings a rap number about his policies while the Secret Service
break-dances.
All during another hit, 11-year-old Billy Swistak's ``Creepy Things in the Night,'' a piece that begins, ``I used to think there were monsters under my bed,'' the little girl behind me kept whispering, ``I still do.'' The audience became very still for 10-year-old Ari Douthit's ``The Magician,'' dealing with the death of the grandfather he loved, and how his magic trick would be to bring his grandpa back again.
Another hit: ``Rock and Roll Star,'' by 12-year-old Ryan Wilson, a number about stage fright. When the ``rock-and-roll person'' finally overcomes it and sings a real rocker, ``I Know I Know I Feel Good,'' by nine-year-old Krissi Spence, the audience goes wild and cheers. He is backed up by the other performers in the Kids' Writes troupe, who compose and play the music in this, as well as other numbers, with great zest and talent.
They are also wondrously funny, a group of clowning performers who seem to be made out of India rubber and silly putty, with the ability to turn themselves instantly into barking dogs, penguins, teachers, raindrops, pirates, cows, or whatever the kids' scripts call for. They are dressed in black, white, and red costumes with knee pads that look a little like baseball umpires' uniforms. Magic Carpet stars are Wynn White, John Rousseau, Carlo Grossman, and Steve Riffkin; music is composed and arranged by Mairs and Riffkin.
``When you get out there in
front of the kids and you've got it right, they laugh, they squeal, they cry,
and it all comes back [to you] just like it would in an adult show,'' says Jim
Mairs. ``And the reward is immediate. 'Cause the kids tell you they love it,
when you hit it right.''
This year's show was a year
in the making; last spring the Magic Carpet Band appeared with Kids' Writes at
the annual ``Imagination Celebration'' at Kennedy Center with its ``Greatest
Hits'' show, involving material done over the last 10 years. Among the hits:
``The Gargoyle Conspiracy,'' in which the gargoyles atop Notre Dame in Paris
climb up and ring the cathedral bells, and a five-year-old child's ``Dog
Party,'' in which several breeds of dogs dance to rock music. Area children in
the audiences last year were encouraged to go back to their classrooms and
write, not for school and grades, but for Kids' Writes -- ``just put your heart
or head into it,'' Jim Mairs explained.
Negotiations are under way to
do a Los Angeles Kids' Writes. (It will be challenging; in one L.A. elementary
school, 18 languages are spoken.) Toronto Kids' Writes and Vancouver Kids'
Writes have been done in previous years; and Mr. Mairs's group has been approached
to do a Midwestern Kids' Writes, again drawing on talented kids from that area.
London and Nova Scotia are also Kids' Writes possibilities in the near future.
The ``Imagination
Celebration,'' in which Kids' Writes appears at Kennedy Center, also tours the
country, with new festivals this year in Kansas City, Mo. (April 12-21),
Winston-Salem, N.C. (May 5-10), and Louisville, Ky. (May 11-19).
The Magic Carpet Band got its
start 13 years ago when Jim Mairs, fresh from an acting major at University of
California at Los Angeles and a stint of Shakespeare, was offered a job setting
up a children's theater in Carmel, Calif. To prepare himself he spent six weeks
in a kindergarten class as a student, doing everything the kids did, including
writing out brief stories for a gifted master teacher on things that were
important to them. Mairs found the kids' writing so imaginative he included six
samples in his children's theater program, and the Kids' Writes concept was
born.
The rest of the Magic Carpet
Band troupe are gifted friends of his from the Carmel area, including the
former lighting man from the theater and the waitress at the restaurant where
they all ate breakfast. The secret of performing for children, Mairs says, ``is
a sense of wonder. Everything you look at is new.''
Mairs says he would like to
see a national theater for young people in this country. ``There is a national
young people's theater in Russia that is absolutely wonderful. They spend
fantastic money on it. There are professionals that work for 50 years in young
people's theater there because it is a dignified, respected profession. And in
this country, mainly because of the financial structure, people can't continue
to work in children's theater because they can't make a living. So what it
tends to be is amateur night. . . . And this country really deserves a national
theater.
``But the variation that I
would suggest is that there should be a national young writers' theater. The
idea of Kids' Writes that has grown up -- I would love to see a theater where
every year the productions were written by kids, for kids, staged by
professionals with adequate budgets to stage them the way they should be. Kids
can write for kids better than adults can. This is a fact . . . there's no
place for young people to write or have their work appreciated.'' Except his
own Kids' Writes, which has room even for flying hippopotamuses.
Monday, November 28, 2016
Special Delivery – Kids’ Writes
Kids
where truly the foundation when it came to Kids’ Writes. Children of all ages composed
and mailed in short stories. The stories and poems which were chosen were then
acted out on camera before a live audience on a single set consisting of wooden
ramps, steps, metal hoops, and nets. Some stories were even turned into songs
which were performed by the actors exactly as they had written, misspelled
words included. Before each story, song or poem was presented a title card
would show the author’s name, age and hometown. The cast was made up of four
actors, Wynn White, Carlo Grossman, John Rousseau and Steve Rifkin. Joining
them was director and musician Jim Mairs.
The
stories submitted by the children consisted of a variety of themes such as,
being scared or lonely, excited about being a big brother or sister, there was
one about how commercials were a waste of time; another stating that children
shouldn’t have to do homework. There were also fun stories about monkeys who
escaped from the zoo, a fish who couldn't swim, aliens from outer space, polka
dot monsters, and so much more. It was a
simple yet charming show that I was very excited to find online. I hope you
enjoy it as much as I do.
Kids’ Writes - playlist link
Or watch each show individually.
Episode 1
– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdmprC9CXxc
Episode 2
– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QP5L_p0T3bM
Episode 3
– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifVfg5fSn78
Episode 4
– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtUzC_-qEOc
Episode 5
– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMd0JdqfwyA
Episode 6
– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7SAyM_GItM
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Classic Nick Wed. – Letter to Mr. Mairs
Classic Nick Wed. – Letter to Mr. Mairs
February 20, 2013
As all of you know I wasn’t able to think of anything to do
for today until I read a comment to my Nickelodeon Blog about the show “Kids’
Writes”. So I’m pulling out email that I wrote to Jim Mairs, owner of Kids’
Writes, for you. (This is the only thing I can think of to post today.)
(Old blog post revamped for today.)
Anyone who really knows me knows that I LOVE Classic
Nickelodeon programs and have a growing collection of them. But there's one show
called “Kids' Writes” that I've never been able to find ANYWHERE, not even from
private collectors. So anyway I'm online looking around for more show links and
low and behold I find the website of the OWNER of Kids' Writes with an email
address and I thought well why not?
That was around the beginning of June of 2007; since I
hadn't heard from him I emailed him again with the same exact letter and...HE
WROTE ME BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Here is the letter I wrote to him then below is his answer
to me.
-----Original Message-----
From: Peggy Sue
To: Jim Mairs
Sent: Mon, 4 Jun 2007 11:19 am
Subject: Kids' Writes
Dear Mr. Mairs,
My name is Peggy Sue Clay and I represent a group called “A
New Beginning for Classic Nickelodeon” and we are dedicated to the preservation
of Classic Nickelodeon.
The reason for my letter is that I / we were wondering if
Kids' Writes was available to download online or if by any chance are there
videos / DVDs available?
Our group is small right now but the members that I have spoken
to have very fond memories of the show and we'd love to see it on DVD someday
[soon]. In fact I have two cassette tapes of the show [cept right now I can
only find one b/c of my recent move] and I listen to it often wishing that we
had had a VCR back then.
The stories I remember best are “Eddie's Disco Bar”,
“Noisemaker Lane”, “Monkey Shines” and of course the theme song. I always
wanted to write in but never knew what to write about and now I'm a writer, go
figure. *lol*
I was also wondering if there is an official website for the
show or any of the other cast members and what is everyone doing these days?
Have you ever thought about putting the show back on the air either on
Nickelodeon or perhaps on another channel? (Just a note, if you choose the
second option could you please make sure that it's a channel that Cable One
carries otherwise I'd never get to see it.)
Well I suppose that's about it for now, I'm enclosing the
link to our group's website. I know that you're very busy but if you have a chance
to stop by we'd all very much love to hear from you and I know they would all
have even more questions for you that I've asked. I'm also enclosing the link
to my “Kids' Writes” page from my website for you to see but mostly this letter
was to tell you how much I personally loved your show and I honestly think it
is what helped me to become a writer today. I'm not published or anything (yet
*crosses fingers*) but perhaps one day I will be but for now I, and my friends,
just enjoy my stories.
Thank you for your time and I hope to hear from you soon.
http://www.geocities.com/theicequeen500@swbell.net/Kids_Writes1.html
(ß This is
now an inactive link)
Respectfully,
Peggy Sue Clay,
Moderator for A New Beginning for Classic Nickelodeon
# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #
From: Jim Mairs
Sent: Tue 6/05/07 4:17 PM
To: peggysueclay@hotmail.com
Subject: Re: Kids' Writes
Saturday, December 1, 2012
***Comments Needed And Welcomed***
Recently I was contacted by owners of Old School
Lane Blog, Patricia and Kevin, who requested an interview with me about my
Classic Nickelodeon Wednesday Fan Blog (this blog).
One of the questions they asked me was which Classic
Nickelodeon shows I would like to see remade and one of my answers was
“Kids’ Writes” so I emailed that part of the interview to Jim Mairs
from Kids’ Writes (the blond guy on the right) and imagine my surprise
when I checked my email the next day and found this email from Mr. Mairs.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Date: Thu, 29 Nov 2012
09:25:46 -0700
Subject: Re: Classic Nickelodeon Wednesday – 14
From: Jim Mairs
To: peggysueclay@hotmail.com
Well, this took me by surprise. Lots of good ideas and memories. I will be curious to read what other folks think. All the best for the holidays. Jm
Subject: Re: Classic Nickelodeon Wednesday – 14
From: Jim Mairs
To: peggysueclay@hotmail.com
Well, this took me by surprise. Lots of good ideas and memories. I will be curious to read what other folks think. All the best for the holidays. Jm
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
He’s very interested in hearing what other Classic Nick fans
think about my interview with me so I’m asking all of you to PLEASE
comment about that interview here so that I can send your comments to him.
Yall, THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT. Mr. Mairs
is a very good link to 80’s Nickelodeon and it’s important that if he’s asking
for feedback that we all give it to him. Please my interview and comment here.
Old School Lane's Nickelodeon Tribute: Interview with Peggy Sue Clay
http://oldschoollane.blogspot.com/2012/11/old-school-lanes-nickelodeon-tribute_29.html
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)