Special Delivery – Pinwheel

 George James Interview

The Pinwheel Roadshow (1977 on QUBE)

Pinwheel

Special Delivery – Pinwheel

Tonight’s Special Delivery is very special indeed, it’s Pinwheel, our beloved classic. Lately a few more episodes of Pinwheel have shown up on youtube and I couldn’t resist posting them as a Special Delivery. Forgive me if they are out of order, the only way I could keep track of the links was to alphabetize them. I hope you enjoy this Special Delivery as much as I enjoyed looking these up for you. 

Please click this link. Thank you. 

https://archive.org/details/NickPinwheel2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3q2zU6geQAo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KyRHzKBMAk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJpqTqK7LpQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWaplONmoLM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzVe5-tZHSU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQehYMxtc5U

CC Loveheart Interview from Andy Anderson

Classic Nick Wed. –

CC Loveheart Interview from Andy Anderson

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

A very special thank you to our own Andy Anderson for conducting this interview with CC Loveheart better known as “Coco the Mime” on Pinwheel House from 1979-1981. She is commonly referred to as “The First Coco.”

Here are the questions (they may be long!). Thank you for participating in this interview.

AA: How did you get the job as "Coco" on Pinwheel? Were you asked to audition, or did you develop the character yourself? Where did the name "Coco" come from?

CC:  A lovely woman and producer of the first 2 seasons, Sandy Kavenaugh saw me in a 2-person mime show in NYC.  She talked to me about developing a mime character for "Pinwheel House".  The project was proposed as a project called, "Qube".   Qube was to be the first attempt at 2-way television.  (Meaning, the viewing audience could have the potential to communicate with the performers.)  This never really happened.  But Pinwheel House was taped with its myriad characters in place.  I participated in the first 2 seasons of taping.  I wrote almost all the skits that I performed because the writers did not know how to write for a mime.  Writers use words, mimes do not, so I was also hired as a writer.

 

AA: Was Pinwheel already formed as a series when you joined, or were they still developing the structure of the show?

CC:  It was still being structured.

 

AA: What was the typical shooting/production schedule on the set of Pinwheel?

CC:  I flew to Columbus, Ohio for 2 weeks at a time.  I had young children at home, so it was part of my contract that I be flown home and have time off in-between shoots for Pinwheel House.

 

AA: How did you get inspired to perform as a mime? Were you influenced by other mimes such as Marcel Marceau?

CC:  I began as and wanted to be a dancer.   (I had danced in the floor shows in Las Vegas.) And, after my last child was born, I took a mime class at a local community college in upstate New York in order to get back in shape.  The teacher of the class asked me to perform with him in NYC.  That’s where Sandy Kavenaugh saw me and hired me.  I also studied mime with Moni Yakim and others before going into “straight” acting.

 

AA: For those who may have never watched the show before, could you describe Coco's character and personality? What did you enjoy about playing her?

CC:  I loved Coco.  I developed her, wrote and performed her.  I wanted to entertain and inform.  My intention was to make Coco childlike in her innocence and playfulness.  My hope was to make her available and loveable for kids of varying ages.   As to the performing aspect, I was required to be an “athlete” in that often many takes were required, so I had to be very strong physically, in order to repeat the mimes required.

I enjoyed my interactions with Jake, the older couple who lived in the house (whose names I have forgotten), the vegetable vendor, the veggies and the puppets.  All in all, it was a most pleasant working experience.

 

AA: How popular was Pinwheel at the time it was airing?

CC: I don’t know.  But it certainly caught on.  I still receive emails from folks who grew up with Coco and still remember her fondly. 

 

AA: Was there ever any thought that Coco might scare young children as they sometimes have an abnormal fear of mimes and clowns?

CC:  Yes, that was a big concern of mine. Children are known to be afraid of clowns and the white face look. So, I developed Coco’s make-up by trying various make-ups.  I would get in front of the camera and look at the monitor to see if the look was friendly, appealing and not scary.  That’s how the hearts on the cheeks along with the big eyed-double- false-eyelash, and pale lip color came to be. 

 

AA: Some say that Pinwheel was the original name of the Nickelodeon channel, while others say that it was just a program on Nickelodeon. What is most accurate?

CC:  Pinwheel House was always the name of the project.  All of us lived in Pinwheel House or the neighborhood.  As I said, in the beginning, it was under the aegis of “Qube”.

 

AA: How different was it from making the program for QUBE in Columbus, Ohio, where Pinwheel was created, to making it for Nickelodeon in New York? Did Nickelodeon make any changes to the series once it launched?

CC:  I was not involved in the NY taping.  When it came time to renew my contract, we had a new producer (Tippy Fortune was her name and how appropriate it turned out to be) and we had “contractual differences”.   And so, a woman who was VERY different physically from me, and who had not requested residuals replaced me.

 

AA: What was your fondest memory on the Pinwheel set? Any behind-the-scenes incidents/outtakes? What are some little known facts about the show?

CC:  I remember a wrap party in which Coco spoke.  I had secured promises from the camera and sound folks and we, in secret, made a tape of Coco speaking and thanking everyone.  Coco had a very strong lisp and the running joke in this private tape (meant only for the party) was that that was why Coco never spoke.   The actor-musician, George James, who played Jake, was a friend and I recommended him for the show.  We had a great time cracking each other up both in front of and behind the camera.

 

AA: How did you end up leaving Pinwheel? Was it cancelled, or did you leave to pursue other projects?

CC:  As mentioned above, there were contractual differences that played into my leaving.  But, I also felt a strong calling to move on to speaking characters.  I began to work as an actor and went on to have a career that has spanned some 40 years.

 

AA: Can you recall any other individuals important in developing Pinwheel?

CC:  The young men, Jim Jenson and Brad?? Were the puppeteers and they were very talented.  They brought much to the show.  Unfortunately, Jim died quite young.

And again, Sandy Kavenaugh had great vision and pulled the cast and crew together.  She was instrumental in the success of the show.

 

AA: Thank you for generously participating in this interview.

CC:  You are welcome.  Please send me the link to your blog.

Classic Nick Wed. – 2 – Pinwheel

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 most popular programs “Pinwheel”.

If you will remember last week the Nickelodeon Network began life as the Pinwheel network or channel 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 – 1990.

Similar to 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. The game was very simple, one would tap the other saying “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 heading 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 the Mole was an elderly, blind 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.

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 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) (1981-1989) 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 and who was also Aurelia the gypsy’s niece.

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 (Krtkova Dobrodružství),Alfie Atkins,  Bagpuss, Bod, Bugs, Bunny In The Suitcase (Kockásfülű Nyúl), Charlie's Climbing Tree, Chapi And Chapo, Crystal Tipps And Alister, Curious George, Emily (Emilie),  Flower Stories, Gumby, Hattytown Tales, Jim & Jam (Bolek & Lolek), King Rollo, Lilliputput,  Madeline, Magic Coco, The Magic Roundabout, Mixometric,  Mouse On Mars (Maus Auf Dem 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? 
Hello, how are you, and may I come in?
Pinwheel, pinwheel spinning around. 
Look at my Pinwheel and see what I found.
Pinwheel, pinwheel, breezy and bright. 
Spin me good morning, spin me good night.

CLASSIC NICK ALERT!!!

Hey yall,

I’m sorry that I didn’t post this earlier but I wasn’t home most of the day and part of the evening to know about it and I just found out about an hour ago.

We will have a Classic Nickelodeon sighting today on the USA Network.

Program: "D.A.W." Law and Order: Criminal Intent - Season 3
Ep. - #3.20 - "D.A.W."
Production number: E45
First aired: May 16, 2004
C.C. Loveheart as Tarin Morse
{C.C. played the 1st Coco on Pinwheel from 1979 – 1981}

If you have a chance to catch this episode it is wonderful to see CC again after all these years!!!