Schoolhouse Rock!

Schoolhouse Rock! Information

Schoolhouse Rock! is an American interstitial programming series of animated musical educational short films that aired during the Saturday morning children's programming on the U.S. television network ABC. The topics covered included grammar, science, economics, history, mathematics, and civics. The series' original run lasted from 1973 to 1985, and was later revived with both old and new episodes airing from 1993 to 1999. Additional episodes were produced as recently as 2009 for direct-to-video release.

Origins and history

Schoolhouse Rock! began as a commercial advertising venture by David McCall, half of the Madison Avenue advertising agency McCaffrey & McCall. The idea came to McCall when he noticed one of his sons, who was having trouble in school remembering the multiplication tables, knew the lyrics to many current rock songs. The first song recorded was Three Is a Magic Number, written by Bob Dorough. It tested well, so a children's record was compiled and released. Tom Yohe listened to the first song, and began to doodle pictures to go with the lyrics. He told McCall that the songs would make good animation.

When a print workbook version fell through, McCall's company decided to produce their own animated versions of the songs, which they then sold to ABC (which was already the advertising company's biggest account) based on a demo animation of the original "Three Is A Magic Number" for its Saturday morning lineup. They pitched their idea to Michael Eisner, then vice-president of ABC's children's programming division. Eisner brought longtime Warner Bros. cartoonist/director Chuck Jones to the meeting to also listen to the presentation.

The network's children's programming division had producers of its regular 30- and 60-minute programs cut three minutes out of each of their shows, and sold General Foods on the idea of sponsoring the segments. The series stayed on the air for 12 years. Later sponsors of the Schoolhouse Rock! segments also included Nabisco, Kenner Toys, Kellogg's, and McDonald's. During the early 1970s, Schoolhouse Rock was one of several short-form animated educational shorts that aired on ABC's children's lineup; others included Time for Timer and The Bod Squad. Of the three, Schoolhouse Rock was the longest-running.

Thirty-seven episodes were recorded and produced between 1972 and 1980. The first season of Schoolhouse Rock, "Multiplication Rock," debuted in 1973 and discussed all of the multiplication tables from two through twelve, with one episode devoted to powers of 10 (My Hero Zero) instead of multiples of ten. This original series was followed in short order by a new series which ran from 1973 to 1975, entitled "Grammar Rock," which discussed nouns, verbs and adjectives along with one of the most well-known titles of the series, "Conjunction Junction."

To coincide with the upcoming United States bicentennial, a third series, entitled "America Rock," airing in 1975 and 1976, had episodes covering the structure of the United States government (such as "I'm Just a Bill") along with important moments in American history (examples include "The Preamble" and "Mother Necessity").

A fourth series entitled "Science Rock" followed in 1978 and 1979, and included a broad range of science-related topics such as Do the Circulation and The Body Machine (a play on The Body Electric), The Energy Blues, Electricity, E-Lec-Tri-City, to the most well-known of the series, Interplanet Janet (which is about the solar system).

A fifth follow-up series, entitled "Computer Rock," featuring the characters Scooter Computer and Mr. Chips (the only episodes in the series to feature any recurring characters), premiered in the early 1980s and comprised just four segments about personal computer technology, then just emerging onto the scene. As the references and depictions became quickly outdated, due to the rapid advance of technology, the series was never rerun after 1984.

After leaving the airwaves in 1985, the original team reunited to produce two more Grammar Rock segments ("Busy Prepositions" and "The Tale of Mr. Morton") for television in 1993. This was followed in 1995 by a brand new series, "Money Rock," which discussed topics related to money management on both the personal and governmental scale. Episodes from the new series aired in rotation with the original segments from 1994 to 1996.

The Walt Disney Company acquired Schoolhouse Rock in 1996 along with its acquisition of ABC owner Capital Cities Communications; Schoolhouse Rock was one of only two children's shows (The Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show being the other) to continue airing (albeit in reruns) after the transition to One Saturday Morning. The series as a whole ceased airing on television in 2000 with newer episodes released directly to home video. Starting in 2002, the team once again reunited to produce a new song, "I'm Gonna Send Your Vote To College" for the release of the 30th Anniversary DVD. For the new song, Tom Yohe Jr. took over as lead designer for his father, Tom Yohe Sr., who had died in 2000. Another contemporary song, called "Presidential Minute," which explained the process of electing the President of the United States in greater detail, was included on the 2008 DVD "Schoolhouse Rock! Election Collection," which centered on songs relating to American history and government.

A new series entitled "Schoolhouse Rock!: Earth" was created by the original production team, premiered in 2009, and featured eleven environmentally-themed songs.

On Sunday, 6 January 2013, Bob Dorough appeared at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC as part of their ongoing series of free concerts on the Millennium Stage. He played five songs, accompanying himself on the piano: "Three Is a Magic Number", "Figure Eight", "Conjunction Junction", "Preamble" and "I'm Just a Bill". He also performed "Interjections!" accompanied by DC-area kids' band Rocknoceros. Rocknoceros also performed "Electricity, Electricity", "Unpack Your Adjectives", "Energy Blues" and "Fireworks".

Episodes

See List of Schoolhouse Rock! episodes for more information

Multiplication Rock

Episode title	Subject	Music by	Lyrics by	Performed by	Animation & design	First aired
My Hero, Zero	Powers of 10	Bob Dorough	Bob Dorough	Bob Dorough	Focus Design / Tom Yohe	January 20, 1973
Elementary, My Dear	Multiplication by 2	Bob Dorough	Bob Dorough	Bob Dorough	Phil Kimmelman & Associates / Jack Sidebotham	January 27, 1973
Three Is a Magic Number	Multiplication by 3	Bob Dorough	Bob Dorough	Bob Dorough	Focus Design / Tom Yohe	February 3, 1973
The Four-Legged Zoo	Multiplication by 4	Bob Dorough	Bob Dorough	Bob Dorough (and chorus of children)	Phil Kimmelman & Associates / Bob Eggers	Februuary 10, 1973
Ready or Not, Here I Come (a parody of "Apples, Peaches, Pumpkin Pie" by Jay and the Techniques)	Multiplication by 5	Bob Dorough	Bob Dorough	Bob Dorough	Phil Kimmelman & Associates / Tom Yohe	February 17, 1973
I Got Six	Multiplication by 6	Bob Dorough	Bob Dorough	Grady Tate	Phil Kimmelman & Associates / Tom Yohe	February 24, 1973
Lucky Seven Sampson	Multiplication by 7	Bob Dorough	Bob Dorough	Bob Dorough	Phil Kimmelman & Associates / Rowland B. Wilson	March 3, 1973
Figure Eight	Multiplication by 8	Bob Dorough	Bob Dorough	Blossom Dearie	Phil Kimmelman & Associates / Tom Yohe	March 10, 1973
Naughty Number Nine	Multiplication by 9	Bob Dorough	Bob Dorough	Grady Tate	Phil Kimmelman & Associates / Tom Yohe	March 17, 1973
The Good Eleven	Multiplication by 11	Bob Dorough	Bob Dorough	Bob Dorough	Focus Design / Jack Sidebotham	March 24, 1973
Little Twelvetoes	Multiplication by 12	Bob Dorough	Bob Dorough	Bob Dorough	Phil Kimmelman & Associates / Rowland B. Wilson	March 31, 1973

No shows were produced featuring the numbers 1 or 10 explicitly, though "My Hero Zero" and "The Good Eleven" do include those numbers.

In 1973, Capitol Records released a soundtrack album of Multiplication Rock, featuring all 11 songs. Two tracks, "My Hero, Zero" and "Three Is A Magic Number" had been edited for TV to keep each video within three minutes. This LP features both songs in their full, unedited forms. Also, the album version of "The Four-Legged Zoo" has a slightly different ending than the television version.

Grammar Rock

Episode title	Subject	Music by	Lyrics by	Performed by	First aired
Conjunction Junction	conjunction	Bob Dorough	Jack Sheldon and Terri Morel	Jack Sheldon	1973
Unpack Your Adjectives	adjective	George R. Newall	George R. Newall	Blossom Dearie	1975
Lolly, Lolly, Lolly, Get Your Adverbs Here	adverb	Bob Dorough	Bob Dorough	Bob Dorough	1974
Interjections!	interjection	Lynn Ahrens	Lynn Ahrens	Essra Mohawk	1974
Rufus Xavier Sarsaparilla	pronoun	Bob Dorough	Kathy Mandary	Jack Sheldon	1977
Verb: That's What's Happenin'	verb	Bob Dorough	Bob Dorough	Zachary Sanders	1974
A Noun Is A Person, Place Or Thing	noun	Lynn Ahrens	Lynn Ahrens	Lynn Ahrens	1973
Busy Prepositions	preposition	Bob Dorough	Bob Dorough	Jack Sheldon and Bob Dorough	October 1993
The Tale of Mr. Morton	subject and predicate	Lynn Ahrens	Lynn Ahrens	Jack Sheldon	December 1993

This segment introduces Jack Sheldon as a regular vocalist and lyricist for the series. "Conjunction Junction" was Sheldon's debut on Schoolhouse Rock.

"Busy Prepositions" (aka "Busy P's"), "The Tale of Mr. Morton", and "Dollars and Sense" were produced for Schoolhouse Rock's return to ABC in 1993 with J.J. Sedelmaier Productions, Inc. producing the animation.

Science Rock

Episode title	Subject	Music by	Lyrics by	Performed by	First aired
The Body Machine	Nutrition and digestive system	Lynn Ahrens	Lynn Ahrens	Bob Dorough and Jack Sheldon	1979
Do the Circulation	circulatory system	Lynn Ahrens	Lynn Ahrens	Joshie Armstead, Mary Sue Berry, & Maeretha Stewart	1979
Electricity, Electricity	Electricity	Bob Dorough	Bob Dorough	Zachary Sanders	1979
The Energy Blues	Energy conservation	George Newall	George Newall	Jack Sheldon	1978
Interplanet Janet	The solar system	Lynn Ahrens	Lynn Ahrens	Lynn Ahrens	1978
Telegraph Line	Nervous system	Lynn Ahrens	Lynn Ahrens	Jaime Aff and Christine Langner	1979
Them Not-So-Dry Bones	Skeletal system	George Newall	George Newall	Jack Sheldon	1979
A Victim of Gravity	Gravity	Lynn Ahrens	Lynn Ahrens	The Tokens	1978
The Greatest Show on Earth	Weather	Lynn Ahrens	Lynn Ahrens	Bob Kalban	Not shown on TV

Sometime after its initial airing, The Greatest Show on Earth/The Weather Show was pulled from broadcast rotation due to Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus objecting to its use of their trademark slogan "The Greatest Show On Earth" and filing a lawsuit. However, it was included in the 1987 Schoolhouse Rock VHS release, and in 2002 when it was included on the bonus disk of the 30th Anniversary DVD (see below). Also, the episode was deleted on the "Science Rock" 1995 VHS.

America Rock

Episode title	Subject	Music by	Lyrics by	Performed by	First aired
Elbow Room	U.S. territorial expansion	Lynn Ahrens	Lynn Ahrens	Sue Manchester	1975
Fireworks	Declaration of Independence	Lynn Ahrens	Lynn Ahrens	Grady Tate	1976
The Great American Melting Pot	Immigration/Diversity	Lynn Ahrens	Lynn Ahrens	Lori Lieberman	1977
I'm Just a Bill	Legislative Process	Dave Frishberg	Dave Frishberg	Jack Sheldon	1975
Mother Necessity	American inventions	Bob Dorough	Bob Dorough	Bob Dorough, Jack Sheldon, Blossom Dearie, & Essra Mohawk	1977
No More Kings	American independence	Lynn Ahrens	Lynn Ahrens	Lynn Ahrens & Bob Dorough	1975
Preamble	United States Constitution	Lynn Ahrens	Lynn Ahrens	Lynn Ahrens	1975
The Shot Heard 'Round The World	American Revolutionary War	Bob Dorough	Bob Dorough	Bob Dorough	1976
Sufferin' 'til Suffrage	Women's suffrage	Bob Dorough	Tom Yohe	Essra Mohawk	1976
Three Ring Government	Separation of powers	Lynn Ahrens	Lynn Ahrens	Lynn Ahrens	1979
I'm Gonna Send Your Vote to College	Electoral College	George R. Newall and Bob Dorough	George R. Newall and Bob Dorough	Jack Sheldon and Bob Dorough	2002
Presidential Minute	Voting For President	George R. Newall	George R. Newall and Tom Yohe, Jr.	Jack Sheldon	2002

"I'm Gonna Send Your Vote to College" and "Presidential Minute" were produced for DVD.

Money Rock

Episode title	Subject	Music by	Lyrics by	Performed by	First aired
Dollars and Sense	Interest and loans	Dave Frishberg	Dave Frishberg	Val Hawk and Bob Dorough	1994
$7.50 Once a Week	Budget	Mark Chapalonis	Dave Frishberg	Dave Frishberg	1995
Where The Money Goes	Paying bills	Rich Mendoza	Rich Mendoza	Jack Sheldon	1995
Tax Man Max	Taxes	Stephen Flaherty	Lynn Ahrens	Patrick Quinn	1995
Walkin' On Wall Street	Stock exchange	Dave Frishberg	Dave Frishberg	Dave Frishberg	1996
This For That	Barter and the history of currency	George R. Newall	George R. Newall	Bob Dorough	1996
Tyrannosaurus Debt	Budget deficit and United States national debt	Tom Yohe	Tom Yohe	Bob Dorough and Bob Kaliban	1996
The Check's In The Mail	Using checks	Bob Dorough	Bob Dorough	Luther Rix	1996

Earth Rock

Episode title	Subject	Music by	Lyrics by	Performed by	First aired
Report from the North Pole	Global Warming	Bob Dorough	George R. Newall	Bob Dorough, Jack Sheldon, Bob Kaliban and Barry Carl	2009
The Little Things We Do	Energy conservation	Lynn Ahrens	Lynn Ahrens	Lynn Ahrens, Jack Sheldon, Bob Dorough, Bob Kaliban, Val Hawk, Vicki Doney and Nancy Reed	2009
The Trash Can Band	Recycling	Lynn Ahrens	Lynn Ahrens	Lynn Ahrens, Luther Rix, Bob Dorough and Eric Weissberg	2009
You Oughta Be Savin' Water	Water conservation	Sean Altman and Barry Carl	George R. Newall	Barry Carl, Sean Altman, Elliott Kerman	2009
The Rainforest	Rainforests	Lynn Ahrens	Lynn Ahrens	Tituss Burgess	2009
Save the Ocean	Oceans	Sean Altman	Sean Altman	Sean Altman, Inna Dukach, Jon Spurney, Patti Rothberg, Barry Carl and Eric Booker	2009
Fat Cat Blue: The Clean Rivers Song	Marine Debris	Andy Brick	Andy Brick	Jack Sheldon, Bob Kaliban, Val Hawk, Vicki Doney and Nancy Reed	2009
A Tiny Urban Zoo	Gardens	George Stiles	Anthony Drewe	Barrett Foa, Shoshana Bean, and George Stiles	2009
Solar Power to the People	Solar energy	Lynn Ahrens	Lynn Ahrens	Lynn Ahrens, Val Hawk, Vicki Doney and Nancy Reed	2009
Windy and the Windmills	Wind power	Bob Dorough	George R. Newall	Bob Dorough, Jack Sheldon, Val Hawk, Vicki Doney and Nancy Reed	2009
Don't Be a Carbon Sasquatch	Carbon footprints	Bob Dorough	Bob Dorough	Bob Dorough	2009
The 3 R's	Reduce, Reuse, Recycles	Bob Dorough	Mitchel Musso	Mitchel Musso	2009

2002 30th Anniversary Countdown

To coincide with the 30th anniversary, Walt Disney released a video featuring the Top 25 songs of the series. The countdown, which was succeeded by I'm Gonna Send Your Vote to College, ran as follows, in reverse order:

Conjunction Junction
I'm Just A Bill
Lolly, Lolly, Lolly, Get Your Adverbs Here
Electricity, Electricity
Interjections!
The Preamble
Three Is A Magic Number
Interplanet Janet
A Noun Is A Person, Place, Or Thing
The Shot Heard 'Round The World
My Hero, Zero
Figure Eight
No More Kings
Unpack Your Adjectives
Rufus Xavirer Sarsaparilla
Ready Or Not, Here I Come"
Elementary, My Dear
Dollars and Sense
The Great American Melting Pot
Mother Necessity
Naughty Number Nine
Telegraph Line
Them Not-So-Dry Bones
Verb: That's What Happening
Elbow Room

Tie-ins

Several tie-ins were released in 1996:

Schoolhouse Rock! Rocks, a tribute album featuring covers of Schoolhouse Rocks songs performed by alternative rock acts
Schoolhouse Rock! The Official Guide (ISBN 0-7868-8170-4), written by Tom Yohe and George Newall, and including synopses, lyrics, and production notes about each of the shorts created to date, except "The Weather Show," which was the subject of pending litigation and so could not be included.

The Schoolhouse Rock Songbook (Cherry Lane Music), containing sheet music for ten songs.

Schoolhouse Rock! Soundtrack The 4 CD release with bonus tracks on each CD was released on June 18, 1996 by Rhino Records

In addition to the above, Rhino Records also released Schoolhouse Rocks the Vote!: A Benefit for Rock the Vote, a tribute album containing covers and original songs in the style of Schoolhouse Rock, all with an electoral theme. It was released on August 18, 1998.

Video releases

A 1987 production of the series for VHS tape featured Cloris Leachman opening the collection and some songs with child dancers and singers. Three songs (namely "Three Ring Government," "The Good Eleven," and "Little Twelve Toes") were not included on the videos.

In 1995, ABC Video and Image Entertainment released two volumes of Schoolhouse Rock on LaserDisc, "Schoolhouse Rock Volume 1: America Rock and Grammar Rock" (ID3245CC), and "Schoolhouse Rock Volume 2: Multiplication Rock and Science Rock" (ID3383CC). For both volumes the first side was in the CLV Extended Play format and the second was in the frame-accessible CAV format, and both contained CX-encoded analog and digital audio soundtracks. The "Grammar Rock" volume included the 1993 shorts "Busy Prepositions" and "The Tale of Mr. Morton."

In 1995, ABC Video re-released four segments of Schoolhouse Rock! on VHS with alternative covers and opening.

In 1998, for the show's 25th anniversary, Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment released five segments on VHS.

On August 26, 2002 Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment released a 2-disc DVD set to coincide with the 30th anniversary of the show. The set features 52 of the 53 episodes, including the lost "Computer Rock" segments, with the exception of "Introduction". "The Weather Show" and "Presidential Minute" are found on the bonus disk, the former in modified form with the problematic lyric removed, and the latter viewable only upon completing the "Earn Your Diploma" Trivia Game. An abbreviated VHS, featuring the "top 25" episodes plus "I'm Gonna Send Your Vote to College," was released at the same time (see above).

In 2008, DVDs of individual Schoolhouse Rock series were released for classroom use.

On September 23, 2008, the "Schoolhouse Rock-Election Collection" was released, including 14 songs about American history and the government and a "new to DVD" song.

On March 31, 2009, Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment released "Schoolhouse Rock-Earth", including 11 newly written and animated songs as well as "Energy Blues".

DVD name	Ep #	Release date	Additional information
Schoolhouse Rock!- Special 30th Anniversary Edition	52	August 26, 2002	All 46 original episodes Audio Commentary "I'm Gonna Send Your Vote to College" Making Of Long Lost Song "The Weather Show" Top Ten Jukebox Top 20 Countdown "Earn Your Diploma" Trivia Game (plays "Presidential Minute" once you have earned your diploma) Arrange-a-Song Puzzle 4 Music Videos by Contemporary Artists Emmy Awards Featurette "Three is a Magic Number" Nike Commercial "I'm Gonna Send Your Vote to College" in DTS 5.1 Surround Three of the four Computer Rock segments
Schoolhouse Rock!-Election Collection	14	September 23, 2008	10 America Rock songs, 1 Science Rock song, and 3 Money Rock songs Bonus song: "Presidential Minute" (includes two endings) Map of the United States
Schoolhouse Rock!-Earth	13	March 31, 2009	11 all-new songs about conservation Bonus Song: "The Energy Blues" Music video: "The Three Rs" by Mitchel Musso

Parodies

In the The Simpsons episode [[The Day The Violence Died]], Krusty is reduced to running so-called 'educational' fare, including a Schoolhouse Rock parody, "The Amendment Song," sung by Schoolhouse Rock singer Jack Sheldon.