Schoolhouse Rock! began as a commercial advertising venture by David 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 already was McCall's company's biggest advertising 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 included Nabisco, General Foods, Kenner Toys, Kellogg's, and McDonald's.
Thirty-seven episodes were recorded and produced between 1972 and 1980. The first season of Schoolhouse Rock, "Multiplication Rock," discussed all of the multiplication tables from two through twelve, with one episode devoted to powers of ten instead of multiples of ten. "Multiplication Rock" debuted all of its episodes in 1973. It was followed in short order by "Grammar Rock," which discussed the key elements of grammar, one for each song (e.g. nouns, verbs, adjectives). "Grammar Rock" ran new episodes from 1973 to 1975. In 1975 and 1976, to coincide with the upcoming United States bicentennial, a series of "America Rock" episodes aired, covering important moments in American history and the structure of the United States government. "Science Rock" followed in 1978 and 1979, and included a broad range of science-related topics (most were related to human anatomy, but the rest ranged widely from electricity to the solar system).
A follow-up series, "Computer Rock," debuted in the early 1980s. These were four segments about the then-novel personal computer technology. The shorts featured two characters by the name of Scooter Computer and Mister Chips; these were the only episodes in the series to feature any recurring characters. The "Computer Rock" series was never rerun after 1984, as its depiction of personal computers had quickly become dated.
After temporarily leaving the airwaves in 1985, Schoolhouse Rock returned in the 1990s. The team reunited to produce two more Grammar Rock segments ("Busy Prepositions" and "The Tale of Mr. Morton") in 1993. It was followed by a brand new series, "Money Rock," which discussed topics related to money management on both the personal and governmental scale. "Money Rock" aired in rotation with the rest of the original Schoolhouse Rock segments, rotating in new episodes from 1994 to 1996. The show ceased airing on television in 2000, and future new episodes would be released directly to DVD and VHS.
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 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.
In 2009, the team produced eleven new environmentally-themed songs for the DVD "Schoolhouse Rock!: Earth "
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Scooter Computer & Mr. Chips 1by OjaiLizard5,224 views
When people tell me that PBS is necessary because only government funded networks teach kids, I bring this up. Better than anything PBS ever did. Taught more in three minutes than PBS did in hours.Truly brilliant people.
jamo387 1 month ago
I grew up watching SHR! Loved it then and now! My 3 yr old loves it 2! My 10 yr old has to read the Constitution and I can sing it! SHR empowered me and many other kids!
laurieann38 6 months ago
Awesome! I am a product of School House Rock! Love it! Watched every week!!
laurieann38 6 months ago
Teachers really LOVE Schoolhouse Rock, too! I was one of those kids (I was 9 in 1972) and I use Schoolhouse Rock to introduce concepts to my students! Put information to music and it really POPS! :)
Melly423 8 months ago
Teachers really LOVE Schoolhouse Rock, too! I was one of those kids (I was 9 in 1972) and I use Schoolhouse Rock to introduce concepts to my students! :)
Melly423 8 months ago