MUSEUM OF TELEVISION & RADIO SCREENING SERIES, THE: STORYBOOK PLAYHOUSE 2: PACKAGE 21 {RUNAWAY RALPH; THE MYSTERIOUS TADPOLE; ROBBUT: A TALE OF TAILS}
Summary
Prepared for The Museum of Television & Radio screening series "Storybook Playhouse," this compilation of stories features works based on the writings of Beverly Cleary, Steven Kellogg, and Robert Lawson. In the tale of "Runaway Ralph," the sequel to "The Mouse and the Motorcycle," Ralph, a mouse with a motorcycle, who recently ran away from home, is rescued from being eaten by a cat by a young boy named Garfield, who has been sent to sleepaway camp by his parents against his will. Garfield is happy to have a new friend since he does not fit in with his fellow campers. Ralph is kept in a cage in the camp's craft shop. One day, a kitten, the son of the cat who attacked Ralph, enters the shop and steals a watch with a mouse painted on it, which was left behind by an obnoxious camper named Karen. Then, the kitten's father visits the shed, knocks over Ralph's cage, and traps Ralph in a corner. As the cat is about to devour the mouse, Garfield comes to the rescue. Meanwhile, Karen discovers that her watch is missing and decides that Garfield must have stolen it. Soon all the campers and the head counselor turn against Garfield. Ralph decides to help out his good friend by going to the home of the vicious cat, retrieving the watch, and returning it to the girls' bunk, but finds that his task is more difficult than he thought. In the tale of "The Mysterious Tadpole," a young boy named Louis receives a tadpole for a birthday present. As the months pass, the tadpole shows no signs of becoming a frog and mysteriously grows larger and larger. In fact, he becomes too huge for the apartment in which Louis lives. For the summer, the boy decides to keep his pet at the junior high school's swimming pool and teaches his beloved animal to retrieve various items. When school begins in the fall, Louis realizes that he must find a new place for his pet. He goes to his friend the librarian for assistance. She identifies his pet as a loch ness monster. Louis asks her to help him raise enough money to buy the parking lot next to his apartment building where he can have a pool built for his pet. The librarian decides that they should use the tadpole's retrieving skills to find a treasure chest filled with gold that was lost at sea. In the animated story of "Robbut: A Tale of Tales" from "CBS Storybreak" hosted by Bob Keeshan, a young rabbit named Robbut feels that he can never do anything right and finds that he is disliked by his fellow rabbits. When Robbut frees a gnome trapped in a cage, he is given three wishes for his good deed. Robbut first wishes for a skunk's tail in order to impress his friends, but finds that it only scares them away. Then an evil snake suggests that Robbut wish for a beaver's tail so that he can build a dam and create a swimming pool for the young bunnies. Thinking this will impress his fellow rabbits, Robbut follows the snake's advice, but the plan backfires when the woods begin to flood. Luckily, the beavers save the day by building another dam. Robbut is then blamed by his relatives for the disappearance of two bunnies during the flood. The rattlesnake again offers advice to Robbut, convincing him to wish for a fox tail so that he can flag down his fellow rabbits when he finds the bunnies. However, the tail only frightens off his relatives and leaves the way clear for the mischievous snake to grab the bunnies. Robbut finds that he alone must save the young ones before it is too late. "Robbut: A Tale of Tails" is closed-captioned. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: N/A
- DATE: November 30, 1993
- RUNNING TIME: 1:14:27
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T:34133
- GENRE: Children's; Animation
- SUBJECT HEADING: Animation; Children's programs; Rabbits; Tadpoles
- SERIES RUN: N/A
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- For "ABC Weekend Specials: Runaway Ralph":
- George McQuilkin … Producer
- John Matthews … Producer, Direction (Misc.), Director of Animation
- Ron Underwood … Director
- Justin Kohn … Animation
- Joel Fletcher … Animation
- Gail Vandermerwe … Animation
- Malcolm Marmorstein … Writer, Teleplay by
- Beverly Cleary … Writer, Based on the novel by
- Steven Kohn … Music by
- Fred Savage … Cast, Garf
- Conchata Ferrell … Cast, Aunt Jill
- Sara Gilbert … Cast, Steffie
- Kellie Martin … Cast, Karen
- Summer Phoenix … Cast, Lana
- Anne Bloom … Cast, Garf's Mother
- Bruce French … Cast, Garf's Father
- Hal Smith … Cast, the Night Clerk
- Ray Walston … Cast, Matt
- Billy Barty … Cast, Uncle Lester, Voice
- John Matthews … Cast, Ralph, Voice
- June Foray … Cast, Sister Mouse, Voice
- Katie Leigh … Cast, Cousin Mouse, Voice
- Corey Burton … Cast, Chum, Voice
- Walker Edmiston … Cast, Catso, Voice
- Edmund Gross … Cast, Merton, Voice
- Elon … Cast, Jonathan, Voice
- For "The Mysterious Tadpole":
- Morton Schindel … Executive Producer
- Paul Gagne … Producer
- Michael Sporn … Director, Animation, Rendered by
- Bridget Thorne … Animation, Rendered by
- Steven Kellogg … Writer, From the book by
- Ernest Troost … Music by
- Neil Innes … Narrator
- For "CBS Storybreak: Robbut: A Tale of Tails":
- Paul Bogrow … Executive Producer
- Buzz Potamkin … Supervising Producer
- Steve Lumley … Producer
- Gordon Kent … Associate Producer
- Chris Cuddington … Direction (Misc.), Animation Director
- Bob Baxter … Animation
- Jim Davis … Animation
- Murray Debus … Animation
- Dick Dunn … Animation
- Don Ezard … Animation
- Gerry Grabner … Animation
- Lianne Hughes … Animation
- Dwayne Labbe … Animation
- Sarah Lawson … Animation
- Ken Keys … Animation
- Helen McAdam … Animation
- Henry Neville … Animation
- Kevin Peaty … Animation
- Vivian Ray … Animation
- John Rice … Animation
- Stephen Taylor … Animation
- Milan Zahorsky … Animation
- Darek Polkowski … Animation
- Rick Tinschert … Animation
- Peter Eastment … Animation
- Karen Barboutis … Animation
- Rodney Brunsdon … Animation
- Paul Maron … Animation
- Don Mackinnon … Animation
- Sue Beak … Animation
- George Hemzal … Animation
- Chris Minos … Animation
- Bruce Pedersen … Animation
- Di Rudder … Animation
- Jim Wylie … Animation
- Cliff Ruby … Writer, Teleplay by
- Elana Lesser … Writer, Teleplay by
- Robert Lawson … Writer, Based on the book by
- Simon Walker … Composer, Conductor
- Keeshan, Bob (See also: Keeshan, Robert) … Host
- Michael Bell … Voice
- Foster Brooks … Voice
- Henry Gibson … Voice
- Will Ryan … Voice
- Ken Sansom … Voice
- Marilyn Schreffler … Voice
- Jimmy Weldon … Voice