Joe's TV List Can Crow Like a Rooster

#19: The Magic Garden
(WPIX, 1972-1984)

Quick recipe for magic: take two unreformed hippies, dress ’em in the swingin’ styles of the ’70s, and give ’em playground swings to sit on. Throw in a surly pink squirrel, an overmedicated bird, a chest full of dress-up garb, and a bunch of flowers that laugh at some of the worst jokes ever told, and you have The Magic Garden, one of the happiest, corniest, most inclusive kids’ shows to grace the small screen (well, screens in the Tri-State area, anyway). During the heyday of Romper Room, Zoom, and Mister Rogers, Carole Demas and Paula Janis easily outcharmed all of them with an acoustic guitar, some low-tech puppetry, and some of the most unappealing hairstyles ever sported by otherwise attractive women. I'm not sure the show's sweet simplicity -- basically a half-hour of singing kiddie standards and acting out classic fables -- would even work today, which is why it's refreshing to know that Carole and Paula are still kickin' it old school at small concert venues and children's birthday parties. Where I'm sure the parents all stand around with silly grins on their faces while the kids just mill about, incredulous and scowling, before heading upstairs to play Grand Theft Auto IV and upload breathless confessionals to YouTube. Times change. But not in the garden.

Comments

[Lori]

I LOVED this show... especially the "Story Box." The song is in my head now... "from Fancy Fox to Goldilocks; Story Box, Story Box, there are no locks on Story Box!"