Schoolhouse Rock!: The Election Collection

Written by Fumo Verde

During the mid ‘70s when I was only knee-high to a grasshopper, fireworks were still legal, there were two lids in a joint, and our government was taught on TV along with the Saturday morning cartoons. Like mini musical commercials, Schoolhouse Rock! taught a whole generation about how our country came to be, the way it was governed, and why we think it works so well. Some call it inspiring, others call it brainwashing, but either way the songs and little animated characters can still be sung and remembered by both sides.

“Hey, do you know about the U.S.A.? Do you know about the government? Can you tell me about the Constitution? Hey, learn about the U.S.A.”

Lynn Ahrens, whose voice sounds like a young Joni Mitchell sang that lead-in and right from that moment you knew it was time for some history. That’s what this DVD is all about; the Election Collection brings us three groups of animated vignettes that include: “How Government Works,” “Our History,” and “The Campaign.”

In “Our History” we get “No More Kings,” and this is where we learned that taxation without representation is not fair, also the “Shot Heard ‘Round the World” where we learn how the first shot was the start of the Revolution. Both of these glossed over the struggles, which our founding fathers had to deal with during the eight years of war with England, but it does lay the groundwork. Putting it into a cartoon gave kids a chance to see it over and over, and the catchy songs helped them remember. Tom Yohe who produced the series understood this and exploited it to its utmost. Other stories in “Our History” include the “Great American Melting Pot,” “Fireworks,” and “Mother Necessity,” which told about famous inventors but kind of strayed away from how the nation became. “Elbow Room” would have been a better choice.

The following segment called “How Government Works” contains the “Three-Ring Government” that teaches us about a circus, or a “dog and pony show” as my grandfather used to call it. Here we learn how the Congress, the President, and the Judicial branch work in balance with each other, or at least are supposed to. It also has “Sufferin’ Till Suffrage,” which has the most rock in the Schoolhouse music bag.

Of course, the most famous SHR vignette is the one with the sad scrap of paper telling us all, “I’m just a bill. Yes, I’m only a bill and I’m sitting here on Capital Hill…” Here we learn how laws come into play, again very glossed over but you get the basics. The “Preamble” is also a part of this group and I have to say it still has to be my favorite of the SHR Election Collection series. “We the People in order to form a more perfect Union establish justice and insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense promote the general welfare, and secure the blessing of liberty to ourselves and our posterity do ordain and establish this constitution for the united states of America.”

The ones I didn’t care for were in the category of “The Campaign.” These included “Walkin’ on Wall Street,” which now seems like a load of bullshit as they lose our investments, walk away with golden retirement checks, and we as taxpayers get the bill. Others are “Tyrannosaurus Debt” which not only glosses over what the national debt means to Americans, it makes it look a house pet which we should not ignore but just accept and not worry about. They talk about trying to tame the debt, but not about how to get rid of it.

One of the next three is “I’m Gonna Send Your Vote to College” which is complete garbage as we have found out in some recent elections. It tells us how the popular vote gives way to the Electoral College and the college follows what the popular vote is, but that’s a laugh and a half. There is another one even worse that. It’s called “Tax Man Max” and guess who’s our friend?

The only one I liked in “The Campaign” group was “Energy Blues” which was written by George Newall and preformed by Jack Sheldon. Earth is telling us it’s running out of energy and we must start to look elsewhere. Pretty prophetic coming from a cartoon back in 1978 considering the price of oil now; it brings to mind the phrase about history repeating itself.

Back when this stuff came out, it helped kids learn while they were in front of the boob tubes, and some of it stuck. To this day when I start singing one these little tunes I find people of my age and a little younger joining in or saying “Hey, Schoolhouse Rock! I remember….” Should this be used as an educational tool? To lay some groundwork, okay, but not to get them ready for reality.

Cute and fun is the best way to describe this DVD, which also comes with a map of the States so you too can join along on Election night and see who wins what. This is one of those DVDs that if I saw it and it was in the dollar bin at CVS, then yeah I would pick it up for giggles, but only for a buck.

This is Fumo saying, “Yes, two joints to a lid. I roll big joints.”

Josie and the Pussycats: The Complete Series

Written by Hombre Divertido

Yes, before The Waitresses, The Go-Gos, or The Bangles, there was the all-girl rock and roll group Josie and the Pussycats.

Born in the pages of Archie Comics at the hand of Dan DeCarlo, and brought to the small screen by the legendary Hanna Barbera in a cartoon that combined the adventures of Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? and the music group format of The Archie Show, Josie and her Pussycats made for some good Saturday morning fun. In watching the complete series (16 episodes) recently released on DVD as part of the Hanna-Barbera Classic Collection, it would appear to be an overly used template, but in 1970, it was quite fresh. Hanna-Barbera would repeat it in many forms over the years: The Funky Phantom, Speed Buggy, Jabberjaw, The Great Grape Ape, Fangface, Captain Caveman, and the list goes on. The difference with Josie and the Pussycats was they were a rock group that got involved in adventures.

Josie, the leader of the group, would sing in each episode backed up by dingy comedic vehicle Melody on drums whose singing voice was supplied by future Charlie’s Angel Cheryl Ladd, and Valerie who was the brains of the outfit, working out on two tambourines. She would constantly get the gang out of jams by rewiring machines, robots, etc. Valerie is also credited with being the first regular appearing African-American character on a Saturday morning cartoon show. Also along for the ride were their roadie and Josie’s boyfriend Alan, their manager Alexander, who was voiced by Shaggy himself Casey Kasem, Alexander’s sister Alexandra, and Alexandra’s cat Sebastian.

In each episode Alexandra, who had a crush on Alan making her jealous of Josie, would attempt to get some quality alone time with him for who knows what. Her antics would invariably send the group off in the wrong direction where they would run into some evil character who would take them prisoner. There was rarely a mystery to solve as in Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? which premiered a year earlier.

If anything was lagging in these shows it was the music. Unlike The Archies who played complete songs and had a hit with “Sugar Sugar”, in most of the Josie and the Pussycats episodes we got brief pieces of songs usually played over chase scenes. Nonetheless, the characters were memorable enough for Hanna-Barbera to invest in again. After the conclusion of their one-season run, they were immediately brought back in a new show entitled Josie and The Pussycats in Outer Space that lasted for two seasons (16 episodes).

There is only one extra in this two-disc set, “The Irresistible Charm of Dan DeCarlo: The Man and His Art.” It profiles the creator of Josie and the Pussycats with an in-depth look into the life of this talented artist. This is a well-made documentary that leaves you wanting to know more.

Recommendation: More extras would have been nice, but this is fun stuff to be watched in doses.

THE SECRETS OF ISIS

Written by Hombre Divertido

Billed as Saturday morning’s first live-action super-heroine, Isis ran around stopping crimes and saving lives in a mini-skirt and go-go boots on The Secrets of Isis as part of the Shazam/Isis Hour on CBS.

As in most Saturday morning shows, the premise of the show and/or origin of the hero, or in this case heroine, was explained in the opening. Here, we are informed that science teacher Andrea Thomas (Joanna Cameron) unearthed a lost treasure on an archeological dig; she found that the mystical amulet endowed her with the powers given by the ancient Egyptian Goddess, Isis! Able to keep her secret identity hidden due to the fact that she went to the same optometrist as Clark Kent, Andrea Thomas was a hip high school teacher who just happened to be able to command the elements and posses the abilities of animals when needed. In most cases she used her powers to help the high school kids out of perilous situations while teaching them valuable lessons, occasionally with the help of her fellow hero Captain Marvel.

These twenty-two episodes will certainly thrust you back to 1975 when Isis first appeared, and make you realize that what seemed so amazing back then appears quite simple now. Though that can be disappointing, the trip down memory lane is till a pleasant one. Simple is the word here as the writing is very blunt and there is a huge formage factor and queso quotient here.

In most episodes Andrea found herself dealing with a new student who just didn’t quite fit in. From a class clown to an overly ambitious cheerleader or a kid that was too short, each would manage to get themselves into trouble often pulling Andreas friends fellow teacher Rick Mason (Brian Cutler) and students/aides (Never clearly defined) Cindy Lee (Joanna Pang-Season 1) and Rennie Carol (Ronalda Douglas-Season 2) into danger with them. Luckily, Andrea would manage to find a way to slip away so that Isis could appear and save the day.

Bill Cosby set the tone in the seventies with his cartoon show where each episode would contain an epilogue with a moral lesson for the kids. Though the Isis show originally contained similar moral epilogues, they are missing from these twenty-two episodes. Many can be found in a segment of the extras in this DVD set with a far-too-brief explanation that they were removed from the segments in the nineteen nineties. When watching them in the extras, one can’t help but wonder as to what the motivation would have been to remove such valuable content.

Those moral messages are only a section of extras that abound in this set. From a DVD-ROM containing all the scripts, to extensive photo galleries, and intensive, if not painfully long, interviews with the cast and crew, there is plenty of entertaining and informative stuff here to fill your brain with the meat you are looking for after watching the episodes. Noticeably absent is and interview with Isis herself; Joanna Cameron.

Recommendation: Children’s entertainment has come along way since Isis, and unfortunately, these shows may not be entertaining to kids now, but for the adults who grew up in that era; this set contains enough extra information to make it worth a look.