Yeah, I don't recall much of this one either. Of course it's been so long since it was last broadcasted. I guess late 80s or early 90s. They were still broadcasting early 70s in the 90s so I guess that is when it was last broadcasted.
Now that I've had some time to think about it. Part of this was up on youtube a few years ago. That backdrop of a set looks rather dated doesn't it? I always thought the best opera with setting/backgrounds was Granddad for Daniel. I often wondered was a Granddad for Daniel filmed in a different studio? With that lifesize electric trolley I often wondered how they filmed it. I guess you could film that in the same studio where NOMB was filmed. With the moving trolley I wondered how they had room.
I liked Spoon Mountain's set. Well, I'd really love to see all of the operas. Do you remember All In The Laundry? I haven't seen that one in so long and don't see it in the offerings on Amazon yet. I am thrilled to see the one with Reardon playing the swan...Otherland I think.
I own both from vhs recordings 1245 from 1989 and 1425 from 1992 1245 is only 25mins long 1425 is a full program that was taped after Johnny Carson went off the air all on the same vsh tape thanks Tim for this blog I was going to ask about making blog about the winter opera a note on this program is wont you be my neighbor is just the song not like 1300 or 1475 1505 1535 it's like 1125 1425 and 1665 also he starts out with showing flash cards and Reardon sings the number song at the start of the opera and then sings and flash and concentrate my copy is missing the first 5 mins but I went to see it at the Paley Center for media the full 30mins with trolley card and 1971 pbs logo hope this helps
I vaguely remember All in the Laundry. I catch myself sometimes singing some of music from the operas. My favorite opera music moment: Chuck Aber sings - Polishing, Polishing, Polishing everything... I also like Reardon singing - There's never, never, never, never, never any trouble here in Bubbleland, Bubbleland, Bubbleland.
Mike, me too. Chuck Aber is such a good sport, he sang the Polishing portion for me last year. I told him it was my daughter's favorite number in that opera and he kindly obliged by sending her a video song. Fred Rogers had some great melody lines come out in his operas.
Wow, it's so great to have these conversations because my family and friends get tired of my quoting Mr. Rogers trivia. :-)I'm glad I'm not the only one who's interested in this stuff. I love "All in the Laundry" where Reardon sings about "Dirty work, dirty work, all I get is dirty work." I sing that to myself when I'm doing something unpleasant like packing books in a box at the library where I work. :-) And Vickie, I would love to see the video of Chuck Aber singing about "polishing." I agree that the set for that opera was amazing.
This is so fun to see pictures of another original opera. I've read a lot about the original series episodes, but it's always fun to finally see visuals on them. Thanks again TL!
Drew - I know what you mean. My friends go nuts if I bring up any Mister Rogers trivia.
I thought Fred wrote brillant operas. The music in them connected so well. I like when Reardon says, "Did your Daddy say he is polishing, polishing, polishing in the jungle when do we go there?"
I would like to see that Chuck Aber video sometime. I like the other portion of the song in which he sings, "My father went away a long, long time ago, he went on a boat or a plane, I don't know."
I also like that song in a Granddad For Daniel, When the Day Turns Into Night.
Fred mentions in an interview that the soundstage that they filmed his show in was the largest stage in Pittsburgh, 80'x80'. I don't the trolley in "Granddad" could be classified as full size, though it's certainly a large prop. However height-wise it's probably shorter than X's tree and the castle.
I think Granddad for Daniel is one of my least favorite, but only because its one of the more recent and I seem to gravitate towards the older ones. Of the ones I remember, I'd proably have to pick Cows and Potato Bugs. It's very melodic, the whole idea, and frankly Betty Aberlin is just unforgettable as the cow who wants to be a Potato bug.
The only thing from All in the Laundry, or The Zookeeper one that I remember are what I've seen in clips on more current episodes. I'd love to see more. I wonder if seeing them would jog my memory. I assume I saw them as a kid but don't know for sure.
TL, I wish I had "All in the Laundry." I visited the University of Pittsburgh last year where they have the whole series. However, there were some technical issues with the old tapes, since they were before VHS and even before Beta. "All in the Laundry" was one of the shows I planned to watch, but the tape wasn't working. I still had fun watching the "planet purple" episodes,and the last week before the "Starting School" in 1979. Does anyone remember that week? In make believe, they look into the future to see how everyone will turn out. X is a professor at Owl Correspondence School, Lady Elaine is the oldest woman in the world, and Daniel marries Grandpere's daughter Collette. :-) I wonder if Mr. Rogers planned to end the series with that week, and got his second wind with "Starting School" in 1979?
For me, Josephine Short Neck was probably my least favorite. I imagine JR was supposed to have Reardon. But since he passed away Chuck Aber had to take it. I don't even remember The Zookeeper. Is that the same one as Monkey's Uncle?
Yes, Vickie, please do post the video of Neighbor Aber singing "Polishing." Thanks to the old VHS tape "Musical Stories," my boys have fallen in love with "Potato Bugs and Cows" and "A Grandad for Daniel." Both my boys (now 3 and 2 years old) have been going through the kitchen rag drawer for probably a year now, finding "polishing" rags, and then they go around the house singing the song and "polishing." It's really cute. We watch those two operas over AND over again and we know all the words.
Mike, you're probably right about the title being Monkey's Uncle. I am just going by a clip in a later program- something about an organ grinder and Lady A as someone who takes care of animals.
Snow People is the first opera where I realized that Miss Paulificate and Chef Brockett seemed to be given relatively small parts in the operas.
Once again, Lady Elaine mentions that she is certified (as she does later in the week about Pets)
As a kid I remember thinking that the snow bodies that Yoshi and Francois were in looked like they were made of something edible.
Does anyone know where these operas can be downloaded for free now? I saw them on youtube awhile back, and really would like to download some of them to my pc and flashdrive so I can watch them and reminisce.
Thanks I love the pre-79 shows. Key To Otherland is my all time favorite opera. I could watch it a dozen times. I hope Amazon makes Snow People available, any idea if they might? I'd also love to se Al in the Laundry (1370). I last saw it in the early 90s on tv I think. I remember Reardon played a poor office worker or something in it and Lady Elaine was his slavedriver boss named Alice Claire. Betty Aberlin played a rich customer and she and Reardon fell in love.
And a note about Chef Brockett's opera roles, I think he had a prominent role as a monkey in the organ grinder opera (which I have never actually seen) and his other prominent opera role and probably most memorable as Horatio the potato bug in Potato Bugs & Cows! "Potato Bug, Potato Bug"! Can never get that song out of my head! :)
21 comments:
Oh my! I don't think I even KNOW of this one!!
Yeah, I don't recall much of this one either. Of course it's been so long since it was last broadcasted. I guess late 80s or early 90s. They were still broadcasting early 70s in the 90s so I guess that is when it was last broadcasted.
Now that I've had some time to think about it. Part of this was up on youtube a few years ago. That backdrop of a set looks rather dated doesn't it? I always thought the best opera with setting/backgrounds was Granddad for Daniel. I often wondered was a Granddad for Daniel filmed in a different studio? With that lifesize electric trolley I often wondered how they filmed it. I guess you could film that in the same studio where NOMB was filmed. With the moving trolley I wondered how they had room.
I liked Spoon Mountain's set. Well, I'd really love to see all of the operas. Do you remember All In The Laundry? I haven't seen that one in so long and don't see it in the offerings on Amazon yet. I am thrilled to see the one with Reardon playing the swan...Otherland I think.
I own both from vhs recordings 1245 from 1989 and 1425 from 1992 1245 is only 25mins long 1425 is a full program that was taped after Johnny Carson went off the air all on the same vsh tape thanks Tim for this blog I was going to ask about making blog about the winter opera a note on this program is wont you be my neighbor is just the song not like 1300 or 1475 1505 1535 it's like 1125 1425 and 1665 also he starts out with showing flash cards and Reardon sings the number song at the start of the opera and then sings and flash and concentrate my copy is missing the first 5 mins but I went to see it at the Paley Center for media the full 30mins with trolley card and 1971 pbs logo hope this helps
I vaguely remember All in the Laundry. I catch myself sometimes singing some of music from the operas. My favorite opera music moment: Chuck Aber sings - Polishing, Polishing, Polishing everything... I also like Reardon singing - There's never, never, never, never, never any trouble here in Bubbleland, Bubbleland, Bubbleland.
Mike, me too. Chuck Aber is such a good sport, he sang the Polishing portion for me last year. I told him it was my daughter's favorite number in that opera and he kindly obliged by sending her a video song. Fred Rogers had some great melody lines come out in his operas.
Clarifying, he allowed me to take video of him singing it to her! Maybe I should upload to share here? Would you like?
Wow, it's so great to have these conversations because my family and friends get tired of my quoting Mr. Rogers trivia. :-)I'm glad I'm not the only one who's interested in this stuff. I love "All in the Laundry" where Reardon sings about "Dirty work, dirty work, all I get is dirty work." I sing that to myself when I'm doing something unpleasant like packing books in a box at the library where I work. :-) And Vickie, I would love to see the video of Chuck Aber singing about "polishing." I agree that the set for that opera was amazing.
Hey everybody -- Does anyone have a copy of All in the Laundry?
This is so fun to see pictures of another original opera. I've read a lot about the original series episodes, but it's always fun to finally see visuals on them. Thanks again TL!
Drew - I know what you mean. My friends go nuts if I bring up any Mister Rogers trivia.
I thought Fred wrote brillant operas. The music in them connected so well. I like when Reardon says, "Did your Daddy say he is polishing, polishing, polishing in the jungle when do we go there?"
I would like to see that Chuck Aber video sometime. I like the other portion of the song in which he sings, "My father went away a long, long time ago, he went on a boat or a plane, I don't know."
I also like that song in a Granddad For Daniel, When the Day Turns Into Night.
Fred mentions in an interview that the soundstage that they filmed his show in was the largest stage in Pittsburgh, 80'x80'. I don't the trolley in "Granddad" could be classified as full size, though it's certainly a large prop. However height-wise it's probably shorter than X's tree and the castle.
I think Granddad for Daniel is one of my least favorite, but only because its one of the more recent and I seem to gravitate towards the older ones. Of the ones I remember, I'd proably have to pick Cows and Potato Bugs. It's very melodic, the whole idea, and frankly Betty Aberlin is just unforgettable as the cow who wants to be a Potato bug.
The only thing from All in the Laundry, or The Zookeeper one that I remember are what I've seen in clips on more current episodes. I'd love to see more. I wonder if seeing them would jog my memory. I assume I saw them as a kid but don't know for sure.
TL, I wish I had "All in the Laundry." I visited the University of Pittsburgh last year where they have the whole series. However, there were some technical issues with the old tapes, since they were before VHS and even before Beta. "All in the Laundry" was one of the shows I planned to watch, but the tape wasn't working. I still had fun watching the "planet purple" episodes,and the last week before the "Starting School" in 1979. Does anyone remember that week? In make believe, they look into the future to see how everyone will turn out. X is a professor at Owl Correspondence School, Lady Elaine is the oldest woman in the world, and Daniel marries Grandpere's daughter Collette. :-) I wonder if Mr. Rogers planned to end the series with that week, and got his second wind with "Starting School" in 1979?
For me, Josephine Short Neck was probably my least favorite. I imagine JR was supposed to have Reardon. But since he passed away Chuck Aber had to take it. I don't even remember The Zookeeper. Is that the same one as Monkey's Uncle?
Yes, Vickie, please do post the video of Neighbor Aber singing "Polishing." Thanks to the old VHS tape "Musical Stories," my boys have fallen in love with "Potato Bugs and Cows" and "A Grandad for Daniel." Both my boys (now 3 and 2 years old) have been going through the kitchen rag drawer for probably a year now, finding "polishing" rags, and then they go around the house singing the song and "polishing." It's really cute. We watch those two operas over AND over again and we know all the words.
Mike, you're probably right about the title being Monkey's Uncle. I am just going by a clip in a later program- something about an organ grinder and Lady A as someone who takes care of animals.
Snow People is the first opera where I realized that Miss Paulificate and Chef Brockett seemed to be given relatively small parts in the operas.
Once again, Lady Elaine mentions that she is certified (as she does later in the week about Pets)
As a kid I remember thinking that the snow bodies that Yoshi and Francois were in looked like they were made of something edible.
Does anyone know where these operas can be downloaded for free now? I saw them on youtube awhile back, and really would like to download some of them to my pc and flashdrive so I can watch them and reminisce.
Several of the operas are available on Amazon for only a couple bucks each. Going that route is my suggestion.
Thanks I love the pre-79 shows. Key To Otherland is my all time favorite opera. I could watch it a dozen times. I hope Amazon makes Snow People available, any idea if they might? I'd also love to se Al in the Laundry (1370). I last saw it in the early 90s on tv I think. I remember Reardon played a poor office worker or something in it and Lady Elaine was his slavedriver boss named Alice Claire. Betty Aberlin played a rich customer and she and Reardon fell in love.
And a note about Chef Brockett's opera roles, I think he had a prominent role as a monkey in the organ grinder opera (which I have never actually seen) and his other prominent opera role and probably most memorable as Horatio the potato bug in Potato Bugs & Cows! "Potato Bug, Potato Bug"! Can never get that song out of my head! :)
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