Schoolhouse Rock (1973)
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January 6, 1973: ๐๐พ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐พ๐! debuted on ABC-TV!
๐จ๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐
๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐
๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐
๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐
๐ฐ๐’๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐
‘๐ช๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐
๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐
๐ฐ๐’๐ ๐บ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐น๐๐๐๐, ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐
๐ถ๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐, ๐บ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐น๐๐๐!
This series of animated, musical educational short films aired as interstitials during ABC’s Saturday morning programming. The series was the brainchild of advertising executive David McCall, who noticed that his son struggled with multiplication tables but could easily memorize rock song lyrics. This led McCall to hire musician Bob Dorough to write a song about multiplication, “Three Is a Magic Number,” which became the first in the Schoolhouse Rock! series. The show’s segments expanded to cover a variety of subjects, including grammar, science, economics, history, mathematics, and civics.
๐๐พ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐พ๐! was known for its catchy tunes and memorable characters, which helped make learning fun for children. Bob Dorough served as the musical director for the series between 1973 and 1985 and wrote many of its most popular songs. Some of the most well-known songs included “Conjunction Junction”, “Lolly, Lolly, Lolly Get Your Adverbs Here,” and yes, “Three Is a Magic Number”. Many Gen Xers still have these little ditties rattling around in our heads after five decades.
(๐ฏ ๐ฒ ๐ต…๐ญ๐ฎ ๐ญ๐ฑ ๐ญ๐ด… ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ฎ๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ณ… ๐ฏ๐ฌ!)
What you might not recall is that the episodes were released in themed batches. The first was Multiplication Rock, followed by Grammer Rock in the fall of 1973, with America Rock coming along in fall 1975, Science Rock in fall 1978, and Computer Rock in January 1982.
๐๐พ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐พ๐! has had a lasting impact on American culture and has been added to the Library of Congress National Recording Registry. The original run was from 1973 to 1985, and it was later revived from 1993 to 1996, with additional episodes produced in 2009 for direct-to-video release. The series was adapted into a musical theater production, Schoolhouse Rock Live! in 1993, and was celebrated with a 50th-anniversary singalong special on ABC. It has been released several times on various forms of home video.
