IMDB
Two Famous Legends
United States 1973
Broadcast 10/08/77, 4/15/78, 7/29/78
Directed by: Sam Weiss
A pair of animated films concerning two famous legends:
Kukla, Fran, and Ollie are gone from the program and were replaced by footage of a group of kids, aged 5-16, coming to their local movie house to see what is playing and to buy tickets. While outside, the children discover the manager (Don Percassil) making up the marquee. The kids help him when he falls off a ladder and then go inside. Once they are seated, the show for the week begins. The children are later shown running out to the lobby for refreshments during breaks in the program and streaming out of the theater at the end of the show.
Angel and Big Joe
This short film focuses on the relationship between Joe, a telephone linerman and Angel, a fifteen year old migrant worker. Left in New Jersey at the season's end, he, his mother and little brother depend on the pay phone near their house to stay in contact with his father, who has gone in search of work elsewhere. When the phone won't work, Angel enlists "Big Joe's" aid to repair it, and from then on a friendship develops. Disillusioned by his humbling experiences in the so-called land of opportunity, Angel trusts no one, but Big Joe sets about to prove that there's at least one person Angel can trust. Joe and the boy team up to start a rose-growing business, but soon Angel faces the painful dilemma of deciding whether one's responsibility is to others or to oneself.
Cast:
| Paul Sorvino | ........ | Big Joe |
| Dadi Pinero | ........ | Angel Diaz |
| Gloria Irizarry | ........ | Angel’s Mother |
The Show Must Go On
Two school friends learn it is not an easy task to sing in front of an audience. Demsha and Mishka are given the important responsibility of signing a satirical song, criticizing lazy and badly behaved pupils, at the school concert. At first, all goes well. The boys memorize the words and the tunes. Although he is tone deaf, Demsha says he will sing the first lines of Mishka, who is very shy, and Mishka can join in immediately afterwards. But when the time comes to perform, both boys experience stage fright. To make matters worse, Demsha pockets, without realizing it, the bell to be used in the next number of the program, and Mishka tries to run off right before he is to go on stage.
Cast:
| Aleksei (Aloysha) Sirotkin | ........ | Mishka |
| Sergei Krupennikov | ........ | Demsha/Denis Korablyov |
| Vadik Plisov | ........ | Aleksei Shestakov |
Notes: One of a series of shorts, based on stories by Viktor Dragunsky, made for USSR TV.
IMDB
Two Famous Legends
United States 1973
Broadcast 10/08/77, 4/15/78, 7/29/78
Directed by: Sam Weiss
A pair of animated films concerning two famous legends:
1. The Legend of Paul Bunyon 13min
This film relates the adventures of the mighty logger, a man who, as legend has it, could stand in Illinois and cast a shadow all the way across Missouri to Kansas. Because Paul Bunyan was no ordinary logger, his reputation was known throughout the land. When Hels Helsun, Bull of the Woods, challenges Paul, he declines to fight. Instead, he hires Hels as a foreman for a logging crew. Paul, who knows Hels is a prankster who wants to provoke a fight, ignores him until a prank causes Paul's big blue ox to get sick. The spark ignites a final confrontation. Narrated by Jack Angel.
2. The Legend of John Henry 11min
The folk legend of John Henry, the greatest steel-driving man of all, and his challenge of driving railroad spikes faster and deeper than a steam-powered hammer can in a test of man against machine. With a deadline of tunneling through Big Ben mountain before winter, the railroad bosses decide John Henry's crew is not fast enough to get through in time. Their bringing in a steam drill to cut through the mountain poses a great challenge to John Henry, who declared, "Before I give in and let the steam drill win, I'll hammer myself to death." Thus begins the race - one mighty man against the steady drive of
a machine. Told in song by Roberta Flack.
Notes: "The Legend of John Henry" was nominated for an Academy Award.
IMDB - Paul Bunyon
IMDB - John Henry
The Chiffy Kids
Also known as: Wir haben Spaß
United Kingdom 1976
Broadcast 10/15/77, 6/3/88
Directed by: David Bracknell
Episodes from the first of two series about the comic escapades of a gang of children.
1. Decorators Limited (17min) - In hopes of winning a home decoration competition, the overbearing Mrs. Foster employs two men to repaint her flat. The kids volunteer to decorate the neighbouring flat of the elderly sisters. The front door keys are mixed up.
2. Shove Tuesday (17min) - A supermarket offers free groceries to the winner of a Shrove Tuesday pancake race. The kids, after messy experiments with pancake batter, enter Susie in the race.
Cast:
| Wayne Kebell | ........ | Fiddler |
| Tracey Strand | ........ | Magpie |
| Luke Batchelor | ........ | Rocky |
| Philip Sadler | ........ | Slims |
| Leslie Saunders | ........ | Susie |
| Kenny Lynch | ........ | Joe Dokes |
| George Claydon | ........ | Professor Neptune |
Friend or Foe
A youth planning on robbery in London’s rough East End learns a lesson in friendship. Jim has just moved to London and is shy and lonely. Then he meets Johnny, a "cool" kid with a motorbike. But is Johnny a friend or a foe? Johnny informs Jim that he needs money and wants to find a way to make some quick cash. The two make plans to rob an elderly lady of her savings, but Jim later relents after developing a real friendship with the woman. When Jim tells Johnny about his change of heart, the enraged Johnny assaults him and gets the key to the old woman's apartment away from him. Jim warns Johnny that he won't let him get away with his plan.
Cast:
| Patricia Hayes | ........ | Elsie Shepperton |
| John Blythe | ........ | Mr Appleton |
| Peter Duncan | ........ | Jim Anderson |
| Kim Smith | ........ | Johnny |
| Jack Eden | ........ | George |
Notes: A BBC TV Production. One of 5 shorts broadcast in 1976 on UK television. Presented in the US by the Learning Corporaration of America. Not to be confused with the 1982 Children's Film Foundation title of the same name.
BFI
Chip
Broadcast 11/19/77, 8/19/78
Directed by:
Tells the plight of Chip, a devoted shaggy dog. The life of the pet suddenly and unexpectedly changes when his master dies. The sad, unwanted dog is left to wander around alone.
Cast:
Notes: A BBC TV Production. One of 5 shorts broadcast in 1976 on UK television. Presented in the US by the Learning Corporation of America.
BFI
My Father, Sun-Sun Johnson
Also Known as: Stories Round the World: My Father Sun-Sun Johnson
United Kingdom 1976 26min
Broadcast 12/03/77, 6/10/78
Directed by: Paul Stone
Fortunes shift for a Jamaican family, whose debt forces them from their farmlands. Rami also finds it hard to accept the fact of his parents' divorce, and is even more disturbed when his mother marries his father's longtime rival. Rami’s father, Sun-Sun Johnson, struggles to build a new home, but Jake is determined to destroy his plans.
Cast:
| Oliver Samuels | ........ | Lorne |
| Alwyn Scott | ........ | Rami Johnson |
| Stanley Irons | ........ | Sun-Sun Johnson |
| Lloyd Reckord | ........ | Jake |
| Sharon Woollery | ........ | Donna Rae |
Miguel’s Navidad
A story about a mute, fatherless 10-year-old who regains his voice on a special Christmas Eve. Through recollections of childhood by the grown Miguel, the story of the boy and his dog Navidad ("Christmas" in Spanish) unfolds, centering on a particular Christmas that is forever etched in Miguel's mind. The film is woven around the young boy losing his dog on Christmas Eve, an event that awakens a painful memory of a tragic accident that befell his father several Christmas Eves before and caused the boy's inability to speak. In his search for the dog, Miguel is aided by a man who sells puppets in the Mexican Market who helps Miguel forget his painful past and regain his voice.
Cast:
| Ricardo Montalban | ........ | Miguel (adult) |
That’s My Name,
An unusual friendship between two outcasts is recounted. Nick, a troublesome but sensitive adolescent with emotional scars from a disruptive home, befriends Jimmy, a deaf youngster. Both boys mature from this relationship---Nick becomes less wary of involvement with others, while Jimmy learns to push beyond the limitations of his handicap.
Cast:
| Michael King | ........ | Nick |
| Joey Davidson | ........ | Jimmy |
| Al Bernardo | ........ | Sam |
| Sandra O'Neill | ........ | Iris |
Soapbox Derby
Two very determined groups oppose each other: a gang of boys who have prepared for a soap-box derby, and a gathering of girls who want very much to be included in the event. The boys make it clear that the derby is just not the place for girls, until a certain young lady proves she is as good a driver as any boy.
Cast: Mireille Bienvenu, Gilles Guillemette, Franco Lamazzi, Alain Tremblay
Joey
Carly Simon’s music underscores the story of Joey, a young Puerto Rican boy who moves with his family from a tenement to a large, partially constructed apartment complex in New York. Three toughs bully him because of his nationality, but he is able to deal with the situation due to the love and consolation he receives from his family.
Cast:
Chimpmates
Two episodes from the second season of a series featuring a group of English children and their pet chimp.
1. Waxworks - The children visit a wax museum near closing time. Alice the chimp gets lost, and the children hide as attendants close the building for the night. Meanwhile, an attempt is being made to steal the day's takings.
2. Airborne - The kids visit an airfield to see the gliders and become involved with two boys determined to sabotage the gliders. Alice the Chimp lends a hand to a series of hair raising incidents.
Cast: Lynne Morgan, Philip DaCosta, Roy Kinnear, Marcus Evans, Lucy Griffiths
Also Broadcast:
| Winter of the Witch | 10/29/77 | |
| Clown and The Little Wooden Horse | 02/18/78 | |
| Nunu and the Zebra | 03/11/78 | |
| Miguel and Felipa | 04/29/78 | |
| The Magnificent 6 ½ | 07/08/78 | |
| Shopping Bag Lady | 07/15/78 | |
| Geronimo Jones | 08/26/78 |
| Seasons | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1967 | 1968 | 1969 | 1971 | 1971-1972 |
| 1972-1973 | 1973-1974 | 1974-1975 | 1975-1976 | 1976-1977 |
| 1977-1978 | 1979 | 1983 | 1984 | |