Vegetable Soup (TV series)

Vegetable Soup is an American educational children's television program produced by the New York State Education Department that originally ran on PBS from September 22, 1975 to December 14, 1978.[1] NBC concurrently broadcast the series on Sunday mornings, with at least some affiliates showing it along with NBC's regular Saturday morning cartoon lineup; this was a rare instance of a television program seen on both commercial and public television at the same time.[2]

Vegetable Soup
GenreChildren's television series
Written byYanna Kroyt Brandt
Terence Taylor
John L. Figueroa
Carolyn Miller
Jesús Papoleto Meléndez
Brumsic Brandon, Jr.
Lou Potter
Joan Griffiths
Lucille Clifton
Directed byGeorge Bowers
Luis Soto
Al Brodax
Douglas Cheek
Frank S. Abbott
Ivan Cury
StarringGordon Smith
Carla Pinza
Gary Goodrow
Kingman Hui
Voices ofJames Earl Jones
Bette Midler
Opening themeVegetable Soup
ComposerBob Sakayama
Country of origin United States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons3
No. of episodes50
Production
Executive producerYanna Kroyt Brandt
ProducersYanna Kroyt Brandt
Al Brodax
George Bowers
William Hetzer
EditorsPaul Evans
Joe Staton
Running time30 mins
Production companiesNew York State Education Department, Bureau of Mass Communications
DistributorPBS
Release
Original releaseSeptember 22, 1975 (1975-09-22) –
December 14, 1978 (1978-12-14)

In 2019, 40 episodes of Vegetable Soup were digitized by the New York State Archives and made available online in the American Archive of Public Broadcasting.[3] Episodes are made up of a mix of live action, cartoon, puppetry, and mixed-media segments.

Concept

The purpose of the program was to be a television series for children to help counter the negative, destructive effects of racial prejudice and racial isolation and to reinforce and dramatize the positive, life-enhancing value of human diversity in entertaining and affective presentations that children could understand and relate to. Vegetable Soup used an interdisciplinary approach to entertain and educate elementary age children in the value of human diversity.[4]

The show combined music, animation, puppetry and live action film, on the subject of economic, racial and ethnic diversity.[5]

Regular segments
  • The Big Game Hunt - hosted by Gary Goodrow
  • The Big Job Hunt - hosted by Susan Taylor
  • Children's Questions
  • How Do You Find Yourself?
  • Know Yourself
  • Long Ago
  • Luther
  • Make A New Friend
  • Mr. Emeritus
  • Nigel
  • Outerscope 1
  • Real People
  • Storytelling Time
  • Superlative Horse
  • What Do You Want To Be When You Grow Up?
  • What Would You Do?
  • Woody the Spoon Recipes
  • Words Have Stories

Characters
  • Long John Spoilsport (James Earl Jones) - regularly appeared on "The Big Game Hunt" and "The Big Job Hunt" segments
  • Larry Hama - hosted various segments
  • Kingman Hui - child actor who starred on the "Long Ago" segment
  • Martin Harris (Martin Brayboy) - regularly appeared in the "Nigel" segment
  • Eddie (Edward M. Beckford, Jr.) - regularly appeared in the "Nigel" segment, sang the opening theme song
  • Scot Richardson (Scot Smith) - regularly appeared in the "Nigel" segment
  • Bob (Daniel Stern) and Robin (Judy Noble) - regularly appeared in the "Outerscope" segment
  • Woody the Spoon (Bette Midler) - regularly appeared in the "Woody the Spoon Recipes" segment

Animations

Animated segments on the show were created by Jim Simon's Wantu Studios, the musical opening plus 13 Woody the Spoon cooking spots for which Bette Midler did all the voice tracks, and also 48 thirty-second breaks.[6]

Beginning in the show's second season, many animated segments were also produced by Colossal Pictures, of which Vegetable Soup was one of its first assignments. Animators Drew Takahashi and Gary Gutierrez worked on Vegetable Soup during its first season, prior to Colossal Pictures' founding.

See also

References
  1. Hyatt, Wesley (1997). The Encyclopedia of Daytime Television. Watson-Guptill Publications. p. 452. ISBN 978-0823083152. Retrieved 22 March 2020.
  2. Dionne Jr., E. J. (September 22, 1977). "'Vegetable Soup' Bubbling for 2d Antibigotry TV Series". The New York Times. Retrieved 2018-07-18.
  3. "Vegetable Soup Collection". americanarchive.org. Retrieved 2020-06-01.
  4. "ERIC - Vegetable Soup: Parent-Teacher Guide., 1975". Eric.ed.gov. Retrieved 2016-07-07.
  5. Woolery, George W. (1985). Children's Television: The First Thirty-Five Years, 1946-1981, Part II: Live, Film, and Tape Series. The Scarecrow Press. pp. 533–534. ISBN 0-8108-1651-2.
  6. "Michael Sporn Animation – Splog » Jim Simon – 1975". Michaelspornanimation.com. Retrieved 2016-07-07.
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