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Curious George

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For other uses, see the children's book series.
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Curious George Takes a Job book cover

Curious George is the protagonist of a series of popular children's books by the same name, written by Hans Augusto Rey and Margret Rey.[1] The books feature a curious chimp named George, who is brought from his home in Africa by "The Man with The Yellow Hat" to live with him in a big city.

In the United Kingdom, George was originally called Zozo, apparently to avoid using the name of the then-king, George VI, for a monkey.[2]

Creation

The series was written and drawn by the team of H.A. Rey and Margret Rey, starting in 1941. According to Hans A. Rey's obituary in Sky and Telescope, the couple fled Paris in June 1940 with the "Curious George" manuscript in their luggage. [3][4] At first only Hans A. Rey was credited for the work in order to differentiate the Reys' books from the large number of children's books written by female authors. Later, Hans Rey was credited for the illustrations and Margret Rey for the writing. The Reys produced many other children's books, but the Curious George series was the most popular. It has been re-edited continuously in the six decades since the first volume came out. The current United States publisher is Houghton Mifflin of Boston.

Books

The Curious George books have been segmented by Houghton Mifflin into a few categories: classic favorites, board books with scenes from the original books, books adapted from the film series, and new adventures. Classic favorites include the original seven books, all written and illustrated by the Reys. Board books are stories and books designed specifically for small children. The books adapted from the film series were published the 1980s and are mostly out of print. However, several have been re-released with new cover art. New adventures include books "illustrated in the style of H. A. Rey" by Mary O'Keefe Young, Vipah Interactive, Martha Weston, and Anna Grossnickle Hines. Around the world, the adventures of Curious George have been translated in many languages, and George takes on names such as Peter Pedal in Denmark, Nysgjerrige Nils in Norway, Nicke Nyfiken in Sweden, Hitomane Kozaru in Japan, and Jorge El Curioso in Spanish speaking countries.

Curious George "Original Adventures"

Sometimes dubbed the "Original Adventures", these original seven titles are completely by the series creators, Margret & H.A. Rey.

  • Curious George (1941)
  • Curious George Takes a Job (1947)
  • Curious George Rides a Bike (1952)
  • Curious George Gets a Medal (1957)
  • Curious George Flies a Kite (1958)
  • Curious George Learns the Alphabet (1963)
  • Curious George Goes to the Hospital (1966)

Before appearing in his own series, Curious George appeared as a character in another children's book by the Reys, Cecily G. and the Nine Monkeys (1939).

Books adapted from telefilms

This series of books based on the telefilm series was edited by Margret Rey and Alan J. Shalleck.

  • Curious George Goes to the Aquarium (1984)
  • Curious George Visits the Zoo (1985)
  • Curious George and the Pizza (1985)
  • Curious George Plays Baseball (1986)
  • Curious George Walks the Pets (1986)
  • Curious George at the Airport (1987)
  • Curious George and the Dump Truck (1988)
  • Curious George Goes Fishing (1988)
  • Curious George at the Fire Station (1988)
  • Curious George at the Ballet (1988)
  • Curious George Goes Sledding (1988)
  • Curious George at the Beach (1988)
  • Curious George at the Laundromat (1988)
  • Curious George Goes to a Restaurant (1988)
  • Curious George Goes to the Circus (1988)
  • Curious George Visits a Police Station (1988)
  • Curious George at the Railroad Station (1988)
  • Curious George Goes Hiking (1988)
  • Curious George Visits an Amusement Park (1988)
  • Curious George Goes to the Dentist (1989)
  • Curious George Goes to an Ice Cream Shop (1989)
  • Curious George Goes to School (1989)
  • Curious George and the Dinosaur (1989)
  • Curious George Goes to a Toy Store (1989)
  • Curious George Goes Camping (1990)
  • Curious George Goes to an Air Show (1991)
  • Curious George Bakes a Cake (1993)

Curious George "New Adventures"

This series is illustrated in the style of Margret and H.A. Rey, by a variety of credited and uncredited artists.

  • Curious George Goes to a Chocolate Factory (1998) Illustrated by Vipah Interactive
  • Curious George and the Puppies (1998) Illustrated by Vipah Interactive
  • Curious George Makes Pancakes (1998) Illustrated by Vipah Interactive
  • Curious George Feeds the Animals (1998) Illustrated by Vipah Interactive
  • Curious George Goes to a Movie (1998) Illustrated by Vipah Interactive
  • Curious George and the Hot Air Balloon (1998) Illustrated by Vipah Interactive
  • Curious George in the Snow (1998) Illustrated by Vipah Interactive
  • Curious George's Dream (1998) Illustrated by Vipah Interactive
  • Curious George Goes to the Beach (1999) Illustrated by Vipah Interactive
  • Curious George and the Dump Truck (1999) Illustrated by Vipah Interactive
  • Curious George Goes Camping (1999) Illustrated by Vipah Interactive
  • Curious George at the Parade (1999) Illustrated by Vipah Interactive
  • Curious George Goes to a Costume Party (2001) Illustrated by Martha Weston
  • Curious George in the Big City (2001) Illustrated by Martha Weston
  • Curious George Takes a Train (2002) Illustrated by Martha Weston
  • Curious George Visits a Toy Store (2002) Illustrated by Martha Weston
  • Curious George and the Birthday Surprise (2003) Illustrated by Martha Weston
  • Curious George Visits the Library (2003) Illustrated by Martha Weston
  • Curious George and the Firefighters (2004) Illustrated by Anna Grossnickle Hines
  • Curious George's First Day of School (2005) Illustrated by Anna Grossnickle Hines
  • Curious George's Dinosaur Discovery (2006) Illustrated by Anna Grossnickle Hines
  • Curious George at the Baseball Game (2006) Illustrated by Anna Grossnickle Hines
  • Merry Christmas, Curious George (2006) Illustrated by Mary O'Keefe Young, written by Cathy Hapka
  • Curious George at the Aquarium (2007) Illustrated by Anna Grossnickle Hines

The Man with the Yellow Hat

The only recurring character in the original adventures, other than George himself, is the Man with the Yellow Hat. It was he who brought George from Africa, and it is in his house that George lives. The Man often facilitates George's adventures by taking him somewhere, and even more often resolves the tension by appearing just in time to get George out of a tight spot. He is always seen wearing a bright yellow suit and a wide-brimmed yellow hat.

The Man is never mentioned by name in the original adventures, or in any subsequent content over more than six decades. He is always called either "the Man" or fully "the Man with the Yellow Hat". When people speak to George about the Man, they often refer to him as "your friend." This tradition was broken in the 2006 film, in which the Man is referred to as "Ted".


Interpretations

Type of Monkey

Curious George is, obviously, not a monkey which we are generally familiar with, as even the authors have never specifically identified the species of monkey they sought to portray in Curious George. Curious George is also given many of the physical characteristics of a juvenile chimpanzee which are often mistaken for monkeys but are actually apes. He lacks a tail, which also implies that he is an ape -- or, perhaps, the Macaque monkey, which has a mere stub for a tail.

Kidnapping?

Some [1] [2] argue that George is kidnapped by "the Man with the Yellow Hat". From the first book:

"What a nice little monkey," the man thought. "I would like to take him home with me." He put his hat on the ground and, of course, George was curious. He came down from the tree to look at the large yellow hat... George picked it up and put it on.
The hat covered George's head. He couldn't see. The man picked him up quickly and popped him into a bag. George was caught.

The picture accompanying this text depicts George in a sack, only his head visible, with a very surprised look on his face.

The man with the big yellow hat put George into a little boat, and a sailor rowed them both across the water to a big ship. George was sad, but he was still a bit curious.

In the illustration accompanying this text, George seems quite happy as he looks at a couple of passing fish; scholar Daniel Greenstone finds George's "kidnapping and imprisonment striking...because of the monkey's nonchalant response."[5]

Despite George's smiling response to most everything bad that happens to him throughout the first book, the parallels to the slave trade are hard to ignore: a white man travels to Africa, captures a resident, and takes him by boat to a first-world country.

Other media

Curious George and The Man in the Yellow Hat make appearances at Universal Studios Florida.

Also at Universal Studios Florida is the kids' playland "Curious George Goes to Town". It has two areas: An outside wet playground with water jets, water guns, and giant buckets that empty their contents on guests below, and an indoor playground called the "Ball Factory" where guests can launch soft foam balls at each other or provided targets; Guests are provided with many opportunities to launch balls with various cannons or even fill large buckets above the area, which dump their contents every two and half minutes.

There was a series of animated TV films made (beginning in 1980) featuring the character, which were then adapted into books themselves (making up part of the New Adventures series listed above). This series was produced and co-written by Alan Shalleck.

There has been a stop-motion adaptation of two Curious George stories, created with puppet-figures by noted animator John Clark Matthews (who also used a similar technique for his film of Frog and Toad Together).

An animated film, Curious George, featuring Will Ferrell as the voice of the originally unnamed man in the yellow hat was released on February 10, 2006. In this film (in which the man is referred to as "Ted"), Curious George secretly follows the man onto the ship to the city on his own accord. Frank Welker provided the vocal effects of Curious George.

A new TV series, based on the movie, debuted September 4, 2006 on PBS Kids as part of Miss Lori and Hooper's schedule block.

There is also a Curious George video game that was released on February 2, 2006, published by Namco and developed by Monkey Bar Games, a division of Vicious Cycle Software.

The Curious George brand recently (mid-2006) joined with Welch's jelly for a collectible of six jars.

A children's bookstore in Harvard Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts, is known as Curious George (formerly Curious George Goes To Wordsworth), and carries a considerable amount of licensed Curious George merchandise. It is the last remaining property of Wordsworth Books, a former local general-interest bookstore that closed in the early 2000s.

Curious George & Vivendi Universal

In 2001, when Jean-Marie Messier served as CEO of French media giant Vivendi Universal, he seized upon Curious George (a character of Houghton Mifflin Company, part of VU) as a perfect embodiment of the sprawling conglomerate's various activities, which reached as far afield as the French mobile phone operator Cegetel (Messier was an early proponent of entertainment downloads via mobile phones.) Waxing enthusiastic as he met with investors and the media, Messier couldn't resist talking up George.

Although never officially raised to the status of mascot, George did audition for the part in full-page ads that Vivendi Universal ran in the pages of such papers as the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times during summer 2001.

"Wherever there's a curious mind to feed and imagination to inspire, you'll be seeing Vivendi Universal", the ads, featuring George's image, read.

But Messier's own reign proved short-lived. In 2000, Vivendi, the Paris-based utilities company, had merged with Seagram Co., which then owned Universal Studios, and Canal+ to create Vivendi Universal. But by 2002, Messier resigned under pressure, and in 2004, Vivendi Universal merged with NBC to form NBC Universal.

References

  1. ^ Curious George . About the Program | PBS KIDS
  2. ^ "Curious George . About the Reys". Retrieved 2008-03-10.
  3. ^ "Boston.com News, By Mark Feeney Globe Staff". Retrieved 2007-10-29.
  4. ^ "New York Times, By Dinitia Smith". Retrieved 2007-10-29.
  5. ^ Greenstone, Daniel. "Frightened George: How the Pediatric Educational Complex Ruined the Curious George Series." Journal of Social History 39.1 (Fall 2005): 221-228.


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