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Telling Stories with Tomie dePaola

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Telling Stories with Tomie dePaola
Written byJim Lewis, Kati Rocky, Craig Shemin
Directed byDavid Gumpel
StarringTomie dePaola
Puppeteers:
Bill Barretta
Julianne Buescher
John Kennedy
Alison Mork
No. of seasons1
Production
Executive producersDavid Gumpel
Halle Stanford
Production companyThe Jim Henson Company
Original release
NetworkHallmark Channel
ReleaseAugust 2001 –
October 2001

Telling Stories with Tomie dePaola is a 2001 children's television series from The Jim Henson Company.

Plot

This episode is about Tomie dePaola and his squirrel sidekick Gabe who present stories revolving around his storybook characters.

Characters

  • Tomie dePaola (Himself) - The main character of the series.
  • Gabe the Squirrel (performed by John Kennedy) - A mischievous red squirrel who is Tomie's friend, confidant, and muse.
  • The Animal Band - A group of woodland creatures that Gabe the Squirrel visits every episode. It consists of a rabbit on drums, a weasel on guitar (performed by Julianne Buescher), a raccoon on keytar, and a penguin on bass guitar.
  • Strega Nona (performed by Bill Barretta) - An elderly lady who always wants help from her friends Big Anthony and Bambolona.
    • Big Anthony (performed by John Kennedy) - A tall dimwitted man who is one of Strega Nona's friends.
    • Bambolona (performed by Julianne Buescher) - One of Strega Nona's friends. With Bambolona being a live-hand puppet, Julianne Buescher is assisted in performing him by James Murray who operates Bambolona's right hand.
  • Goat (performed by James Murray) - An unnamed goat that appeared in the "Strega Nona" segments. He and Bambolona don't get along very well as Bambolona claims that it doesn't really help at all, but the goat is usually shown to have more intelligence than most of the characters. The character of "Goat" was based on the designs from Tomie dePaola's illustrated "Strega Nona" books. The design featured a departure from the traditional Muppet-look appearance as the goal was to match the water color illustrations found in the book. His puppet was built by James Wojtal working under the supervision of Rollie Krewson.

Episodes

  1. "Tales Around the Table" (August 6, 2001)
  2. "Where Do You Get Ideas?" (August 7, 2001)
  3. "What's a Story?" (August 8, 2001)
  4. "Stories For Myself" (August 9, 2001)
  5. "Food as Storytelling" (August 10, 2001)
  6. "That's a Story?!?" (August 13, 2001)
  7. "Getting Started" (August 14, 2001)
  8. "Character" (August 15, 2001)
  9. "Setting" (August 16, 2001)
  10. "Point of View" (August 17, 2001)
  11. "Performance of Storytelling" (August 20, 2001)
  12. "Every Picture Tells a Story" (August 21, 2001)
  13. "Making Sense of Our World Through Stories" (August 22, 2001)
  14. "Taking a Chance" (August 23, 2001)
  15. "Finding Your Audience" (August 24, 2001)
  16. "Funny" (August 27, 2001)
  17. "Scary" (August 28, 2001)
  18. "Moods: Happy/Sad" (August 29, 2001)
  19. "History" (August 30, 2001)
  20. "Music" (August 31, 2001)
  21. "Make Believe Stories" (September 4, 2001)
  22. "Real Stories" (September 5, 2001)
  23. "More Than One Way to Tell a Tale - Versions" (September 6, 2001)
  24. "More Than One Way to Tell a Tale - Techniques" (September 7, 2001)
  25. "Putting Heart Into Your Story" (September 10, 2001)
  26. "Collaboration" (September 11, 2001)

Cast

Puppeteers

Other appearances

  • The puppet for Gabe the Squirrel later appeared in Bear in the Big Blue House as Skippy the Squirrel.
  • The puppets for Gabe the Squirrel and the Goat have been used in different Henson Alternative projects:

Ownership

Following the sale of The Muppets and Bear in the Big Blue House to The Walt Disney Company in 2004, the rights to various portions of the show have been split between Disney and The Jim Henson Company. The Walt Disney Company owns Kermit the Frog, Rizzo the Rat and Pepe the King Prawn, while The Jim Henson Company keeps the rest of the series.

References

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Telling_Stories_with_Tomie_dePaola&oldid=957723730"