American Greetings sought to be major competition to Hallmark back in the day, and while Hallmark is still the better known (and more expensive) brand of greeting cards, American Greetings was first to bring one of their characters to television.
Strawberry Shortcake first appeared in a half-hour syndicated special that bowed in March 1980, The World of Strawberry Shortcake. Writer-producer Romeo Muller, formerly of Rankin-Bass, also narrates, essaying the role of Mr. Sun (no, not the mascot for Kellogg's Raisin Bran). Kenner, now part of Hasbro, but owned by General Mills at the time, sponsored the show, which aired before 8 pm (ET) in most cities. The future team of Murakami-Wolf-Swenson handled the animation in conjunction with a Japanese studio, and the music was composed and performed by Flo & Eddie (Mark Volman & Howard Kaylan), aka The Turtles.
Believe it or else, that's Robert Ridgely (Flash Gordon, Tarzan, Lord of The Jungle) as the Purple Pie Man of Porcupine Peak.
After three specials, Canada's Nelvana Studios took over production, and former Lovin' Spoonful frontman John Sebastian, already contracted to Nelvana, took over composing the music from his fellow 60's icons.
In memory of Russi Taylor (Strawberry), who passed away this weekend at 75.
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4 comments:
This special was my first ever exposure to Russi Taylor as a voice actress; she continued the role for all of the subsequent Romeo Muller specials as well as the Nelvana ones. Every time I'd hear her in something after that, I'd say, "Hey, that's Strawberry Shortcake!" Of course today most viewers would know her as THE voice of Minnie Mouse. Taylor was even married to Mickey's then voice actor Wayne Alwine (sp?) until his unfortunate passing. RIP.
It's been 10 years since Wayne Allwine passed. Now, he & Russi are reunited in Heaven.
Russi was also the voice of Martin Prince and some other characters on The Simpsons, and voiced Pebbles in the 1980-2 Flintstone Comedy Hour and some subsequent specials.
Flo & Eddie were Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan, respectively.
I have fond (?) memories of their sort-of comeback tour in the '80s, when Mr. Kaylan had receding white hair and a beard, which made him look like an unsuccessful Republican candidate for Mayor of Chicago from that period.
I'll fix the spelling errors, Mike, don't worry.
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