Earth Promise “21 in 21″ Interview Series – George Newall – Creator of Schoolhouse Rock! George Newall – Creator of Schoolhouse Rock! and Schoolhouse Rock! Earth In 1970, George Newall became the catalyst in the creation of ABC’s Schoolhouse Rock. The McCaffrey & McCall President, David McCall, asked him to help develop the concept of setting rote learning to rock music. Newall found Bob Dorough, a composer of uniquely eccentric jazz tunes and lyrics and introduced him to McCall and Newall’s creative partner, Art director cartoonist Tom Yohe. Later that year, the group took their educational idea to Disney CEO Michael Eisner, then Director of Children’s Programming at the ABC Television Network. Eisner immediately bought the idea and in 1972, 3-minute Schoolhouse Rock! segments starting running on ABC seven times each weekend. In 2002 The Walt Disney Company released a Schoolhouse Rock! 30th Anniversary Edition DVD featuring the complete library of episodes. Newall composed a new song for the event, I’m Gonna Send Your Vote College, an explanation of the electoral college. Disney filmed the recording session for the new song for inclusion in the “behind the scenes” section the two-disk set. Over one million copies of the DVD were sold over the Christmas holidays. And now in 2009, George Newall and company have released Schoolhouse Rock! Earth. Taking care of the environment rocks! The original creators of the classic ABC TV series SCHOOLHOUSE ROCK have put heart and musical soul into 13 songs that educate and celebrate what makes our planet so great! SCHOOLHOUSE ROCK! EARTH features all-new songs and animation plus appearances by iconic characters Interplanet Janet and Mr. Morton. These fun and high-energy songs will teach a new generation of fans all about recycling, biodiversity, solar energy and more. The beloved voices that sang timeless classics such as “I’m Just a Bill” and “Conjunction Junction” are back to sing again in these all-new tunes! Think green and do your part to rock the Earth! It’s the only Earth we’ve got! To purchase the DVD, here are two places to visit – Amazon and Disney. Earth Promise: What changes, or Earth Promises as we call them, have you made in your lifestyle to be more green?  Changes in home, travel, work, with your kids and community? George Newall: My whole family is more attentive to switches and faucets. We’ve kept our thermostat set lower this winter.  And will keep it higher during the summer months. My wife buys vegetables from a local farm co-op.   I bought a hybrid car. EP: Unrelated to the environment, can you tell me how Schoolhouse Rock! Got started?  I am sure the readers would love to hear. GW: Schoolhouse Rock began as an idea for an educational phonograph record to help teach kids multiplication tables. My boss, Dave McCall, President of McCaffrey & McCall Advertising, had a son who was having trouble memorizing them, even though he could sing every Rolling Stone and Jimi Hendrix lyric. Knowing I had a musical background, he asked me if I could find someone who could set the tables to rock music. I introduced him to Bob Dorough who came back to us three weeks after our first meeting with “Three is a Magic Number.” My partner, Tom Yohe, who was head of our art department, was a wonderful cartoonist and a compulsive doodler. Tom thought the lyrics were very “visual” and, while listening to Bob’s song, started sketching. Our agency’s largest account was ABC Television. And the head Account Executive on ABC, Rad Stone, noticed Tom’s sketches and asked if Tom thought he could set the sketches to Bob’s music and turn “Three is a Magic Number” into a short animated film. Rad knew ABC was looking for a short form answer to CBS’s new “In the News” series. So Tom drew a storyboard and he and Rad and Dave took it to ABC and showed it to the young head of ABC Children’s Programming, Mike Eisner. Also present in the meeting was animation immortal, Chuck Jones, who was producing children’s television material for ABC at the time. After hearing the song and following along with the storyboard, Eisner, obviously intrigued, turned to Jones and said, “What do you think?” Jones replied, “Buy it, as long as Tom draws it!” And that’s how we got what was to become Schoolhouse Rock on network television. EP: I watched Schoolhouse Rock! all the time as a kid and now my two daughters, ages 10 and 6, watch the DVD all the time.  What do you think are the key reasons why Schoolhouse Rock! is timeless in terms of interest from generation to generation. GW: The big reasons why Schoolhouse Rock has been timeless is the quality of the concepts: “Conjunction Junction” and “Unpack Your Adjectives” are unique examples of taking an easy to understand concept and rendering it in a musically and visually memorable way. We drew on several talented sources for music and animation design. Bob Dorough tapped his huge reservoir of jazz musician friends, like Jack Sheldon, known more as one of America’s best jazz trumpeters, who is the singer of “Conjunction Junction,”" I’m Just a Bill,” and “Energy Blues.” Dave Frishberg, who wrote “I’m Just a Bill” has been called America’s greatest living lyricist. Lynn Ahrens, who has gone on to become a leading Broadway composer/lyricist (Once on this Island, Ragtime, Seussical the Musical) was working as a secretary in the agency’s copy department.  Lynn’s Schoolhouse Rock hits include “The Preamble,” “Interjections,” “Telegraph Line” and “The Great American Melting Pot.” The late Blossom Dearie lent her unique voice to “Figure Eight” and “Unpack Your Adjectives.” Besides Tom Yohe’s wonderful styling, we called on artists like Rowland Wilson and Arnold Roth, both of whom were regular contributors to The New Yorker Magazine. Jack Sidebotham, designer of the heralded Bert & Harry Piels advertising campaign (featuring the voices of Bob & Ray) was a frequent contributor. The animation itself was produced by Phil Kimmelman Associates and Kim and Gifford, Inc., two of the leading producers of animation for advertising. Working together, we produced films that are as timely and instructive now as they were in the seventies. Each has its own individual sound and unique design — with no two alike. And perhaps most importantly, we didn’t have a “continuing character” whose personality and back story would limit our creative possibilities. Of course, our grade school target audience renews itself every year! And Schoolhouse Rock has been used by teachers in classrooms since the “get go.” EP: Schoolhouse Rock! was an effective education tool for millions of kids (me being one of them) thirty years ago when TV was an emerging media.  Today, the Internet and video games are the emerging media for the educational message.  How can Schoolhouse Rock! fit into those forms? GW: Today’s new media is an opportunity we’re just beginning to explore. Network television, the “on-air” environment on which we thrived, has changed drastically. ABC has no plans for utilizing us in the immediate future. But there is the possibility of our running on one of the Disney Channels (We were on Toon Disney briefly three years ago). And, the new Schoolhouse Rock! Earth, to be released by Disney Educational Productions does have a significant amount of interactivity built in. As far as video games are concerned, I’d be surprised if Disney would consider creating a video game economically feasible. EP: Last month, you released Schoolhouse Rock! Earth.  When did the team start to think about putting this together?  Who was involved with the decision and who were the driving forces of the songs and animation?  Were those involved the same as the original? GW: Actually, Schoolhouse Rock! Earth grew out of our proposal to make a geography series back in 2001 or 2002. Tom Yohe and I did quite a bit of research including meeting with experts from National Geographic, etc. Tragically, Tom died soon after we made our first proposal. Then, after his death, when Disney decided to produce a “thirtieth anniversary” DVD we produced “I’m Gonna Send Your Vote to College,” to be the featured song. In the meantime, I had revised the geography presentation a couple of times. Finally, I presented an updated version labeled “Earth Science” to John Hanna of ABC business development in June of 2007. During that meeting we agreed that I would put some “green” topics on the song list and present it to ABC/Disney in October. Coincidentally, Lisa Clements had become VP and head of new product development at Disney Education Productions and was already planning to re-release the original series with teachers guides, etc. through Disney Education’s catalogue and website. When we got the green light to do Schoolhouse Rock! Earth for Disney Education, we turned to the same people who had produced the original films in the seventies (in fact, some of us are now in our seventies and eighties!) Phil Kimmelman directed all the animation. Lynn Ahrens, Bob and myself wrote most of the songs, but we also tapped two new composers: Andy Brick, one of today’s most successful composers of symphonic video game music and Sean Altman whose work I had first heard with the acapella singing group Rockapella. EP: Tell me about the inspiration for doing a show dedicated to the environment? GW: You don’t need much more “inspiration” to do a show on the environment than the fact that without serious intervention, the earth as we know it will cease to exist. EP: What are some of the environmental topics you touch on and what are the key messages? GW: The topics are pretty evident from the song titles: Report from the North Pole is a dire weather forecast delivered by a polar bear reporters at the North Pole. The Little Things We Do presents suggestions for all the everyday little things we can all do to conserve energy. Don’t be a Carbon Sasquatch defines carbon footprints and what we can all do to make our smaller. FatCat Blue — the Clean River Song follows a cat and mouse on a raft trip down the Mississippi during which they identify the many sources of river pollution and suggest ways the polluters can stop the environmental damage. You Oughta be Savin’ Water is a doo wop song performed by Dewey Drop and the Drips. Solar Power to the People was written by Lynn Ahrens and features Interplanet Janet of Science Rock fame. Windy and the Windmills is about the potential of wind power and how it fits into the energy grid. Trash Can Band.  A box, a bottle and can sing about reducing, reusing and recycling — with a guest appearance by “Dolly Carton.” In Save the Ocean Schoolhouse Rock meets rap and a more contemporary sound. It’s sung by a walrus, a shark, a turtle and a operatic choir of tropical fish. Tiny Urban Zoo. How a backyard garden can become its own mini environment. The Rain Forest. We use a completely unique animation style to explain the composition and importance of the rain forest. The Energy Blues is a song I wrote during the energy crisis of the seventies. Ironically, at the time I was executive creative director on the Exxon account!  Jack Sheldon has said it’s his favorite of the songs he has sung for Schoolhouse Rock. There is also a music video performed by Mitchel Musso one of the stars of Disney’s Hannah Montana, who sings a “reduce, reuse, recycle” song based on an adaptation by Jack Johnson of the melody of Bob Dorough’s “Three is a Magic Number.” EP: Were you “green” as a child? GW: I was always interested in nature. Particularly the marshes surrounding the fresh water stream that eventually becomes the Metedeconk River on the New Jersey shore. I would spend hours sitting on our neighbor’s dock watching Ospreys fish. Then came DDT. Result: fewer mosquitoes but suddenly, no more Ospreys. EP: What was your first, ah ha! Green moment? GW: I’ve had “ah ha! green moments” for as long as I can remember. EP: What is the one Earth Promise you are going to make in the future that you have not done yet, either personally or professionally? GW: The Earth promise I make is to convince Disney to do a Volume II of Schoolhouse Rock! Earth covering the subjects we didn’t get to do in this first one (geothermal energy, tidal energy, a hydrogen economy, etc.). EP: Final question.  Of all the Schoolhouse Rock! songs, which is your favorite(s)? GW: Favorite Schoolhouse Rock song? The minute I heard Bob first sing, “A man and a woman had a little baby, there were three in the family,” my favorite has been Three is a Magic Number. EP: I want to  thank you for being a part of this series.   It has been an honor. Tags: 21 in 21, carbon footprint, change, changes, children, climate change, conservation, disney, earth, earth day, earth promise, earthpromise, eco-friendly, education, educator, energy, energy efficient, environment, environmental, george newall, global warming, green, green changes, green interviews, green living, green practice, green practices, green roof, green tips, hannah montana, hannah montana movie, mitchel musso, mitchell musso, school house rock, schoolhouse rock, schoolhouse rock earth, students, teacher, Three is a Magic Number, tom yohe

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