Vegetable Soup (TV series)
A children's series promoting human diversity through mixed media.
Vegetable Soup is an American educational children's television program produced by the New York State Education Department. It originally ran on PBS from September 22, 1975, to December 14, 1978, and was concurrently broadcast on NBC Sunday mornings, a rare instance of a program airing on both commercial and public television at the same time. All 78 episodes were digitized by the New York State Archives and made available online in the American Archive of Public Broadcasting.
Quick Facts
- Genre
- Children's television series
- Director
- George Bowers
- Luis Soto
- Al Brodax
- Douglas Cheek
- Frank S. Abbott
- Ivan Cury
- Starring
- Gordon Smith
- Carla Pinza
- Gary Goodrow
- Kingman Hui
- Voices
- James Earl Jones; Bette Midler
- Opening theme
- Vegetable Soup
- Composer
- Bob Sakayama
- Country
- United States
- Language
- English
Facts from the source article.
Concept
The program aimed to counter the negative effects of racial prejudice and isolation in children by dramatizing the value of human diversity. It used an interdisciplinary approach combining music, animation, puppetry, and live action film to entertain and educate elementary-age children on economic, racial, and ethnic diversity.
Animations
Animated segments were created by Jim Simon's Wantu Studios, including the musical opening and 13 Woody the Spoon cooking spots with voice tracks by Bette Midler, plus 48 thirty-second breaks. From the second season, Colossal Pictures produced many animated segments; Vegetable Soup was one of its first assignments. Animators Drew Takahashi and Gary Gutierrez worked on the show during its first season before Colossal Pictures was founded.
More in 1970s American Animated Television Series
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