We learned about the talented musician and songwriter behind ABC's hit 70's children's educational program Schoolhouse Rock!, Bob Dorough, a few years ago here on Neatorama. Not only were the songs educational and factually correct, but they were also very catchy, adding to the memory recall for children even after decades. However, did you know the story behind the concept of Schoolhouse Rock!? It was a very cool concept indeed, but the reason why the show decided to turn concepts from mathematics, science, grammar, etc. into rock and pop songs was because David McCall, one of the creators, wanted his son to learn his multiplication tables.
McCall was concerned that his son still hadn't memorized his multiplication tables at school but equally surprised that his son had excellent recall of songs by the Rolling Stones and other major rock bands at the time. So, an idea popped up in his head to make songs that would help his son learn. Being an advertising agency president, he commissioned the help of their jingle writer who churned out a generic-sounding jingle that didn't suit his taste. So he enlisted the aid of a colleague George Newall who was a musician, who in turn sought jazz bassist Ben Tucker, who knew Bob Dorough, and said that he (Bob) could put music to anything. And that gave birth to the very first song of Schoolhouse Rock!, "Three is a Magic Number".
However, they didn't initially plan on creating a TV series out of the project. It was supposed to be an album and a book. But no publishers were biting, so the ad agency shifted directions. They noticed ABC was one of their clients, so they drew up storyboards and presented it to Michael Eisner, then VP for Children's Programming at ABC. And the rest was history.
(Video credit: Our Nostalgic Memories/Youtube)