Curious George is the protagonist of a series of popular children's books by the same name, written by Hans Augusto Rey and Margret Rey.[1] The books feature a curious monkey named George, who is brought from his home in Africa by "The Man with The Yellow Hat" to live with him in a big city.
Around the world, the adventures of Curious George have been translated in many languages, and George takes on names such as "Peter Pedal" in Denmark, "Nysgjerrige Nils" in Norway, "Nicke Nyfiken" in Sweden, "Hitomane Kozaru" in Japan, "Choni Ha'Sakran" in Israel and "Jorge el Curioso" in Spanish speaking countries. In the United Kingdom, George was originally called "Zozo", apparently to avoid using the name of the then King George VI for a monkey.[2]
In each of the books, Curious George is identified in the text as a monkey, though in the illustrations he does not correspond exactly to any non-fictional species of monkey (and has more of the characteristics of an ape, especially a chimpanzee, which does not possess a tail, as does a monkey).
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Creation
The series was written and drawn by the team of Hans Augusto Rey and Margret Rey. According to Hans A. Rey's obituary in Sky & Telescope, the couple fled Paris in June 1940 with the Curious George manuscript in their luggage. [3][4] At first only H. A. Rey was credited for the work in order to differentiate the Reys' books from the large number of children's books written by female authors. Later, Hans Rey was credited for the illustrations and Margret Rey for the writing. The Reys produced many other children's books, but the Curious George series was the most popular. It has been re-edited continuously in the six decades since the first volume came out. The current United States publisher is Houghton Mifflin of Boston.
Books
Margret and H.A. Rey released seven "Curious George" books during H.A. Rey's lifetime. More recently, more Curious George books have been released by Houghton Mifflin including board books with scenes from the original books, books adapted from the 1980s telefilm series, and new adventures.
"Original Adventures"
Curious George appeared in 1941. This book begins with George living in Africa and tells the story of his capture by the Man with the Yellow Hat, who takes him on a ship to "the big city" where he will live in the zoo. The second book, Curious George Takes a Job (1947), begins with George living in the zoo, from which he escapes and has several adventures before the Man with the Yellow Hat finds him and takes George to live at his house. The remaining stories tell of George's adventures while living at the house of the Man with the Yellow Hat.
Sometimes dubbed the "Original Adventures", these original seven titles are completely by the series creators, Margret & H.A. Rey.
- Curious George (1941)
- Curious George Takes a Job (1947)
- Curious George Rides a Bike (1952)
- Curious George Gets a Medal (1957)
- Curious George Flies a Kite (1958)
- Curious George Learns the Alphabet (1963)
- Curious George Goes to the Hospital (1966)
Before appearing in his own series, Curious George appeared as a character in another children's book written and illustrated by H.A. Rey, Cecily G. and the Nine Monkeys (1939).
Books adapted from telefilms
A second series of books, based on the telefilm series, was edited by Margret Rey and Alan J. Shalleck. These appeared between 1984 and 1993. They are mostly out of print, though several have been re-released with new cover art.
"New Adventures"
A third series of books, the Curious George "New Adventures," began to appear in 1998 and continues to the present. These books are "illustrated in the style of H. A. Rey" by a variety of credited and uncredited artists including Mary O'Keefe Young, Martha Weston, Anna Grossnickle Hines, and Vipah Interactive.
The Man with the Yellow Hat
The only recurring character in the original adventures, other than George himself, is the Man with the Yellow Hat. It was he who brought George from Africa, and it is in his house that George lives. The Man often facilitates George's adventures by taking him somewhere, and even more often resolves the tension by appearing just in time to get George out of a tight spot. He is always seen wearing a bright yellow suit and a wide-brimmed yellow hat.
The Man is never mentioned by name in the original adventures, or in any subsequent content over more than six decades. He is always called either "the Man" or fully "the Man with the Yellow Hat". When people speak to George about the Man, they often refer to him as "your friend." This tradition was broken in the 2006 film, in which the Man is referred to as "Ted Shackleford".
Other media
Television
There was a series of animated TV films made (beginning in 1980) featuring the character, which were then adapted into books themselves (making up part of the New Adventures series listed above). This series was produced and co-written by Alan Shalleck.
A new TV series debuted September 4, 2006 on PBS Kids as part of Miss Lori and Hooper's schedule block.
Film
In 1947 Walt Disney considered making Curious George into an animated movie, but due to some problems, it was never produced.
Two stop-motion animated shorts were made of Curious George stories in 1982,[1] created with puppet-figures by noted animator John Clark Matthews (who later used a similar technique for his films of Frog and Toad).
An animated film, Curious George, featuring Will Ferrell as the voice of the originally unnamed man in the yellow hat was released on February 10, 2006. In this film (in which the man is referred to as "Ted"), Curious George secretly follows the man onto the ship to the city on his own accord. Frank Welker provided the vocal effects of Curious George.
Video game
There is also a Curious George video game that was released on February 2, 2006, published by Namco and developed by Monkey Bar Games, a division of Vicious Cycle Software.
Theme park
Curious George and The Man in the Yellow Hat make appearances at Universal Studios Florida.
Also at Universal Studios Florida is the kids' playland "Curious George Goes to Town". It has two areas: An outside wet playground with water jets, water guns, and giant buckets that empty their contents on guests below, and an indoor playground called the "Ball Factory" where guests can launch soft foam balls at each other or provided targets; Guests are provided with many opportunities to launch balls with various cannons or even fill large buckets above the area, which dump their contents every two and half minutes.
Other
The Curious George brand recently (mid-2006) joined with Welch's jelly for a collectible of six jars.
A children's bookstore in Harvard Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts, is known as Curious George (formerly Curious George Goes To Wordsworth), and carries a considerable amount of licensed Curious George merchandise. It is the last remaining property of Wordsworth Books, a former local general-interest bookstore that closed in the early 2000s.
VEE Corporation, the company behind Sesame Street Live, is mounting Curious George Live[5]. It is a brand new national tour featuring song and dance and Curious George himself.
Curious George & Vivendi Universal
In 2001, when Jean-Marie Messier served as CEO of French media giant Vivendi Universal, he seized upon Curious George (a character of Houghton Mifflin Company, part of VU) as a perfect embodiment of the sprawling conglomerate's various activities, which reached as far afield as the French mobile phone operator Cegetel. (Messier was an early proponent of entertainment downloads via mobile phones.) Waxing enthusiastic as he met with investors and the media, Messier couldn't resist talking up George.
Although never officially raised to the status of mascot, George did audition for the part in full-page ads that Vivendi Universal ran in the pages of such papers as the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times during summer 2001.
"Wherever there's a curious mind to feed and imagination to inspire, you'll be seeing Vivendi Universal", the ads, featuring George's image, read.
But Messier's own reign proved short-lived. In 2000, Vivendi, the Paris-based utilities company, had merged with Seagram Co., which then owned Universal Studios, and Canal+ to create Vivendi Universal. But by 2002, Messier resigned under pressure, and in 2004, Vivendi Universal merged with NBC to form NBC Universal.
See also
References
- ^ Curious George . About the Program | PBS KIDS
- ^ "Curious George . About the Reys". http://pbskids.org/curiousgeorge/parentsteachers/program/reys.html. Retrieved 2008-03-10.
- ^ "Boston.com News, By Mark Feeney Globe Staff". http://www.boston.com/news/globe/living/articles/2005/09/17/a_curious_tale_of_georges_creators/. Retrieved 2007-10-29.
- ^ "New York Times, By Dinitia Smith". http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/13/books/13geor.html?_r=1&oref=slogin/. Retrieved 2007-10-29.
- ^ [www.curiousgeorgelive.com]
External links
- Curious George Summary of Curious George books and image gallery
- Houghton Mifflin's listing of Curious George products
- Complete Catalog of Curious George Products
- PBSKids.org Curious George Pre-School Education Site
- Wall Street Journal on Curious George
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