List of Jiminy Cricket educational serials

This is a list of all five Jiminy Cricket educational serials that originally aired on ''The Mickey Mouse Club'' TV series. The serials feature Jiminy Cricket, Pinocchio's conscience, providing general education and science information in an entertaining and accessible manner. The serials also have a strong focus on the importance of books and learning on one's own. The ''I'm No Fool'' and ''You'' series were later updated in the 1980s and 1990s as stand-alone shorts, and were shown in schools and occasionally on the Disney Channel.

''I'm No Fool'' series

Each short is less than 10 minutes in runtime and begins and ends with the theme song, "I'm No Fool", with the lyrics to the closing number reworked to include the lessons taught during the short. Jiminy presents each hypothetical situation by drawing chalk outlines of the primary participants (usually a stereotypical, Family Circus-esque American boy) on a black board. The drawings then come to life and get into various questionable situations, with Jiminy steering them in the right direction.

Filmography

*''I'm No Fool with a Bicycle'' (10/06/55)*
*''I'm No Fool with Fire'' (12/01/55)*
*''I’m No Fool as a Pedestrian'' (10/?/56)*
*''I'm No Fool in Water'' (11/15/56)*
*''I'm No Fool Having Fun'' (12/15/56)
*''I'm No Fool with Electricity'' (10/26/1973)*

(*) = Updated in the mid to late 1980s with additional live-action footage

''You and Your'' series

Similarly to the ''I'm No Fool'' series above, Jiminy Cricket teaches children about the human body.

Filmography

*''You - the Human Animal'' (10/20/55)
*''You - and Your Five Senses'' (12/15/55)*
*''You - and Your Eyes'' (11/07/56)*
*''You - and Your Food'' (4/18/57)
*''You - the Living Machine'' (5/01/57)
*''You - and Your Ears'' (10/03/57)
*''You - and Your Sense of Touch'' (1964)*
*''You - and Your Senses of Smell and Taste'' (4/01/77)
(*) = Updated in the mid through late 1980s with additional live-action footage

''Nature of Things'' series

Jiminy Cricket teaches children about the animals of nature, in a similar manner to the ''I'm No Fool'' series. This series also had live-action footage lifted from True-Life Adventures, this series was also known as Animal Autobiography, generally these had only intro sequence featuring Jiminy Cricket, the rest was live-action of real Animals.

Filmography

*''Animal Champions'' (10/13/55)
*''Cansdale'' (10/27/55)
*''The Camel'' (1/26/56)
*''The Horse'' (10/23/1956)
*''The Elephant'' (11/01/56)

''Encyclopedia'' series

Jiminy Cricket teaches children how to spell, also in a similar manner to the ''I'm No Fool'' series. The series had a catchy theme song from which many children learned to spell "encyclopedia", most likely inspired by Paul Whiteman's novelty hit, "C-O-N-S-T-A-N-T-I-N-O-P-L-E" (both songs even had the same tempo and meter).

Filmography

*''Cork and Wheelwright'' (11/01/56)
*''Milk'' (11/26/56)
*''Tuna'' (12/27/56)
*''Railroads'' (2/19/57)
*''Steel'' (4/26/57)
*''Curiosity'' (1956)

The following Mickey Mouse Club Newsreel Specials were aired under the ''Encyclopedia'' banner but didn't feature Jiminy Cricket.
*''Uranium Hunt'' (10/30/57)
*''Cormorant Fishing'' (12/27/57)
*''Roaring Midgets'' (1/20/58)
*''Shipyards'' (1/20/58)
*''The Lobster Story'' (1/20/58)
*''Shooting the Rapids'' (1/20/58)

Educational film

In 1984, Disney Educational Inc. produced a film called ''Jiminy Cricket, P.S. (Problem Solver)'' which recycles animation from other Disney shorts. The film was 10 minutes long, and also stars Goofy, Donald Duck, and Ludwig Von Drake. It was originally released on VHS''Disney A to Z - The Official Encyclopedia'', by Dave Smith.
Disney Editions 0786849193

Notes

External links

Animated shorts: ''I'm No Fool''

''The Encyclopedia of Disney Animated Shorts: You and Your''

Everything 2

From Ukelele Ike to Jiminy Cricket: Cliff Edwards

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jiminy Cricket educational serials
Mickey Mouse television series
The Mickey Mouse Club serials
1955 American television series debuts
1959 American television series endings
American Broadcasting Company original programming
1950s American animated television series