''Mary Lou's Flip Flop Shop'' is a children's television series featuring Olympic champion gymnast

Mary Lou Retton Mary Lou Retton (born January 24, 1968) is an American retired gymnast. At the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, she won a gold medal in the individual all-around competition, as well as two silver medals and two bronze medals. Her performanc ...

. It was created to motivate young children to believe in themselves and get moving. The show's theme song was performed by

Leon Redbone Leon Redbone (born Dickran Gobalian; August 26, 1949 – May 30, 2019) was a singer-songwriter and musician specializing in jazz, blues, and Tin Pan Alley classics. Recognized by his hat (often a Panama hat), dark sunglasses, and black tie, Red ...

. The show takes place in a wacky "Flip Flop Shop," and it features 4 "real" children per episode and five characters: Jumpy, Mr. Bump, Miss Warble, Professor Blinky, and L.Z. Bones. Jumpy, a green and blue monkey, serves as Mary Lou's energetic sidekick. Mr. Bump, a clumsy yet charming delivery-man, rides around on a noisy bike with a box full of interesting packages. Miss Warble, the singing custodian, constantly keeps watch over the cleanliness of the Flip Flop Shop. Professor Blinky, an owl

puppet A puppet is an object, often resembling a human, animal or Legendary creature, mythical figure, that is animated or manipulated by a person called a puppeteer. The puppeteer uses movements of their hands, arms, or control devices such as rods ...

, never fails to share wise proverbs and stories with the members of the Flip Flop Shop. L.Z. Bones is a sloth/Wookie hybrid who always tries to get out of physical activity and must be persuaded by the others to get up and join in the fun. The show was produced by Y&R Productions, Ltd.

KUHT KUHT (channel 8) is a PBS member television station in Houston, Texas, United States. Owned by the University of Houston System, it is sister to NPR member station KUHF (88.7 FM). The two stations share studios and offices in the Melcher Center ...

Houston and was shown in 2001 on

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

affiliates. In 2008, the program was added to FamilyNet's Saturday morning children's program block.

Cast

Cast members include: *

as Herself *

Luci Christian Louisa Michelle Christian (born March 18, 1973) is an American voice actress and ADR script writer at Funimation and Seraphim Digital/Sentai Filmworks. She has provided many voices for English versions of Japanese anime series and films. Life a ...

as Jumpy *Ralph Ehntholt as Mr. Bump *Jeffrey S. Lane as L.Z. Bones *Claude Sims as L.Z. Bones Voice *Paula Nielsen as Miss Warble *Scott Young as Mouse *Marijane Vandivier as Professor Blinky *Alicia Church as Fruit Lady *Chelsea Ricketts *Connor Konz *

Shelbie Bruce Shelbie Carole Bruce (born November 12, 1992) is an American former actress who had a lead role in the 2004 film ''Spanglish''. Early life Shelbie was born in Brownsville, Texas, was homeschooled, and trained as a child model, but later moved ...

*Gabi Chennisi *Mary Moon *Jimmy Moon *Mary Moran *Lauryn Story *Jace Metzler *Blake Goodwine *Evan McMillan *Vincent Ortiz *Andrew Engle

Episodes

The episodes produced for the Mary Lou's Flip Flop Shop series present and teach important life lessons while encouraging children to lead active, healthy lifestyles through “creative movement.” The following plot summaries include the title of the Mary Lou's Flip Flop Shop episode and a brief description of each show. # Feelings # Insecurity # Rejection # Cooperation # Sharing # Self Worth # Friends # Safety # Hurry Up # Disappointment # Forgiveness # Acceptance # Patience

References

Mary Lou's Flip Flop ShopMary Lou's Flip Flop Shop on HoustonPBS
* * 2001 American television series debuts 2000s American children's television series 2000s preschool education television series American preschool education television series American television shows featuring puppetry Exercise television shows PBS Kids shows PBS original programming Television series about children Television series about monkeys {{US-child-tv-prog-stub