''Disney's Sing Me a Story with Belle'' is an American live-action/animated television series created by Patrick Davidson and Melissa Gould. The series features Belle from the 1991 film ''

Beauty and the Beast ''Beauty and the Beast'' (french: La Belle et la Bête) is a fairy tale written by French novelist Gabrielle-Suzanne de Villeneuve, Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve and published in 1740 in ''La Jeune Américaine et les contes marins'' ( ...

'', who now owns and manages the bookshop in the village. She is usually greeted by children who would like to hear a story. Belle interacts with the children and narrates vintage Disney animated shorts while doing activities around the bookstore. The series premiered on September 8, 1995, on Disney Channel.

Development

According to Ken Weiner, vice president at Buena Vista Television, using vintage

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

animated shorts allows the show to present a higher quality of animation than would normally be feasible in an educational show that would meet the

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction ...

's E/I standards. By early 1995, it was said that the show would present two short films per episode (with updated music and voices), which Belle and the children would sometimes interrupt for discussion purposes or to "test cognitive abilities".

Plot

Belle (Lynsey McLeod) lives in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

and owns her own book and music shop after marrying her Prince. Helping her at the bookstore are Lewis and Carroll, two magical bookworms, Harmony the Cat and Big Book, a large talking book on a book stand. The bookstore is visited by local children to whom Belle will sing songs and tell stories, usually with a moral relating to something that's happened that day. The show's format bears resemblance to the Kidsongs Television Show and

Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Workshop until June 2000) a ...

in nature. Clips from vintage

cartoons would often be used to illustrate the stories, including: * ''

Mickey's Rival ''Mickey's Rival'' is a 1936 Mickey Mouse short film. It was directed by Wilfred Jackson and produced by Walt Disney. It introduces the character of Mortimer Mouse. It was the 84th Mickey Mouse short film to be released, the fifth of that year. ...

'' * ''

The Cookie Carnival ''The Cookie Carnival'' is an animated short produced by Walt Disney Productions and originally released May 25, 1935. It is a Cinderella story involving a cookie girl who wishes to be queen at the cookie carnival, and a homage to the Atlantic Cit ...

'' * ''

Goliath II ''Goliath II'' is a 1960 American animated comedy short film produced by Walt Disney Productions. Directed by Wolfgang Reitherman and written by Bill Peet, it is narrated by Sterling Holloway and stars the voices of Kevin Corcoran, Barbara Jo A ...

'' * ''

Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree ''Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree'' is a 1966 animated featurette based on the first two chapters of ''Winnie-the-Pooh'' by A. A. Milne. The film was produced by Walt Disney Productions, and distributed by Buena Vista Distribution on February ...

'' * '' Music Land''

Cast

* Lynsey McLeod - Belle from ''

'' * Tim Goodwin - Brioche * Jacob Chase - Jacob *

Kirsten Storms Kirsten Renee Storms (born April 8, 1984) is an American actress. She is best known for her roles as Zenon Kar in the '' Zenon'' trilogy, Emily in '' Johnny Tsunami'', and Bonnie Rockwaller in ''Kim Possible''. Storms played Isabella "Belle" Bl ...

- Kirsten *

Shawn Pyfrom Shawn Caminiti Pyfrom (born August 16, 1986) is an American actor and singer, who has appeared in several television series and films, and is best known for his portrayal of Andrew Van de Kamp on American Broadcasting Company, ABC's ''Desperate Ho ...

- Shawn * Hampton Dixon - 'Little' Hampton * Jennefer Jesse - Jennefer * Natalie Trott - Natalie * Julie Vanlue - Julie * Kerry Anne Bradford - Kerry Anne * Chris Robles - Chris * J. J. Ward - J. J. * Lindsay Louie - Lindsay * Trevor Mann - Trevor * Holly Arnstein - Holly * Victoria Gregson - Victoria * Justin Chapman - Justin * Crysta Macalush - Crysta * Faryn Einhorn - Faryn * Corey Hayes - Corey * Thea Cabreros - Thea * Kristian Truelsen - Uncle Zack * Wolf Bauer - Gaston (1 episode, "What's Inside Counts") * Cyndi Vicino - Inez *

Mary Pat Gleason Mary Pat Gleason (February 23, 1950 – June 2, 2020) was an American film and television actress and an Emmy Award-winning writer. From 1983 to 1985, she appeared as "Jane Hogan" on the daytime soap opera ''Guiding Light'', for which she was als ...

- Madame Soufflé * Lindsey Alley - Miss Woohoo

Voices

Mary Kay Bergman Mary Kay Bergman (June 5, 1961 – November 11, 1999), also credited as Shannen Cassidy, was an American voice actress and voice-over teacher. She was the lead female voice actress on ''South Park'' from the show's 1997 debut until her death. Thr ...

- Fifi, Hansel & Gretel, Elf, Witch *

Christine Cavanaugh Christine Josephine Cavanaugh (''née'' Sandberg; August 16, 1963 – December 22, 2014) was an American actress, who had a distinctive speaking style and provided the voice for a large range of cartoon characters. She was the original voice of ...

- Carroll the Book Worm * Jeff Conover - Harmony the Cat *

Jim Cummings James Jonah Cummings (born November 3, 1952) is an American voice actor. Since beginning his career in the 1980s, he has appeared in almost 400 roles. Cummings has frequently worked with The Walt Disney Company and Warner Bros., including as th ...

- Big Book, Lewis the Book Worm *

Wayne Allwine Wayne Anthony Allwine (February 7, 1947 – May 18, 2009) was an American voice actor, sound effects editor and foley artist for The Walt Disney Company. He is best remembered as the 3rd official voice of Mickey Mouse. He is the longest-tenured ...

- Mickey Mouse *

Tony Anselmo Tony Anselmo (born February 18, 1960) is an American voice actor and animator. He has been the official character voice of Donald Duck since 1985 following the death of the original voice actor, Clarence Nash. He has also provided voices for Do ...

- Donald Duck * Bill Farmer - Goofy, Pluto, Practical Pig *

Russi Taylor Russi Taylor (May 4, 1944 – July 26, 2019) was an American voice actress. She is best remembered as the official voice of Minnie Mouse from 1986 to 2019, and was notably married to voice actor Wayne Allwine, the voice of Mickey Mouse, until his ...

- Minnie Mouse * Maurice LaMarche - Mortimer Mouse, Joe Giraffe *

Tress MacNeille Teressa Claire MacNeille (née Payne; born June 20, 1951) is an American voice actress, whose credits include voicing Dot Warner on the animated television series ''Animaniacs'', Babs Bunny on ''Tiny Toon Adventures'', Chip and Gadget Hackwrench ...

- Lambs, Tillie Tiger * Corey Burton - Ghosts * Will Ryan - Willie the Giant

Episodes (including featured animated subjects)

Syndication

This series premiered in

First-run syndication Broadcast syndication is the practice of leasing the right to broadcasting television shows and radio programs to multiple television stations and radio stations, without going through a broadcast network. It is common in the United States where ...

in select markets as a sneak preview on September 8, 1995. In 1996, two videos featuring two episodes each were released as part of the Disney Princess Collection: ''Chapters of Enchantment'' and ''Beauty and the World of Music''. In 1999, two episodes from the first season were released with an episode of an abandoned ''Beauty and the Beast'' cartoon series featured in the 1998 video ''

Belle's Magical World ''Beauty and the Beast: Belle's Magical World'' is a 1998 direct-to-video animated musical film produced by Walt Disney Television Animation. It was released on February 17, 1998, and is a sequel to the 1991 Walt Disney Pictures animated feature ...

'', and were released direct-to-video as ''

Belle's Tales of Friendship ''Belle's Tales of Friendship'' is a 1999 American live action/animated fantasy film. It was produced by Walt Disney Television Animation as a prequel to '' Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas''. It was also released to help promote th ...

''. Two episodes were also featured separately as an extra in both the 2011 re-release of '' Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas'', and ''

''.

References

External links

''Sing Me A Story With Belle'' official webpage via the Internet Archive Wayback Machine

* * ttp://www.retrojunk.com/details_tvshows/1102-disneys-sing-me-a-story---with-belle Retrojunk section on ''Sing Me A Story With Belle'', includes video of the opening sequence {{DEFAULTSORT:Sing Me A Story With Belle Beauty and the Beast (franchise) Disney Channel original programming 1990s American animated television series 1990s American children's television series 1990s American music television series 1995 American television series debuts 1997 American television series endings American animated television spin-offs American children's animated education television series American children's animated fantasy television series American children's animated musical television series American television series with live action and animation American television shows featuring puppetry English-language television shows First-run syndicated television programs in the United States Reading and literacy television series Television series about teenagers Television series based on Disney films Television series by Disney Television shows based on fairy tales Television shows set in France