''Telling Stories with Tomie dePaola'' is a 2001 children's television series produced by

The Jim Henson Company The Jim Henson Company (formerly known as Muppets, Inc., Henson Associates, Inc., and Jim Henson Productions, Inc.; commonly referred to as Henson) is an American entertainment company located in Los Angeles, California. The company is known for ...

Plot

This show is about

Tomie dePaola Thomas Anthony "Tomie" dePaola (; September 15, 1934 – March 30, 2020) was an American writer and illustrator who created more than 260 children's books, such as '' Strega Nona''. He received the Children's Literature Legacy Award for his lifeti ...

and his squirrel sidekick Gabe who present stories revolving around his storybook characters.

Characters

(Himself) - The main character of the series. * Gabe the

Squirrel Squirrels are members of the family Sciuridae, a family that includes small or medium-size rodents. The squirrel family includes tree squirrels, ground squirrels (including chipmunks and prairie dogs, among others), and flying squirrels. Squ ...

(performed by John Kennedy) - A mischievous

red squirrel The red squirrel (''Sciurus vulgaris'') is a species of tree squirrel in the genus ''Sciurus'' common throughout Europe and Asia. The red squirrel is an arboreal, primarily herbivorous rodent. In Great Britain, Ireland, and in Italy numbers ...

who is Tomie's friend, confidant, and muse. * The Animal Band - A group of woodland creatures that Gabe the Squirrel visits every episode. It consists of a

rabbit Rabbits, also known as bunnies or bunny rabbits, are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also contains the hares) of the order Lagomorpha (which also contains the pikas). ''Oryctolagus cuniculus'' includes the European rabbit speci ...

drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a she ...

s (performed by James Murray), a

weasel Weasels are mammals of the genus ''Mustela'' of the family Mustelidae. The genus ''Mustela'' includes the least weasels, polecats, stoats, ferrets and European mink. Members of this genus are small, active predators, with long and slender bo ...

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

(performed by

Julianne Buescher Julianne Buescher (born February 4, 1965) is an American actress, writer, and puppeteer who performs in film, television, radio, and on stage. As a voice actress, she is known for many roles including Anko Mitarashi on ''Naruto''. She hails fro ...

), a

raccoon The raccoon ( or , ''Procyon lotor''), sometimes called the common raccoon to distinguish it from other species, is a mammal native to North America. It is the largest of the procyonid family, having a body length of , and a body weight of ...

keytar The keytar is a lightweight synthesizer that is supported by a strap around the neck and shoulders, similar to the way a guitar is supported by a strap. Keytars allow players a greater range of movement onstage, compared to conventional keyboard ...

(performed by John Kennedy), and a

penguin Penguins (order (biology), order List of Sphenisciformes by population, Sphenisciformes , family (biology), family Spheniscidae ) are a group of Water bird, aquatic flightless birds. They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere: on ...

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

(performed by

Greg Ballora Greg Ballora (born 1965, and also known as Gregory Ballora, Gregory B. Ballora and Gregory Bellora) is an American puppeteer. Filmography Film * ''Men in Black II'' – Sleeble * ''The Muppets (film), The Muppets'' – Additional Muppets * ''The ...

). *

Strega Nona ''Strega Nona'' is a children's picturebook written and illustrated by Tomie dePaola. If considered as a folktale, the story is Aarne-Thompson type 565, the Magic Mill. It concerns Strega Nona ("Grandma Witch" in Italian, though it is actually s ...

(performed by

Bill Barretta William Paul Barretta (born June 19, 1964) is an American puppeteer, actor, producer, writer, and director, who is best known for providing the puppetry and voice of characters such as Pepe the King Prawn, Johnny Fiama, Big Mean Carl, and Bobo ...

) - An elderly lady who always wants help from her friends Big Anthony and Bambolona. ** Big Anthony (performed by John Kennedy) - A tall dimwitted man who is one of Strega Nona's friends. ** Bambolona (performed by

) - One of Strega Nona's friends. With Bambolona being a live-hand puppet, Julianne Buescher is assisted in performing her by James Murray who operates Bambolona's right hand. *

Goat The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a domesticated species of goat-antelope typically kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the a ...

(performed by James Murray) - An unnamed goat that appeared in the "Strega Nona" segments. He and Bambolona don't get along very well as Bambolona claims that it doesn't really help at all, but the goat is usually shown to have more intelligence than most of the characters. The character of "Goat" was based on the designs from Tomie dePaola's illustrated "Strega Nona" books. The design featured a departure from the traditional Muppet-look appearance as the goal was to match the water color illustrations found in the book. His puppet was built by

James Wojtal James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguat ...

working under the supervision of

Rollie Krewson Rollie Krewson (sometimes credited as "Rollin Krewson") is a puppet designer and builder known for her work on various Muppet productions. She interned with Jim Henson's company in the mid-1970s. Although she now works primarily as a designer/build ...

Episodes

# "Tales Around the Table" (August 6, 2001) # "Where Do You Get Ideas?" (August 7, 2001) # "What's a Story?" (August 8, 2001) # "Stories For Myself" (August 9, 2001) # "Food as Storytelling" (August 10, 2001) # "That's a Story?!?" (August 13, 2001) # "Getting Started" (August 14, 2001) # "Character" (August 15, 2001) # "Setting" (August 16, 2001) # "Point of View" (August 17, 2001) # "Performance of Storytelling" (August 20, 2001) # "Every Picture Tells a Story" (August 21, 2001) # "Making Sense of Our World Through Stories" (August 22, 2001) # "Taking a Chance" (August 23, 2001) # "Finding Your Audience" (August 24, 2001) # "Funny" (August 27, 2001) # "Scary" (August 28, 2001) # "Moods: Happy/Sad" (August 29, 2001) # "History" (August 30, 2001) # "Music" (August 31, 2001) # "Make Believe Stories" (September 4, 2001) # "Real Stories" (September 5, 2001) # "More Than One Way to Tell a Tale - Versions" (September 6, 2001) # "More Than One Way to Tell a Tale - Techniques" (September 7, 2001) # "Putting Heart Into Your Story" (September 10, 2001) # "Collaboration" (September 11, 2001)

Cast

- Himself

Puppeteers

- Pepe the King Prawn (episode 8), Strega Nona *

Steve Whitmire Steven Lawrence Whitmire (born September 24, 1959) is an American puppeteer, known primarily for his work on ''The Muppets'' and ''Sesame Street''. Beginning his involvement with the Muppets in 1978, Whitmire inherited the roles of Ernie and Kerm ...

- Kermit the Frog (episode 25), Rizzo the Rat (episode 25) *

- Bambolona, guitar-playing weasel * John Kennedy - Gabe the Squirrel, Big Anthony *

- * Alison Mork - * James Murray - Goat, Right Hand of Bambolona

Other appearances

* The puppet for Gabe the Squirrel later appeared in ''

Bear in the Big Blue House ''Bear in the Big Blue House'' is an American children's television series created by Mitchell Kriegman and produced by Jim Henson Television for Disney Channel's Playhouse Disney preschool television block. Debuting on October 20, 1997, it aire ...

'' as Skippy the Squirrel. * The puppets for Gabe the Squirrel and the Goat have been used in different Henson Alternative projects: ** The puppets for Gabe the Squirrel and the Goat later appeared in ''

Puppet Up! ''Puppet Up! – Uncensored'' is a Adult live puppet musical show produced by The Jim Henson Company combining puppetry and improvisational comedy created by Brian Henson and Groundlings performer Patrick Bristow. The show is advertised for "ad ...

''. ** The puppet for the Goat later appeared in ''

Simian Undercover Detective Squad ''Simian Undercover Detective Squad'' (or ''S.U.D.S.'') is a web series created by The Jim Henson Company under its Henson Alternative banner. A sneak preview of the episode "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Goat" appeared on YouTube on August 25, 2009 ...

'' episode "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Goat" as Mad Goat. ** The puppets for Gabe the Squirrel and the Goat appear in ''

Neil's Puppet Dreams ''Neil's Puppet Dreams'' is a web series created by The Jim Henson Company under its Henson Alternative banner and released on The Nerdist Channel. The series stars Neil Patrick Harris who helped to create the series. Plot This web series feature ...

''. ** The puppets for Gabe the Squirrel and the Goat appear in ''

No, You Shut Up! ''No, You Shut Up!'' is an American news talk show on Fusion TV that was created by David Javerbaum (the former head writer and executive producer of ''The Daily Show with Jon Stewart''), hosted by Paul F. Tompkins, and produced by The Jim Hens ...

''.

References

External links

Telling Stores with Tomie dePaolo
at

Internet Movie Database IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

Telling Stories with Tomie dePaola
at Muppet Wiki {{The Jim Henson Company 2000s American children's television series 2001 American television series debuts 2001 American television series endings American television shows featuring puppetry Television series about squirrels Television series by The Jim Henson Company Works by Tomie de Paola