''The World of Strawberry Shortcake'' is a 1980 animated television special written by

Romeo Muller Romeo Earl Muller, Jr. (August 7, 1928 – December 30, 1992) was an American screenwriter and actor most remembered for his screenplays for the Rankin/Bass holiday specials including ''Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, The Little Drummer Boy ...

, directed by

Charles Swenson Charles Gregory Swenson (born March 28, 1941) is an American animator, writer, storyboard artist, sound designer, producer and director who worked with animated film for many years. In 1978 he joined Fred Wolf Films, working on ''Teenage Mutant ...

, and produced by Swenson, Muller, and Fred Wolf. Starring the voices of Romeo Muller,

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 ...

Julie McWhirter Julie McWhirter, also known as Julie Dees and Julie McWhirter-Dees (born October 12, 1947), is a retired American voice actress and impressionist best known for her work as Jeannie in the animated version of '' Jeannie'', Bubbles in ''Jabberjaw' ...

, and

Joan Gerber Joan Gerber (July 29, 1935 – August 22, 2011) was an American voice actress who provided voices for a variety of cartoons. Her most challenging voice role was "all the children in a Japanese train wreck" for a ''Godzilla'' television episode. ...

, it was made by

Murakami-Wolf-Swenson Fred Wolf Films is an American animation studio founded in 1967 by Fred Wolf and Jimmy T. Murakami. It was founded as MW (Murakami-Wolf). It later became known as Murakami-Wolf-Swenson (MWS) when Charles Swenson became a full partner in 1978. ...

in the United States in partnership with

Toei Animation () is a Japanese animation studio primarily controlled by its namesake Toei Company. It has produced numerous series, including ''Sally the Witch,'' ''GeGeGe no Kitarō,'' ''Mazinger Z'', ''Galaxy Express 999'', ''Cutie Honey'', ''Dr. Slump'', ' ...

in Japan. The soundtrack was written and performed by

Flo & Eddie Flo & Eddie is a comedy rock duo consisting of Mark Volman (Flo, short for Phlorescent Leech) and Howard Kaylan (Eddie). The two were the original founding members of the Top 40 mid-to late 1960s rock and pop group The Turtles. After the Turt ...

of the rock group,

The Turtles ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

, for the opening theme of the series. The plot follows the title character, Strawberry Shortcake, who lives in a fictional place called Strawberryland. In the special, narrated by Mr. Sun, she and her friends celebrate her sixth birthday, and with preparations for her party underway, a villain called the Peculiar Purple Pieman plots to steal the berries from Strawberry's home for making the "pies" that Strawberry baked. The special was produced and sponsored by the

Kenner Kenner Products, known simply as Kenner, was an American toy company founded in 1946. Throughout its history, the Kenner brand produced several highly recognizable toys and merchandise lines including action figures like the original series of ' ...

toy company, as the first special to feature the

American Greetings American Greetings Corporation is a privately owned American company and is the world's second largest greeting card producer behind Hallmark Cards. Based in Westlake, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio, Cleveland, the company sells paper greeting ...

character,

Strawberry Shortcake Strawberry shortcake may refer to: * Strawberry shortcake (dessert), a shortcake served with strawberries * "Strawberry Shortcake, Huckleberry Pie," a song published in 1956; a version by The Brother Sisters was released by Mercury Records in 196 ...

. Despite bypassing network television, it aired on March 28, 1980, having been syndicated across over ninety American cities, and was later released on 16mm film, VHS,

Betamax Betamax (also known as Beta, as in its logo) is a consumer-level analog recording and cassette format of magnetic tape for video, commonly known as a video cassette recorder. It was developed by Sony and was released in Japan on May 10, 1975, ...

, and DVD. The special received two positive reviews in the ''

School Library Journal ''School Library Journal'' (''SLJ'') is an American monthly magazine containing reviews and other articles for school librarians, media specialists, and public librarians who work with young people. Articles cover a wide variety of topics, with ...

'': in 1983 and 2007.

Plot

Strawberry Shortcake lives in a place called Strawberryland, with her

calico cat A calico cat is a domestic cat of any breed with a tri-color coat. The calico cat is most commonly thought of as being typically 25% to 75% white with large orange and black patches (or sometimes cream and grey patches, which is called a mu ...

Custard; her house resembles a

shortcake Shortcake generally refers to a dessert with a crumbly scone like texture. There is multiple variations of shortcake most of which are usually served with fruit and cream, one of the most popular being strawberry shortcake which is typically s ...

. Her friendsHuckleberry Pie, Blueberry Muffin, Raspberry Tart, Plum Puddin' and toddler Apple Dumplin'also live close by. One morning, during their Market Day, Strawberry's friends discuss plans for her sixth birthdayall except for Huckleberry Pie. Strawberry's villain, the Peculiar Purple Pieman, lives atop the Pie Tin Palace on a desolate wasteland called Porcupine Peak. While she is doing chores, the Pieman sends his crows"berry birds"to retrieve some berries for his pies. Strawberry tries shooing the flock away with her broom, but a moving tree helps out as a scarecrow, and she thanks him for helping. In desperation, the Pieman heads down to Strawberryland himself to get his supply, dressed as a kind old peddler. At noon, Strawberry calls her friends over for lunch, but they leave her behind and go to Lilac Park to prepare for her surprise party. Soon after, the disguised Pieman meets her and offers watering cans for sale. To his chagrin, Strawberry cannot afford to buy a magical one guaranteed to produce strawberries seven feet tall. Assisted by Lucky Bug, Huckleberry's ladybug aide, he goes to the Park, where Huckleberry pays for the equipment. Strawberry soon arrives at the venue to see her friends, who greet her with "Happy Birthday" and give her a present: the Pieman's watering can. The device fails to grow anything and spills over instead, flooding the Park and much of Strawberryland. The children are dismayed that the Pieman tricked them for his berry-stealing plot, and soon they harvest every bit of that supply over to him. The group travels to the Pie Tin Palace on rafts made of flotsam. Landing upon a mud field, they find out from Lucky Bug that Apple Dumplin' ended up at the Palace; they now have no way to rescue her. Mr. Sun, the narrator of the story, grants Strawberry a wish. She wishes to defeat the Pieman, and a grove of marching trees help her accomplish this; their stomping causes the Palace to collapse. Afterward, Apple Dumplin' gives him a note demanding that he surrender and do good deeds; he reluctantly does so, giving the toddler and berries back to Strawberry and her friends. At the end of the special, Strawberry Shortcake offers him a chance to sell his pies at Strawberry Market, and become friends with her, if only she isn't sure.

Cast

Production

Produced and sponsored by the

toy company, ''The World of Strawberry Shortcake'' was the first of six television specials to star the title character. The franchise began in 1977, when

staff member Muriel Fahrion drew the first designs of Strawberry and her pet cat Custard. In 1979, she appeared in greeting cards; dolls, books and games soon followed. The special was made by

, which previously worked on ''

The Point! ''The Point!'' is the sixth studio album by American songwriter and musician Harry Nilsson, released in late 1970. It was accompanied by an animated film adaptation directed by Fred Wolf, which aired in early February 1971 on the ABC-TV netw ...

'' and

Frank Zappa Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American musician, composer, and bandleader. His work is characterized by wikt:nonconformity, nonconformity, Free improvisation, free-form improvisation, sound experimen ...

's '' 200 Motels'', both from 1971; RLR Associates of New York City was another production partner. Animation work was also handled by Japan's Toei Doga. At the time of production, the producers called it a "morality play for tots". One of the crewmembers was

, writer for several

Rankin/Bass Rankin/Bass Animated Entertainment (founded and formerly known as Videocraft International, Ltd. and Rankin/Bass Productions, Inc.) was an American production company located in New York City, and known for its seasonal television specials, usual ...

television specials. Muller served as writer, co-producer and

lyricist A lyricist is a songwriter who writes lyrics (the spoken words), as opposed to a composer, who writes the song's music which may include but not limited to the melody, harmony, arrangement and accompaniment. Royalties A lyricist's income ...

of the ''Strawberry Shortcake'' special; he also voiced Mr. Sun, the narrator. After he proposed the idea to Kenner, the company and American Greetings agreed to do it. According to

Jack Chojnacki Jack Chojnacki (born c. 1941) served as the co-president of Those Characters from Cleveland Inc., a division of U.S. greeting card company American Greetings (AGC), in the 1980s. He assisted in the creation of several AGC franchises, including S ...

, co-president of Those Characters from Cleveland, a subsidiary of American Greetings, the card manufacturer considered new additions to the script, and reminded the writer that every character should be marketable. With those suggestions in mind, Muller came up with a villain called the Peculiar Purple Pieman. The Toy Group division of

General Mills General Mills, Inc., is an American multinational manufacturer and marketer of branded processed consumer foods sold through retail stores. Founded on the banks of the Mississippi River at Saint Anthony Falls in Minneapolis, the company orig ...

, which owned Kenner at the time, spent US$400,000 on the special. For the music, director

invited the duo

, who were also involved with ''200 Motels'' and who had an office near the Murakami-Wolf-Swenson headquarters. They wrote three songs in a day, which were approved by both Swenson and Muller, and went on to score the whole special.

Mark Volman Mark Randall Volman (born April 19, 1947) is an American vocalist, guitarist, and songwriter, best known as a founding member of the 1960s rock band The Turtles, and, along with his bandmate and friend Howard Kaylan, a member of the 1970s rock duo ...

stated that he and

Howard Kaylan Howard Kaylan (born Howard Lawrence Kaplan, June 22, 1947) is an American musician and songwriter, best known as a founding member and lead singer of the 1960s rock band The Turtles, and, along with bandmate and friend Mark Volman, a member of th ...

aimed "to do something different with children's records", which "weren't really a respected medium and companies weren't used to paying people for producing something slick for kids", with songs that could stand on their own and be liked by fans of the duo's old group,

, while also providing positive messages for children. The tracks were recorded by Flo & Eddie at Sun Swept Studios, with the only outside musician being the facility's owner, John Hoier.

Release

Upon completion, Muller was satisfied with how ''The World of Strawberry Shortcake'' turned out. Although he pointed out the lack of such influences in the special, he told ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' in April 1981 that he supposed the show to be a commercial. Some time after the title character's debut at the 1980 American International Toy Fair, major television networks in the U.S. were offered a chance to air the special. They also deemed it an advertisement for the toy line, and rejected it. On March 28, 1980, the special debuted on independent stations in over 90 U.S. cities; it aired on WNEW (now WNYW) in the New York City market, and on

KTLA KTLA (channel 5) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship of The CW. It is the largest directly owned property of the network's majority owner, Nexstar Media Group, and is the seco ...

in Los Angeles. Kenner launched a collection of dolls and toys based on the special, concurrently with the original broadcast. This led John J. O'Connor of ''

'' to proclaim, "Onward and upward with the art of marketing!" In 1981, the

Lexington Broadcast Services Company The Lexington Broadcast Services Company (first known as Lexington Broadcast Services and later known as LBS Communications) was a television production and syndication company formed on November 15, 1976, by advertising pioneer Henry Siegel, w ...

acquired syndication rights to ''The World of Strawberry Shortcake'', along with its follow-up, ''

Strawberry Shortcake in Big Apple City ''Strawberry Shortcake in Big Apple City'' is a 1981 animated television special written by Romeo Muller, produced by Muller and Buzz Potamkin, and directed by Hal Silvermintz. This is the second special to feature the American Greetings character ...

''. By 1986, the Television Program Source took over the rights for the first special. It was released on 16 mm film by the

Coronet A coronet is a small crown consisting of ornaments fixed on a metal ring. A coronet differs from other kinds of crowns in that a coronet never has arches, and from a tiara in that a coronet completely encircles the head, while a tiara does ...

company in 1982, and on VHS and

Beta Beta (, ; uppercase , lowercase , or cursive ; grc, βῆτα, bē̂ta or ell, βήτα, víta) is the second letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of 2. In Modern Greek, it represents the voiced labiod ...

in October 1985 by

Family Home Entertainment Family Home Entertainment (FHE) was an American home video company founded in 1980 by Noel C. Bloom. It was a division of International Video Entertainment, which had its headquarters in Newbury Park, California. History The company was founde ...

. A Region 1 DVD from Illumination FilmWorks, featuring this special and ''Big Apple City'', was released on March 6, 2007. In Germany, the original special premiered on

ZDF ZDF (, short for Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen; ; "Second German Television") is a German public-service television broadcaster based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. It is run as an independent nonprofit institution, which was founded by all fe ...

on April 4, 1983, as ''Emily im Erdbeerland''. A soundtrack album was released by

Kid Stuff Records Kid Stuff Records, also known originally as The Kid Stuff Repertory Company, was a record label founded in 1975, by Bob McAllister, Artie Kaplin, and Dick Mullen, as a children's music label. It was headquartered and located in Hollywood, Flori ...

the same year as the original airing. The track list featured the "Strawberry Shortcake Theme", along with "Smile a Sunny Morning", "Sunflower Market", "Monster Trees" and "Berry Talk".

Reception

''The World of Strawberry Shortcake'' was reviewed twice by the ''

''. In December 1983 issue, Margaret Bush said that the "story, characters, dialogue and bits of stage business are busy, bright, contrived, and will appeal of young children". She added, however, that "some of the lyrics and dialogue are not easily understoodit sounds as if adult voices may be attempting to simulate the voices of small children". In 1987, Kathleen Pulcini of ''The Video Directory'' called it "delightful fun for children".

Notes

References

External links

* *
{{DEFAULTSORT:World of Strawberry Shortcake 1980 films 1980 television films 1980s American animated films 1980 fantasy films Animated television specials 1980s children's fantasy films Strawberry Shortcake films First-run syndicated television programs in the United States Television shows written by Romeo Muller