1985
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Live on Stage
Jodie is in the store, arranging merchandise, when we arrive. "We're all in a show tonight!" she sings to us, "We're all in a show down at the theatre. You're invited to come along!"
Sam is in the computer room, getting his brush and comb ready and singing that he hopes he doesn't get stage fright.
"Be sure and tell me all about it later on," sings TXL.
"Right!" agrees Sam.
Muffy, in her room, has grander ambitions. "In the audience there'll be someone from Hollywood, and he'll see how good we are. Yes tonight I'll leave my house, an unknown mouse..." here she switches to a rich operatic voice, "but I'll be coming back a STAR!"
Jeff is in the stockroom, putting things into a costume trunk. "They're all in a show tonight. I wish I could go, but I can't leave the store," he sings, "so I'll wish them all good luck, and I'll see that these costumes get on the truck!" The screen splits into four and we see everyone, even Jeff, singing with excitement about the show.
Later, Jodie brings some costumes to the stockroom for Jeff to put in the trunk, but she doesn't see Jeff anywhere. Finally, he peaks out of a port hole from inside the trunk and then comes out. Jodie tells him how nervous she is to go on stage in front of so many people.
Jeff puts his arm around her and tells her she'll be wonderful. "Don't worry."
Jodie says she wishes he could come, too.
"Me, too," says Jeff. But he can't. One step outside the store and he'd become a mannequin.
"But it just won't be the same without you," says Jodie sadly.
"I know, I know. Well, we won't think about that." says Jeff. "Come on! Can't keep the audience waiting!"
"The audience!" says Jodie, beginning to panic. "Oh, suppose nobody shows up?!" she exclaims. Jeff rolls his eyes. "Suppose I forget all my lines?"
"You won't!" Jeff assures her.
Jodie isn't convinced. "Maybe I need another rehearsal," she frets as she leaves the stockroom.
Jeff looks at the trunk. Then he makes a fist and shakes it. Disappointment? Acceptance? We're not sure what it means. He leaves the stockroom.
Meanwhile, Muffy, dressed extravagantly, comes out on her balcony. She's nervous, too, as she gets into her elevator. Then: "Of all the rotten bits of luck, now my elevator's stuck!" she cries. Sure enough, she is halfway between floors. "Oh please, oh, please, don't make me late. I hate to miss my date with fate!"
Sam and Jodie are going to the theatre in a limousine, and they don't miss Muffy because she's going separately. At the front door, Jeff gives Jodie a heartfelt goodbye. "Have a wonderful time," he says. They are both wistful, and after Jodie leaves, Jeff looks around sadly.
As we watch Jodie and Sam get into the limo, we hear Jeff singing, "My home is in this store, I like it here, I'm happy, my world's on every floor, my friends are here, I'm happy . . ." and yet, "Just once I'd like the freedom to see what I can see. If everyone can go there [outside the store], is it wrong to ask why not me? Why not me?" The music changes from a plaintive lament to an upbeat declaration. "Why don't I take the chance? No more debating! Outside that big front door, the world is waiting. Get ready 'cause tonight, tonight! I'm goin' out!" He dances through the store, gathering things he thinks he'll need, like umbrellas, a leather coat, winter boots, two sweaters, and the like. "My star will shine tonight, all right! I'm goin' out!" How will he go? In the costume trunk. He climbs in, singing, "And the world will hear me shout WHY NOT ME?"
Jodie and Sam have arrived at the theatre and have met the stage manager, Lisa. Sam thinks her name is "Lisa Manager."
"That's nice, is it Croatian? Yugoslavian?" he asks.
"No Sam," Jodie chuckles, and explains that Lisa is the stage manager, which means she's in charge of the entire show. Next it's Lisa's turn to be confused when she reads on her list that Jodie is to share a dressing room with Muffy Mouse.
"What a funny stage name," she says, "What does she do? Eat cheese?" She laughs.
"Yeah," says Sam seriously, "all the time."
"Really? You mean - she really is a mouse?"
"Yes ma'am," says Sam.
"They didn't tell me you did an animal act."
"Oh, no!" Jodie says, laughing, "You see, Muffy sings and dances. And she speaks in rhyme."
Sam adds that Muffy is just like the rest of them. "Except that she's a mouse, of course."
"Oh well, I never speak in rhyme," Lisa says, "I just see that we start on time." That's a rhyme, of course, and after they all laugh, she says, "Better go! Have a good show!" Another rhyme. Frazzled, she walks off.
Jodie is frazzled too, because Muffy still hasn't arrived and it'll soon be time for the show to begin.
Finally, Lisa tells Sam and Jodie she can't wait for Muffy any longer so they'll have to go on without her.
The announcer says, "Ladies and gentlemen, girls and boys, let's welcome the stars of Today's Special!"
Jodie comes out singing. "Hello! Hello! Welcome to our show." After she sings how great it is to see everyone, she sings, "Here's a special friend of mine, who'd like to meet you too!"
Out comes Sam, behind a puppet stage in the middle of the theatre stage. "Hello! Hello! he sings, and everyone applauds to greet him. "You all know who I am." (A boy in the audience says, "That's Sam.") "Mr. Crenshaw is my name, but you can call me FRED!" The music wails and then stops.
"Fred?" asks Jodie. Sam puts his head in his hands. "Sam, your name is not Fred."
"I forgot my own name, Jodie, I guess I'm a little nervous."
"Nervous, why?"
"Why? Because there are so many boys and girls out there! Look at 'em all, there's, one, two, three four . . ." the audience laughs.
"Oh, isn't it wonderful Sam? Just think, all those boys and girls came all that way just to see you!"
"I KNOW!" wails Sam, "that's why I'm nervous! They're all just sittin' there, staring at me. Me! Old, old - what's his name Crenshaw!"
Meanwhile Muffy has arrived outside the theatre on her scooter.
"But Sam," Jodie says reassuringly. "They're all your friends."
"All of them?"
"Uh-huh."
"Well, then, why don't we all just go back to my place for liverwurst and onion sandwiches?"
The kids laugh heartily.
"Sam, we can't go yet, we've got a show to do!"
Backstage, Muffy is looking for her dressing room. She comes to a door with Jodie's name on a star. When she knocks on the door, another star drops down, with *her* name on it. She nods approvingly.
Jodie and Sam, on stage, have begun to sing the "Hello" song again and they sing that they're not sure Muffy will appear. "She's always playing tricks on us, let's hope that she is here!" They wait nervously for her to enter. "Muffy? Muffy?" they call. Suddenly Muffy pops up.
"Why hello! Hello! I made it to this show. From the store I chose to roam, I hope you left your cats at home! And even though I may look very small to all you bigger boys and girls, I'm glad to see you all!"
Jodie and Sam welcome Muffy and Sam reminds her of all the fun they're going to have singing and dancing. Muffy tells the kids that Jeff is very sorry he can't be there. Jodie explains that his magic hat doesn't work outside the store but that he sent along lots of costumes. The costume trunk is on stage, and when Jodie opens the trunk there, inside, is Jeff! But Jodie walks away without seeing him.
The kids cry out to Jodie that Jeff is there, but at first Jodie doesn't believe them. But they keep calling out that he's behind her.
"Behind me? But there's nothing behind me, just some costumes and Jeff and -" she gasps. "Jeff?" She realizes that he must have hidden himself inside the box. "Aw, poor Jeff, well, he wanted so badly to be here with all of us, but, as soon as he leaves the store," she snaps her fingers. "He's a mannequin again."
Sam and Muffy suggest they all try saying the magic words. So Sam, Muffy, Jodie and the whole audience say, "Hocus, pocus, alimagocus!"
Nothing happens.
"Well, I guess the magic hat and the magic words only work in the store. Guess there's nothing anybody can do," Jodie sighs.
"Hey! There's someone who can help, I know," says Muffy, "Why not find our friend Waldo?"
"Bubblin' brainstorms, Muffy, that's a great idea. Why, Waldo the Magician said to call him if we were ever in trouble, and we are. So I will. Waldo! Oh, Waldo!"
Jodie stops him. Waldo could be anywhere. He might not even be in the city.
"Well, we're just gonna have to shout a little louder, that's all," says Sam." He invites everyone to shout with him. "Help me call Waldo as loud as you can!" They call very loudly three times and then, in he comes in a black cape spangled with gold stars.
"Waldo the Magnificent to the rescue," he says, and comes up on the stage. Jodie runs over and grabs him by the hand. She explains that Jeff's hat is not working.
"Well of course, it won't. He's not supposed to leave the store. You're not supposed to leave the store!" he says to the motionless Jeff.
"But couldn't you help him? Please? Well, just this once?" pleads Jodie.
"No! No! Absolutely, totally one hundred percent no! Magic spells are magic spells. Can't go around changing them willy nilly."
"Oh poor Jeff," Muffy says, "there's nothing we can do, except perhaps go boo hoo hoo!"
"Oh dear, oh dear," says Waldo, "Please don't cry Muffy. I can't stand to see anybody cry." He hands her his handkerchief, into which she noisily blows her nose, to his distaste and the audience's delight. "Oh! Oh!" she continues, "Please help Jeff, oh pretty please? I'll even let you share my cheese!"
Waldo relents. "But it won't be easy. First we have to have complete concentration."
"Right!" says Sam. "Concentration. Concentration. Concentration." He puts his fist in front of his forehead and then keeps chanting the word, waving his hand in front of his face. The children laugh.
"Sam!" says Waldo. "Quiet concentration."
"Right! Right!" says Sam. He begins mumbling. "Quiet concentration, quiet concentration, quiet concentration . . ."
Waldo stares. The audience laughs even more.
"Sorry." says Sam.
Waldo walks to the end of the stage. "Now is everyone concentrating? Now first, we have to clap our hands three times . . . ONE, TWO THREE!" Everyone claps. "And then, we whisper the magic words. Remember, whisper, as quietly as you can. Hocus, pocus, alimagocus . . ." Everyone whispers and then, quietly, Jeff comes to life. The kids gasp and everyone applauds.
Jeff looks disoriented and confused. "H-h-h-hello!" He stammers. The music begins again. "Hello! Hello!" he sings, while doing a few short dance steps. "I feel the magic flow. Now I've new things to explore, they're very different than the store!" The others join in. "So, hello, hello! We'll sing a special song, "because we're all together here, come on and sing along! Today's Special, it's for everyone . . ."and the whole cast sings the theme song, including Waldo and two backup singers, David Blamires and Stephanie Taylor, who are with the band to the right of the stage.
"Now that we've all said hello," says Sam, "Uh, what do we do now?"
"Say goodbye." Waldo announces. "My job is done and extremely well done if I say so myself, and I do, it's time for me to leave the stage."
Sam assumes he's going to disappear before their eyes, or fly away on a magic carpet, but Waldo says he'll just put one foot in front of the other and walk.
"Whoa!" say Sam and Muffy.
"I don't think we've seen that trick before," Sam exclaims.
"Very simple. Watch!" says Waldo, and off he goes.
Now Sam suggests that they sing something, but Jeff doesn't know what to sing about. Jodie says it really doesn't matter what they sing, because:
"Oh there's something about a song," she sings, "there's something about a song. And it's something that makes you feel so fine, whether it's yours or whether it's mine, something that makes your whole face shine, oh there's something about a song."
Next Muffy sings that there's "something about some cheese." Sam sings, "There's something about a boat," and Jeff sings, "There's something about a hat. (Whether it's yours or magic like mine!)" They each sing their line one more time. After Jodie sings, "There's something about a song," again, Sam adds, "Or a sardine and jelly bean sandwich," (everyone groans) then Jeff adds, "Or pickles with chocolate sauce," to more groans. Then they all sing together, "Yeah, there's something about a song!"
Everyone applauds. Muffy is very happy with the audience and says she hopes the boys and girls all like mice.
"Of course they like mice," says Jodie.
"Especially ones that talk in rhyme," Jeff adds.
Excited, Muffy and Sam leave the stage. Muffy is going to change her clothes. Jeff and Jodie talk a bit and then Muffy comes back. Jeff is surprised at how fast she changed and tells her she looks very nice.
"This is just my dressing gown!" Muffy says, "And on my face you see a frown!" Why? No costumes in her dressing room. Jeff heads to the costume trunk to get something for her. He hands Jodie a bag but inside are a pair of pink running shoes. Not Muffy's, since she wears "mouse sized minus three," but Jodie's.
Finally, Jeff finds Muffy's costumes. After she 'zooms to her room,' Jeff tells Jodie to put on her running shoes. He already has his on.
"Can you see my running shoes?" He asks the audience. "How about now?" He walks on his hands to show them off.
The kids are delighted.
Jeff flips himself back upright. "These are my favorite shoes. Do you all have running shoes at home?"
"Yeah!" The kids shout back to him.
"What color are they?"
There's a mishmash of sound as all the kids tell him what color their shoes are.
Jeff says that wearing his running shoes makes him feel like he could run forever.
Jodie finishes putting her shoes on and they sing about how much they love their running shoes. "In my running shoes I can run so fast, in my running shoes, I'm never last." They dance across the stage as they sing.
In the meantime, backstage, a nervous Muffy is about to settle her stomach with a nice piece of cheese when Lisa pops in and tells her she needs to go on stage "immediately."
"Oh, how can stars be at their best if no one gives them time to rest?" she complains. We can hear Jeff and Jodie singing in the background. They finish their number and run off the stage.
Muffy pops up behind the puppet stage with a ridiculously frilly, very large hat. She explains that it's just right to sing a silly song in. She's going to sing about a blue cow. "Of course, there really is no such thing, except in this silly song I sing."
Muffy begins to sing, "Blue, blue, the cow was blue . . ." and the audience begins to murmur excitedly as a big blue cow suddenly appears on the stage.
"Clive! Stop the music!" cries Muffy, "Do you see? A cow, as blue as blue can be?" she asks everyone. Panicked, she begins calling for Sam who hurries out. He refuses to believe that there's a blue cow. Even as he speaks, the cow comes out and the kids point and shout, but it leaves again before Sam can see it. He thinks they're all just pulling his leg.
"NOOOO!" The kids shout, pointing as the cow reappears.
"There is no such thing as a blue co-co-cowowowow!" Sam stammers, catching sight of the cow approaching.
"Oh! You see it is blue. Now what do we do?" Muffy asks.
"You got any blue grass?" says Sam, deadpan. "I don't know! Hello there! How are you, Madam Cow?" The blue cow is over next to the band, and one of the backup singers scratches the cow's head. The cow isn't paying any attention to Sam.
Sam decides to try some cow language. "Moo! Moo-moo! Moo, there, Madam. Moo!" The cow ignores him and leaves the stage. To try and get her to come back, Sam cries out even louder. "Moo! MOO!"
The sight of Sam mooing startles Jeff and Jodie as they come back on stage. Sam is a bit flustered.
"I was just talkin' to a blue cow, you see," he tries to explain.
Jodie is dubious. Sam tells them to ask the kids, so, half-seriously, they do. The kids shriek that yes, they have seen a blue cow, and they begin pointing as it reappears behind them. The cow nudges Jeff, who leaps away in surprise. Once Jodie has seen her too, everyone begins to sing, "Blue, blue, the cow was blue, she jumped high like a kangaroo!" Once they finish the song, Jodie, Jeff, Muffy and Sam leave the stage and the cow is alone.
"Emily! Emily!" cries Waldo, coming onto the stage. He puts his hat on the stage and tells the blue cow to get back into it. She looks at the audience and then shakes her head no. Waldo insists that magical cows should stay inside magical hats, but off she runs disobediently, with Waldo in dignified pursuit. "Please, Emily," he says, following her offstage.
Muffy returns to the puppet stage dressed like a cowgirl in pink and begins to tell the story of her childhood out west in "The Ballad of Muffy Mouse."
"Born long ago in an old farmhouse, I didn't find out that my mother was a mouse, till she called me for breakfast and she gave me a squeeze and put on my plate three different kinds of cheese." Next she sings about her first encounter with a cat. (She taught the cat to rhyme so it wouldn't chase her). Finally she sings that she doesn't mind being small, "but why does everyone else have to be so tall?"
Near the end of the song, Jeff and Jodie come out and join Muffy in singing, "Muffy, Muffy Mouse, oh, the ballad of Muffy Mouse!" They're both wearing cowboy hats. (Jodie's is pink). Muffy and Jodie leave the stage and Jeff is alone, singing, "Muffy, Muffy Mouse, oh the . . . problem" he says, as abruptly ending the song, "with wearing a magic hat is keeping it on your head." He takes his cowboy hat off very carefully so as not to disturb his magic hat. He explains that keeping his hat on isn't easy. He can't bend over too far, or fall down. But most difficult is scratching his head. "You know how difficult it is to scratch your head without taking your hat off?" This is on his mind because his head is itching.
Hoping it will help his itch, he asks the kids to scratch their heads. Happily, the kids comply, scratching away.
"Thank you! Thank you!" says Jeff. ". . . it didn't work. My head still itches." So he decides to risk scratching. But he asks the kids to make sure and call Jodie if he accidentally knocks his hat off. Carefully, he scratches his head through his hat. His hat doesn't fall off! "I didn't knock my hat off!" he exults. "See? It's still on my head!" Pointing in order to demonstrate, he takes his hat off. So the kids begin calling out:
"JODIE! JODIE!"
When Jodie comes out on stage, she asks the kids if they remember what to do to bring Jeff back to life. At first they just say the magic words, but nothing happens. "Was there something else we were supposed to do?" The kids shout out a cacophony of answers. Then Jodie remembers. They need to clap three times and then whisper the magic words. As Jeff comes to life, Jodie keeps on chanting the magic words and leaves Jeff on stage to sing, "Hocus pocus alimagocus, I can bend I can stretch I can see. Hocus pocus alimagocus, look at me, I'm alive! Look at me!" He leaps and dances joyfully all over the stage as he sings.
Once Jeff is finished and leaves the stage, Waldo and Emily, the blue cow, reappear. Now Emily has Waldo's hat in her mouth and Waldo is refusing her apparent request for him to get into the hat. "It's absurd!" He tells her. "It's supposed to be the other way around!" Emily nudges him from behind and when he turns to admonish her, she licks his face. The kids howl with laughter. After Waldo wipes his face in disgust, he continues to explain to Emily that it's undignified for a magician to bend over and "get inside that hat!" As he bends to point, Emily butts him playfully with her head, sending him across the stage. Then she leaves the stage in the opposite direction with Waldo in pursuit, lamenting, "Why didn't I stick to rabbits like any other magician?"
The kids laugh and clap.
Once they're gone, Jodie and Sam return to the stage. Jeff hurries in to tell them something "very important."
Sam wonders what's so important about Jodie's tap shoes, which Jeff is holding in his hands. Jeff says it's not the shoes, (which he hands to Jodie, asking her to put them on), but the earphones he has around his neck, a great new way to keep his hat on his head. He puts the earphones on over his hat and then demonstrates how well they work by jumping up and down.
"The only problem is," says Sam, "How are you going to hear?"
Jeff takes off the earphones and says, "The only problem is, how am I going to hear?"
"Didn't I just say that?" says Sam.
"Say what, Sam?"
"How are you gonna hear, Jeff?"
"With my ears!" says Jeff, and puts the earphones back on.
"No, I mean, how are you gonna hear when you have those ear muffs on?"
Jodie explains that they're not ear muffs, they're a radio that nobody else can hear. Sam doesn't think that sounds very friendly. Meanwhile, Jeff, oblivious, is bopping to the music on the radio. He tells Sam he'd love what he's listening to. "It's one of your favorites."
"Oh boy, I think I'm gonna go and watch my mustache grow," Sam says drily. "A radio you can't hear. Ha! What good is that?" And he leaves the stage.
Jeff keeps inviting Jodie to dance and she tries to explain to him that she can't hear the music. "Stop! Stop!" she says, waving her hands at him, but Jeff just thinks she's doing "the Muffy" and starts waving his hands too, to the kids' amusement. Jodie gives up. She asks the kids to help. Some are already calling out, "Jeff!" But Jodie asks them to shout, "Turn the music off!" She counts to three and they all shout, "TURN THE MUSIC OFF!"
A confused look comes over Jeff's face. He walks over to Jodie, takes off his earphones and asks, "Jodie, why is everybody yelling at me?"
Jodie explains they can't hear his music and it's hard to dance if you can't hear the music. She launches into song, "What do you hear, with your ears, what do you hear, what do you hear?" First she claps, then she snaps her fingers, and then she taps with her tap shoes. The kids and Jeff join her in making the sounds.
Meanwhile, backstage, Muffy is about to tuck into her plate of cheese when the stage manager returns and calls her back on stage. "Your cue is coming up, you better get ready."
"Oh, it sure works up an appetite when no one lets you take a bite!" she complains.
Soon, Jeff and Jodie are tapping their way off stage and Sam says, "Oh, Muffy, don't you just love that tap tap tapping!" Jeff and Jodie soon return and are standing at the puppet stage with Sam and Muffy. Sam says he's having so much fun he doesn't want the show to end. Muffy agrees. "Sam is right, and very clever. I think we should stay here forever!"
Jeff reminds her that it will soon be dinnertime. So Sam says they can just make sandwiches, "and we'll get some sleeping bags . . ." Jodie interrupts gently and tells him they really have to get back to the store. Jeff agrees. He doesn't want to say goodbye either, but he realizes that Jodie is right. Sam suggests they can all pretend they're on vacation.
Jodie reaches over to squeeze Sam's hand. "Even if you go on vacation, aren't you really glad to get back home?"
"Yeah," says Muffy, "Even when you're having fun, it's home you want when the day is done."
"Come on everybody, gather round," Jodie sings, "I wanna tell you something that I've found, no matter where you choose to roam, you'll always be glad to come back home. Oh! You can travel east, oh, you can travel west, oh, but comin' home is still the part that I love best!"
She sings and dances, and the others join in. Soon Jeff and Jodie are dancing on opposite ends of the stage, but eventually they come together and join Sam and Muffy behind the puppet stage as the song ends. They all wave goodbye, and it looks like the show is over. The kids wave back.
Then Waldo returns to the stage to give Emily one final chance to get into the hat. "Drum roll, please," he calls out to the band. Emily makes some preparatory moves and then splat! The hat is crushed flat under her foot. The kids laugh.
"Emily! Emily! That's my best hat!" cries Waldo, attempting to retrieve it from beneath her foot. Finally, she walks off, leaving Waldo on the floor on his knees. He gets up and follows her.
Then up comes the music and Jeff and Jodie return, singing, "Wave your hands, wave your hands, if you're tired of sitting still and no one understands, all you've got to do to move is wave your hands!" Sam and Muffy return to the puppet stage and dance around as Jeff and Jodie do the moves that go with the song. Then they all begin singing the theme song, again. Waldo and Emily come on stage to take a bow and Waldo joins in singing the song. Then everyone waves goodbye, and the show is over.
Next, we see a limousine driving down the street, and inside, Jodie, Jeff, Sam and Muffy are all sitting in the back seat.
"Well Jeff," asks Jodie, "did you enjoy your evening out?"
"I'll never forget it," Jeff says reverently. "The world is such a wonderful place."
"Oh it was great, I do agree," says Muffy, who is holding a mouse-sized bouquet of roses, "but now my eyes are so sleepy." She leans her head on Jodie's shoulder.
Sam yawns. "I never realized having fun could be so tiring," he says.
"Yeah, it's been a busy day, and it's almost over." Jodie says. Sam puts his head on Jeff's shoulder, and Jeff rests his head on top of Sam's. Jodie begins to sing her lullaby, "Let go of your busy day, let it all just drift away . . ." as she sings, the credits roll until at last, the limo reaches the store.
Quizzes:
Nursery Rhyme:
Notes:
- "Live on Stage" is a joy to behold, but framing it as a regular episode does raise some questions. For example, as Ben puts it: "Live on Stage also is kind of odd in that it doesn't explain too well why a bunch of people who work the night shift at a department store would be in a stage show to begin with." Also, in episodes filmed after "Live on Stage," such as "A Visit to the Opera," Jeff is still depicted as never having left the store. So despite attempting to fit it into the show's continuity, it works better as a separate unit outside the show's continuity with no reference to any other episodes. Back in 1985 or 1986 when we called TVOntario to find out of it there were any new episodes coming, they weren't sure. Perhaps when they made "Live on Stage," they thought it would be the last episode of the series and when they returned in 1986 they decided to just leave out any reference to the events therein.
- We never did find out how Muffy escaped her stuck elevator.
- Jeff Hyslop is listed as not only doing the choreography but also the staging. It was undoubtedly quite a challenge to stage a show in which, for the most part, there were only two humans, plus two puppets with limited mobility. He did a great job. It's amazing how quickly and beautifully he covers the large stage in his opening number and, of course, in "Hocus Pocus Alimagocus." He and Nerene Virgin also do a great job in the "Running Shoes" number, using choreography and clever staging to accomplish the seemingly impossible task of dancing with each other while simultaneously covering the huge stage.
- Jeff's "Hocus, Pocus, Alimagocus" number is even more impressive when you realize that in its original form, Jeff prerecorded the song and did the dance by lip-synching. Here, he had to do both at once, an exhausting task which he performed with amazing stamina.
- Why did Muffy have such a huge and ridiculous hat? Perhaps because by putting her in it, it made it easier for the kids to spot her - especially the kids sitting up in the balcony - when she was alone on stage.
- The choreography in the 1986 episode "The Blue Cow" was taken directly from the stage show.
- When Jeff is telling the kids to call Jodie in case his hat happens to fall off, he accidentally says, "just if my head happens to . . . you know." Was the "you know" a planned piece of dialogue or was it added in order to avoid saying "in case my head happens to fall off?"
- During the "What Do You Hear?" number, it was really cute to watch the kids trying to snap their fingers. Also, here, just as in "Jodie," the grammar is changed from the original song in "Ears" which said, "I hear . . . clapping, . . . snapping, . . . tapping it's a very happy sound," to the more grammartically correct "those are very happy sounds."
- The voices of the back up singers, David Blamires and Stephanie Taylor, sound familiar. These two are, in fact, the original singers of the theme song.
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