History
Creation
The original series was written by the husband-and-wife team of Hans Augusto (H. A.) Rey and Margret Rey. The Jewish couple fled Paris in June 1940, on bicycles they had made themselves, carrying the ''Curious George'' manuscript with them. They received visas in Bayonne, under instructions from Aristides Sousa Mendes, the Portuguese consul in Bordeaux, which enabled them to escape France via Portugal. At first, only H. A. Rey was credited for the work in order to distinguish the Reys' books from the large number of children's books written by female authors. The first seven books were illustrated by H.A. Rey. Later, Alan J. Shalleck was credited as an editor and Hans Rey and Margret Rey for the writing and illustrating. The Reys produced many other children's books, but the ''Curious George'' series was the most popular. Each book has been in continuous print since it was first published.Literature
Margret and H. A. Rey released seven ''Curious George'' books during H. A. Rey's lifetime. Recently, more ''Curious George'' books have been released by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt including board books with scenes from the original books, books adapted from the 1980s telefilm series, and new adventures.Original adventures
'' Curious George'' appeared in 1941. This book begins with George living in Africa and tells the story of his capture by the Man with the Yellow Hat, who takes him on a ship to "the big city" where he will live in a zoo. The second book, '' Curious George Takes a Job'' (1947), begins with George living in the zoo, from which he escapes and has several adventures before the Man with the Yellow Hat finds him and takes George to live at his house. The remaining five stories describe George's adventures while living at the house of the Man with the Yellow Hat. Although the Man with the Yellow Hat is unnamed in both the original books and telefilm books, he receives his name in the Curious George TV series and is known as "Theodore Shackleford". Sometimes dubbed the "Original Adventures", these original seven titles are completely by the series creators, Margret & H. A. Rey. * '' Curious George'' (1941) * '' Curious George Takes a Job'' (1947) * '' Curious George Rides a Bike'' (1952) * '' Curious George Gets a Medal'' (1957) * '' Curious George Flies a Kite'' (1958) * '' Curious George Learns the Alphabet'' (1963) * '' Curious George Goes to the Hospital'' (1966) Before appearing in his own series, Curious George appeared as a character in another children's book written and illustrated by H. A. Rey, '' Cecily G. and the Nine Monkeys'' (1939).Books adapted from telefilms
A second series of books, based on the telefilm series, was edited by Margret & H.A. Rey and Alan J. Shalleck. These appeared between 1984 and 1993. They are mostly out of print, though several have been re-released with new cover art as part of the next series, the "New Adventures"."New Adventures"
A third series of books, the Curious George "New Adventures", began to appear in 1998, and continues to the present. These books are "illustrated in the style of H. A. Rey" by a variety of credited and uncredited artists including Mary O'Keefe Young, Martha Weston, Anna Grossnickle Hines, Michael Alan Jensen, and Vipah Interactive."The Man with the Yellow Hat"
Aside from George himself, the only recurring character in the original adventures is the Man with the yellow Hat who is George's best friend and caretaker. The Man often facilitates George's adventures by taking him somewhere, and even more often resolves the tension by intervening just in time to get George out of a tight spot. He is always seen wearing a bright yellow suit and a wide brimmed yellow hat. The Man is never mentioned by name in the original adventures or in any subsequent content over more than six decades. He is always referred to as "The Man" or fully "The Man with the Yellow Hat" (abbreviated "TMWTYH"), but aside from those two names, he is unnamed in the original series and telefilm books. When people speak to George about the Man, they often refer to him as "Your friend". In H. A. Rey's book ''See the Circus'', published in 1946, "The Man with the Yellow Hat" was referred to as "Ted". Later, in '' Curious George'' (2006), the Man, who is voiced by Will Ferrell, is also referred to as "Ted" throughout the film; his last name is revealed as being "Shacklefield" in a deleted scene. In the TV series, he is voiced by Jeff Bennett.Other media
''Curious George'' has been adapted into a television show, magazine, and video game.Television
A set of animated ''Curious George'' television films were produced from 1979 to 1982; they were first shown in the United States in 1984 on Nickelodeon. This series was produced and co-written by Alan Shalleck. The shorts were aired on The Disney Channel as a segment on the program ''Lunch Box'' starting in 1989. In 1993, Margret Rey successfully sued Lafferty, Harwood, and Partners, the Canadian company that funded the cartoons, for licensing VHS tapes to third-party companies without the Reys' permission. The Reys eventually won the dispute, forcing Lafferty, Harwood, and Partners to pay for all wrongdoing. A new '' Curious George'' series debuted on September 4, 2006 on PBS Kids as part of the PBS Kids Preschool Block. Although ''Curious George'' ended its original run on April 1, 2015, the series is still airing on PBS Kids in reruns. It was produced by the Boston affiliate WGBH, Imagine Entertainment, and Universal Animation Studios. A revival of the series was released on the streaming service Peacock on July 15, 2020. It then ended March 17, 2022.Film
The 2017 film ''Monkey Business: The Adventures of Curious George's Creators'' documents the lives of Hans and Margret Rey including their flight fromAnimated
A minimal-animation 16 mm film called ''Curious George Rides a Bike'' was produced by Weston Woods Studios in 1958 and later released on DVD. In 1982, animator John Clark Matthews produced a 16 mm stop-motion animated short called ''Curious George Goes to the Hospital'' based on the book of the same name. In 1984, they created another short, again based on the book of the same name. Produced by Churchill Films, the films were created with puppet-figures. Matthews would later use a similar technique for his '' Frog and Toad'' films. An animated film, '' Curious George'', was released on February 10, 2006, featuring Will Ferrell as the voice of the originally unnamed Man with the Yellow Hat. In the film (in which The Man is referred to as "Ted"), Curious George secretly follows The Man onto the ship to the city on his own accord. Frank Welker provided the vocal effects of Curious George. Ron Howard serves as the film's producer. A direct-to-video sequel to the film was released on March 2, 2010, titled '' Curious George 2: Follow That Monkey!'', which featured Jeff Bennett replacing Ferrell as the voice of the Man. Bennett also provides the Man's voice in the television series. The second direct-to-video sequel, ''Curious George 3: Back to the Jungle'', was released on June 23, 2015. ''Curious George: Royal Monkey'' was released on September 10, 2019, while ''Curious George: Go West, Go Wild'' was released on Peacock on September 20, 2020. A sixth and final film, ''Curious George: Cape Ahoy'', was released on Peacock on September 30, 2021. A Christmas film, '' Curious George: A Very Monkey Christmas'', was released in 2009 on PBS. "Curious George Swings Into Spring" and "Curious George: A Halloween Boo Fest" were released in 2013. On Monday, August 6, it began to re-run on Cartoonito.Live-action remake
A live action/animated film was in development at Illumination Entertainment in the beginning of the 2010s. In August 2016, Andrew Adamson was in negotiations to direct, co-write, and executive produce a live action film for Universal Pictures, along with Ron Howard, Brian Grazer, David Kirschner, Jon Shapiro and Erica Huggins producing it.Video game
A ''Curious George'' video game was released on February 2, 2006, published by Namco and developed by Monkey Bar Games, a division of Vicious Cycle Software forOther
A children's bookstore in Harvard Square inIn popular culture
In the 1994 film '' Forrest Gump'', one edition of ''Curious George'' is featured as Forrest's favorite book, which his mother reads to him. Forrest later reads it with his son, with a Curious George plush also shown on his shelf. In the opening scene, a feather comes floating down to Forrest's feet and he stores it in this book. At the end of the film, it falls out of the book and rises floating through the air again. Jarrod, the protagonist of the NBC series '' The Pretender'', reads ''Curious George'' books in season one and develops a fascination with them. He likens himself to George and Sydney Green to the Man with the Yellow Hat. The books have inspired other derivative works, including ''Bangkok Bob'' (written by Sasha Alyson and published by the Lao publishing project Big Brother Mouse).See also
* Curious George BrigadeReferences
External links
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