''The Elephant Show'' (from the second season onward, ''Sharon, Lois & Bram's Elephant Show'') is a Canadian preschool television show. It premiered on CBC on October 8, 1984, and ended on February 26, 1989, after 65 episodes over five seasons.

Summary

''The Elephant Show'' features the adventures of the Canadian singing trio

Sharon, Lois & Bram Sharon, Lois & Bram (also known as Sharon, Bram & Friends, Sharon & Bram or Sharon & Randi) are a Canadian children's music group founded in Toronto, Ontario, 1978. The group's original lineup consisted of Sharon (née Trostin) Hampson, L ...

and Elephant (Paula Gallivan in an elephant costume). Elephant doesn't speak but is voiced by a

tuba The tuba (; ) is the largest and lowest-pitched musical instrument in the brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, the sound is produced by lip vibrationa buzzinto a mouthpiece (brass), mouthpiece. It first appeared in th ...

(played by Scott Irvine), which conveys thoughts and mood by its pitch and inflection. The four are usually accompanied by a group of children and a

sidekick A sidekick is a close companion or colleague who is, or is generally regarded as, subordinate to those whom they accompany. Origins The first recorded use of the term dates from 1896. It is believed to have originated in pickpocket slang of ...

, family entertainer Eric Nagler. Every week Sharon, Lois & Bram, along with Eric Nagler, are joined by the curious and fun-loving antics of their pachyderm pal Elephant and such guest artists as

Toller Cranston Toller Shalitoe Montague Cranston (April 20, 1949 – January 24, 2015) was a Canadian figure skater and painter. He won the 1971–1976 Canadian national championships, the 1974 World bronze medal and the 1976 Olympic bronze medal. De ...

Louis Del Grande Louis Del Grande (born March 23, 1943) is a retired American-Canadian actor, comedian, and television writer. He is best known as the co-creator and star of the mystery-comedy CBC Television series ''Seeing Things (TV series), Seeing Things'' (19 ...

Jayne Eastwood Jayne Eastwood (born December 17, 1946), also credited as Jane Easton or Jane Eastwood, is a Canadian actress and comedian. She is best known for her film roles as Anna-Marie Biddlecoff in '' Finders Keepers'' (1984), Judy the Waitress in '' The ...

Murray McLauchlan Murray Edward McLauchlan, (born 30 June 1948) is a Canadian singer, songwriter, guitarist, pianist, and harmonica player. He is best known for his Canadian hits "The Farmer's Song," "Whispering Rain," and "Down by the Henry Moore". Early life ...

Chuck Mangione Charles Frank Mangione ( ; born November 29, 1940) is an American flugelhorn player, trumpeter and composer. He came to prominence as a member of Art Blakey's band in the 1960s, and later co-led the Jazz Brothers with his brother, Gap Mangione, ...

Andrea Martin Andrea Louise Martin (born January 15, 1947) is an American and Canadian actress, best known for her work in the television series '' SCTV'' and '' Great News''. She has appeared in films such as '' Black Christmas'' (1974), '' Wag the Dog'' (1 ...

, Mendelson Joe and

Jan Rubeš Jan Ladislav Rubeš Order of Canada, CM (6 June 1920 – 29 June 2009) was a Czechs, Czech-Canadians, Canadian bass (voice type), bass opera singer and actor. Life and career Rubeš was born in Volyně, Czechoslovakia, to Ružena (née Kel ...

. Almost every episode contains a concert segment, featuring Sharon, Lois & Bram, Eric and the Mammoth Band. They sing songs and help children with their problems (including arguments, fear and the failure of plans). In most episodes, the group travels to a new location (such as school, museum or zoo). They occasionally stay home and have an adventure in their yard (like building a tree fort or encountering a grumpy neighbour). The show occasionally includes a social lesson (such as a pro

UNICEF UNICEF ( ), originally the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund, officially United Nations Children's Fund since 1953, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing Humanitarianism, humanitarian and Development a ...

discussion). Sharon, Lois and Bram appeared in advertisements during the show's original run, encouraging parents to vaccinate their children against

polio Poliomyelitis ( ), commonly shortened to polio, is an infectious disease caused by the poliovirus. Approximately 75% of cases are asymptomatic; mild symptoms which can occur include sore throat and fever; in a proportion of cases more severe ...

mumps MUMPS ("Massachusetts General Hospital Utility Multi-Programming System"), or M, is an imperative, high-level programming language with an integrated transaction processing key–value database. It was originally developed at Massachusetts Gen ...

and

rubella Rubella, also known as German measles or three-day measles, is an infection caused by the rubella virus. This disease is often mild, with half of people not realizing that they are infected. A rash may start around two weeks after exposure and ...

. Each episode concludes with the song " Skinnamarink", which was often performed twice. The show enjoyed top ratings in Canada and had consistently been rated one of the top three programs on

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (nicknamed Nick) is an American pay television channel and the flagship property of the Nickelodeon Group, a sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on April 1, 1979, as the first ca ...

in the United States. In 1993, a panel of experts at ''

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media In mass communication, digital media is any media (communication), communication media that operates in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital content can be created, vi ...

'' rated ''The Elephant Show'' the #2 program for preschoolers, beating ''

Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational television, 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 Worksh ...

'' (#5) and ''

Barney & Friends ''Barney & Friends'' is an American children's television series created by Sheryl Leach targeted at children ages two to five. The flagship production of the ''Barney'' franchise, it originally aired on PBS under the PBS Kids brand from Ap ...

'' (#9). In the years following the final season, the show remained on Nickelodeon until it aired for the last time on October 21, 1994. By that time, ''The Elephant Show'' had aired 65 episodes in five seasons (plus the specials ''Live in Your Living Room'' and ''Back by Popular Demand'', which compiled concert performances from the show with some new narration) and had been viewed in Canada and the United States, reaching over 100 million viewers. After the series ended, Eric Nagler starred in his own series, ''

Eric's World ''Eric's World'' is a children's sitcom, which aired on a number of Canada, Canadian networks in 1990–1995, and was produced by Cambium Productions, running for five seasons. The show starred Eric Nagler, who had previously appeared on ''The Ele ...

'', produced by ''The Elephant Shows producer, Cambium Productions. Reruns of the series aired throughout the 1990s on networks such as TVOntario,

Knowledge Network Knowledge Network, also branded as British Columbia's Knowledge Network and K:, is a Canadian publicly funded educational cable television network serving the province of British Columbia. It is owned by the Knowledge Network Corporation, a Crow ...

, YTV, and

Access Access may refer to: Companies and organizations * ACCESS (Australia), an Australian youth network * Access (credit card), a former credit card in the United Kingdom * Access Co., a Japanese software company * Access International Advisors, a hed ...

Credits

* Directed by: George Bloomfield, Michael McNarama * Produced by: Arnie Zipursky, Bruce Glawson * Associate producer & production manager: Charles Zamaria * Concert directed by: Stan Swan * Music directors: Joe Hampson, Ray Parker, Paul Mills * Choreographers: Don Calderwood, Paula Gallivan * Art director: Susan Longmire * Property masters: Ray Lorenz * Set dresser: Ane Christensen * On-line editor: Bob Doughty * 1st camera: Simon Darylmple * Lighting director: Roger Bate * Best boy: Thomas Bate * Key grips: Cynthia Darlow * Music production assistant: Randi Hampson * Animation: Trickett Productions, Inc. * Multi-track remote: Comfort Sound

Home video

The show has not been released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

in its original form as of yet, although there is a compilation video (along with ''Treetown'') titled ''Nursery Rhymes and Bedtime Songs'', which was also released as part of the ''Kids Learn to 6 Pack'' DVD under the name ''Stories, Rhymes and Lullabies''.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Elephant Show, The 1980s Canadian children's television series 1980s Canadian comedy television series 1980s Canadian music television series 1984 Canadian television series debuts 1989 Canadian television series endings Canadian children's comedy television series Canadian children's musical television series Canadian preschool education television series Canadian television shows featuring puppetry 1980s preschool education television series CBC Television original programming Television series about elephants Television shows filmed in Toronto Canadian English-language television shows