back in the late 50's, i think, i used to watch a kiddie program in
los angeles,,,,sheriff john. there was a VERY unusually adult-type
animated fairy tale. human figures, not "cartoonish" at all. i would
say a seriously sophisticated fairy tale series. can't remember if it
was just one fairy tale or a series of tales, but it was eeriely
spooky in the sense that this was no slapstick, or disney fluff
retelling of a fairy tale. no cutesy sidekicks. in fact, i don't
recall the tales being your everyday fairy tale like snow white of
whatever. they were, i think, unusual stories.

i'm not sure about the sheriff john,,,it may have been another kiddie
program.

Dear mikomiki-ga;

John Rovick, better known as “Sheriff John”, was the one of first “Mr.
Rogers” type characters. He was the host of the “Sheriff John’s Lunch
Brigade” children’s show on KTTV in Los Angeles for eighteen years
beginning in 1952. His "Sheriff John's Lunch Brigade" and his
afternoon show "Sheriff John's Cartoon Time" was so popular that it
attracted a larger viewing audience than all others shows airing in
the time slot combined. In 1953 Rovick won an Emmy Award for Best
Children's Program, five nominations, and numerous civic awards. In
1998, Rovick was the recipient of an honorary Emmy for his lifelong
achievements.

"Laugh and Be Happy", Sheriff John’s theme song, was one of many songs
recorded on the “Imperial” record label titled "Little TV Cowboy" *.
As proof of how well known he was and how many people’s lives he
affected, ”Sheriff John” was even mentioned on one episode of
“Gilligans Island”, much to the surprise and happiness of his LA fans,
who were probably the only ones who understood the reference. In case
you want to try and catch the reference yourself, watch for the
“Gilligan’s Island” episode where the character Mary Ann is mourning
the fact that he mainland boyfriend has dumped her for another girl.
The Skipper is trying to cheer her up and Gilligan off-handedly calls
the Skipper, “Sheriff John”. Viewers in LA, of course, knew exactly
what Gilligan meant and thought the remark was incredibly funny.

“Sheriff John” told daily tales, usually concerning the issues of
safety, manners, and hygiene. His show featured a host of characters
of animated characters like "Crusader Rabbit", puppets such as “Jack”
(an oversized jack-in-the-box), and live action guests such as artist
“Suzi Sketchbook”. You may also remember such features as the strange
serial carton "Clutch Cargo" (an action/adventure cartoon mixing
stills with live action human mouths superimposed over the characters
faces so deaf kids could enjoy the fun too), An eerie serial cartoon
called "Diver Dan" (a live action underwater drama with wooden fish
puppets, an occasionally, Minerva the Mermaid that all the young boys
were simply crazy about), and the daily singing of “The Birthday Song”
while a cake decorated with toy cowboys and Indians rotated on a
carousel in the foreground.

Unless “Sheriff John” Rovick has recently passed away, he is retired
and living in Idaho.

Please take a look at the links I have provided for you. Using
“RealPlayer” you can listen to some of “Sheriff John’s” music and on
at least one site you can actually watch an episode of the show. I
hope this research answers your questions about the “Sheriff John”
character you were remembering. I look forward to working with you
again in the near future.

Best regards;
Tutuzdad-ga


SOURCES:


“Lost Kid Show Recordings”
http://tvparty.com/lostrecords.html

“Sheriff John”
http://latvlegends.com/SheriffJohn/sheriffjohn.html

“LA Kid Shows”
http://www.tvparty.com/lostlabill.html
http://www.tvparty.com/lostlasheriff.html
http://www.tvparty.com/lostla.html




MUSIC:


SONG ONE: 
“Good Advice “
http://tvparty.com/kidsounds/sherriffadvice.ram

SONG TWO: 
“Eat Your Food, Wash Your Hands, & Face, Brush Your Teeth, Take A Nap“
http://tvparty.com/kidsounds/sherriffbrush1.ram

SONG THREE:
“The Safety Song “
http://tvparty.com/kidsounds/sherriffsafety.ram

SONG FOUR:
“Birthday Cake Polka”
http://latvlegends.com/SheriffJohn/SJ1.ram
“Birthday Cake Polka” Lyrics
http://www.angelfire.com/ca/PartiGirl/birthdaypolka.html



FOOTNOTES:

* Birthday Cake Polka is (C) c "Sheriff" John Rovick, Imperial
Records, L. Penny and Commodore Music Corp. The song was written by L.
Penny and produced by the Commodore Music Corp. on the Imperial Record
label in both 78 and 45 formats.
(It is Record number X8270 IF -644). The flip side is Little TV
Cowboy.






SEARCH STRATEGY

Engine used:
Google ://www.google.com

Search terms used:
“Sheriff John”, children
"Sheriff John's Cartoon Time"
“John Rovick”

Here's a site with information about many LA children's TV shows that
may help to refresh your memory:

http://www.tvparty.com/lostla1.html

cool site but it didn't have the info i seek.

A search for "fairy" at the Big Cartoon Database found these
possibilities (I  wasn't even born then, so these are just guesses!):

The Adventures of Bullwinkle and Rocky : Fractured Fairy Tales
http://www.bcdb.com/pages/Other_Studios/J/Jay_Ward/The_Adventures_of_Bullwinkle_and_Rocky/Fractured_Fairy_Tales/index.html

Sen Noci Svatojanske
http://www.bcdb.com/bcdb/detailed.cgi?film=50328

Peter and the Wolf
http://www.bcdb.com/bcdb/detailed.cgi?film=36618

Moonbird
http://www.bcdb.com/bcdb/detailed.cgi?film=38875

Cartoons from 1958
http://www.bcdb.com/bcdb/search.cgi?Add_Date=1958\-&query=&substring=1

Cartoons from 1959
http://www.bcdb.com/bcdb/search.cgi?Add_Date=1959\-&query=&substring=1

ask on the Message Forum at http://www.latvlegends.com/

well,,,,it really DOESN'T answer my question.

my question concerns a particular fairy tales series as i described.
thank you , though.

Hi mikomiki,

Working from one of the links posted above, I went a step sideways.
Czech animator Karel Zeman was mentioned there but only briefly and
without noting what is more likely to be relevant.
 
The site mentioned had this:
 
"Sheriff John ran some interesting foreign stuff also. "The Magic
Circus", a stop-motion animated series by Karel Zeman, "The Undersea
Explorers", an animated series who's origin is still a mystery and
"The Space Explorers", a combination of live action and animation with
sequences culled from a prewar German sci fi opus.....I could go on."

TVParty.com
http://www.tvparty.com/lostla.html
 
On its own, that doesn't sound much like what you're looking for, but
if you follow Karel Zeman sideways you'll find 'The Treasure of Bird
Island':
 
"THE TREASURE OF BIRD ISLAND (POKLAD PTACIHO OSTROVA) - 1952, 77 min.
Dir. Karel Zeman. Inspired by a Persian fairy-tale, and told in the
ornate style of illustrated Persian manuscripts, Zeman's first feature
is set on a remote island, where the inhabitants discover a legendary
treasure that brings them both joy and grief. For the first time in
BIRD ISLAND, Zeman combined stop-motion puppetry and traditional
animation to create a timeless, glittering world of wonders."

American Cinematheque at the Egyptian Theatre
http://www.egyptiantheatre.com/archive1999/2001/karelzeman.htm

Could this be what you're looking for?

Poe

thanks poe. this is probably as close an answer as i will get. i wish
i could see a cell. the subject of the tale doesn't seem right, but
the "exoticness" of its origin does.

thinking back. i would describe the tales as like
miyazaki-anime-esque, but not as sophisticated(this was almost 50
years ago,,,,,crude,,,an attempt to draw real people, not cartoonish
like anime,,,glittery. this guy sounds much like what i
remember......thanks