HBO Storybook Musicals

***HBO Storybook Musicals*** is an animated musical television series originally directed by the late Michael Sporn, who animated the first short film of the series, *Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile: The Musical,* which premiered on November 18, 1987 on HBO. The last entry of the series was released on December 8, 1993. While majority of the episodes were animated by Michael Sporn's own studio, Cinar (now WildBrain, formerly DHX Media) animated the episodes branded under the "The Real Story of..." title. Other companies include Klasky-Csupo, who animated the 6th episode, Nelvana who animated the 9th episode, and Random House who co-produced the last episode.

From 1994 to 1998, the specials aired on the main HBO channel, when they were moved in 1999 to HBO Family. When they were moved to HBO Family, a newly animated intro sequence with an animal orchestra was added, as it's a possibility that when the episodes originally aired on HBO, they didn't contain any introductions. The episodes still air today on HBO Kids, but not too often.

## Background

When *Doctor DeSoto* was nominated for an Academy Award for best animated short film, HBO hired Michael Sporn to make animated specials for them. HBO also oriented on family-friendly programs and never financed/produced a children's television series. Michael Sporn directed and produced *Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile: The Musical*, HBO's first animated television special and aired on November 18, 1987. Then, HBO presented a few animated specials, such as *The Story of the Dancing Frog* (aired in October 1989), *The Red Shoes* and *Earthday Birthday*, which aired in early 1990. The specials combined illustrations with songs.

## History

In August 1990, HBO launched its animated special programming, called *Storybook Musicals* and the first special of this program was *Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel* (produced and directed by Michael Sporn), which aired on September 10 of that same year. Canada's Nelvana Limited and Klasky-Csupo were hired to produce for HBO two different animated specials, *Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day* and *The Tale of Peter Rabbit*, while HBO provided development funding for its projects. HBO also added *The Real Story of...* animated short series to Storybook Musicals.

Two animated specials, *Lyle, Lyle Crocodile: The Musical* and *The Story of the Dancing Frog* were included in this series, which were not debuted in it before launch the program.

The series ended with eighteenth episode, *The Country Mouse and the City Mouse: A Christmas Tale*, which aired on December 8, 1993.

## Synopsis

Each episode is an animated version of a well known children's storybook or story tale, most of the time even designed to match the illustrated pictures from the original books they are based off of. Also added to each episode is a set of original songs. Some of the episodes from the "The Real Story of..." series tend to be based on nursery rhymes.

## Trivia

* This and *Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child* are the only two programs that originally aired on the main HBO network and are original programming.
* The *The Real Story of...* episodes, as well as the series finale, stopped airing in 1998, a year before the series moved to HBO Family. The final times *The Story of the Dancing Frog, The Red Shoes, The Marzipan Pig,* and *The Little Match Girl* aired were in December 2012.
* Technically, there are actually 25 episodes in *HBO Storybook Musicals*, counting all 13 episodes of "The Real Story of..." which were aired on the main HBO network, plus the 11 episodes produced for the *Storybook Musicals* series itself, and if *A Christmas Tale* is considered. However, it's worth noting that HBO stopped using the "Storybook Musicals" name for the *Real Story* episodes around 1994, when the other 6 episodes in the series debuted, so subsequently it can be figured they aired as a separate series.
* Starting in January 2013, each episode aired on a specific weekday due to the order they were aired in and the fact there were only seven episodes in rotation. This only remained true whenever the series aired daily on the schedule.
	+ The cycle would start with *Lyle, Lyle Crocodile* on Thursdays, followed by *Earthday Birthday* on Fridays, *Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel* on Saturdays, *Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day* on Sundays, *The Tale of Peter Rabbit* on Mondays, *Ira Sleeps Over* on Tuesdays, and *A Child's Garden of Verses* on Wednesdays. The cycle would start again the following day.
* The final episode was adapted into *The Country Mouse and the City Mouse Adventures,* given how both of the characters are named Emily and Alexander.
* *A Child's Garden of Verses* is the only episode of the series to be rated TV-Y7, while the series is rated TV-Y.
* The theme music used in the intro comes from The Story of the Dancing Frog.
* Some of the shorts featured on the show would eventually be released on DVD through Weston Woods.

## Gallery

HBO Storybook Musicals/Gallery

1. ↑ Michael Sporn dies at 67; Oscar- and Emmy-nominated animator | Los Angeles Times
2. ↑ 26 November 1987, 186 at the Los Angeles Times