Name: Tales of the Riverbank
Genre: Family
Rating: 8.6
Cast: Peggy Miller, Johnny Morris

Memories from "The House with the Magic Window"

I grew up in northwest Iowa, U.S.A., and one of the children's shows I remember was "The House with the Magic Window," hosted by Betty Lou Varnum, and her puppet sidekicks, Gregory Lion, Katrina Crocodile, and one other - can't remember the other puppet right now.

Anyway, in addition to some Felix cartoons and others, "Magic Window" would show "The Tales of the Riverbank."

I didn't know "Tales of the Riverbank" was a BBC show. It has a very distinctive guitar musical background, and I can remember the theme song tune to this day. 

What I remember was the little creatures -- hamster, etc. -- which were actual live animals filmed in black and white -- they were all probably very well trained -- with a male narrator who did all the voices for all of the animal characters. It was very short and episodic, almost soap-opera-ish, but I also don't remember actually watching them sequentially on "Magic Window." It seemed like we always saw them out of order, but I could be wrong on that. Somehow, they always seemed out of order, but throughout had the most beautiful guitar as background music. 

There was one episode where the little creatures were flying all over in the balloon -- incredible guitar accompaniment that gave a sense of the flight. It seemed like the balloon adventure went on and on for many episodes.

The family genre features stories specifically created to be suitable for a wide range of age groups within a family. Family-oriented content is designed to be enjoyed by both children and adults, often providing entertainment that is wholesome, relatable, and appropriate for all members of a family to watch or experience together.

Drew Barrymore and Pat Welsh in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)

Real live animals such as Hammy the Hamster and Roderick the Rat are cleverly moved around off-camera in order to tell stories for children.

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Tales of the Riverbank

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