George R. Newall died on November 30, 2022, at the age of 88. While the name may not sound familiar, the educational TV series he helped create may be more familiar: Schoolhouse Rock.
Early Life
George Newall was born on June 17, 1934 in Lakewood, New Jersey. He went to Point Pleasant Beach High School, and later on served in the Army’s 11th Airborne Division Band at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. [1] Newall worked in a mail-room and a number of ad agencies.
The Idea
The come about of Schoolhouse Rock is an interesting one. After Newall’s friend, David McCall, complained to him about how his son did not know multiplication, Newall went to musician Bob Dorough. In a couple of week, “Three Is a Magic Number” was created. [2]
Schoolhouse Rock
The show Schoolhouse Rock was shown from 1973 to 1985. Later on from 1993 to 1996 it was revived. [3] Schoolhouse Rock taught kids conjunctions, prepositions, numbers, how a bill became a law (“I’m Just a Bill”), the Preamble to the Constitution, and other topics.
Other Creators
David McCall died in 1999. The agency’s art director Tom Yohe died in 2000. Ben Tucker who helped produce the songs, died in 2013. The musician of the series, Bob Dorough, died in 2018. [4]
Newall
George Newall was the last person of the Schoolhouse Rock crew to die. Newall died on November 30, 2022, in New York due to a cardiopulmonary arrest at the age of 88. [5]
Notes:
- ^https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/07/arts/television/george-newall-dead.html (go back ↩)
- ^https://www.scarymommy.com/entertainment/schoolhouse-rock-co-creator-george-newall-dies (go back ↩)
- ^https://americansongwriter.com/co-creator-of-schoolhouse-rock-george-r-newall-has-died/ (go back ↩)
- ^https://americansongwriter.com/co-creator-of-schoolhouse-rock-george-r-newall-has-died/ (go back ↩)
- ^https://www.scarymommy.com/entertainment/schoolhouse-rock-co-creator-george-newall-dies (go back ↩)
