Classic Television - Weekdays

The Magic Garden

Original channel

WPIX-11

Original run

March 6, 1972 – September 6, 1984

Starring

Carole Demas

Paula Janis

The Magic Garden is a live action children's television program which aired Mondays through Thursdays from March 6, 1972 to September 6, 1984 on WPIX-11 in New York City. Produced and broadcast in the world's largest television market, the show became popular with millions of children.

Carole and Paula, the main characters and hosts of the show, sing several songs throughout each episode, often accompanied by Paula's acoustic guitar. The show takes place entirely within the Magic Garden, a colorful set that includes the Magic Tree, which lowers various objects from its branches. Also found throughout the garden are swings, a stone path, a shed, and the Chuckle Patch, a giggling bed of flowers that grows leaves with jokes on one side and the punch line on the other. Many conversations take place at a low stone wall with Sherlock (a mischievous squirrel puppet with a love for peanuts) and Flapper (a colorful bird who was a later addition to the characters in the garden). Stories are often acted out using costumes and props provided by the Story Box. In addition to songs, games, and jokes, the characters provide life lessons for viewers, and extend personal greetings to members of their television audience – for example: "Hello Judy. Hello Jeffrey."

As characterized by The New York Times, The Magic Garden "was a cheerful, low-budget, inadvertently psychedelic half-hour show in which Ms. Janis and Ms. Demas sat on giant toadstools, spoke to flowers, sang songs and told stories."