Cap'n O. G. Readmore

Cap'n O. G. Readmore (invented by Puppet Studio) was the fictional character host of the American television anthology series ABC Weekend Specials during the 1980s.[1] He was an anthropomorphic cat puppet, dressed in a nautical outfit, that encouraged children to read for pleasure. He hosted the show from 1984 through 1989, performing with guest stars including Vincent Price, Harry Blackstone Jr., Pat Morita, Joan Lunden and others.

O. G. Readmore, in animated form.

The character also appeared in animated form in a series of ABC Weekend Specials, including Cap’n O. G. Readmore's Puss in Boots and Cap'n O. G. Readmore Meets Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. In these features, he was the president of an all-feline book club, the Friday Night Book Club, who often found himself physically pulled into the story he's reading.[2]

The voice of the character was provided by the American voice actor Frank Welker in the original public service announcements and while hosting the ABC Weekend Special.[3] However, in several of the animated specials, such as Cap'n O. G. Readmore Meets Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, his voice was provided by Neil Ross.[4] Many of the regular characters had fanciful names such as Lickety Page (voiced by Lucille Bliss) who is the youngest of the Book Club, Kitty Literature (voiced by Ilene Latter) who is the only female member of the Book Club, Wordsy (voiced by Stan Jones), who is the most gentlemanly of the Book Club, and Ol' Tome Cat (voiced by Hal Smith (actor)) who is the oldest and wisest of the Book Club. Other side characters include a Madam Mim-inspired witch named Calypso La Rose and a Count Chocula-inspired vampire named Vitack, who runs an organization called Villains Agency as its headmaster. Production was by ABC Entertainment in association with Rick Reinert Pictures of Burbank, California.[5] All these specials were directed and produced by legendary animator Rick Reinert (Winnie the Pooh and a Day for Eeyore).[6]

List of shorts
Nº Title Original air date
1"Cap'n O. G. Readmore's Jack and the Beanstalk"October 12, 1985 (1985-10-12)

Cap'n O.G. Readmore and his friends – Kitty Literature, Ol' Tome Cat, Wordsy, Lickety Page and – are holding their Friday Night Book Club meeting in an alley next to the public library. When members of the Book Club start to poke fun at some of the characters from their favorite fairy tales for their actions (believing that real life people would have done things differently), the bookshelves part and Cap'n O.G. is abducted by those same characters. Jack from Jack and the Beanstalk challenges Cap'n O.G. to take his place in the story. By the end, Cap'n O.G. learns that the characters in fairy tale stories try to make the best they can out of their situations, no different than real people.

Note: Will Ryan voiced Wordsy, one of Readmore’s members, in this episode. Stan Jones took over as Wordsy in the next episode as Ryan failed to reprise his role for the character afterwards.
2"Cap'n O. G. Readmore Meets Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde"September 13, 1986 (1986-09-13)
Cap'n O.G. Readmore and his friends are holding their Friday Night Book Club meeting on a rainy, eerie night. They select the story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and when the book is opened, the butler character comes to life and kidnaps Wordsy into the story in an attempt to change it's intended tragic course and Cap'n O.G. follows to rescue him.
3"Cap'n O. G. Readmore Meets Red Riding Hood"April 2, 1988 (1988-04-02)
Cap'n O.G. Readmore and his friends are holding their Friday Night Book Club meeting. Cap'n O.G. makes the mistake of underestimating the value of a good villain and ends up meeting Little Red Riding Hood as the new Big Bad Wolf once a representative of the book villains decides to teach him to respect an appreciate the roles of villains in the storybook world.
4"Cap'n O. G. Readmore's Puss in Boots"September 10, 1988 (1988-09-10)
Cap'n O.G. Readmore, who regales his library friends Kitty Literature, Ol' Tome Cat, Wordsy and Lickety Page with the humorous and witty tale of his great-great-great-great-grandfather, the legendary Puss in Boots whom he has the boots of as a family heirloom.
5"Cap'n O. G. Readmore Meets Chicken Little"April 18, 1992 (1992-04-18)
Cap'n O.G. Readmore reads the story of Chicken Little to his fellow feline friends at their Friday Night Book Club where they gather.

Home media

Four of the Cap'n O. G. Readmore episodes were made available on Beacon Home Video in 1990;[7] these copies are very rare and hard to find. The Chicken Little episode, made in 1992, has seen no official release on any video formats in North America. ABC Home Video released the first three episodes in 1993, which were all out-of-print since. The Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde episode was released on VHS by Anchor Bay Home Entertainment in 1998 and is also out-of-print. As of 2020, there are currently no plans for any of the Readmore episodes to be distributed on DVD, but all of the episodes surfaced on DVD in South Korea.[8]

Inspiration

The feline character Cap'n Readmore was drawn on as a source of inspiration when choosing a middle name for Dewey Readmore Books.[9]

References
  1. Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. pp. 55–56. ISBN 978-1476665993.
  2. Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 235–236. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
  3. The Bollo Caper-posted by Prancing Skiltaire on YouTube
  4. Woolery, George W. (1989). Animated TV Specials: The Complete Directory to the First Twenty-Five Years, 1962-1987. Scarecrow Press. pp. 54–56. ISBN 0-8108-2198-2. Retrieved 27 March 2020.
  5. Lenburg, Jeff (June 1, 2006). Who's Who in Animated Cartoons: An International Guide to Film and Television's Award-Winning and Legendary Animators. New York: Applause Books. p. 300. ISBN 9781557836717.
  6. "FREDRICK REINERT Obituary (1925 - 2018) - Springfield, VA - The Plain Dealer". obits.cleveland.com. Retrieved 2021-06-05.
  7. O.G. Readmore series - WorldCat.org
  8. "[[DVD6종] 세계명작만화 캡틴리드몰 (6disc)- 장화신은고양이,빨간모자,바니,잭과콩나무,병아리,지킬박사와하이드]".
  9. Myron, Vicki; Bret Witter (2008). "Dewey Readmore Books". Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World. Grand Central Publishing. p. 29. ISBN 978-0-446-40741-0.
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