"The Most Important Person" (1972) TV series 1972-1973

User Rating:

9.6/10   

Director:

John Sutherland

Writer:

Dan E. Weisburd (writer)

Release Date:

3 April 1972 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Short | Family

Plot:

"The Most Important Person" was a series of 66 short subjects for children that related, through animation...

Runtime:

5 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

Sutherland Learning Associates

Trivia:

These shorts were originally shown as interstitial segments on "Captain Kangaroo," introduced by the Captain (Bob Keeshan) and members of his cast. Four years later, Viacom (and, 19 years after that, Paramount Television) syndicated the shorts to local stations, running either as half-hour editions made up of five shorts, or as interstitial segments of locally-produced children's programs (some PBS affiliates even ran "The Most Important Person" as short subjects between weekday children's shows).

Present at the creation

I worked for Sutherland Learning Associates when these films were made -- often editing the audio tracks (since visual editing on animation is minimal). John Sutherland is only the director of record (he owned the company). Dan Weisburd directed the audio recording (and did the voice of the big green bird) as well as writing the scripts. Various professional animation directors did the actual directing (think Chuck Jones's job). The most talented contributor was Elaine Simone (Mrs. D. Weisburd) who wrote all the songs (not to mention the wonderful music for another Sutherland series: 36 6-minute animated films for "Project Bilingual," intended for Mexican American kids in kindergarten and first grade. More than 30 years later, I can still sing several of her songs, word for word. --Jim Stinson