Richard Scarry's "The GingerBread Man and Other Nursery Stories"

A series of classic short, children's stories by Mr. Scarry himself.

Can't get enough of this nostalgic feeling looking back at the shows/films I watched as a child. Of all the ones I've reviewed so far, this is probably one of the earliest ones I've seen, along with the Reluctant Dragon. I admire Golden Books for their books and videos I got a hold on during my childhood. I've enjoyed these a lot and it brought back so much memories.

The first feature is The Gingerbread Man—a story of a silly little gingerbread coming to life having been created and whipped up by Old Woman living in an Old House living with Old Man. The scene takes place in Cozy Village. The old folks were so happy about their crops growing healthily that they celebrated by baking, in this case, a nice gingerbread. Old Woman sang the following while making the delicious treat:

"Mix it up right and roll it out flat.
He's going to be so tasty and fat!
I'll use two raisins to make both his eyes,
And three more for buttons on my gingerbread surprise!
I'll sprinkle some cinnamon to make a big smile,
Then I'll pop him in the oven to bake for a while!"

Did Zsa Zsa Gabor do the vocals for Old Woman? Anyway, the moment it was cooked, the gingerbread comes alive suddenly to take a life of its own. Gingerbread Man then kept singing the following with a voice that'll snap the veins in your head after a while:

"Run, run as fast as you can!
You can't catch me; I'm the Gingerbread Man!"

Great, but this mantra will irritate you after a while. Gingerbread Man chants this a few times throughout.

In an effort to flee from the house from whence it came, Gingerbread Man ran passed through Old Woman & Old Man, the plow-field farmers, a cow by the well, a bakery dog, two bears having a picnic, chicken farmers and a lazy fox. I don't know about you but I always felt bad for that bakery dog; The poor thing couldn't react after being clobbered by its freshly-baked pies, having stood there speechless. As the Gingerbread Man bumped into the Fox, it summarized the happenings singing this:

"Oh I'm just as frisky as I can be,
listen to me I'm sure you'll agree:
I run from a woman and a baking pan,
some farmers, a cow and a little old man.
I run through a field and under a ladder,
passed a baker with pies that made a fine platter.
I ran from two bears and two chicken flocks,
come on I'll show you I can run from a fox.
Run, run as fast as you can!
You can't catch me--I'm the Gingerbread Man!"

The village gathers around to find out the fate of the Gingerbread Man only to converse with the Fox who makes a proposition: hop onto its body to cruise across the river. Gingerbread Man agreed and hopped onto the Fox's tail, then his back, then his head, and finally his nose. Congratulations! The Fox flipped the Gingerbread Man into the air and into its mouth. The villagers were shocked by what they saw, only to which the Fox replied the following:

"That was just the fattest, the tastiest, the freshest, the brownest, the sweetest, the plumpest, the crispiest, the spiciest, the toastiest, AND the naughtiest Gingerbread Man I've ever tasted." — the Fox

Sounds delicious to me, Fox.

Anyway, disappointed, Helga the Old Woman makes a deal: she decides to invite the villagers to their house and bake lots of gingerbread treats for them. Having learned what happened earlier, Old Woman made sure the door was closed before opening the oven. The film ends with credits.

The second story is Goldilocks and The Three Bears. In a busy forest sits a house resided by the bear family: Papa Bear, Mama Bear, and Baby Bear. As you can tell, the opening scene features lumberjacks chopping branches when one of them falls! That was quite funny. Baby Bear tells the story when it all started: Mama Bear prepares breakfast porridge for the family only to find that it was too hot to eat. 'Twas then the family decided to talk a walk in the forest to pass time, waiting for their food to cool down. Roaming the busy forest was a sweet girl named Goldilocks, who began humming these words:

"Tra-la-la-la
and fiddle de-dee
What will I do?
And what will I see?"

Why of course, she saw a house with an open door and decides to enter in. Little did she witness the mouse who's guarding the house. Goldilocks goes into the dining room to taste the food. Papa Bear's bowl: too hot, Mama Bear's bowl: too cold, but Baby Bear's bowl: sweet and just right. She then enters into the living room and tries out the chairs of the Bears. Papa Bear's chair: too tall, Mama Bear's chair: too wide, but Baby Bear's rocking chair: just right but after rocking it back and forth, the chair breaks! The cute mouse is trying to keep up with Goldilocks warning her about getting out of the house. Unaware, Goldilocks goes upstairs and finds the family's clothes, playing dress-up. Afterward, she begins to feel sleepy and goes into the bedrooms. Papa Bear's bed: too hard, Mama Bear's bed: too soft but bouncy, and Baby Bear's bed: just cozy enough to make her fall fast asleep! The mouse then freaks out at the sight of the Bear family coming back in, only to find an intruder barged in causing a ramshackle of a mess. As the family slowly finds clues, they all end up in the bedroom where Baby Bear find the intruder sleeping in his bed: it's Goldilocks! She freaks out, then runs out of the room to finally run into the guardian mouse, and darts her way out of the house to run continuously away. Frightened by all that, she never came back again.

"I'll bet that she'll [Goldilocks] never ever again go into a home she doesn't know." — Mama Bear

Certainly true, Mama Bear. I must say, Goldilocks looks too adorable to be an intruder. Nevertheless, the girl who did the voice for Goldilocks sounds like the same girl who did the voice for Misty from the hit anime series Pokémon (Rachael Lillis). Was this the same girl who voiced for Goldilocks? The film ends with credits.

Third story talks about The Three Little Pigs. All three are ready to leave home and wish their mom the best, to live on and pursue their dreams. One wants to be a comedian, one wants to be a movie star, and one promises to build a farm just a block away from home. Mom Pig warns the three pigs about the Big Bad Wolf, having sung this:

"We're not afraid of the Big Bad Wolf
He won't scare us at all!
We'll build our homes and fill our crocks,
shut our doors and lock our locks.
We're not afraid of the Big Bad Wolf,
If he should come to call!"

Hamilton the Pig finds straw being carried by a farmer, considering a great ingredient to build a house with. As he built it, the Big Bad Wolf grew hungry for some pork chops, only to find Hamilton in his newly built home. After a disagreeing exchange, the Big Bad Wolf blew his house down. Hamilton runs deep into the dark forest to hide. Next, Robert the Pig runs into a wood carrier to find that wood would make a great foundation to build a house with. Having finished building it, the Big Bad Wolf comes over for another nasty disagreeing exchange with the pig. The Big Bad Wolf blew his house down, leaving Robert to run deep into the forest to hide quickly. Lastly, Gilbert the Pig finds a carrier hauling bricks making it the perfect choice for building a nice house. As Gilbert finished building his house, it's the Big Bad Wolf again. The Wolf then blew his house a few times, only to realize it never went down. Then something happens.

Desperate, the Wolf gets Gilbert to invite him to pick turnips having been available tomorrow morning at seven. Intelligently, Gilbert picked the turnips up at six in the morning, then runs back home before the Wolf had the chance to catch up (smart!). The Wolf pulls off another plan, getting Gilbert to pick up some apples from the orchids to which Gilbert agrees. Next day, Gilbert picks some apples and threw one at the Wolf who falls over! The Wolf tries once again with another proposition: he invites Gilbert to a county fair being held tomorrow. Gilbert agrees to meet the Wolf at three. Next day, Gilbert shows up at the fair to pick up a butter churner only to find the time is now three o'clock. Looking to rush home quickly, Gilbert gets inside his butter churner and rolls down the hill, scaring the Wolf away, and runs into his home in no time. Without further ado, the Wolf barges in directly climbing up the chimney only to find a nasty surprise: he lands in a boiling pot of water Gilbert placed! The Wolf has finally given up and runs away.

After all that mayhem, the other two pigs, Hamilton and Robert, show up to move in with Gilbert.

"Oh boy! We can start our careers." — Hamilton and Robert

The story ends with the three pigs singing during the short film's credits. The tape eventually ends as well with credits.

Not too shabby I must say. However, given the animation being done today, the animation here is rather simplistic (likely a low-budget production). The only things animated are usually the blinking eyes and movement of the lips. The Three Little Pigs sought the most animation featured Gilbert rolling down the hill while he was inside his newly picked-up butter churner and the unbelievable reaction of the Wolf landing in the hot pot of boiling water. Also, the frames move giving the distinction that the character(s) are walking/running, along with zoom-ins and panning (often known as the Ken Burns effect made popular by the man himself, Ken Burns). I do understand if the entire production was low-budget, but it could've been much better. That doesn't mean it isn't a joy to watch, however.

When I was a kid, I loved Goldilocks. Given that these characters are all animals and not humans, this is likely where I grew fond of cats. Goldilocks and The Three Bears made cats so adorable that I remembered giving my stuffed cat toy a big hug. (At the time, we weren't living in a house big enough to own a pet, plus it didn't help knowing my sister dislikes cats.)

The other thing that confused me was lack of credits for the voiceovers! As mentioned before, it may seem useless to sit through and watch credits. However, given the amount of work, and the effort to salvage the time watching these feature shows/films, it makes sense to give credit where due (the reason I included a scrolling marquee full of the video's/film's credits done for you, the reader's, pleasure). Because the animation could've been executed a bit better and more fluid, the lack of credits for those who did the voiceovers for this feature home video got me to deduct 0.5 off the rating. It's not much, given the fact that these films are more than twenty-years old now, but I would like to see who did the voiceovers (possibly contact them for an interview as well). Nevertheless, everything shown here was done perfectly and all three stories were told the way it should be told.

Morals of the three stories: Sharing is caring (or be careful what you cook?), don't enter into someone's house unless you were cordially invited, and find ways to outwit intruders keeping them from barging into your place of residence, let alone staving them off in the way of your dreams. Not only should you stay away from entering into someone's house and/or breaking into someone house, but such offense can get you arrested and possible jail time. As simple as that is, there still exists idiots who continue to do them. More proof that some people just don't deserve to live.

Anyway, this nostalgic piece warmed my heart as a kid and I still recall those cozy days staying in, watching this during the rainy days. Your kid(s) will enjoy this classic animated story. I strongly recommend it.

As with the other classic children's films, this is another Golden Book film that's never been remastered on DVD. Mark this review, and others I've reviewed here, as reminders to get the word out to the companies and re-release these classics. That way, the kids today will enjoy these fun animated movies like I did when I was a child.

Golden Book is a company that happily fulfilled my childhood. If you're the founder/CEO, or if you work for the company, of Golden Books, I would like to interview you on this website! Our talk will be featured here for visitors and fans to see. Contact me immediately!

Kris Caballero

Founder of KCU Network and KCU Plus, Kris has been writing since he managed a personal blog made back in late 2005. Officially back to doing computer programming (software development) and video production, Kris enjoys reading books on Mathematics, Quantum Computing, Philosophy, playing old video/DOS games, digital video archiving, and listening to sports, public radio and classical music.

👤 About me ✉ Contact me