Celebrity Deathwatch: Thomas G. Yohe, "Schoolhouse Rock" Creator, 63

["Deathwatch Central" <cdw@slick.org>]

http://www.cnn.com/2000/SHOWBIZ/TV/12/22/yohe.ap/index.html

'Schoolhouse Rock' creator Thomas G. Yohe dead at 63
December 22, 2000
Web posted at: 2:14 PM EST (1914 GMT)


NORWALK, Connecticut (AP) -- Thomas G. Yohe, the creative force behind
television's Emmy-winning "Schoolhouse Rock" cartoons, which set educational
messages to catchy music, has died of cancer. He was 63.

Yohe, who died Thursday, was creative director of the ABC series of animated
shorts that ran from 1973 to 1985.

The show's educational anthems included "Conjunction Junction," a jingle
about grammar, "I'm Just a Bill," about how a bill becomes law, and
"Interplanet Janet," about the solar system.

The series earned four Emmy Awards for outstanding children's informational
series.

"'Schoolhouse Rock' gave him the most pride in the world," said his wife,
Diane Sanden Seely, recalling lecture halls filled with college students
singing songs from the cartoons.

The three-minute cartoons initially taught multiplication tables through
lyrics such as "Three is a magic number" and "My hero, zero." The series
soon expanded into civics lessons, grammar, science and history. The idea
for "Schoolhouse Rock" was born in 1971 while Yohe was at the advertising
firm of McCaffrey & McCall, said George Newall, a friend and co-creative
director on the series.

Yohe pitched the idea to Michael Eisner, then head of ABC's children's
programming department, Newall said. Eisner -- now chairman of the Walt
Disney Co. -- made the series part of the Saturday morning lineup.

Yohe graduated from Syracuse University and began his career in advertising
in 1961 as an art director at Young & Rubicam. Later he became creative
director at Grey Advertising in New York City.

In addition to his wife, he is survived by two sons, two daughters, two
stepsons, a brother and four grandchildren.

Copyright 2000 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may
not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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