Mr. Piper

Mr. Piper is a Canadian children's TV series made in 1963. The series was created by Martin Andrews and Allan Wargon, who was also the producer.

Overview

The show's host was a large Canadian opera tenor Alan Crofoot, dressed as a Pied Piper with a flower in his hat. He would introduce four segments in each half hour programme:

• Teletune - as a narrator of a fantasy stories illustrated with graphics;
• Port of Call - presenter of films about children and events in other lands;
• Bag of Tricks - Crofoot performs magic tricks;
• Animal Farm - many farmyard characters telling the story of the day in miniature barnyard sets, featuring Rupert the Rat, Bessie the Bunny, Kookie the Kitten, Harriet Hen, Freddie Frog, Calvin (Rac)Coon and Charlotte Cow.

Thirty-nine episodes were produced.

It was originally shown by CBC Television and also became well known in the United Kingdom, where it was repeated on ITV throughout the 1960s and 1970s, often as part of school summer holiday programming. In May/June 1972, some Mr. Piper episodes were transmitted, dubbed into Italian, by the RAI-TV network.

Episode list

• Ali-Baba
• The Magic Horn
• Brave Molly
• Hasty and the Princess
• Kindhearted Girl
• Three Sisters
• Proud Princess
• The Wild Swans
• Ahmed the Merchant
• Hansel and Gretel
• The Tin Soldier
• Three Brothers
• Hassan the Simple
• The Three Soldiers
• Santa Piper

External links

• Mr. Piper at IMDb
• Alan Crofoot on Canadian Encyclopedia