The Schoolhouse Rock series of animated musical shorts that ran on the ABC network on weekend mornings from 1973 to 1985 dazzled a generation of young viewers raised in front of the television. Vibrant, catchy, exuberant, fast-paced, and entertaining: they were also educational and instructive about basic grammar, mathematics, science, and American history.

David McCall, president of New York's McCaffrey and McCall advertising agency, conceived the series. He had observed that his young son had trouble learning his multiplication table but easily and happily recounted the lyrics and music of popular songs. Working with his agency colleagues, McCall commissioned some songs about mathematics and presented them to Michael Eisner, then vice-president of children's programming at ABC (and future chairman of the Walt Disney Corporation), and Chuck Jones, famed for his Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and Road Runner cartoons. ABC bought the series and General Foods sponsored it. The...