Busytown

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Busytown is a fictional town inhabited by an assortment of anthropomorphic animals, as depicted in various books by the children's author Richard Scarry. Main characters of these books include the following: Huckle Cat, Lowly Worm, Mr. Frumble, police Sergeant Murphy, Mr. Fixit, Bananas Gorilla, Hilda Hippo, and Farmer Fox.

In the mid-1990s Nickelodeon produced the animated series The Busy World of Richard Scarry, based around the inhabitants of Busytown. A board game and a computer game based on Busytown were also produced in the 1990s.

[edit] Recurring characters

Although the books contain a wide assortment of characters from different countries and backgrounds, there are some who appear in most of the stories as stars or guests making cameo appearances. For example, Huckle Cat, Lowly Worm and Sergeant Murphy often appear in the illustrations even if they are not mentioned in the text.

The most frequent characters include:

The Cat Family

Father Cat: who runs a grocery store and is sometimes referred to as Grocer Cat.

Mother Cat: a typical housewife and mother.

Huckle Cat: their school-age son. Huckle is often shown in the cockpits of planes and flying with Rudolf von Flugel. It is implied that his ambition is to be a pilot when he grows up. (Huck was the nickname for Scarry's son, Richard Scarry Jr.)

Sally Cat: Huckle's younger sibling. In her early appearances she was known as Little Sister.

Lowly Worm: Huckle's best friend. He often stays with the Cats as a house guest. Although he attends school with the Cat children, Lowly can also be seen in more adult situations, like driving a car or a street sweeper.

Grandma Cat: lives in another town and it requires a journey by plane to visit her. She is a skilled driver.

Sergeant Murphy: a cocker spaniel police motorcyclist who is often present in street and road scenes. He is married and has a little girl named Bridget. He is dedicated to his job and his passion for motorcycles is shown in the fact that he wears his crash helmet in bed. His name may be a reflection on the stereotypical Irish-American policeman.

Rudolf von Flugel: a fox pilot who flies a red-coloured German World War I monoplane and dresses in the uniform of a German officer of the time. He often takes Huckle, Lowly and Little Sister up in his planes, though these flights frequently end in disaster. His name comes from the flugelhorn, a musical instrument.

Smokey, Sparky and Snozzle: a trio of pig firefighters. Sparky and Snozzle wear a saucepan and colander as head gear, and one of them uses a trombone for a siren.

Mr. Fixit: a fox repairman who boasts that he can fix anything, but does not often show this ability. He once attempted to fix Mother Cat's vacuum cleaner but it ran on the ceiling instead of the floor. A similar character is the local school's Janitor Joe.

Mr. Frumble: a pig who often loses and chases after his hat.

The Pig Family: Father Pig is a house painter married to a typical housewife. They have twin children Harry and Sally.

Wolfgang Wolf, Benny Baboon and Harry Hyena: a trio of layabouts who spend their time lazing in the sun or eating or getting into trouble. On one occasion they were deemed suitable enough to fly to the moon (with Lowly as a passenger).

Bananas Gorilla: a thief whose passion for the fruit that bears his name leads him to steal bunches of them from Grocer Cat, which leads to his pursuit by Sergeant Murphy.

Miss Honey: a bear school teacher. Her pupils include the Cat children and Lowly Worm.

Farmer Alfalfa: a goat who owns a farm in the outskirts of Busytown. Non-conscientious drivers can often be seen driving through his fields. (He was probably named after a Terrytoons character.)

Lily Bunny: a little rabbit in overalls who is Huckle Cat's friend.