Golden Book Video

Golden Book Video was a line of children’s animated videos marketed by Western Publishing, beginning in 1985. They featured characters and stories from Western's print publications, such as Little Golden Books, and were originally released on VHS video cassette for under $10.[1]

The videos made use of limited animation techniques to add motion to original illustrations from Western's print books; Western called this approach "bringing storybooks to life".[2] As production was carried-out by multiple companies (usually Studio Consultants Inc., Universal Recording Corp. and Animagination Inc., among others), contents of the videos varies. Typically, they featured a full voice cast, with background music sourced from production music libraries (the KPM/Associated Production Music library, in most cases), although original songs were recorded for some videos, occasionally with sing-along lyrics appearing on-screen. The video adaptions often carried original material that was not present in the original books. Some of their video releases were mastered with Dolby Stereo.

Beginning in 1986, Golden also began releasing Golden Book Music Videos, which usually contained similar limited animation set to new illustrations and a full-length story incorporating a combination of classic children's songs and new original songs. Golden Book Video also started the Golden Step-Ahead Video series, featuring educational videos dealing with subjects such as simple reading/letter phonics, basic mathematics, what going to school is like, etc.

In 1987, Golden Book Video started straying away from book adaptations, and began releasing general entertainment (i.e. cartoon episodes, TV specials, etc.) under their then-new "GoldenVision" banner, along with some newly created content (usually live-action) but GoldenVision also released the Golden Step Ahead videos, but by 1990, the GoldenVision banner was dropped, and all new product, including general entertainment productions, was released under the regular Golden Book Video banner: Later The Golden Vision Was Picked right Back up 4 Replacement. Also starting in 1989, many of the earlier "storybook adaptation" videos were reissued under the "Golden Book Video Classics" banner, which often would have the same famous golden spine on the sides of the box similar to Little Golden Books. Beginning in 1991, Golden Book Video also began releasing several older CBS after-school special cartoons produced by Bosustow Entertainment under this banner.

Random House bought out Golden Book Family Entertainment in 2001.

List of videos in series

Keep in mind that the list may be incomplete, but we'll be updating this page when new information is found.

Standard Titles

Some of the videos titles, and the stories contained in them, are listed below:

  1. "Scuffy the Tugboat" (by Gertrude Crampton and illustrated by Tibor Gergely)
  2. "What Was That!"
  3. "Theodore Mouse Goes to Sea"

Re-released in 1989 as "Scuffy the Tugboat and Friends" and in 1993 as "The Best Stories"

  1. "The Origins of Super-Grover"
  2. "Super-Grover and the Speeding Sled"
  3. "Super-Grover and the Three Bears"
  4. "Super-Grover and the Hole Story" (AKA "Gone Fishing")
  5. "Big Bird Brings Spring to Sesame Street"
  1. "Everyone Makes Mistakes"
  2. "The City Worm and the Country Worm"
  3. "Wanted: The Great Cookie Thief"
  1. "The Gingerbread Man"
  2. "Goldilocks and the Three Bears"
  3. "The Three Little Pigs"

Re-released in 1989/1990 as Richard Scarry's The Gingerbread Man and Other Nursery Stories and in 1994 as "The Best Stories 2"

  1. "Herbert the Timid Dragon"
  2. "Just for You" (featuring Little Critter)
  3. "How the Trollusk Got His Hat"

- Re-released in 1991 as Herbert the Timid Dragon and Other Tales and in 1994 as "The Best Stories 3"

  1. "The Tale of Peter Rabbit"
  2. "Polly's Pet"
  3. "The Little Red Hen"

Re-released in 1994 as "The Best Stories 4"

  1. "The Poky Little Puppy and the Patchwork Blanket"
  2. "The Sailor Dog"
  3. "Little Toad To The Rescue"

Re-released in 1994 as "The Best Stories 5"(an earlier re-release was titled: "The Pokey Little Puppy's Favorite Stories")

  1. "Old McDonald's Farm"
  2. "The Wolf and the Kids"
  3. "The Musicians of Bremen"

- Re-released in 1989 as Richard Scarry's Old MacDonald's Farm and Other Animal Tales and in 1994 as "The Best Stories 6"

  1. "Hugs from the Heart"
  2. "Huggins and Kisses"
  3. "Hugs for Grandma"

Re-released in 1994 as "The Best Stories: Special Edition 3"

  1. "The Caverns of Fear"
  2. "In the Land of the Shadows"
  3. "The Sword of Knowledge"
  4. "The Eye of Eternia"
  1. "The Rock Warriors"
  2. "Demons of the Deep"
  3. "The Maze of Doom"
  1. "The Sword of She-Ra"
  2. "Glimmer of Hope"
  3. "The Fear Factory"
  1. "Meet My Pet Monster"
  2. "My Pet Monster Goes to School"
  3. "My Pet Monster at the Fair"
  1. "The Saggy Baggy Elephant" (written by Kathryn Jackson and Byron Jackson, illustrated by Gustaf Tenggren)
  2. "The Tawny Scrawny Lion" (by Kathryn Jackson and Gustaf Tenggren)
  3. "Rupert the Rhinoceros" (by Carl Memling and Tibor Gergely)

Re-released in 1989 as Tawny Scrawny Lion's Jungle Tales.

  1. Jack and the Beanstalk
  2. Little Red Riding Hood
  3. The Three Billy Goats Gruff
  1. "Never Talk to Strangers" written by Irma Joyce
  2. "I Had a Bad Dream"
  3. "The House that had Enough"
  1. "I'm not Oscar's Friend Anymore"
  2. "Creole"
  3. "Hug Me"
  4. "Birds of a Feather"
  1. "The Trouble With Timothy"
  2. "The Best Prize of All" (featuring the Care Bear Cousins)
  3. "Being Brave is Best"
  1. "The Gate Crashers"
  2. "Snowball the Wonder Dog"
  3. "The Puppy Who Couldn't Remember"
  1. "Bark In The Dark"
  2. "The Puppy Nobody Wanted"
  3. "Problem Puppies"
  1. "Cinderella"
  2. "The Elves and the Shoemaker"
  3. "The Golden Goose"
  1. "Merry Mother Goose"
  2. "Mrs. Mooley"
  3. "There's No Such Thing as a Dragon" (by Jack Kent)
  1. "Noah's Ark"
  2. "David and Goliath"
  3. "The Story of Jonah"

- Reissued in 1990 as "Golden Bible Heroes"

  1. "The Newborns At Camp O-Kay Boney"
  2. "A Prince Of A Pup"
  3. "Three Homes For Two Pups"


  1. Sing Together!
  2. Hap Palmer's Follow along songs
  1. "Working with Words!" - Groucho & Olivia discover making words & sentences can be a real adventure!
  2. "Working with Numbers!" - Meggie and kids put on a snappy revue showing Math can be lots of fun in The Rainy Day Number Show
  3. "Get Ready to Read"
  4. "Get Ready For School"/"Know the Alphabet"
  5. "Get Ready For Math"

Re-released in 1994 as "The Musical Story"

Re-released in 1994 as "The Musical Story 2"

Re-released in 1994 as "The Musical Story 3"

Re-released in 1994 as "The Musical Story 4"

Re-released in 1994 as "The Musical Story 5"

Re-released in 1995 as "The Musical Story 6"

Re-released in 1995 as "The Musical Story 7"

Re-released in 1994 as "The Entertainment Video Thrillers"

Sub-labels: GoldenVision

  1. "No More Kings" - The Founding of America
  2. "Fireworks" - Declaration of Independence
  3. "The Shot Heard Round the World" - Start of the Revolution
  4. "The Preamble" - The United States Constitution
  5. "Elbow Room" - The pioneers opening the west
  6. "Great American Melting Pot" - The ethnic diversity of America
  7. "Mother Necessity" - Great American inventors
  8. "Sufferin’ Till Suffrage" - Women's right to vote [3]
  9. "I'm Just a Bill" - How a bill becomes law

Sub-labels: DIC Video

  1. "Battle of the Giants"
  2. "The Battle for Baja"
  1. "Homeward Bound"
  2. "Challenge of the Masters"
  1. "Where Eagle Dare
  2. "Demolition Duel to the Death
  1. "Madeline and the Dog Show"
  1. "Madeline and the Toy Factory"

MORE DIC VIDEO RELEASES FROM THE 80s COMING SOON!

Sub-labels: Entertainment and the Beyond

Non-animated video

"Hats on / Hats Off ...To a World of Music, Mime and Imagination with Kim & Jerry"

Golden Book Video Classic

There is also the series of videos entitled A Golden Book Video Classic. Some VHS videos in the series are entitled:

  1. "Beauty and the Beast" - In order to save her father's life, the gentle Beauty must live in a castle of the ugly Beast. Though the Beast is kind, and tries in every way to make her happy, Beauty cannot bring herself to love him. Finally, as he lay dying, Beauty gives the beast a kiss which breaks the spell and magically transforms him into the handsome prince he once was.
  2. "The Silver Pony" - A young farmboy daydreams about a beautiful, enchanted pony a pony with wings. The boy climbs upon his back, and they fly high above the treetops. Together, they bring happiness to four very different people. The boy's daydream is wonderful, but it ends all to soon, and the boy wakes up despondent and alone. But there is a wonderful surprise waiting for him as he approaches the once empty corral. Could it be that his day dream has come true?
  3. "The Practical Princess"

References

  1. ↑ Two Companies Introduce Video Titles for Under $10, Billboard Magazine, Jan. 26 1985
  2. ↑ Low Video Prices, Billboard Magazine, Jan. 26 1985
  3. ↑ Lyrics at Schoolhouse Rock site

External links