Skinnimarink a-dink a-dink

April 23, 2015 11:22 AM

Lois Lilienstein, of Sharon, Lois & Bram fame, died at age 78. She was probably best known in Canada for The Elephant Show.
posted by jeather (55 comments total)

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posted by He Is Only The Imposter at 11:25 AM on April 23, 2015

You'll also recall The Elephant Show if you're American, of a certain age, and watched a lot of Nickelodeon. (Back in those days, a lot of Nickelodeon's programming was imported from Canada. See also You Can't Do That On Television, Pinwheel, that show with the magic department store mannequin that I can't remember the name of right now, etc.)

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posted by Faint of Butt at 11:25 AM on April 23, 2015 [22 favorites]

One of my earliest memories is gleefully dancing in the aisle of a live Sharon, Lois, & Bram show.

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posted by everybody had matching towels at 11:28 AM on April 23, 2015 [4 favorites]

My aunt and uncle used to send me home with home-recorded VHS tapes of Sharon, Lois & Bram when I was tiny and I know they had a bit impact on me. What a wonderful person, whose life's work really did make the world a better place.
posted by OverlappingElvis at 11:28 AM on April 23, 2015

that show with the magic department store mannequin that I can't remember the name of right now

Today's Special
posted by Strange Interlude at 11:31 AM on April 23, 2015 [12 favorites]

That would be Today's Special, FaintofButt.
posted by dr_dank at 11:32 AM on April 23, 2015 [1 favorite]

That's the one.
posted by Faint of Butt at 11:33 AM on April 23, 2015

Jinx, I owe you a magic hat and an elderly muppet, Strange Interlude.
posted by dr_dank at 11:34 AM on April 23, 2015 [3 favorites]

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When I was 3, and received a tiny black kitten in a hatbox for my birthday, I named her Skinnamarink, or Skidz for short. Thanks, Lois!
posted by rachaelfaith at 11:40 AM on April 23, 2015 [3 favorites]

You'll also recall The Elephant Show if you're American, of a certain age, and watched a lot of Nickelodeon.

Yup. My toddler tv world was Sesame Street, Mister Rogers, and The Elephant Show. Lois was a part of my early childhood life for sure.

🐘
posted by phunniemee at 11:41 AM on April 23, 2015 [5 favorites]

♩
posted by Gelatin at 11:42 AM on April 23, 2015 [1 favorite]

The Elephant Show was a big part of my childhood (I was born in Toronto in late 1984, so it was inescapable) and I loved it dearly. I have distinct memories of attending a live Eric Nagler show, and I'm pretty sure I saw Sharon, Lois, and Bram live too. (It's really hard to write their names individually). This leaves a hole in my heart.

"I'll love you in the morning, and in the afternoon, I'll love you in the evening, underneath the moon..."
posted by ilana at 11:43 AM on April 23, 2015 [8 favorites]

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posted by Foosnark at 11:50 AM on April 23, 2015

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posted by dripdripdrop at 11:53 AM on April 23, 2015

So sad! SL&B's songs were the best. RIP Lois.
posted by radiocontrolled at 11:56 AM on April 23, 2015

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posted by breadbox at 11:56 AM on April 23, 2015

I loved that show. Reminded me of elephants.

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posted by clockzero at 11:58 AM on April 23, 2015 [1 favorite]

We sing Skinnimarink a-dink a-dink every night! Great bedtime song.

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posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 11:59 AM on April 23, 2015 [2 favorites]

Great show, great song.

The bizarre imports phase of Nickelodeon was the best, if only for The Elephant Show and Duckula.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 12:02 PM on April 23, 2015 [6 favorites]

Man, the memories (fuzzy though they remain) come racing back.

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posted by RolandOfEld at 12:03 PM on April 23, 2015

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posted by GrapeApiary at 12:29 PM on April 23, 2015

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posted by davros42 at 12:30 PM on April 23, 2015

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posted by VioletU at 12:37 PM on April 23, 2015

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posted by If only I had a penguin... at 12:43 PM on April 23, 2015

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posted by Akhu at 12:54 PM on April 23, 2015

Wow. As a Nickelodian-watching American kid of the right age, I thought I must have made up that Skinnamarink song during some bad fever, and I hadn't even thought of the elephant intro for something like 25 years. As a kid, something about this kind of thing produced my first existential dread. The elephants, already where they're not supposed to be, struggling not to tip off into an angry, orange void.

That "And the Cat Came Back" song and cartoon. Moderately terrifying for no apparent reason.

This isn't Sharon, Lois, or Bran's fault, though. The show is so obviously a labor of love.
posted by cmoj at 1:06 PM on April 23, 2015 [5 favorites]

I was a dyed-in-the-wool Sharon, Lois & Bram fan from birth. They were an institution in Canada in the early eighties, and I'm not overstating it when I say they were the absolute centre of my entire preschool life. This is very sad news.

Skinnamarinky doo, Lois.

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(This is probably not the most appropriate post-script in an obit thread, but, hey, if we're talking about existential dread: It was pretty mind-blowing, after knowing Bram's version for many years, to experience the Galaxy Song in its original context.)
posted by Sys Rq at 1:14 PM on April 23, 2015 [3 favorites]

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posted by hopeless romantique at 1:43 PM on April 23, 2015

This is very upsetting.

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posted by roomthreeseventeen at 1:49 PM on April 23, 2015

D:

Between this and Gilbert Blythe dying it's a shit week for both Canada and my childhood.

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posted by supercrayon at 1:53 PM on April 23, 2015 [8 favorites]

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posted by sfred at 2:14 PM on April 23, 2015

Watch Sharon Lois and Bram sing their way through Kensington Market and notice, perhaps for the first time, how diverse their repertoire (and audience) was.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 2:29 PM on April 23, 2015 [1 favorite]

Can't sleep. Potato people will eat me.
posted by zippy at 2:38 PM on April 23, 2015

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posted by oceanjesse at 2:44 PM on April 23, 2015

That "And the Cat Came Back" song and cartoon. Moderately terrifying for no apparent reason.

I am like 99% sure this is why I've had a lifelong distrust and dislike of cats.

That song and, you know, having met several cats.
posted by phunniemee at 2:47 PM on April 23, 2015 [1 favorite]

I was slightly too old for the show itself to be important to me, but my sister was the right age, so the songs were the soundtrack of my childhood too. Peanut butter (and jelly), I am slowly going crazy, The Rooster Song (Dee doodle) -- there's one other whose name is escaping me now.
posted by jeather at 2:47 PM on April 23, 2015 [1 favorite]

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posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 3:45 PM on April 23, 2015

I definitely remember seeing them as a kid, playing at the Arts & Culture Centre in Corner Brook. And it's not like we got a lot of concerts in my area, so I'm impressed that they came all the way out there.

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posted by Lemurrhea at 4:25 PM on April 23, 2015 [1 favorite]

So um, I was actually on The Elephant Show when I was a kid. All three of them (and Eric Nagler, and Luba Goy, who were on the episode I was on) were some of the most wonderful, genuine people I have ever met in my life. I've run into various combinations of S/L/B a few times over the years--their memories are astounding, especially when you consider how many kids they have met in their lives.

Lois gave great hugs.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 4:27 PM on April 23, 2015 [16 favorites]

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posted by chococat at 4:42 PM on April 23, 2015

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posted by MelanieL at 4:45 PM on April 23, 2015

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posted by good in a vacuum at 4:50 PM on April 23, 2015

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posted by mandolin conspiracy at 4:57 PM on April 23, 2015

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I definitely remember them being a big part of my childhood and the peanut butter and jelly song is still used in my household now to get kids to eat.
posted by Naib at 5:13 PM on April 23, 2015

Aw, jeather.

Thanks for trigerring a nice memory. I had a teacher - can't remember what grade, maybe 2 or 1. She played a Sharon, Lois and Bram recording and had us do the whole I Am Slowly Going Crazy routine at our desks.

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Switch!
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 5:50 PM on April 23, 2015 [1 favorite]

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posted by mostly vowels at 8:03 PM on April 23, 2015

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posted by Tesseractive at 8:06 PM on April 23, 2015

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posted by neushoorn at 4:38 AM on April 24, 2015

Sad. My oldest was a huge SL&B fan when he was a wee lad, watching Nick all the time. I have my own fond memories of the music. Now I will have the Skinnamarink song stuck in my head for awhile, alternating with The Elephant Song, without complaint.
posted by lhauser at 7:36 PM on April 24, 2015

I remember watching The Elephant Show with my grandmother when I was a little kid. It sounds like Lois did a lot of good for the world, and I'm very sorry to hear of her passing.

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posted by branduno at 7:48 PM on April 24, 2015

People, make sure you read the Toronto Star's News Corrections.
posted by Lemurrhea at 6:00 AM on April 25, 2015 [2 favorites]

I'm actually seriously disappointed that any Canadian could get the words to Skinnamarink wrong.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 8:33 AM on April 25, 2015 [2 favorites]

People, make sure you read the Toronto Star's News Corrections.

skyyyy rockets in flight (biiyooo!)
posted by phunniemee at 8:59 AM on April 25, 2015 [3 favorites]

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posted by Theta States at 12:14 PM on April 27, 2015

I love you (I love your singing!)
I love you (Thanks for watching!)
I love you (We'll see you next time!)
I... loooooove... you... too... boo boo be doo MWAH!
posted by SpiffyRob at 2:23 PM on April 30, 2015 [3 favorites]