Home #Hwoodtimes A Conversation with the Creator and Stars of “The New Zoo Revue”...

A Conversation with the Creator and Stars of “The New Zoo Revue” Doug Momary and Emily Jo Peden

November 3, 2023

By Judy Shields

Los Angeles, California (The Hollywood Times) 11/03/2023

Doug and Emmy Jo are just now starting to understand the impact they had on millions. They really had no idea until we started this page because they were not included in much of the interactions with fans, except for the occasional appearance. They just received a package in the mail from a fan. In it, there were piles of fan mail they had never seen before. Someone had responded to them, even signing Mom & Dad’s name.

If you are old enough, chances are you grew up watching The New Zoo Revue. The show was syndicated from 1972 to 1977 and episodes ran well into the 1990’s.

The show was the brainchild of “Doug” Momary who, along with his wife Emmy Jo, created an answer to Sesame Street, focusing on relationships and feelings. Doug wrote every song and story line for their 550 plus shows.

Recently, Doug and Emmy Jo, who are married in real life, did a Facebook live. It was the first time in 50 years their fans saw them live. So what happened?

13,000 fans tuned in.

They followed up with a second FB live and 21,000 fans tuned in.

The next one? 50,000 fans watch their live broadcast on Facebook.

They appeared at Comic Con in San Diego, and fans literally cried when they saw them. The response has been overwhelming.

Doug and Emmy Jo at Comic Con 2023 San Diego (Photo NZR Instagram page)

Doug & Emmy Jo met in 1969 doing summer stock theater in Santa Maria, California at the Alan Hancock Theatre for the Performing Arts. They fell in love that summer and were married in Emmy Jo’s hometown of Dallas, Texas on December 28, 1970, over 50 years ago.

The Hollywood Times had the pleasure to speak with Doug and Emmy Jo about all things The New Zoo Revue and what’s to come. Enjoy our conversation:

About Doug Momary

Doug Momary is a musician and the creative genius behind the iconic children’s show, The New Zoo Revue.

His television career began as the creator and co-star of the award-winning children’s television series where he conceptualized the set, created the characters and gave them their unique personalities. During this time, he wrote over 600 songs, and mapped out storylines for all 196 episodes.

Doug attended college at Cal State Fullerton and received a BA in Theatre Arts. Doug was the Children’s Theater Director for the city of Whittier, California. With a passion for songwriting, Doug played in various bands during his tenure and wrote multiple musical comedies in college. His band, The Days In Between, had some success in the late 60’s, playing with prominent bands of the era, including Chicago.

He has written for and directed prominent actors and politicians, including Blue Man Group, Frank Sinatra, Jay Leno, Burt Bacharach, Dionne Warwick, Smokey Robinson, Rita Rudner, Don Rickles, Paul Anka, The Pointer Sisters, Barbara Mandrell, and President George Bush, Sr., just to name a few.

After The New Zoo Revue ended production, he opened his own production company, Laguna Productions in Las Vegas, Nevada. Over the years, Laguna Productions has been the go-to for high-end, creative television production and media services for a wide range of ad agencies and companies. He continues to lend his creative expertise to clients and still composes songs while enjoying time with his wife Emily Jo, their 3 children, and their 11 grandchildren.

About Emmy Jo

Emily Jo Peden is an actress known for playing Emmy Jo on the long running hit 1970’s children’s show, The New Zoo Revue.

Prior to The New Zoo Revue, Emily Jo played opposite Leon Ames and Dorothy Stickney in the iconic Life with Father in 1967, off-Broadway.

Originally from Dallas, Texas she was a theatre major at Southern Methodist University. While there, ABC Television awarded her a two-year scholarship to the prestigious American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City. During her time at AADA, she played Regina in The Little Foxes and Carrie Pipperidge in Carousel. Upon graduation, she was presented the “Best Actress” award by Helen Hayes. She then returned to SMU in Dallas to finish her theatre degree, taking the stage as Emilia in Othello and Madame Arkadina in The Seagull.

After graduation, she was invited to play Portia in The Merchant of Venice and Masha in The Three Sisters at the Alan Hancock Theatre for the Performing Arts in Santa Maria, California. Emily continued her acting career starring as Emmy Jo in over 190 episodes of the hit 1970’s children’s show The New Zoo Revue.

After filming the final episode, Emily and husband Doug opened Laguna Productions in Las Vegas, Nevada, where Emily served as Vice President of Finance. While working together to build their business, she earned her Master of Science in Marriage and Family Counseling degree from the University of Nevada Las Vegas and took on occasional acting roles on campus, including Olivia in Twelfth Night. Since moving back to Texas in 2002, Emily enjoys spending time with husband Doug, their 3 children, 11 wonderful grandchildren and the animals on their farm.

About The New Zoo Revue

When Doug created The New Zoo Revue in 1970, he had no idea the show would be as popular as it became. The New Zoo Revue reached over 3 million kids a day at the height of its popularity.

Doug’s mother introduced him to her boss, Barbara Atlas, a toy company executive who asked him to develop a show around a little toy bean-bag frog called Freddie. Overnight, Doug created the show’s name, wrote the theme song for The New Zoo Revue, and created the characters: Freddie the Frog, Henrietta Hippo, and Charlie the Owl. Charlie the Owl was originally drawn as a giraffe, not an owl.

Because he and Emmy Jo were virtually zookeepers in the show, Doug considered calling it Xenophanes Zoo (Doug really is a Renaissance man…), but they eventually went with their real names: Emmy Jo, (Emily Jo) and Doug (Douglas).

The New Zoo Revue was created by Doug, for Doug & Emmy Jo. During live auditions to showcase the idea for the show, they played all the parts. She played Charlie the Owl and herself, Emmy Jo. Doug played Freddie the Frog, Henrietta Hippo, and himself, Doug.

Doug & Emmy Jo were asked to do a live audition for Elliot and Ruth Handler, who created and owned Mattel Toys at the time. The day came, and they walked into the amphitheater, an indoor theater the Handlers had at their plant in Hawthorne, California where they made Barbie Dolls and all kinds of other toys. Doug recalls, “Emmy Jo and I were the only ones on the stage. The theater itself was completely dark. I had my guitar, and we started to sing and perform a show about a house that is not a home without love. We finished our audition, and there was complete silence. No Laughing. No applause… just crickets. They said, “Thank you very much; we’ll get back to you.’

Not long after that audition, Doug and Emmy Jo were married. (That was over 50 years ago!) The best wedding present came in the form of a phone call that started with, “Hey, you’re not going to be able to have a honeymoon because we need you two to come back and do the pilot episodes of the shows you presented to Mattel Toys!”

On their flight back, Doug did more sketches of the costumes and sets, and made a list of mandatories that would help his vision take shape. At the top of the list: The show must not talk down to kids, whether it was in the dialogue or the songwriting. Kids needed to relate to it on their level. They wanted to help kids with their behavior, so they would treat one another with respect & kindness, whether it was toward their parents, friends, teachers, or anyone else.

They began filming the first season in 1972 and taped 52 episodes. It was so exciting to Doug that they were actually filming what he had created!

Sid and Marty Krofft, who produced the show HR Puffin Stuff and other well-known kids’ shows, were not producers of The New Zoo Revue, but were contracted to build costumes for the show.

Each animal character had a voice-over talent and a dancer. The character voices would immediately synchronize with the dancers inside the costumes on stage.

They were fortunate to have an amazing choreographer stage all of the musical numbers by Anita Mann, who went on to choreograph the Academy Awards and numerous TV musical specials.

Doug wrote over 600 original songs and 196 storylines for the series. Doug had a rock band called The Days In Between. Some of those musicians in that band played on the music tracks for The New Zoo Revue.

Doug always wanted to have a musical comedy on Broadway, so in some ways, The New Zoo Revue was his dream job! He was writing a musical comedy every day of the week because the show aired five days a week, Monday through Friday. Each song in an episode would further the action, just like in a musical comedy on Broadway, showing a little bit more about the characters and furthering the plot line. Each episode would have songs, dancing, and conversation to tell a story & share a life lesson. It all played out like a musical comedy because it was a musical comedy!

Del Casher who invented the wah-wah pedal, the Ecco-Fonic and the Fender Electronic Echo Chamber was our first musical director. Del was also the first to introduce the Roland Guitar Synthesizer for the Roland Corporation. Our second musical director was Broadway conductor Milton Greene, whose baton guided shows by Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick, including the rueful opening strains of a violin in Fiddler on the Roof.

The entire cast performed at the Easter Egg Roll on the White House lawn for Tricia Nixon and invited kids in 1972. They were invited back to the White House at Christmas of the same year to perform in the East Wing for the children of foreign diplomats. The event was hosted by Pat Nixon and, again, featured the entire cast.

The New Zoo Revue received awards and recommendations from the National Education Association and the National School Boards Association.

They made many personal appearances in the off-season of our show, live versions! Each season, they would go out with Freddie the Frog or some of the other characters and perform in shopping centers across the country, including Chicago, Denver, New Jersey, New York… even the Macy’s Day Parade. They pre-recorded the “live” show for the shopping centers, and like we did on the program, the dancers would lip-sync the songs that were played from the recorded playback. They even did the famous Jerry Lewis Telethon one year!

In Emily‘s hometown of Dallas, they performed live for the Chautauqua Festival at the First Methodist Church in Dallas. All of the characters were on stage at the church, and it was great fun to see Emily‘s mom and dad enjoying the show and all the kids, pastors, and people at the church singing along with the songs and enjoying the program.

Because of in-fighting with the producers and advertising agencies and conflicts that arose, the show was not picked up again. Production stopped in 1975. This was a shock to Doug & Emmy Jo. They had been invited to the White House two times, the show was well-known across the country, and was even translated into Japanese and Mandarin. They knew they had a big hit on their hands and hoped it would continue, but it didn’t. They moved on and opened their own production company in Las Vegas, Laguna Productions.

The New Zoo Revue Guest Stars

Composer Henry Mancini made a cameo appearance.

Actor Jim Backus of Mr. Magoo and Gilligan’s Island fame made a cameo.

Jesse White, best known as the original Maytag repairman in TV commercials, guest starred on a few episodes.

June Lockhart, best known for her roles on Lassie, Lost in Space, and Petticoat Junction, guest starred in the episode “Shyness” as Penelope Potter.

Richard Dawson, famous for acting in the series Hogan’s Heroes and appearing on the game shows Match Game and Family Feud was featured in the “Time Travel” episode as a knight from medieval England.

Jo Anne Worley appeared as talk show host Vanessa Gramcracker.

Mr. Dingle, our friendly postman and shopkeeper, was played by Chuck Woolery in the first season.

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