The Busy World of Richard Scarry

Hilda's going away and her friend Rita's coming to town to housesit. Bananas Gorilla offers to show Rita around, but little does he know how complicated going on a date is. But with some helpful advice from Hank, the market manager, Bananas Gorilla makes a list of how to be a perfect gentleman on the perfect date. And it's a good thing he checks his list twice. / Michael Antelope is delighted when Padre Giovanni asks him to paint the Sistine Chapel. It will be his greatest masterpiece ever - if he can just keep the padre from touching it up and ruining his work at the end of each day. While watching some children try to catch a fluttering butterfly, Michael is really inspired - to paint his masterpiece on the ceiling, well out of the way of Padre Giovanni's hands. / Denis has had better days. First, his team loses a soccer game because of him, then he flubs the spelling bee, and then he breaks the rope at the ol' swimming hole. Denis doesn't think he's much good for anything, when his nose tells him there's a fire somewhere in Busytown. He urges the firefighters to follow him, and when Bruno's snack stand is saved, Denis' day ends up pretty well indeed.

A Trip Back in Time Huckle and Lowly wonder why Mr. Fixit is so excited about inventing an elevator, until they find out it's really a time machine. And when Mr. Fixit's back is turned, Mr. Fumble falls on the switch and sends himself, Huckle and Lowly back in time to Busyburgh. And luckily for them, Mr. Fixit's ancestor is there and ready to fix whatever it takes to get them back home. / Bump and Thump, the first inventors ever, decide to help their clumsy friend, Clunk, find a cave of his own, but all the caves are taken. So the prehistoric inventors decide to build him a cave. And when their idea catches on, Bump and Thump haven't just invented the first house - they've invented the first village. / P.S. Pig is not happy because all she does is deliver mail and never receives any herself. Huckle, Lowly, Hilda, and Lynnie try to cheer her up and send her letters, signing in "your special friend." P.S. gets carried away dreaming of meeting her secret admirer, so the kids decide they better fess up. P.S. is upset at first, until she realizes now she doesn't just have one special friend, she has four.

Mr. Fixit's Magnet Machine Mr. Fixit's been inventing again, and this time, it's something very "attractive" - a huge magnet machine. It gets loose in Busytown and rips up everything made of metal. Huckle, Lowly, and Sgt. Murphy find out what's going on, and hurry to stop it. And luckily for Busytown, Mr. Fumble is fishing nearby and catches the destructive machine. / Sneef and Sniff go to the Opera. / Mr. Gronkle Won't Mind Huckle, Lowly, and Father Cat plan to spend a beautiful spring day together, but everything they do lands Father Cat on Mr. Gronkle's property - uninvited. The cat family retreats to their own backyard - where they catch Mr. Gronkle trespassing himself. And over a wonderful dinner, they all realize how lucky they were to "keep running into each other."

Huckle and Lowly return from summer camp to find that Sally's got an imaginary friend, Peter. At first Huckle thinks it's silly, but when he realizes how lonely Sally was while they were gone, he and Lowly play along with her game. And they get so wrapped up playing with Peter, that Sally has to remind them Peter's not real. / Little Bernard wants to help his BIG brother Bjorn with the chores, but he's just too little to keep up. But when Bjorn gets stuck in an avalanche, it's up to his little brother to rescue him, only he's so little, he can't make it through the deep snow. Bernard uses his head to find a way through the snow, and he invents the first skis. While he may be small, Bernard has some big brains. / There's going to be a big public speaking contest for the kids in Busytown, and everyone wants to win - everyone except for Denis. It's his mother who wants him to win. It's practice, practice, practice, but Denis is sure he's going to be a disaster, so he pretends to be sick. His mother feels bad for pushing him so hard, and Denis finds the courage to go on. He doesn't win, but has fun giving it his best shot.

End of the Rainbow, the kindergarten class loves the story about a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. So, when Sally, Bridget, and Robbie see a rainbow, they set out to find their own pot of gold. One end of the rainbow ends in the park, but all they find are some broken old toys. But at the other end, with Mr. Fixit and Sergeant Murphy help, the kids find a real treasure all the old toys fixed up, good as new. / A Signal for Peng Peng's wife, Mei, is about to have a baby when Peng gets a job at the Great Wall of China. His son, Pau Loo, promises to send his father a signal when the baby is born. But on the big day, his signal breaks and Pau Loo has to think of something and fast. With the help of an old magician, Paul Loo finds the perfect signal - fireworks. And from that day on, fireworks have always been used in celebrations. / Mr. Frumble's Birthday Party When Mr. Frumble sees a pile of unmailed invitations on his kitchen table, he remembers it's his birthday and he's throwing himself a birthday party. One disaster leads to another, and no one in town knows it's his birthday. Huckle and Lowly find out, and they hurry to put everything right so Mr. Frumble has the best birthday party ever.

Bananas Gorilla decides to become a magician, but after only one day of practicing he gives up. To boost his confidence, Huckle and Lowly make one of his tricks work, and Bananas the Magnificent's fame spreads through Busytown. Bananas decides to do his biggest trick ever, and when it fails, Huckle and Lowly must tell him the truth - Bananas Gorilla is plain ol' Bananas, and that's just fine with him. / Every week Nicholas Cugnot and his family push their heavy cart up a steep hill to the village market, much to the amusement of all the other villagers. So, when the family discovers that steam can move things, they invent the first ever steam carriage. The villagers are amazed with this new invention, but the Cugnots forgot one small detail on the carriage... BRAKES! / When "professional actress" Hilda Hippo doesn't get the lead role in the school play, her dreams of fame are shattered. Hilda's sure all she needs is a break, and boy does she get it. Hilda finds herself all alone on the "Cooking in Busytown" set at the Busytown Broadcasting Center, and she has a field day cooking up a storm, while all her friends tune in for the funny show.

When Mr. Tick Toc gets stuck in the clock tower and is unable to change the time back one hour for Daylight Savings Time, all of Busytown winds down and is late. It's Huckle, Lowly, and Bananas who figure out that something is not right when the town clock strikes thirteen, and with Sergeant Murphy's help, they rescue Mr. Tic Toc and set Busytown on the right time. / Eager Beaver is a soldier who would much rather play than work. So, when he is ordered to dig out the tool shed, clean it up, and count every tool, Eager Beaver turns it into a game - and he invents hockey. And when the other soldiers give it a go, especially the Sergeant, they think Eager Beaver's right: playing is a lot more fun than working. / Busytown has its first ever automatic car wash and Scotty Dog has set it up just right. Mr. Frumble and his car are vacuumed, scrubbed, soaked, washed, and dried, and the pickle car ends up flatter than a pancake. Mr. Frumble suggests to Scotty that he get his gas pumps fixed before he opens for business.

Huckle and Lowly go into business Triple A Deliveries Anything, Anywhere, Anytime. Huckle takes on more packages than they can handle and by midday, they haven't delivered anything. The two friends must work out their differences and make all the deliveries on time and together. And the last delivery is the best one two sundaes for two hard workers at Mr. Raccoon's Coffee Shop. / Young Stanley is a photographer's apprentice with a vivid imagination, and not too great a knowledge of how to take pictures. So when he tells his boss he saw a man fly in the air, the boss tells him to take a picture of it to prove it. Stanley fails the first couple of times, but in the end, gets the shot - of the Wright Brother's historic flight. / Huckle, Lowly, and Sally head to Nana Cat's house by themselves for the first time ever. Father Cat gives them a map marked with clues to follow, and secretly follows at a distance. So when the kids take a shortcut through the swamp, Father Cat hurries to find them. But he's the one who gets lost and the kids find him. Working together, they make it out of the swamp and to Nana Cat's house.

At the launching of Mr. Fixit's submarine, Huckle and Lowly find themselves all alone floating out into Busy Bay - and the sub is sinking. Mr. Fixit makes a daring rescue and takes the boys on a trip underwater. But poor Father Cat thinks Huckle and Lowly are all alone and he and April Rhino head out for the rescue. In the end, they all need rescuing, and a friendly whale is the perfect tugboat. / Little Cahuchu has a lively imagination and is always telling tall tales, so it's hard for him to convince his parents about a tree with magic bouncing sap. But when Cahuchu and his father are stranded on an island, Cahuchu uses the tree sap to fix the hole in the boat. And when they are safely back in the village, Cahuchu shows everyone how to collect the sap - and rubber is discovered. / The grand opening of Mr. Bean's drive-in restaurant turns sour when Busytown discovers all he serves is beans. Hilda teaches Mr. Bean the importance of variety, and with a few changes, and a new motto "You name it, we've got it", everyone turns out for a good meal and the drive-in is a complete success.

Abe and Babe haven't been very good all year long, so they're sure the bags of coal outside their house are their gifts from Santa. The coal comes in handy, though when the electricity goes out in Busytown. Abe and Babe hand out coal so everyone can cook their Christmas dinners on barbecues. And even if it was Mr. Frumble's coal, Abe and Babe learn that being nice to others is a fine thing indeed. / Sally Cat's Christmas Dream Sally has a dream on Christmas Eve and finds herself in the North Pole where Santa and his elves are in quite a state. They've lost the key to the workshop and can't finish the toys. Using Lowly Elf's foot Sally gets the door open and even helps the elves finish their work. In the morning, she's amazed to see Huckle open his present - the toy she helped finish in Santa's workshop. / The Cat family is expecting a baby, and Father Cat is thrown for a loop when Mother Cat tells him "It's time" on Christmas Eve. Huckle, Sally, and Lowly wake up in the night to strange noises and are convinced that Santa's on the roof. In the morning, the kids are in for the biggest surprise ever - a new sister - and it's really the Best Christmas Present Ever.

The kids are really disappointed when Father Cat won't stop at Splashland on their way to the beach for a vacation. He thinks wasting time at a water park is silly when you can have a whole ocean to play in. But when one too many shortcuts puts them way behind schedule, Father Cat changes his mind and Splashland's the next stop. Now the kids have to find a way to get him to leave. / It's the St. Louis World Fair, and Ernest has a sure-fire way to win the Best New Dish contest - he's got an actual cone dish you can eat. But when Ernest can't find the right food to put into his "dish you can eat", he's sure he's failed. Until the perfect food is found - ice cream - and the ice cream cone is born. / Huckle is very happy his cousin Russ is moving to Busytown from England. And Russ' first day in Busytown proves to be quite an adventure. While on a field trip at the Busytown Mine with the Scouts, Huckle, Russ, and Lowly lose their way and Huckle gets stuck on a ledge. Luckily Russ is a true scout and lives by the motto "be prepared" and he and Lowly rescue Huckle and sit tight until they're found.

Busytown comes to a stop when Scotty Dog runs out of gas and the tanker truck breaks down on the highway. There's not even a drop in Scotty Dog's tow truck. Huckle and Lowly come up with an idea, and with Mr. Fixit's help, they build an elastic propeller and sail-powered tow truck to rescue the tanker truck. And when they do, they learn that the tanker truck wasn't broken - it just ran out of gas. / Cucumber and Pickles are on a photo shoot at Niagara Falls when the falls dry up. Upstream, Sweet Tooth and his gang of beavers have dammed the river and are demanding all the maple syrup in Canada. Cucumber and Pickles set off to get the falls flowing once again, and Sweet Tooth gets his maple syrup all right - his whole gang does, and they end up a sticky mass of beavers, and the falls fall once again. / Deputy Flo and Sergeant Murphy are usually the ones to help people in Busytown, so when they get stuck in a cave, all of Busytown turns out to return the favor. Sergeant Murphy and Deputy Flo find a back way out of the cave, but when they see all of Busytown working so hard, they sneak back in to let themselves get rescued. Sometimes it's nice to let people help you - even if you don't need it.

Professor dog tells the school about the total eclipse to be expected that afternoon - an event so rare it happens only once very 360 years. But when the article she's written for the Busytown Bugle gets fouled up, all the adults in Busytown think the sun is going OUT for 360 years. It's total panic in Busytown until the kids set things right by printing their own newspaper. / In ancient Greece, Toula and her father are in for some good luck when a dolphin swims alongside their fishing boat - and they catch a gold necklace in their net. They're certain there's more treasure down there, but how to get down there? The dolphin shows them a way, and Toula and her father invent the first ever air bags, which is why today we have scuba gear and can explore the Ocean. / It's the Busytown County Fair and Huckle, Sprout, and Lowly plan to enter the Biggest Pumpkin contest. But when they squabble about whose pumpkin is biggest, all three pumpkins end up in pieces. At first they're sad, but when they work together, and with Soybean Goat's help, they bake the biggest pumpkin pie ever and win first prize at the fair. And the best part is, the pie's so big, there's enough for everyone.