Imagine it’s Halloween evening and you’re out in your neighborhood trick-or-treating with your family and friends. It’s dark but all of the homes have their lights on, meaning they are welcoming you to stop by and ask for a treat. All of the kids you pass on the streets are wearing costumes and some of the adults, too. You enjoy seeing the variety of costumes. Some are cute and some are scary! You see someone dressed up as a vampire, and someone else as a mummy. You recognize these as classic monsters, the ones most people know about. But do you know the history of these classic monsters? Where do they come from? How they came to be?

Count Dracula

Let’s start with Count Dracula, who became the most famous vampire, Many, many years ago in the 1400s, there was a real person named Vlad III. He was a prince from a place called Wallachia, which is now part of modern-day Romania. Vlad III was not the kind of prince you wanted to mess with, especially if you were his enemy. This gave Vlad the reputation of being very dangerous.

Now, let’s fast forward to the late 1800s. A writer named Bram Stoker wrote a book and named it “Dracula” and created the character Count Dracula. He published his novel in 1897 and this book is where the legend of the vampire truly began. In Bram Stoker’s story, Count Dracula is a vampire who can transform into a bat, sleep in a coffin, and has sharp pointy teeth called fangs. But remember, this is just a story, it’s all fiction which means it isn’t real, just make-believe.

After Bram Stoker’s book, Count Dracula became a movie, the first one in 1931 starring Bela Lugosi. Many movies about Dracula were made after this, each movie added its own twists to the story.

But Dracula isn’t always portrayed as a terrifying monster. In the movie “Hotel Transylvania,” he’s a funny and friendly vampire who runs a hotel for monsters and their families. He’s a loving dad and a good friend. This version of Dracula is perfect for kids.

Today, Count Dracula is still a popular figure. You might see him in Halloween costumes, decorations, and even in cartoons. People love dressing up as Dracula with capes and fake fangs for a bit of spooky fun. But remember, it’s all pretend! Vampires like Dracula are creatures of fiction, and there’s nothing to fear in real life.

Count Dracula is a fascinating character with a history that stretches back hundreds of years. He’s been scary and silly, but no matter how he’s portrayed, he’s a legend in the world of literature and film.

Frankenstein

Next up is Frankenstein. The tale of Frankenstein begins in the early 19th century with a young woman named Mary Shelley. Mary was staying at a vacation home with some friends and one evening they were sitting around a fireplace telling ghost stories. Mary envisioned a monster that was made up of different parts, invented by a scientist and inventor named Dr. Frankenstein. She was only 18 at this time. Later, she turned the ghost story into a full novel called “Frankenstein” about the monster she created.

In the book, the main character, Victor Frankenstein, is a scientist. He becomes obsessed with creating life from lifeless parts. In his laboratory, Victor brings together body parts from different sources to create a creature. But things don’t go as planned, and the creature turns out much different than Victor expected.

Here’s the twist: The creature Victor creates isn’t evil from the start. He’s misunderstood and lonely. Imagine being brought to life and having nobody to talk to or guide you! The creature tries to find friendship and connection but is met with fear and rejection from humans.

Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” became incredibly famous and was even turned into a play in London. But Frankenstein’s monster really became a superstar when he appeared in movies. The classic 1931 film starring Boris Karloff introduced the design of the monster we know today with bolts in his neck and flat head.

In recent years, Frankenstein’s monster has appeared in various movies, TV shows, and books. These modern versions often explore themes of science, ethics, and what it means to be truly alive.

One of the cool things about “Frankenstein” is its connection to science fiction. Victor Frankenstein’s experiment explores themes of science and ethics, making us think about the consequences of our actions and how we treat others.

So, there you have it! “Frankenstein” is more than just a scary monster; it’s a timeless story that makes us think about science, humanity, and what it means to be truly alive. When you encounter Frankenstein in books or movies, remember that there’s always more to the story than meets the eye. It’s all about exploring big ideas and having a bit of spooky fun along the way! Also, if you want to listen to a full episode about Mary Shelley and Frankenstein, be sure to look up the Bedtime History episode.

Werewolves

Have you ever heard of Wolfman or Werewolves? These tales date back to ancient times when people told stories around campfires. In these stories, humans could transform into wolves during full moons. Imagine having the power to become a wild animal!

One of the most famous legends is the idea that a person becomes a werewolf only during a full moon. This idea became widely known in European folklore. People believed that those bitten by a werewolf or born on a certain day could turn into these creatures when the moon was full.

Werewolves appeared in folklore from many parts of the world, including Europe, the Americas, and Asia. Each culture had its own unique twist on the story. Some portrayed werewolves as fierce monsters, while others saw them as people with a special connection to nature.

Werewolves made their way into movies in the early 20th century. In the 1941 film “The Wolf Man,” Lon Chaney Jr. became the Wolfman we recognize today. With his furry face and long claws, he became the face of the werewolf in Hollywood.

In recent years, werewolves have appeared in various movies, TV shows, and books. “Teen Wolf” and “New Moon” as part of the Twilight Trilogy are two modern examples. These films often explore themes of identity, transformation, and the struggle between human and animal instincts.

At its heart, the werewolf legend often teaches us about the duality of human nature—the struggle between our civilized selves and our primal instincts. It reminds us that we all have a bit of “wild” within us.

Mummies

Next up is mummies. Mummies are not just monsters; they have real-life origins dating back thousands of years. The ancient Egyptians were the masters of mummification. They believed in an afterlife and wanted to preserve the bodies of their loved ones for eternity. So, they developed a special process to keep bodies from getting old. This whole process was part of religious rituals, and mummies were often placed in beautiful tombs along with treasures for the afterlife.

Mummies didn’t start out as monsters in our stories. It wasn’t until the 1800s that mummies began to appear as spooky creatures in books. Writers like Bram Stoker (who wrote “Dracula”) and Arthur Conan Doyle (creator of Sherlock Holmes) started to include mummy tales in their stories.

One popular idea linked to mummies is the “mummy’s curse.” It’s believed that disturbing a mummy’s tomb or removing it from its resting place would bring bad luck to those involved. While this idea is mostly fiction, it adds an exciting twist to mummy tales.

Mummies became famous movie monsters thanks to films like “The Mummy” (1932), starring Boris Karloff. In these movies, mummies would come to life and often seek revenge. Over the years, mummy movies have ranged from spooky to action-packed.

In the real world, scientists have discovered and studied mummies found all around the globe. These mummies have taught us a lot about ancient civilizations, their customs, and even their health. It turns out that not all mummies are spooky; some are like time capsules from the past.

The story of mummies reminds us of the rich history and culture of ancient civilizations. While they might appear scary in movies, real mummies are an incredible source of knowledge about our shared human history. Embrace the adventure, and who knows what secrets you might uncover along the way!

The post Classic Monsters of Halloween for Kids appeared first on Bedtime History: Podcast and Videos For Kids.

Imagine you’re in a painting studio. You take a deep breath and smell the sweet smell of the oil paints and the crisp air within the painting studio. You look around and see many paintings on the walls, each one telling a different story.

But your attention quickly turns back to the canvas in front of you, which seems to be calling out for your attention. You dip your paintbrush into a palette of different colors and then put it on the canvas. You feel happy and excited when you see the brush moving so easily on the canvas. You create a beautiful picture of a world you want to see, and it makes you feel calm and happy.

You continue to work, feeling the warmth of the paint beneath your brush, and the gentle strokes of color as you add dimension and texture to your creation. As you paint, you feel a sense of peace and contentment that comes from being fully immersed in the creative process.

You continue to work, feeling the warmth of the paint beneath your brush and you see how the colors mix together, creating something new and unique. You love how it feels to make something special with your hands.

When you’re done painting, you step back and admire your work. You feel so proud of what you made and can’t wait to share it with others. You know that it will make people happy and inspire them to look at the world in a different way.

This is what it’s like to be like Bob Ross, a painter who made people happy by showing them how to paint and see the world in a new way.

Bob Ross was born on October 29, 1942, in Daytona Beach, Florida. He grew up in a town called Orlando, where he spent a lot of time exploring the beautiful landscapes around him.

His dad was a carpenter named Jack, and his mom, Ollie, was a waitress. As a child, Bob loved to take care of injured animals which sometimes made his parents unhappy because they never knew what kind of animal they would find in the house! They might see a hurt alligator in their bathtub or an armadillo running around Bob’s room. 

Later, Bob didn’t finish high school. Instead, he left after 9th grade to work as a carpenter with his dad. One day, Bob had a terrible accident that injured his left index finger. He lost the tip of it! Even though he was hurt, Bob didn’t let that stop him. It was an injury he later hid from TV viewers most of the time with his paint palette.

When Bob turned 18, he joined the Air Force which he soon didn’t enjoy. He said that he had to be “mean” sometimes, and that made him unhappy. When he was in the Air Force, he was known for being tough on his fellow airmen, and they even gave him the nickname “Bust ’em up Bobby.”

Although he had a tough exterior, Bob Ross also had a softer side. He discovered his love for painting while attending an art class in Alaska during his time in the Air Force. Many of his painting instructors at the time were more interested in abstract art, but Bob was fascinated by nature and the beauty of the world around him. He found that painting allowed him to capture that beauty and share it with others.

After attending many art classes that focused on abstract painting, Ross found his passion for painting returned through a television show he found called The “Magic of Oil Painting”. The show was hosted by artist Bill Alexander Bill introduced Ross to an old painting technique known as “alla prima” which means “first attempt” in Italian. Ross was fascinated by “alla prima” because it allowed Alexander to finish a painting in just 30 minutes. Alla prima is also known as “wet-on-wet” painting, which means that wet layers of paint are added to paper to create an image. Bob loved this new technique and decided to master it himself.

Bob Ross started earning money by painting Alaskan mountainsides on the inside of gold pans, after observing Alexander’s Wet on Wet technique. He soon became well-known among the local Alaskan people for his artistic abilities and often taught children and the elderly how to paint, too. Eventually, Ross began making more money from selling paintings and offering art lessons than from his day job in the military. After serving in the Air Force for twenty years, Ross left the military and said that he would never yell or raise his voice again, he was known from then on to have a very soft and calming presence. 

In the 1980s after leaving the Air Force, Ross had a burning desire to truly master the art of wet-on-wet painting. He found his favorite artist Bill Alexander in Florida. There, Alexander was a part-time art teacher and happily shared all his knowledge with Ross.

Next, Bob Ross got a job as a traveling tutor for the Alexander Magic Art Supplies Company. He had a soothing, gentle voice, and an encouraging teaching style, and said things like “happy accidents” instead of the word “mistakes” to make people feel happier and more positive about painting and being ok with messing up. 

Have you ever made a mistake? Well, in painting it is very easy to make mistakes and Bob was excellent at helping people understand that even when we make mistakes we can turn those mistakes into something good! This idea that he used in his painting lessons caught the attention of a woman named Annette Kowalski. Annette was fascinated by Ross and thought they might find a way to sell the experience of painting with him. She saw potential in Ross’s teaching style and decided to work with him to build a successful business.

After a meeting with Annette Kowalski and her husband, Ross became convinced that he should leave the Alexander Magic Art Supplies Company and start his own teaching business. Kowalski was so confident in their potential for success that she spent all of her life savings on the business. Ross and his wife spent most of their money too! Unfortunately, their high hopes were met with a harsh reality: the business lost $20,000 in its first year open.

Low on money, Bob Ross decided to take a bold step and change his look. Gone were the days of the strict military haircut, and in its place emerged a new and unexpected style: the classic afro that would come to define him. Ross said that he decided to perm his hair and make it curly because then he could save money and he wouldn’t need to pay for haircuts every week. Little did he know that this bold decision to perm his hair would change his appearance forever. Ross’s afro was so different than what his hair used to look like that many of his friends only recognized him by his missing finger that he lost while working as a teenager. 

It is not totally clear how  Bob became a famous painter on TV. There are two stories about how he was able to get onto the PBS channel. One story says that Bob and his former teacher Bill Alexander filmed a commercial for his art classes, which happened to impress someone important. Another version suggests that his partner, Kowalski, took a video of one of Bob Ross’ 30-minute lessons and sent it to the TV station. It is possible that both stories are true. Either way, it is obvious that Bob Ross was so good that he couldn’t be ignored. Before long he was a famous TV star in a new show called “The Joy of Painting”!

While filming “The Joy of Painting,” Bob made it feel like he was talking to his audience one-on-one. Almost like a personal teaching lesson. 

Bob Ross put a lot of thought into every detail of his show. He took great care in selecting his clothes, wearing timeless jeans and casual shirts that wouldn’t look old in the future. He also sanded down his painting palette lightly to keep it from reflecting the studio lights, a trick he figured out over time by switching to a clear painting palette for the first few episodes. 

Bob never received payment for his appearances on the show, nor did he sell any of the paintings he created on air. The show served as a platform to promote his teaching business which grew to include Bob Ross paint brushes, paint, and other supplies, soon making him a millionaire!

Even though being on TV made Bob Ross very successful he remained humble and generous with his artwork. He gave away most of the paintings he created on the show, as well as thousands of others he made throughout his life. Some were donated to charitable causes to be auctioned off, while others were gifted to friends and acquaintances.

Bob Ross taught us that mistakes are not failures, they are just happy accidents. When you make a mistake, don’t give up. Instead, use your creativity and turn it into something beautiful. Just like Bob Ross, you can use your talents to make the world a brighter and more joyful place

The post History of Bob Ross for Kids appeared first on Bedtime History: Podcast and Videos For Kids.

Early Life

Jim Henson was born in September 1936 in Mississippi. His family loved jokes and laughing. Jim spent a lot of time with his grandparents, who helped him create amazing art projects. He also loved to go to the theater and watch movies – and especially loved Westerns and movies that took place in far-off places. He and his friends would spend their play time dressing up and acting out the movies they saw, using homemade props and their big imaginations. 

Jim also grew up listening to radio broadcast shows, and his favorite performer was Edgar Bergen, a ventriloquist. A ventriloquist is someone who can talk without moving his lips or mouth. Jim saw this and thought it was amazing. Later his family moved to Maryland, and they purchased their first TV when Jim was 13 years old. Jim watched a show called Kukla, Fran and Ollie which featured puppet performers. He loved the way the puppets appeared to be real creatures, that people could laugh with, share stories with, and be friends with. The puppets were alive in a way that was magical. Jim dreamed about being on television himself.

As soon as Jim turned 16, he started looking for a job in television with all the local stations. Sadly they all said no. While this was hard for Jim, he didn’t give up. He later heard that one of the stations was looking for a puppeteer, so he checked out some books on puppetry, built some puppets, and applied for the job. He got the job of building puppets for a Saturday morning children’s program called The Junior Morning Show. With hard work, practice, and determination, he was accomplishing his goal!

College

Jim Henson went to college at the University of Maryland, College Park. In college, he took a puppetry class and produced a puppet show called Sam and Friends for WRC-TV. The puppets in this show were early versions of what would later become the Muppets, including an early prototype (or version) of Kermit the Frog. While Jim worked on the show, he invented new puppetry and filming methods that are still in use today, such as allowing the puppeteer to work off-camera by using the frame defined by the camera shot. At this time, most puppets were made from wood and were not very expressive. Instead, Jim used fabric-covered foam rubber to give his puppets a greater ability to express emotion. Instead of strings, he used rods to manipulate the puppets which also increased the range of expression of the puppets. 

While Jim was working on the Sam and Friends show, he met and worked with Jane Nebel, another student at the University. They would later begin dating and eventually get married in 1959.

First TV Shows

The success of Sam and Friends led to Henson’s puppets appearing on talk shows like The Steve Allen Show, The Jack Paar Program, and The Ed Sullivan Show. These are similar to the Jimmy Fallon and Jimmy Kimmel Shows in our day. Henson’s puppets also became famous when they were used in TV commercials, such as the Wilkin Coffee Company commercial in Washington, D.C. 

Sesame Street

In 1969, Jim Henson was asked to join the team working on a new children’s program called Sesame Street. On the show, his Muppets would be characters who lived in the neighborhood of Sesame Street and interacted with the human characters. The show was meant to teach children how to read and count, as well as show children how to share, take turns, and get along. One thing kids loved was the variety of the Muppets; each character was a unique individual and represented a different type of personality. There was Big Bird, the eight-foot-tall yellow bird who is innocent and curious like a child; Oscar the Grouch, the monster that lives in the trash can and shows that it’s ok to be grouchy sometimes or have a different opinion; Elmo, the enthusiastic monster who loves to have fun and discover new things; Bert and Ernie, unlikely best friends who are completely opposite in just about every way (Bert loves oatmeal and pigeons while Ernie loves taking baths with is rubber duckie and playing jokes on Bert); Count von Count, the numbers-obsessed vampire; and Cookie Monster, who will do anything for his favorite food: cookies! It was a huge success, and the characters from Sesame Street are loved by many people who grew up with them. If you haven’t seen Sesame Street ask your parents because I’ll bet they have..

Jim Henson designed the puppets but also moved them around and performed them. These puppets included, Rowlf the dog, Ernie, Waldorf, the Swedish Chef, Guy Smiley, Dr. Teeth, Captain Vegetable…and many more!

To reach a wider audience, and bring his stories and characters to all kinds of people (kids and adults), Jim Henson created more Muppets and new shows for them to be the stars in. The Muppet Show was a variety show consisting of many different kinds of Muppets and a weekly guest star working together to put on a show for their television audience. With colorful characters like Miss Piggy (the demanding diva), Fozzie the Bear (the loveable stand-up comedian with the terrible jokes), Animal (the wild drummer for the band Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem), Gonzo (the stunt performer with the chickens), Scooter (the stage manager of the show), and Kermit the Frog (the leader of the whole gang), and superstar guest hosts like Julie Andrews, Elton John, Vincent Price, and Steve Martin, there was something on The Muppet Show for everyone. Although much of the show was chaotic, it showed people everywhere that in spite of the chaos and our differences, the most important thing is to focus on being together and having fun. 

The Muppets

The Muppets went on to star in feature films like The Muppet Movie, The Great Muppet Caper, and The Muppets Take Manhattan. Jim Henson also created the Henson Foundation to teach puppetry and improve the art and design of puppetry in the United States. Jim Henson combined puppetry and animatronics (puppet-like robots). He was even involved in the creation of one of the most famous puppets of all time- Yoda from the Star Wars movies!

Conclusion

Over the years, Jim Henson never lost sight of his vision of sharing his characters and stories with as many people as possible. He even shared his work with his five children; all of them began working with Muppets at an early age and were able to spend time with their father in this way. 

When asked about his dream Jim Henson said “…it’s about singing and dancing and making people happy. That’s the kind of dream that gets better the more people you share it with.”

Jim Henson started out with a dream of being on television, and throughout his life, he was able to reach people through television and other ways. He is an example of never giving up on a dream, and of helping people to come together and laugh and share the things that they love and enjoy in order to learn and have fun together. 

The post History of Jim Henson for Kids appeared first on Bedtime History: Podcast and Videos For Kids.

Imagine your dad or mom has just told you a magical story about a kind giant who brings pleasant dreams to children. As you close your eyes, you think about the giant–what he might look like, what you would do if you met him. Just then, you hear a gentle tapping on your open window, and a bamboo pole pokes through! A puff of air whiffs out of the tube in your direction. This is like the story you just heard! You wonder with excitement if it’s the friendly giant, blowing sweet dreams into your room. 

When Lucy Dahl was a little girl, this very thing happened to her. As a grown-up, she told a TV interviewer about it. Lucy’s father, Roald Dahl, told her the story of the big, friendly giant who puffed sweet dreams into the minds of children as they dropped off to sleep. He wrote that story, The BFG, and many others, as one of the most famous children’s authors of the twentieth century. Lucy and her siblings were lucky enough to hear many of his tales as bedtime stories.

Born in 1916, both of Roald’s parents were from Norway. They spoke Norwegian at home, and his mother told him Norwegian fairy tales as a child. They even named him after a famous Norwegian explorer, Roald Amundson, who was the first person to reach the South Pole. But his father, Harald, was convinced that England had the best schools in the world, and so that is where they lived. Harald was wealthy due to his work in the shipping industry, and the family lived in a very large house in Wales, which is in the southern part of the island of Great Britain. 

Despite the family’s wealth, Dahl’s childhood was sad at times. His older sister died of an infection when he was three, and his father passed away from an illness only a few weeks later.  This left his mother, Sophie, suddenly alone to raise 6 children, but she decided to stay in England so her children could attend school there, as Harald had wished. 

Unfortunately, some of the schools Roald attended were not quite what a loving parent would hope for. Roald loved to pull pranks, which didn’t go over so well with his elementary school’s headmaster. Once, he put a dead mouse in a jar of gobstoppers at a local candy shop. He and his friends thought the owner was mean-spirited and grumpy, and that may have been true, but the dead mouse may have taken things too far. The owner went to the headmaster of the school to complain. But what happened next should never have happened. The headmaster definitely took things too far: he punished Roald and his friends by hitting them!

Fortunately, Roald’s mother Sophie was a loving parent. She didn’t approve of the headmaster hitting her son, even though it was legal back then, and she told him so. She also took Roald out of that school and sent him to a boarding school–that is, where the students actually live at the school–the next year. 

Although Sophie wanted to improve her son’s situation, the boarding school was no better. Roald was watched over by another strict and cruel headmaster, and most of the other adults at the school, from the teachers to the nurse and dorm supervisor, followed his example. Roald wrote to his mother every week, but because the headmaster read the letters, he never wrote anything bad about the school. 

Though his school experiences were pretty awful on the whole, Roald did have happy times during his childhood. At one school, the students got to “test” Cadbury chocolates that the company provided. Roald dreamed of working in a candy lab, where he would invent a new candy that would impress Mr. Cadbury himself. Maybe this reminds you a little of Dahl’s book, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory! 

Summers were another happy time for Roald. His family spent every summer in Norway, where they would visit with his grandparents and share a huge feast, then vacation on a remote island. There, they would fish, boat, swim, and relax as a family.  

When he finished school, Roald didn’t want to continue on and go to college–understandable given how terrible his experiences with school had been so far. Instead, he wanted to travel the world. He found a job with the Shell Oil Company that took him to live in Tanzania. 

When World War II started, Roald joined the Royal Air Force to train as a fighter pilot. His service took him to many more countries: Iraq, Egypt, and Greece among them. But in September of 1940, something terrible happened: Dahl crashed his plane in the Egyptian desert. He managed to crawl away from the wreckage, but his skull was fractured and he had been blinded. He was rescued and taken to a hospital, where he slowly recovered and his eyesight returned. He was released from the hospital in February 1941. 

The air force returned Dahl to flying planes. They sent him to fight in Greece, where he took part in the Battle of Athens. He described fighting in these aerial battles as “an endless blur of enemy fighters whizzing towards me from every side”.  Can you imagine being in a tiny airplane, with lots of other planes swooping and buzzing past you? 

Soon after his time in Greece, Dahl began having headaches and blackouts related to injuries from the crash. This time, the air force sent him back home to England. He couldn’t fly a plane when he might suddenly get a terrible headache or lose consciousness. He took a diplomatic job for the British in the US but didn’t like it. The work felt unimportant after fighting in the war.

But one thing did happen while Dahl was working in Washington DC that would change his life, and the lives of millions of young readers, forever. Dahl met a famous novelist named CS Forester. Forester asked Dahl to write about some of his war experiences, which Forester planned to turn into a story for the magazine The Saturday Evening Post. So Dahl wrote down his adventures as a fighter pilot. When Forester got Dahl’s version of the story, he liked it so much, he decided to publish it just as Dahl had written it, instead of rewriting it himself. Without really trying, Roald Dahl was suddenly a writer!

Dahl would go on to do all kinds of writing. He wrote short stories for grown-ups, some of which were turned into television shows. He wrote scripts for two movies. One of these was the children’s movie Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, about a family’s special car. You might be surprised to learn that the other was actually for the 1967 James Bond movie You Only Live Twice! 

But of course, Dahl is best known for his beloved children’s books. If you’ve read them (and I do recommend you read them), you know that his books are wildly imaginative, funny, exciting, and sometimes a little scary. 

Many of Dahl’s children’s books started out as stories he made up and told his own children when they were young. These stories were full of magic and whimsy, like a fantastic chocolate factory, giants who bring dreams to children, gnome-like creatures who live in trees, and a giant peach that carries a boy and his insect friends across the ocean. Roald was inspired by the English countryside around his home, by the Norwegian fairy tales his mother told him, and by people he’d met over the years. The hero of his books is almost always a child. Usually, they have to face adults who are unfair, even cruel. But of course, the child wins in the end by using their intelligence, imagination, and kindness. There’s always at least one adult who is kind and who is on the child’s side, though often it’s the child who helps this grown-up with their problems, instead of the other way around! 

Does this sound a little like Dahl was recalling his own childhood? Like his characters, he had to face some scary and unfair grown-ups, though he also had his kind and loving mother to come home to. He enjoyed having fun and playing pranks, just like many of the children in his books, and just like them, he was strong enough to get through these tough situations.

Millions of Dahl’s books are still sold every year. Many have been made into films over the years, including Matilda, The BFG, James and the Giant Peach  and The Fantastic Mr. Fox. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was made into a film twice!  Matilda was also turned into a Broadway musical. Every year on his birthday, September 13th, fans around the world celebrate Roald Dahl Day by dressing up as characters from his books, throwing parties, and putting on performances inspired by his writing. 

Roald Dahl faced many hard situations in his life, but always kept his sense of humor and wonder. Sometimes, reading about someone who overcomes a scary situation can help us face our own challenges in real life. Whether it’s performing on stage, jumping off the diving board, or going to a new school, new experiences can be both exciting and scary. As Dahl put it, “Most of the really exciting things we do in our lives scare us to death. They wouldn’t be exciting if they didn’t.” Dahl knew that sometimes, life throws up challenges, but that there was also magic and wonder in it. It’s important to keep looking for the magic, even when the world seems ugly and dark. Again, Dahl himself put it best: “watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you, because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places.” And just like the children in Dahl’s books, you can get through hard situations, and you can find those unlikely places where beautiful things await you.

Sources

https://www.thebookseller.com/insight/eight-facts-about-roald-dahls-books-364066

https://www.roalddahl.com/roald-dahl

https://www.roalddahl.com/create-and-learn/join-in/roald-dahl-day

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roald_Dahl

Interview with Lucy Dahl: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yvd_JiNXdz4&t=1s

Dahl, Roald, 1984. Boy: Tales of Childhood. Puffin Books, New York.

The post History of Roald Dahl for Kids appeared first on Bedtime History: Podcast and Videos For Kids.

Imagine that you are living in South America in the 1940s.  Life is fun in Argentina, the country where you live, but also hard for your family and for many people you know.  Most people are poor and cannot find jobs that pay well.  The jobs that your aunts, uncles and parents have don’t pay very much.  And so people are not feeling very hopeful about their futures.  There is a lot of talk in the evenings about what people can do to make life better.  

You listen to what the adults talk about and one day, you go into the city with your mother and hear someone speaking on stage.  It is a famous woman who comes out.  She is dressed well and speaks with great passion about what should be done to make the lives of regular people better.  “Who is that?” you ask your mother.  “It is the president’s wife,” your mother responds.  “Her name is Eva Peron and she is a great saviour of our country, Argentina.”

Eva Peron was the wife of the president of Argentina in the 1940s.  She became very famous because she was good at speaking in public and she was passionate about helping poor people of her country.  People loved her and felt that she played a big role in improving the lives of the people of the time.  But Eva Peron was not always rich and famous.  She was actually born into a poor family, which helped her to understand the struggles of being poor. 

Eva Peron was born in May 1919 in Los Toldos, Argentina.  When she was born, her name was actually Maria Eva Duarte.  She was born to a poor family.  She grew up in poverty, meaning that she didn’t have a lot of money or access to good things in life.  She had three siblings, but her closest was a sister named Erminda and together, the two girls dreamt of becoming famous actresses.  They made up plays together and put them on for their parents and friends. 

Her mother was named Juana Ibaguren and her father was named Juan Duarte.  Unfortunately, when Eva was 7 years old, her dad died suddenly.  Everyone was very upset and their money problems suddenly got much worse.  Eva’s dad had previously been married and when he died, all of his money went to his first wife and children. Juana Ibaguren and her children were now even more poor than before.

Eva and her family struggled to have enough to eat and pay rent for their home.  So the older children had to get jobs to help earn money.  The family moved to Junin, a city in the Province of Buenos Aires in 1930.  The older children took jobs as teachers and cooks.  Eva’s mother also started taking in boarders, or people who pay money to stay at a home and be fed meals.  Eva’s mother also earned money by cooking and sewing clothes.

When Eva was 15 years old, she needed to get a job as well to contribute and bring in money.  But instead of taking one of the jobs that were available in their town, Eva did not lose sight of her dream to become an actress.  She decided to move to the big city of Buenos Aires to become an actress.  She packed her bags and caught a bus into the city.  There she found a cheap boarding house to stay at and she started trying out at various theatre houses for auditions.  

Eva was a talented actress and a beautiful young girl.  She found work at a number of theatre companies and landed roles in plays that they were performing.  While she was a teenager, Eva was in many plays and theatre productions and and even landed her first film role, or role on TV.  She also got a contract, or paid position, performing as a voice actress on the radio. 

Eva made a good amount of money as an actress and when she was about 20 years old, she decided to invest her money in starting a business.  To invest means to use your money to try to make more money.  Eva’s new business was an entertainment business called “the Company of the Theatre of the Air.”  In her new business, Eva produced radio programs like the ones she had acted in. 

At first business was difficult and stressful, but over time Eva had great success: she made a deal to create a special radio series in which she would act like famous women in history.  She was very excited to get the chance to play famous historical figures like Queen Elizabeth I and Catherine the Great.

When Eva was in her early 20s, she met a man that would dramatically change her life.  He was an older man named Juan Peron.  Juan was a colonel in the army and a government official.  They met in Buenos Aires and fell in love.  It wasn’t long before Juan asked Eva to marry him and they got married in 1945.  

Only one year later, Juan became the president of Argentina!  Can you imagine what it would be like to go from being an actress with a radio program to the president’s wife within one year?  That must certainly have been a wild time for Eva.  

Eva became a very powerful influence on Juan’s politics.  Influence means the power to shape how things are. Eva used her position as first lady to fight for causes she believed in.  This included fighting for women to have the right to vote and improving the lives of poor people in her country.  She also had a lot of influence over health andworker’s policies in the government while Juan was president. 

Because Eva was a voice actress on the radio, she was very good at speaking .. and very good at speaking in front of crowds. People who heard her speak liked listening to her a lot.  She spoke about all the ways that she wanted to help poor people make their lives better.  Eva started giving speeches while her husband was president.. And people loved her!  She was very easy to listen to and poor people who heard her speak loved to hear her message about how the president planned to help them.  

Eva became very popular.  Everywhere she went, people knew who she was and were very excited about her messages of hope for the future.  She became even more famous and she used her fame to continue spreading her message around the country of Argentina.  She spent about 5 years doing this and her popularity grew and grew.

Unfortunately, Eva started to experience health problems.  She wanted to continue working to help her fellow people of Argentina and to help poor people.  But unfortunately she got sicker and sicker and soon she was not able to work.  The people of Argentina were very sad when they learned that she was sick.  They brought her flowers and chanted her name.  They knew that she had helped them so much and they wished she would get well and stay with them for years to come. 

Eva made her last appearance in front of a crowd June 1952, when her husband was elected president for a second term.  She passed away the following month from cancer.  She was given a large funeral and millions of people showed up to say farewell.  It showed how much support Eva had from the Argentine people at the time. 

Eva Peron is a famous person in her home country of Argentina and around the world still today.  Many people are fascinated by the story of how a poor girl became a famous political power house.  Her life story has been made into a number of books, films and plays.  This includes a famous play called Evita in 1979. The most famous song is “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina” and made her legacy even more known across the world.

Spend some time thinking about Eva and her life. Growing up, her life wasn’t easy but rather than sitting around and feeling sorry for herself, she started working and practicing to become an actress. It took time for her skills to grow and for her business to take off, but she stuck with it until it became successful. And when Eva became successful and the wife of the President, she used her power and influence for good. She spoke out for people who had less people, those who couldn’t vote or who were poor. Even though most of us don’t have the same power as Eva, we can use what we have to help others. This may mean donating clothes or food or money to help those in need. Our family likes to go to a place where we prepare and box food for people in need. Ask your parents if there’s a place like this near you where you can volunteer your time. Every little bit helps and makes the world a better place like Eva Peron strived for herself!

The post History of Eva Peron for Kids appeared first on Bedtime History: Podcast and Videos For Kids.

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be a movie star?  Many people around the world dream of being famous and acting in blockbuster movies.  Lots of actors work hard to build their careers and spend years trying to get even small parts on movies. But imagine if you were just a young child and suddenly became a star before you even started kindergarten.

This is what happened to Shirley Temple.  Shirley Temple became the most famous child actress of her time during the Great Depression in America.  The Great Depression was a time when the country was very poor and most American families did not have enough money to live well.  Many people were sad about their money situation and they needed something to make them happy.  And Shirley Temple became just what they needed.

Shirley was born on April 23, 1928 in Santa Monica, California.  Her father was a banker and her mother was a housewife and she had two older brothers.  Although the country was quite poor at the time, Shirley’s family had enough money that they did not struggle.  

When she was young, Shirley’s family moved to Brentwood, Los Angeles and it was there that Shirley’s acting career started.  Her mother encouraged her to sing and and act and when she was three years old, she enrolled her in a dance school in Los Angeles.

Around this time, Shirley’s mother also began styling Shirley’s hair into corkscrew ringlets.  This cute hairstyle became her signature look and when she became famous, parents around the world started putting ringlets in their daughters’ hair so that they would look like Shirley Temple.

Getting her hair to look just right was not easy.  Every night before bed, Shirley’s mother had to roll her hair into 56 pin curls.  Shirley Temple did not like having her hair done, and she wished that she could just wear a short haircut like her hero, Amelia Earhart.

While Shirley was at the dance school, she was spotted by Charles Lamont, who was a casting director for Educational Pictures at the time. A casting director is someone who decides which actors and actresses will be put into movies.  When Mr. Lamont met Shirley, she was shy and hid behind a piano. But Mr. Lamont thought she was very cute and funny and he asked her parents if she could be in his movies.  She was just three years old.

Shirley Temple starred in many movies from the time she was three until she was six years old and became very famous.  She spent long days on set working very hard on the movies.  “Being on set” means spending time where the movie is being filmed and it usually involves spending long days filming and waiting for your turn to act.  When Shirley was not working on films, she attended the Westlake School for Girls.

Shirley starred in a number of feature films between 1932 and 1934, including Bright Eyes, Curly Top and Heidi and she became a worldwide star. In the movie Bright Eyes, Shirley sang a song called “On a Good Ship Lollipop”.  Everyone thought that she was so cute and so talented that she won a special Academy Award for the part.

Everyone around the world loved the curly haired girl.  Companies made dolls and dishes and clothing with her picture on them.  Everyone wanted to look like Shirley Temple and many girls dressed like her and curled their hair the same way. It became a very popular look.  

Someone even named a drink after her, called “The Shirley Temple”.  It was flavoured with cherry, lemon and lime and had a cherry in it.  It became a very popular drink and still is today.

Shirley became a sign of hope and optimism during the difficult years of the Great Depression.  Many people found Shirley’s attitude and energy in her movies made them very happy and optimistic. Optimistic means having a positive outlook on life and believing that the future will be positive and happy.

The President of the United States at the time was named Franklin D. Roosevelt. President Roosevelt called Shirley Temple “Little Miss Miracle” for making people happy during such a difficult time for the country.  He said in a speech to the country that, “As long as our country has Shirley Temple, we will be all right.” 

By the time Shirley was 12 years old, she had made 43 films. However, as Shirley Temple got older, her movies became less and less popular.  Everyone wanted Shirley to stay the cute child star she was at first, but she was growing up.  Shirley was sad about this, but instead of wallowing, she decided to shift her focus to other things in life.

In 1945, Shirley married an actor named John Agar Jr., when she was only 17 years old. They had a daughter together but they got divorced in 1949.  The next year, Shirley Temple got married again and this time her marriage lasted for the rest of their lives.  Her new husband was a businessman named Charles Alden Black and together they had two children: a son, Charles, and a daughter, Lori.

In 1948, Shirley appeared in her last big movie, a Western movie also starring with John Wayne. Her career as a popular film star had ended at an earlier age than most actors’ had begun and she retired from acting in films in 1950 at the age of 22.

While Shirley Temple may have been sad about her movie career ending, she decided to refocus her efforts on other activities, including activities that would help others.  She sat on the boards of companies and organizations including The Walt Disney Company, Del Monte Foods, and the National Wildlife Federation.

She also decided to get involved in politics and from 1969 to 1970. She was the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. She later became the U.S. ambassador to Ghana and the U.S. ambassador to Czechoslovakia.  She found a way to give back to the world again through her political work instead of her movies.

In 1988, Shirley Temple published her autobiography, Child Star.  An autobiography is a book that someone writes to tell the story of their life. 

She received many awards and honors throughout her life, including the Kennedy Center Honors and a Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award. In 2005, she received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Screen Actors Guild.

Shirley Temple died on February 10, 2014, at her home near San Francisco, California. She was 85 years old. Following her death, Shirley’s family said that: “We salute her for a life of remarkable achievements as an actor, as a diplomat, and most importantly as our beloved mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and adored wife of 55 years.”

Shirley showed a great deal of charisma at a young age, which first got her noticed to be in the movies.  But it was ultimately her dedication to being a good actress and working hard that helped her build success.  Shirley also demonstrated resilience throughout her life.  Resilience means the ability to recover quickly from difficulties.  Shirley was able to shift her focus to new activities allowed her to continue to give back to the world in a positive way, even after her movie career ended. 

All of us can learn from Shirley about the power of being positive and spreading happiness and joy.  We can also learn about how to look forward to what we can do next in life when something stops working out for us.  By focusing on the positive things in life, we can continue to build happiness and meaning for ourselves and others. 

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Can you hear that?

“Ding, ding.”

It’s the Neighborhood Trolley making its way back from King Friday’s castle to the Neighborhood Of Make Believe. It’s here to deliver a message to all of you about the man known as Mr. Rogers.

Fred McFeely Rogers was born on March 20, 1928, in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. His father’s name was James and his mother Nancy. His love of music started early in life as he began to play the piano at the age of five. 

Before we go any further, I know that you’re all dying to know about Fred’s middle name, McFeely. Yes, that is actually his middle name. McFeely was his grandfather’s last name. Fred Brooks McFeely.  Fred’s grandfather was a local entrepreneur and the man that they named Fred.

Now that we have that interesting fact out of the way, let’s learn some more about Mr. Rogers.

Childhood wasn’t the easiest for the man who would become known as one of the nicest, happiest men on TV. He was very shy and overweight. He spent a lot of time stuck at home suffering from bouts of asthma.

Fred was picked on a lot as a child because of his weight. Some kids even called him “Fat Freddy”. Fred had a very lonely childhood which forced him to make up imaginary friends. He spent a lot of time playing alone with his toys in his bedroom, making up imaginary worlds for them to explore.

In High School, Fred finally overcame his shyness and made a couple of good friends. Fred served as president of the student council. He was also a member of the National Honor Society and editor-in-chief of the school yearbook. 

Fred got into television because he hated the shows that were on TV. In an interview, he said, “I went into television because I hated it so, and I thought there’s some way of 

using this fabulous instrument to nurture those who would watch and listen”. His first job in the TV business was working for NBC in New York as a floor director on several shows.

Fred worked for NBC until 1963 when he moved back to Pitsburg. He took a job as a program developer at the public television station WQED. Together with Josie Carey, he developed a children’s show called The Children’s Corner. While Josie was the host of the show, Fred made puppets, characters, and music for the show. Many of the puppets and characters that he developed for The Children’s Corner were used on his later shows. 

It was while working on The Children’s Corner in 1963 that Fred became an ordained minister. Rather than becoming a pastor, he turned his focus to ministering to children and their families through television. He would appear before church officials regularly to keep up his ordination.  

It was during this time that he met Margaret McFarland. Margaret became his key advisor, collaborator, and child-education guru. Most of Fred’s appreciation for children came from his work with Margaret. Margaret helpd with Mr. Rogers Neighborhood scripts and songs for 30 years.  

The original Mr. Rogers show ran from 1963 to 1967 on the CBC in Toronto. It was a black and white 15 minute long show and was the first time that Fred appeared on TV as Mr. Rogers. In 1967 Fred headed back home to Pittsburg with his wife and two young sons.

In 1968 the real magic happened. Fred began filming the show Mister Rogers Neighborhood. Mr. Rogers filmed 895 magical episodes of the show between 1968 and 2001.

Oh, can’t you hear it? I hear it. 

The shows about to start.

[Verse 1]

It’s a beautiful day in this neighborhood

A beautiful day for a neighbor

Would you be mine?

Could you be mine?

[Verse 2]

It’s a neighborly day in this beautywood

A neighborly day for a beauty

Would you be mine?

Could you be mine?

[Bridge]

I have always wanted to have a neighbor just like you

I’ve always wanted to live in a neighborhood with you

[Verse 3]

So let’s make the most of this beautiful day

Since we’re together, we might as well say

Would you be mine?

Could you be mine?

Won’t you be my neighbor?

Won’t you please

Won’t you please

Please, won’t you be my neighbor?

Every show started this same way. Mr. Rogers would sing this song, greeting everyone while changing from his jacket to a cardigan sweater and his dress shoes to sneakers. He was now ready for the show’s adventures to begin.

He always welcomed everyone with open arms into his world. He would share stories of make-believe. He took everyone on amazing journeys outside his home to see how different things worked in the world. But most of all, he taught many lessons about life.

The show ran the same way for the entire time it was on the air. Mr. Rogers would introduce the show’s theme. Then he would leave his home to visit another location. He would let everyone see how different things were made or built.

Once he finished his visit, Mr. Rogers left and returned home. Now we knew it was now time to visit the Neighborhood of Make-Believe. Mr. Rogers headed to the window seat by the trolley track and tells the viewers about the story they were about to see as the Trolley comes out. The camera follows it down a tunnel in the back wall of the house as it enters the Neighborhood of Make-Believe.

Each story and lesson would take place over a week’s worth of episodes. Each involved puppet and human characters. The end of the visit occurs when the Trolley returns to the same tunnel from which it emerged, reappearing in Mr. Rogers’ home. Mr. Rogers always had the last talk with the viewers before the ending of the episode.

Unlike the show Sesame Street, which focused on teaching kids numbers and letters, Mr. Rogers’ show focused on often things like developing feelings and having good morals. There was no other show quite like it. 

Mr. Rogers Neighborhood stopped filming for 4 years between 1975 and 1979. Mr. Rogers focused on adult programming to the shock of many of his coworkers. When he returned to making the show in 1979 until it ended in 2001 the show was better than ever.  

In 1969 Fred went before the U.S. Senate to help get more money for PBS. Fred wasn’t well known but he had the ability to be very convincing. He was able to connect emotionally with everyone he spoke to. His words helped get money for the television station for many years afterward. It was also considered some of the most powerful words spoken before Congress. In 1970, President Nixon appointed Rogers as chair of the White House Conference on Children and Youth.

Not bad for a guy who was so shy as a child that he only played with toys! Now he was using his talents to not only help children everywhere but also to make sure the TV station, PBS, had enough money to keep making Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood for years to come. 

Over the years, Mr. Rogers did many interviews and over 150 speeches to college graduates. His speeches were all about children, television, education, his views on making the world a better place, and how he never wanted to stop learning.

Though Mr. Rogers always spoke with a soft voice, everyone always listened to what he had to say. During some speeches, he would ask the audience to be silent. He asked them to think about someone in their lives who helped them. This is something Fred always encouraged. He always appreciated others for all they have done. 

Mr. Rogers won a Lifetime Achievement, Emmy award, in 1997. He was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 1999.

Have you heard of the show Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood. This kid’s TV show is based on characters from Mister Roger’s Neighborhood.

We can all learn some very important lessons from Mr. Rogers. Even though he started out shy and unhappy as a child, he didn’t let that stop him from having an enormous impact on the world around him. He focused his life on helping children grow and learn to be the best they could be. He taught kindness, compassion, and caring to everyone he ever met.

Mr. Rogers treated everyone like they were his friend and neighbor and only asked the same in return. The world would be a much better place if more people had this same attitude.

Each day please be kind to a stranger and do something nice for your friends and family. Even these simple acts of kindness can make a big impact on the world. Love and happiness are contagious!

As Mr. Rogers once said;

“All of us, at some time or other, need help. Whether we’re giving or receiving help, each one of us has something valuable to bring to this world. That’s one of the things that connect us as neighbors — in our own way, each one of us is a giver and a receiver.”

Thanks for listening to this episode about Fred Rogers. Be sure to tune in next Monday for a new episode!

The post Fred Rogers Story for Kids appeared first on Bedtime History: Podcast and Videos For Kids.

Have you ever seen the movies Spiderman, Fantastic Four or X-Men or read any of these comics?  Did you know that these were all written by the same man?  He was a very talented writer from New York named Stan Lee.  This is the story of his life and how he became the creator of many of the superheroes that we all know and love today. 

Stan Lee was born in New York City in 1922. His real name when he was born was Stanley Martin Lieber.  Stanley’s parents were Jewish immigrants from Romania.  Unfortunately when Stanley and his brother Larry were growing up, his family was quite poor.  He was a kid during the Great Depression, which was a time when many people in America did not have much money and there were not many jobs available.  Stanley’s family lived in an apartment that was so small that Stanley and Larry shared a room together and their parents slept on a fold out couch in the living room.  But they were a happy family and the Lieber brothers played together and loved reading books and watching movies about heroes.  

When he was a teenager, Stanley went to DeWitt Clinton High School where he loved writing and he dreamt that one day he would write a great novel.  He worked part-time during high school writing short articles for newspapers.

When Stanley was 15, he entered a high school writing competition called “The Biggest News of the Week Contest.” He won the prize for three straight weeks in a row! This made Stanley start to believe in himself as a writer and think that he might be able to be a professional writer one day. 

By the time Stanley graduated from high school, the Depression had finally ended but it was still very difficult for people to find a job. Stanley needed money, so he worked at a local movie theatre. He eventually heard that the publishing company that his uncle worked at was hiring, so he applied and got a job as an office assistant.  A publishing house is a company that makes newspapers, books, or comic books.  The company Stanley worked at was called “Timely Comics” and his job was to fetch things for the artists, proofread their writing and edit their drawings. In those days the artists dipped the pen in ink, so one of Stanley’s jobs was to make sure the inkwells were filled.  He also went out everyday to get the artists’ their lunches.  

When Stanley started working at Timely Comics, he didn’t realize he had started his lifelong career. At the time, comics were considered kind of silly and Stanley wanted to be a serious writer.  So he didn’t think that he would work in the comic book industry for very long.  However, he worked very hard in his job and as a result, Stanley was eventually promoted from office assistant to editor and writer.  An editor is a person that is in charge of deciding what the final content of a newspaper, book or comic will be. 

As an editor and writer, Stanley wrote his first comic-book for Timely Comics in 1941.  It was called “Captain America Foils the Traitor’s Revenge. ” It was the third episode in the Captain America Comics series that the company was making. In this episode, Stanley invented Captain America’s ricocheting shield-toss, which later became Captain America’s signature move. 

Around this time, Stanley Lieber started using “Stan Lee” as a fake name for his writing. He still wanted to be a serious writer and was afraid that serious publishing companies would not want to publish his books if he had been writing comics.  So he used a fake name and after awhile, it stuck and he eventually changed this to be his legal name. 

Because Stan Lee’s comic writing was so good, he started writing comics more regularly for his company.  He was only in his 30s, but he showed a knack for business, so he kept getting promoted into higher level roles.  Promoted means progressing into better things. Stan Lee stayed with the company for nearly 30 years until 1972.

When World War II started, Stan Lee left Timely Comics for a time to join the Army.  He worked as a writer and illustrator for the Army along with a few other jobs. Stan Lee eventually moved to the Army’s Training Film Division, where he worked writing manuals, training films, slogans, and occasionally cartooning. His military classification was “playwright” which only nine men in the entire U.S. Army had.  A few other famous people had this same job, including the children’s book writer and illustrator Theodor Geisel, or “Dr. Seuss.”

After the war ended, Stan Lee moved back to New York and went back to his old job at Timely Comics.  In 1947, he got married to a woman from England named Joan.  Together they had two daughters, Joan Celia or “J.C.” Lee and Jan Lee, who unfortunately died when she was just a young baby.

In the mid-1950s, Timely Comics changed its name to Atlas Comics and later DC Comics and then later, in the 1960s, the company changed its name again to “Marvel”. Stan Lee wrote stories in a lot of different genres, or categories of writing, including romance, Westerns, humor, science fiction, medieval adventure, horror and suspense. 

In the late 1950s, superhero comics were starting to become popular.  Stan Lee was getting bored of the stories he was writing and so his wife suggested that he try writing a superhero comic. 

The first superheroes that Stan Lee were the Fantastic Four. The Fantastic Four was made up of four astronauts Reed Richards, Susan Storm, Johnny Storm and Ben Grimm, who after being exposed to cosmic rays formed different superpowers. Reed became Mister Fantastic, who could stretch to incredible lengths, Susan Storm became the Invisible Woman, Johnny Storm became the human torch and Ben Grimm became Thing, who had a body of stone and could smash his enemies. 

Stan teamed up with an artist named Jack Kirby who helped create and draw the comic.  The Fantastic Four comic was immediately popular. This led Stan Lee to start making a bunch of other new comic series such as the Avengers made up of such heroes as Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, and Captain America. Today we know these superheroes from their movies, but for a very long time they only existed in comic books. Each character had super powers with an interesting origin story, how they came to be a superhero, and dangerous enemies. They went on adventures and battled their enemies.

Stan worked with artist Jack Kirby many times over the years and together they created new superheroes and series such as X-Men. He also worked with a different artist, Bill Everett and created Daredevil, Doctor Strange, and his most successful character, Spider-Man. Spider-Man was a teenager named Peter Parker, who was bitten by a special spider that gave him super strength, webs that shot from his hand and the ability to climb up anything and jump very far. 

Kids and adults all over the United States and around the world loved the characters Stan Lee created.  

Marvel Comics became a highly popular franchise, and Stan Lee became editorial director and publisher of Marvel in 1972. In 1981, Stan Lee and his family moved to the West Coast of the United States so that he could help oversee the process of turning the Marvel’s comic characters into TV shows and movies. Stan Lee bought a beautiful house in West Hollywood.  Over the next 20 years, he helped make his characters into tv shows and movies. Most recently this became known as the Marvel Cinematic Universe or MCU and up until now includes 23 movies with 14 more on the way. It has made more money than any other film franchise, around $22 billion dollars. What’s also interesting is that Marvel Comics is now owned by Disney, who also owns the Star Wars franchise.

In 2018, Stan Lee worked on his last Marvel feature movie called Black Panther.  He was 95 years old at the time!  He died on November 12, 2018 in Los Angeles, California.

Stan Lee started his writing career as a poor but hard working teenager.  He worked his way to eventually becoming the leader of one of the most successful comic franchises in the world through Marvel Comics. 

Do you enjoy reading comics or watching movies about superheroes?  Have you ever tried designing your own characters?  What superpowers would your superhero have? What would his or her name be? What would their costume look like and what kind of adventures would do they go on? Now is a great time to start writing. Stan Lee started when he was just your age. And remember you can always start small with short stories or a daily journal. But little by little you can improve like Stan!

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