BOB DOROUGH - 3 is the Magic Number

On a Saturday morning, February 3rd, 1973 the first episode of Schoolhouse Rock aired on ABC. The original run of the series ran from 1973-1985. The show was a collection of educational short films inspired by a song written by jazz pianist and composer Bob Dorough - 3 Is The Magic Number. Dorough had written the song after a request was passed on to him through a friend to put the multiplication tables to music. Dorough later pitched the idea for a children's show to vice-president of ABC's children's programing division Michael Eisner. Cartoonist Chuck Jones was recruited by Eisner for the project, and Three Is The Magic Number became the pilot episode of the series and Dorough became the main composer and performer of the songs featured in the animated shorts.