I was very sad to read this morning of the recent passing of Joe Harris — I have written about him before in these pages. Harris was the creator of the iconic “Trix are for kids” commercials, the woebegone canine superhero Underdog, Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales, and other brilliant offerings which entertained and delighted kids everywhere, without patronizing them.
One creation of his in particular has helped to inspire my own work: The magical Three Dimensional Blackboard, or “3DBB”, that Phineas J. Whoopee, a friendly scientist, deployed in many episodes of Tennessee Tuxedo, to the delight of Tennessee, his pal Chumley, and millions of fascinated children who watched along.
Having seen these episodes as a child, I grew up with the firm conviction that we should all be able to draw our explanations in the air for each other, and be able to watch those explanations come to glorious life. Lo and behold, all these many years later, that is exactly what I am working on at NYU!