Went To A Garden Party

White Plains' Paula Janis and Carole Demas of Irvington—the hosts of "The Magic Garden," during its entire 12-year run on WPIX-11 —were inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame (LIMHoF), on Nov. 16 in Huntington, NY.

At an event that included other musical dignitaries like Lou Reed, the Shangri-Las and Eddie Palmieri—it was the two former teachers who made the biggest impact. Anyone who was a fan of their children's show was not surprised.

Bronxville resident Rosemary McKiernan remembers watching the show with her family. "My children loved the Magic Garden! What a wonderful show. I can still remember the 'Story Box,'" she said.

In case you were too young or too old to remember the show—it featured a pink squirrel named Sherlock, a "chuckle patch" of flowers with jokes written on their leaves, a story box ("you don't need a key so follow me there are no locks on story box") and, of course, music. It ran consecutively from 1972 to 1984.

One song from the show, "The Goose on the Loose," was nominated for a Grammy Award. Janis played an acoustic guitar, while she and Demas sang together.

"The music we did ranged, and Paula was great at learning the songs. Thank goodness she played guitar," Demas said. "We were able to introduce a broad range of music. We did traditional, folk, classic songs, goofy songs, even songs from the 1930's and other eras."

The women became friends when they were both students at Brooklyn's Midwood High School. Their musical educations began at home.

"Both of our families were musical. Paula's dad played trumpet and we both sang with our parents at home," Demas said.

She began performing as an actor and singer, both on screen and stage. In fact, Demas created the Broadway role of Sandy in "Grease." She was also a teacher working in the same Brooklyn school where Janis was teaching, after her stint in a folk trio.

In the early 1970's, WPIX-11 was looking for a host for an afternoon cartoon show. Demas was qualified, but not thrilled with the  job. When she found out the station wanted to incorporate educational programming into its afternoon lineup, she recruited Janis and "The Magic Garden," was born. 

"The set had a magical feeling, even though it was plastic. And we were still free to be ourselves," Demas said.

"Something we hear a lot from people is 'you talked right to me, like there were no barriers.' That is precisely what made the show work," Janis said.

"It brings back a lot of special memories for people. They say 'I used to watch your show with my grandmother, who has since passed away.' Now people watch it with their kids. That is really so wonderful for us," Demas said.

All of the original "Magic Garden" episodes are in the permanent collection at the Paley Center for Media—formerly the Museum for Television and Radio—in New York City. The women also released a DVD of 10 of their favorite shows in 2008.

They still continue to perform for children, but now they have a show aimed at their parents as well—aptly titled "The Show for Grown Up Fans,"—to share what their life has been like as adults. Their charity, Friends Forever, is designed to bring music and the arts back to children.

Education is also very important to the women, given their background as teachers. Their first involvement with the LIMHoF came up two years ago when they asked the women to be a part of the Honorary Education Advisory Board.

"We were delighted, especially since music education is one of the goals of the LIMHoF," Demas said.

Today the women are as busy as ever making public appearances. With over 36,000 Facebook friends on their combined fan pages, the women could not slow down now even if they wanted to, which they do not.

"We were stunned to find the kind of following we have. It's been 38 years and we are still out there doing shows," Janis said.

Demas shared her singing partner's sentiments. "Everywhere we go it is our happy experience to meet people who remember 'The Magic Garden' with great affection."