DOGGOD:

'Davey and Goliath' bridges generations (ROBIN GALIANO RUSSELL, November 27, 2004, The Dallas Morning News)

If you grew up in the 1960s, one of your favorite television programs may have aired on Sunday mornings and featured a boy named Davey and his talking dog, Goliath.

Millions of young television viewers would tune in each week, often before heading off to church themselves, for the latest adventures of Davey and Goliath, an animated series that taught simple faith lessons without preaching. Produced by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, it drew fans of all denominations.

Program creator Dick Sutcliffe, who now lives in Dallas, said his goal was to tell children how much God cares about them and also give them responsibilities. He came up with the idea for a boy and his dog with biblical names when he asked himself, "If you had a month to live, what would you tell your son Mike (age 12)?"

"I wouldn't tell him to go to church or go to Sunday School. I'd tell him about what God was like and let God do the work in him," he said. [...]

The creative team had more than a few differences with Lutheran officials over the church-funded program, Mr. Sutcliffe said. When animators wanted a dog in the show, for instance, the church was concerned about having an animal be someone's conscience.

"Davey never talked to Goliath about what to do, and Goliath only talked to Davey. That's how we got around that one," Mr. Sutcliffe said. "And if anybody got preachy, I said, 'No way. The kids will turn that off faster than you-know-what.' "

The program aired on commercial television in the 1960s and 1970s, and its simple style predated computer-generated animation by decades. But its faith lessons stuck.

The show's creators still hear from viewers, now in their 40s, who learned racial and religious tolerance by watching the program, which featured some of the first people of color on television.

A new generation of children will have an opportunity to get to know the boy and his dog, thanks to a partnership between the ECLA and the children's book publishing company Scholastic, which will release two new storybooks and coloring/activity books. Information is available at www.daveyandgoliath.org

Though it seems fair to wonder if Davey Berkowitz got confused about that whole listen to the dog thing.

Posted by Orrin Judd at December 8, 2004 8:50 PM