100 Fun Facts About Curious George

On the ship in the first Curious George book, George falls overboard while trying to do what?

Fly like a seagull: he copies the gulls circling the ship, drops into the sea and nearly drowns before the crew pull him out.

Where is Curious George living when the Man with the Yellow Hat first finds him?

Africa: the Man carries him off to a big-city zoo, but George escapes it at the start of the second book.

What was George called in H. A. Rey's 1939 book about a giraffe and nine monkeys?

Fifi kept that name in the manuscript the Reys carried out of France, but their American publisher thought it an odd name for a male monkey, so he became George.

When the original books were published in the United Kingdom, George was renamed what?

Zozo spared British readers a mischievous monkey called George while King George VI was on the throne, so the London edition gave him a new name.

How did the Reys flee Paris in June 1940, carrying the Curious George manuscript?

On bicycles they had built themselves: with no ordinary bicycle left to buy in Paris, Hans assembled two from spare parts and the couple pedalled south with the manuscript.

Which publisher released the first Curious George book in 1941?

Houghton Mifflin had just hired Grace Hogarth, who had been the Reys' editor in Britain, and she signed the newly arrived refugees to a four-book contract.

Why was Margret Rey left off the early Curious George covers?

A man's name was thought to sell better in a field 'so dominated by women', Margret recalled; she later asked herself 'Why the devil did I do that?' and added her name.

In Curious George Learns the Alphabet, George alters a note to the baker to bring home ten dozen what?

Doughnuts: sent for one dozen, George uses his new letters to change 'one' to 'ten' on the note, in the sixth of the seven books the Reys wrote themselves.

In the first Curious George book, what does the Man pop George into once the hat covers his eyes?

A bag: the Man sets his hat on the ground, George pulls it down over his own head, and the bagged monkey is rowed out to a big ship.

In the first book, who arrives at the house after George plays with the telephone?

The fire department: George dials at random and says nothing, so the firemen assume a blaze, race to the house, and have him locked up for the false alarm.

How does George end up flying over the city in the first book?

Holding a bunch of balloons: he reaches for a single red one, comes away with the whole bunch, and the wind carries him off over the city.

In Curious George Takes a Job (1947), what job does George get after escaping the zoo?

Window washer: after George proves a fine four-handed dishwasher, the grateful cook takes him to an elevator man who needs a tall building's windows cleaned.

In Curious George Takes a Job, what injury lands George in the hospital?

A broken leg: chased down a fire escape, George jumps the last stretch to the sidewalk, and once it heals he knocks himself out with a bottle of ether on the ward.

In Curious George Rides a Bike, what does George fold the undelivered newspapers into?

Paper boats: he sails a whole fleet down a stream, and the book stops to show readers, fold by fold, how to make one from a sheet of newspaper.

Which animal is George warned against feeding at the animal show in Curious George Rides a Bike?

The ostrich proves the warning right by snatching George's bugle, which sticks in its throat, and later it tugs open a cage door and lets the bear cub out.

How does George earn his award in Curious George Gets a Medal?

Rides a space ship and bails out: the invitation had lain unread since the mailman brought it, until the Man waved it just in time to save George from punishment at the museum.

In Curious George Gets a Medal, what does George knock over at the museum while reaching for nuts?

A dinosaur display: he had reached the museum by jumping onto a truck while fleeing a farmer whose pigs he had let out, and the nuts hung on a model palm tree.

In Curious George Flies a Kite, who gives George a baby bunny at the end?

Bill, the neighbour boy, had left George minding his kite when the wind carried monkey and kite away, and the Man had to fetch them back by helicopter.

What does George swallow at the start of Curious George Goes to the Hospital (1966)?

A puzzle piece: he takes it for candy, an X-ray finds it in his stomach, and after the operation the nurse sends it home with him so the puzzle can be finished.

Which hospital's staff asked the Reys to write Curious George Goes to the Hospital?

Boston Children's wanted a book to prepare young patients for a stay, so the story walks George through every routine from the X-ray table to the operating room.

What did Hans Rey sell for a living before he and Margret began making children's books?

Bathtubs paid the struggling artist's bills until he and Margret went into business together, opening an advertising agency before they ever made a book.

Besides Curious George, H. A. Rey is known for redrawing what to make them easier to remember?

Constellation diagrams: Rey began rethinking them as a soldier in the First World War, though his simpler star figures did not reach print until 1952.

In which German port city were both Hans and Margret Rey born?

Hamburg: Hans grew up near its Hagenbeck Zoo and learned to draw there, and for the rest of their lives the couple's first stop in any new city was the zoo.

In which Massachusetts city did the Reys settle in 1963 and live for the rest of their lives?

Cambridge: Margret stayed on after Hans died there in 1977, teaching creative writing at nearby Brandeis University and editing new George stories drawn from a series of short films.

What is the Man with the Yellow Hat called in the 2006 animated film?

Ted: the original books only ever call him the Man, and a scene cut from the film went further and gave him a surname, Shackleford.

Who voiced the Man with the Yellow Hat in the 2006 Curious George film?

Will Ferrell changed the story: with a star in the part, the director felt the Man could no longer just bookend George's adventure, and the film became a buddy movie.

Which musician wrote and performed the songs for the 2006 Curious George film?

Jack Johnson was hired after the studio's head of film music learned the surfing songwriter was 'obsessed by Curious George'.

In the 2006 Curious George film, the monkey gets his name from a nearby statue of whom?

George Washington: pressed by schoolchildren at the zoo, the Man blurts out 'Washington', is told it is a dumb name, and settles on George instead.

In the 2006 Curious George film, what does the Man with the Yellow Hat sail off to find for the Bloomsberry Museum?

A giant stone idol, the Lost Shrine of Zagawa, is meant to stand forty feet tall, but the one he digs up is three inches high and turns out to be a map to the real thing.

Which veteran actor voiced museum owner Mr. Bloomsberry in the 2006 Curious George film?

Dick Van Dyke plays the museum's elderly owner, who is all set to lead the expedition himself until he remembers he is 'really, really old' and lets his tour guide go instead.

Who voices Maggie, the schoolteacher, in the 2006 Curious George film?

Drew Barrymore's Maggie brings her class to the museum guide's weekly talks, and it is her blunt push that sends him after George when the monkey is shipped away.

Who provides the vocal effects for George in the film and TV series?

Frank Welker, long the voice of Scooby-Doo's Fred, gives George no words at all, only monkey noises, which is why the series leans on a narrator to say what he is thinking.

On which network did the Curious George TV series premiere in September 2006?

PBS Kids built the show to teach preschoolers science and maths, pairing two cartoons in each episode with live-action clips of real children testing George's ideas.

In the TV series, what kind of dog is Hundley, the Doorman's very proper pet?

A dachshund: dignified Hundley guards the lobby and dreads the havoc George brings, yet the two keep ending up as reluctant allies.

In the Curious George TV series, Chef Pisghetti's cat is named after which Italian food?

Gnocchi lives at the restaurant as the chef's taste-tester, and in one episode he shuts the place when she goes off his cooking, until an allergy to flowers turns out to be to blame.

In the Curious George TV series, what kind of animal is Compass, the Doorman's rooftop pet with no sense of direction?

A pigeon: Compass is a homing pigeon who is adamantly wrong about the way home, and keeps trying to nest on the Man with the Yellow Hat's balcony instead.

George's country house in the TV series sits near which body of water?

Lake Wanasinklake lies beside the country house where George and the Man spend part of their time, a second setting that lets the series show farm life as well as the city.

Which Oscar-nominated actor narrated the first season of the Curious George TV series?

William H. Macy, father of a daughter named Georgia, has said the books were a nightly staple in his house; Rino Romano took over the narration from the second season.

What kind of animal does George help get home in Curious George 2: Follow That Monkey!?

An elephant: Kayla performs in a magician's show, and George rides a freight train across the country to return her to her family at a California animal park.

Where does a mishap on a space mission land George in Curious George 3 (2015)?

Back in the jungle: the crash-landing strands him in the wild, where he makes new animal friends while the Man with the Yellow Hat searches for him.

In which 1994 Oscar-winning film is Curious George the main character's favourite book, read by his mother?

Forrest Gump tucks the floating feather inside his copy of Curious George in the opening scene, and it drifts out again years later when his son takes the book to school.

A Curious George water play area entertained children until 2023 at which theme park?

Universal Studios Florida shut Curious George Goes to Town in January 2023 along with most of its children's zone, and a DreamWorks-themed land took over the site.

In which country did Hans and Margret Rey meet again and marry before moving to Paris?

Brazil: the couple married in Rio de Janeiro in 1935 and became Brazilian citizens, then sailed to Europe for a honeymoon and stayed on in Paris for four years.

At the end of Curious George Takes a Job, George signs a contract to do what?

Star in a movie: a film studio signs him to act out his own life story, and everyone he met in the city turns up at the theatre to watch it.

In which medium did H. A. Rey first make the pictures for Curious George, before redrawing them for the printer?

Watercolour: to keep printing costs down the publisher wanted a separate drawing for each ink colour, so the paintings were put away and not printed until a 1998 collector's edition.

What did Margret Rey knit for the two pet marmosets she and Hans took on their honeymoon voyage to Europe?

Sweaters: Margret knitted tiny ones to keep the little monkeys warm on the long crossing, but neither marmoset lived to see Europe.

Which Oscar-winning director was one of the producers of the 2006 Curious George film?

Ron Howard brought the film's eventual director together with screenwriter Ken Kaufman, and the long-stalled story was rebuilt in about two weeks.

In the 2006 Curious George film, what does Mr. Bloomsberry's son Junior want to build in place of the museum?

A parking garage: Junior sabotages the expedition's map to get it built, yet ends the film contentedly parking cars for the museum's crowds of new visitors.

In the stage show Curious George Live!, George travels to which city to enter Chef Pisghetti's meatballs in a contest?

Rome hosts the Golden Meatball Contest, which George enters to cheer up a chef who has sworn off cooking, and the show was later retitled Curious George: The Golden Meatball.

What was the 2017 documentary about the lives of Curious George's creators called?

Monkey Business grew out of the Reys' papers in a Mississippi archive, where Hans's pocket notebooks record the couple's wartime escape almost hour by hour.

Curious George is called a monkey, but which feature of nearly every real monkey does he lack?

A tail never appears on George in the books, the films or the TV series; tailless primates are mostly apes, which is why he is often likened to a young chimpanzee.

In the 1941 book Curious George, what grown-up habit does George enjoy after dinner at the Man's home?

Smoking a pipe is how George relaxes on his first night in the city, before falling asleep in a pair of human-sized pyjamas.

Curious George Flies a Kite uses only 219 different words, a limit inspired by which author's beginner books?

Dr. Seuss had made short word lists fashionable in the late 1950s and the Reys followed suit, though Margret Rey later called the simplification a mistake.

In Curious George Flies a Kite, what does the Man fly to rescue George when the kite carries him off?

A helicopter lets the Man pluck George from the sky after the kite lifts him so high that the houses below look tiny.

Which country's consul, Aristides de Sousa Mendes, authorised visas that let Curious George's creators flee France?

Portugal's consul in Bordeaux ordered the visas that the Reys collected at Bayonne in June 1940, letting them travel through Spain by train and leave Europe from Lisbon.

In the 1941 book Curious George, where does George land after the wind carries him over the city?

On a traffic light is where George comes down, snarling the cars below until the Man with the Yellow Hat spots him and he slides down the pole.

In Curious George Goes to the Hospital, what does George race down a ramp into a row of food carts?

A wheelchair borrowed from a boy called Steve sends George hurtling towards the cafeteria, and the crash finally cheers up a frightened young patient.

In Curious George Takes a Job, what does George sniff from a hospital bottle, knocking himself out cold?

Ether puts George to sleep on the ward, and the Man, a doctor and a nurse only manage to wake him by putting him under a cold shower.

In Curious George Flies a Kite, what does George use as bait when he tries to catch fish?

Cake goes on George's hook, and when the fish keep nibbling it off he gives up and eats the rest himself.

In the 1941 book Curious George, where is George locked up as punishment for playing with the telephone?

In prison is where George ends up, though not for long: he slips out when a heavy watchman tips over the bed he is standing on.

In the 1941 book Curious George, what do the sailors throw to George as he struggles in the sea?

A lifebelt thrown by the crew saves George, who had promised the Man only a little earlier that he would stay out of trouble.

In Curious George Takes a Job, what is George caught eating from a pot in a restaurant kitchen?

Spaghetti is his stolen supper, but the kindly cook only makes him clean the kitchen and wash the dishes, then helps him find work.

In Curious George Takes a Job, how does the Man with the Yellow Hat discover that George is in hospital?

A newspaper story about George's accident makes the front page, and the Man contacts the ward as soon as he reads it to claim his friend.

In Curious George Gets a Medal, what does George use to wash away spilled ink, flooding the whole room?

A garden hose turns one ink blot into an indoor flood, which sends George running to a nearby farm to borrow a pump.

In Curious George Gets a Medal, which farm animals burst out of their pen when George lets one out?

Pigs pour out the moment George opens the gate for just one of them, and he escapes the angry farmer by hiding inside a shirt on a washing line.

In Curious George Learns the Alphabet, which three-letter word is the first that George reads by himself?

Cab is spelled from the first three letters the Man draws for him, and George knows what one is because he once rode in a taxi.

In Curious George Goes to the Hospital, which touring official ends up with George in his arms after a crash?

The mayor is being shown round the building when George comes flying at him in a shower of spilled dinners and smashed dishes.

In Curious George Rides a Bike, which baby animal does George rescue after it gets stuck up a tree?

A bear cub slips out of its cage and climbs too high to get down, so George lowers it to safety in his delivery sack and wins back his place in the show.

After escaping wartime Europe, the creators of Curious George made their first American home in which city?

New York is where the Reys settled after their escape, and the first story about George reached American shops in August 1941.

Margret Rey, co-creator of Curious George, studied art at which famous German design school in Dessau?

The Bauhaus was one of three places where she trained in the late 1920s, and she then worked in advertising before turning to children's stories.

In which hilltop district of Paris did Hans and Margret Rey live while they created Curious George?

Montmartre was the couple's home until June 1940, when they slipped out of the city shortly before German troops marched in.

Which Massachusetts university made Curious George co-creator Margret Rey a professor of creative writing in 1979?

Brandeis hired her two years after Hans died, and she kept writing as well, working with Alan Shalleck on more than two dozen further George books.

Margret Rey's will left the Curious George creators' entire literary estate to a collection in which US state?

Mississippi won the archive because a library science professor in Hattiesburg wrote to the Reys in 1966 about her new collection, and they sent her a pair of sketches.

H. A. Rey, co-creator of Curious George, also made Elizabite, a 1942 picture book starring what kind of character?

A carnivorous plant is the heroine of Elizabite, one of several picture books Rey made away from George in the 1940s, along with Pretzel and Spotty.

Which future Pixar director was lined up in 1999 to write and direct a part-live-action Curious George film?

Brad Bird wrote a script for the project before Pixar called him away to direct The Incredibles, one of many false starts in the film's 16 years of development.

Which Canadian comic actor voices Clovis, the gadget-building inventor, in the 2006 Curious George film?

Eugene Levy plays Clovis, whose workshop full of robotic animals supplies the machine that the heroes hope will rescue the museum.

In the 2006 Curious George film, what is the profession of Miss Plushbottom, whose penthouse George covers in paint?

Opera singer Miss Plushbottom, voiced by Joan Plowright, is so upset by the mess that George and his new friend are thrown out of the building.

Which voice actor plays the Man with the Yellow Hat in the Curious George TV series and the film sequels?

Jeff Bennett took over the role when the story moved to television, and in the same show he also voices the farmer Mr. Renkins.

In the Curious George TV series, what breed is Charkie, the speedy black dog owned by Steve and Betsy?

Cocker spaniel Charkie bolts after whatever catches her eye, so many of her scenes have her two young owners sprinting along behind her.

In the Curious George TV series, siblings Clint, Flint, Wint, Sprint and Mint all share which rhyming surname?

Quint is the family name of the five quintuplets, who include a retired fisherman, a police chief and a stationmaster.

Which award did the Curious George TV series win in 2008 and 2010 for Outstanding Children's Animated Program?

An Emmy went to the show twice within its first four years on air, and it eventually ran for fifteen seasons.

Which streaming service launched in July 2020 with new seasons of the Curious George TV series?

Peacock offered seasons 10 to 13 from its launch and later premiered the last two George films as well.

In its first nine seasons, what followed each animated story on the Curious George TV series?

Children doing experiments appeared in short live-action films that tested the idea George had just stumbled on; the segments were dropped after season nine.

In the Curious George TV series, who is the five-year-old granddaughter of country farmers Mr. and Mrs. Renkins?

Allie arrives in an episode called George Meets Allie-Whoops! and quickly becomes one of George's closest friends outside the city.

In the Curious George TV series, what is the big green area near George's city apartment called?

Endless Park sits close to the museum, the pet shop and a big store called Mabel's, all regular stops in the city episodes.

In the TV special Curious George: A Very Monkey Christmas, what problem do George and the Man share?

Choosing a gift for the other troubles them both in this 2009 special: George draws his wish list, but the Man cannot work out what the picture shows.

In Curious George 2: Follow That Monkey!, George and the Man ride a freight train towards which US state?

California is home to the animal park where their runaway companion's family lives, and the trip starts by accident when a boxcar pulls out with all three aboard.

In Curious George Rides a Bike, what does George crash into while watching the stream instead of the road?

A rock bends his front wheel so badly that George bursts into tears, until he remembers that he can ride on the rear wheel alone.

In Curious George Learns the Alphabet, what does the Man turn each letter into to help George remember it?

A drawing grows out of every letter on the Man's pad: a capital A becomes an alligator and a capital C a crab with two claws.

The five-minute Curious George cartoons of the early 1980s first aired on which American television channel?

Nickelodeon ran the shorts inside its preschool programme Pinwheel, and they did not move to Disney's Lunch Box strand until 1989.

The producers of the touring musical Curious George Live! were best known for touring which children's TV show?

Sesame Street was the show VEE Corporation was founded to put on stage in 1980, and from 2009 the same company sent George on tour across the United States and Canada.

The Curious George film soundtrack was the first from a cartoon to top the Billboard 200 since which Disney film's?

Pocahontas had spent a week at number one in July 1995, and no animated film's album managed it again until George's arrived in February 2006.

Which song from the 2006 Curious George film became a US top-40 hit, peaking at number 38?

Upside Down opens the soundtrack album, and its video has the performer slipping on a banana peel on a pier while an animated George looks on from a tree.

Which British actor voices the Great Piccadilly, the stage magician in Curious George 2: Follow That Monkey!?

Tim Curry plays the showman whose vanishing act goes wrong when George leads his vanished co-performer out through the basement.

Which Monsters, Inc. voice actor joined the cast of Curious George 3 in 2015 alongside Angela Bassett?

John Goodman signed up for what proved to be the franchise's second film to skip cinemas, voicing Hal Houston in the June 2015 DVD release.

Which Japanese arcade company published the 2006 Curious George video game for GameCube, PlayStation 2 and Xbox?

Namco released the platform game days before the film opened, with 13 levels that follow its plot and bananas to collect along the way.

Which veteran film comedian voices the Humbleton stationmaster in Curious George 2: Follow That Monkey!?

Jerry Lewis has the cameo, playing the railwayman whose motorcycle the Man with the Yellow Hat borrows to chase a departing train.

At the start of Curious George Flies a Kite, which new toy does the Man leave George to play with?

A ball keeps George busy only until he spots a tiny house through the window and climbs out to see who could live in it.

In the 2006 Curious George film, what is the name of the doorman who enforces a strict no-pets rule?

Ivan, voiced by Ed O'Ross, has George's friend evicted, then invites him to move in again once the museum is saved.

In Curious George 2: Follow That Monkey!, what is the name of the magician's animal co-star whom George befriends?

Kayla misses her brother Tonga and sister Layla, and by the end of the film all three are performing together in the magic act.