50 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.