Sing Me a Story with Belle

Disney's Sing Me a Story with Belle is an American live-action/animated television series created by Patrick Davidson and Melissa Gould. The series features Belle from Disney's 1991 animated feature film Beauty and the Beast, who now owns and manages the bookshop in the village. She is usually greeted by children who would like to hear a story. Belle interacts with the children and narrates vintage Disney animated shorts while doing activities around the bookstore. The series premiered on September 8, 1995, on Disney Channel.

Development
According to Ken Weiner, vice president at Buena Vista Television, using vintage Disney animated shorts allows the show to present a higher quality of animation than would normally be feasible in an educational show that would meet the Federal Communications Commission's E/I standards.

By early 1995, it was said that the show would present two short films per episode (with updated music and voices), which Belle and the children would sometimes interrupt for discussion purposes or to "test cognitive abilities".

Plot
Belle (Lynsey McLeod) lives in France and owns her own book and music shop after marrying her Prince. Helping her at the bookstore are Lewis and Carroll, two magical bookworms, Harmony the Cat and Big Book, a large talking book on a book stand. The bookstore is visited by local children to whom Belle will sing songs and tell stories, usually with a moral relating to something that's happened that day. The show's format bears resemblance to Adventures in Wonderland in nature with some valuable lessons borrowed from Sesame Street like never giving up and working together.

Clips from vintage Disney cartoons would often be used to illustrate the stories, including:


 * Mickey's Rival
 * The Cookie Carnival
 * Goliath II
 * Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree
 * Music Land

Cast

 * Lynsey McLeod - Belle from Beauty and the Beast
 * Tim Goodwin - Brioche
 * Jacob Chase - Jacob
 * Kirsten Storms - Kirsten
 * Shawn Pyfrom - Shawn
 * Hampton Dixon - 'Little' Hampton
 * Jennifer Jesse - Jennifer
 * Natalie Trott - Natalie
 * Julie Vanlue - Julie
 * Kerry Anne Bradford - Kerry Anne
 * Chris Robles - Chris
 * J. J. Ward - J. J.
 * Lindsay Louie - Lindsay
 * Trevor Mann - Trevor
 * Holly Arnstein - Holly
 * Victoria Gregson - Victoria
 * Justin Chapman - Justin
 * Crysta Macalush - Crysta
 * Faryn Einhorn - Faryn
 * Corey Hayes - Corey
 * Thea Cabreros - Thea
 * Kristian Truelsen - Uncle Zack
 * Wolf Bauer - Gaston (1 episode, "What's Inside Counts")
 * Cyndi Vicino - Inez
 * Mary Pat Gleason - Madame Soufflé
 * Lindsey Alley - Miss Woohoo

Voices

 * Mary Kay Bergman - Fifi, Hansel & Gretel, Elf, Witch
 * Christine Cavanaugh - Carroll the Book Worm
 * Jeff Conover - Harmony the Cat
 * Jim Cummings - Big Book, Lewis the Book Worm
 * Wayne Allwine - Mickey Mouse
 * Tony Anselmo - Donald Duck
 * Bill Farmer - Goofy, Pluto, Practical Pig
 * Russi Taylor - Minnie Mouse
 * Maurice LaMarche - Mortimer Mouse, Joe Giraffe
 * Tress MacNeille - Lambs, Tillie Tiger
 * Corey Burton - Ghosts
 * Will Ryan - Willie the Giant
 * TBA - The Golden Harp

Syndication
This series premiered in First-run syndication in select markets as a sneak preview on September 8, 1995. In August 1996, two videos featuring two episodes each were released as part of the Disney Princess Collection: Chapters of Enchantment and Beauty and the World of Music. In August 1999, two episodes from the first season were released with an episode of an abandoned Beauty and the Beast animated series on the direct-to-video film Belle's Tales of Friendship.

Two episodes were also featured separately as an extra in both the 2011 re-release of Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas, and Belle's Magical World.