Richard Scarry's Best Counting Video Ever!

Richard Scarry's Best Counting Video Ever is the second video of the Richard Scarry's Best Videos Ever series. It was released in August 31, 1989 on VHS and rereleased in October 16, 2001 on DVD and uploaded on early-late 2010s on Youtube and Dailymotion.

Storyline

Join Lily Bunny as she spends her counting day from one to twenty!

Plot

The video starts off with the busy people working in Busytown and Mr. Frumble chases his hat. Then it goes on to Lily Bunny reading a counting book at the Bunny family's house. Her father (Mr. Bunny) decides to make today a counting day and tells her to start by counting one of something, and then count two things, until she reaches to ten, in which it is her lunch time. Lily starts by counting one of herself, and then two hands, feet and long ears. Then she goes outside to find three of something while she sings the counting day song. She counts three friends riding three tricycles with three horns. On the way to the farm, she counts four cows mooing, along with five funny frogs and five big splashes. Then, Lily goes to Farmer Fox's farm, where she counts six crows and six scarecrows, and then the wind blows away the hats. She counts the six silly hats, including one more making seven, which she wonders where that hat came from. The seventh hat happened to belong to Mr. Frumble, who was chasing it. Lily counts seven airplanes flying in the sky. One of them crashes into Farmer Fred's tractor, and eight watermelons roll off and bounce away, so Farmer Fred has to chase them. Then, Lily goes to Farmer Fox's farm stand while she sings the counting day song again. At Farmer Fox's farm stand, Bananas Gorilla orders nine banana cream pies. Farmer Fox shows Lily the surprise: ten baby chicks are hatched from ten eggs, thinking Lily is their mom. Farmer Fox says so long to Lily and she giggles and really softly all on her way home for lunch.

Back home, Lily sings to her parents about her day counting up to ten. Next, Lily's dad wants her to count all the way up to twenty, so Lily comes over to Huckle's house and tells him it's her counting day. She asks him if he and Lowly wants to come with her, and they agree, so they go into Busytown while they sing the reprise of the counting day song. There, Lily and Huckle count eleven members of a pig family, who are going to Busy Burger for lunch. At Busy Burger, they count twelve pancakes for one hungry hippo (Mr. Hippo). Lowly sneaks in and eats a stack of pancakes, when is called to come back by Huckle convincing him to find thirteen scouts. Then, Huckle and Lily count thirteen scouts crossing the street. At the zoo, Lowly buys fourteen balloons, and gets lifted off by them, but luckily, a giraffe saves him. At Father Cat's grocery store, Huckle and Lily count fifteen delicious apples as Mom Crocodile buys them. In one of Mom Crocodile's fifteen apples, Lowly is hiding inside it which scares her, causing a mess in the store and Mr. Frumble continues to chase his hat. But he trips over the apples and fell on the ground. In the playground, Huckle and Lily count sixteen children sliding down a slide. In the library, they count seventeen books, which Mr. Lion is carrying. He tries to juggle them, but fails. Then they see Lowly at a florist buying eighteen roses. Lowly brings them to Hilda Hippo on her birthday. She sneezes them away, leaving eighteen beautiful stems. The trio also watches a parade and count nineteen big bass drums, followed by Lowly being in a tuba and being blown out when it sounds. It's getting late and it’s time for Huckle and Lowly to go home for their dinnertime, but Lily tells them they haven't counted to twenty yet. However, Huckle apologizes to Lily and he and Lowly must go home. Lily feels sad and agrees with both Huckle and Lowly that she must go home, too. Lily sadly says goodbye to both Huckle and Lowly as they both watch her go out of sight on her way home.

When she comes back home and back inside, she tells her family that she and Huckle only counted up to nineteen, but they didn't make it to twenty. Lily’s dad tells her that her counting day isn’t finished and she might be able to find something to count at home, until Lily realizes there are no more things to count. But at dinner time, when something catches Lily's eye on the dinner plate, she finally counts twenty carrots at the dinner table and her family applauds for her.

At bedtime, Lily’s parents tell her that it has been a very busy day. Her mother (Mrs. Bunny) sings Tomorrow You Can Count Again to Lily as the video ends. Also, at the end of the lullaby, a silhouette of Mr. Frumble chases his hat and the fireflies arrange the words "THE END."

VHS Contents

Random House Home Video Logo
Title/Introduction
Lily reads a counting book and Lily's father decides her daughter to make today a counting day/One bunny
Two hands, two feet and two long ears
Won't You Come and Count With Me? (Tra La La, 1, 2, 3)
Three friends on three tricycles with three horns
Four cows and four moos
Five funny frogs and five big splashes
Six crows and six scarecrows
Seven airplanes
Eight watermelons/Won't You Come and Count With Me? (Tra La La, 1, 2, 3) (reprise)
Nine banana cream pies
Ten baby chicks
Lily returns home/Lily's Counting Day Song/Mr. Bunny wants his daughter to count all the way up to twenty
Lily meets Huckle Cat and Lowly Worm to go to Busytown/Won't You Come and Count With Me? (Tra La La, 1, 2, 3) (reprise with Huckle Cat)
Eleven pigs
Twelve pancakes and one hungry hippo
Thirteen scouts
Fourteen balloons
Fifteen delicious apples
Sixteen children
Seventeen books
Eighteen roses
Nineteen big bass drums/Lily says goodbye to Huckle and Lowly
Lily returns home again/Twenty carrots
Lily's bedtime/Tomorrow You Can Count Again/The End
End Credits/Copyright/FBI Warning Screen

DVD Contents

FBI Warning Screen
Random House Home Video Logo
DVD Menu
Title/Introduction
Lily reads a counting book and Lily's father decides her daughter to make today a counting day/One bunny
Two hands, two feet and two long ears
Won't You Come and Count With Me? (Tra La La, 1, 2, 3)
Three friends on three tricycles with three horns
Four cows and four moos
Five funny frogs and five big splashes
Six crows and six scarecrows
Seven airplanes
Eight watermelons/Won't You Come and Count With Me? (Tra La La, 1, 2, 3) (reprise)
Nine banana cream pies
Ten baby chicks
Lily returns home/Lily's Counting Day Song/Mr. Bunny wants his daughter to count all the way up to twenty
Lily meets Huckle Cat and Lowly Worm to go to Busytown/Won't You Come and Count With Me? (Tra La La, 1, 2, 3) (reprise with Huckle Cat)
Eleven pigs
Twelve pancakes and one hungry hippo
Thirteen scouts
Fourteen balloons
Fifteen delicious apples
Sixteen children
Seventeen books
Eighteen roses
Nineteen big bass drums/Lily says goodbye to Huckle and Lowly
Lily returns home again/Twenty carrots
Lily's bedtime/Tomorrow You Can Count Again/The End
End Credits/Copyright/FBI Warning Screen

Characters Featured

The Bunny Family
- Lily Bunny
- Willy Bunny
- Mr. Bunny
- Mrs. Bunny
Huckle Cat
Lowly Worm
Farmer Fox
Farmer Fred
Bananas Gorilla
Sergeant Murphy
Mr. Hippo
Able Baker Charlie (cameo)
Hilda Hippo
Mr. Frumble
Mr. Lion
Wrong-Way Roger
The Pig Family
Bob Fox
Grocer Cat
Mom Crocodile
The Narrator (offscreen)
Other Busytown people
Lucy Fox
Bugs
The giraffe
David Cat
Alex Cat
Pablo Cat
Baron Von Crow (title screen only)

Trivia/Goofs

This title of the video is based on and named after the book, Richard Scarry's Best Counting Book Ever.
A running gag in the video is Mr. Frumble constantly seen trying to catch his flying hat.
This is the second video of the Richard Scarry's Best Videos Ever series.
This video, along with Richard Scarry's Best ABC Video Ever, will be featured in the Random House video, Richard Scarry's Best Learning Video Ever, and the Children's Book-of-the-Month Club videos, Richard Scarry's Best ABC Plus Counting Video Ever.
This video, along with Richard Scarry's Best ABC Video Ever and Richard Scarry's Best Learning Songs Video Ever, will be featured in another Random House video, Richard Scarry's Family Feature: Starring the Busytown Friends, another Children's Book-of-the-Month Club video, Richard Scarry's Best Learning Video Ever: ABC-123-Learning Songs, and the Mad4Kids video, Richard Scarry's Best Learning Collection.
This video, along with Richard Scarry's Best Learning Songs Video Ever, will be featured in another Random House video, Richard Scarry's Best Counting & Best Learning Songs Video Ever (part of Richard Scarry's Best Fun-to-Learn Collection Ever).
This is the only episode where the plot focus is on Lily Bunny.
It was Hilda Hippo's birthday on the same day as Lily Bunny's counting day. Also, it’s revealed that she is allergic to roses.
Huckle Cat says "Hi, Lily!" to Lily Bunny when he and Lowly Worm greets Lily Bunny to count with them. Mrs. Bunny will say the same line when she greets her daughter on the show from Richard Scarry's Best Learning Songs Video Ever.
This is the first video Huckle asks "Where's Lowly?". The next time this will happen in Richard Scarry's Best Sing-Along Mother Goose Video Ever.
Lily Bunny says "Goodbye, Huckle. Goodbye, Lowly." to Huckle and Lowly while she sadly wanders off to home. Mr. Read-a-Lot will say the same line when he waves goodbye to Huckle and Lowly as they both leave the Busytown Library from Richard Scarry's Best Silly Stories and Songs Video Ever. But he still doesn't make an appearance until the Silly Stories and Songs video.
This is the first time that Busytown takes place in nighttime at the end of this video.
On the number 6 segment, those birds are called crows. But on Richard Scarry's Best Sing-Along Mother Goose Video Ever, those birds will be called blackbirds.
This is the first time where we see Lily Bunny in her pajamas in Tomorrow You Can Count Again from this video. The second time will later then be in the song Mixed Up Sounds in the second story Mr. Fixit Fixes It from Richard Scarry's Best Silly Stories and Songs Video Ever.
This is the first time where we see Lily's father is wearing the same suit. The second time will later then be in the song Mixed Up Sounds in the second story Mr. Fixit Fixes It from Richard Scarry's Best Silly Stories and Songs Video Ever. Also, Richard Scarry's Best Busy People Video Ever (in the pilot and captain segments) and Richard Scarry's Best Learning Songs Video Ever.
This is the first time Hilda Hippo sneezes. The next time this will happen in The Busy World of Richard Scarry episode, Be My Valentine.
This is the only time Lily Bunny sings Won't You Come and Count With Me? (Tra La La, 1, 2, 3) and Lily's Counting Day Song. However, after she greets Huckle Cat to count to 20, he and Lily sing Won't You Come and Count With Me? (Tra La La, 1, 2, 3) when they and Lowly go to Busytown.
This is the only time Mrs. Bunny sings Tomorrow You Can Count Again as Lily goes to bed.
Able Baker Charlie appears as a cameo.
The 20 number segments are not from ''Sesame Street'' either.
Fireman Ralph and the pig and mouse firefighters are absent. So do Able Baker Charlie, Freddie Fox, Susie Tiger, Edna Bunny, Arthur Pig and other characters.
This is also the debut of Lily Bunny, Mr. Lion, Lucy Fox, Mr. Hippo, David Cat, Alex Cat, Pablo Cat and Mom Crocodile.
This video marks the second for several things:
- This is the second video the Narrator says "Welcome to Busytown!" in the introduction segment.
- This is the second video the Narrator says "The End" before the credits start.
- This is the second time there is a song in the ending of this video.
- This is the second video Lowly Worm doesn't speak.
- This is the second video Hilda Hippo has a crush on Lowly Worm when he buys eighteen roses to her.
- This is the second video that this episode has been produced by Jerry Lieberman Productions.
- This is the second video Huckle Cat's voice is high. He sounds like he's excited. He will continue his high voice from the future TV shows, The Busy World of Richard Scarry and Busytown Mysteries. But on other videos, his voice was and will be normal.
This is the first video the Narrator narrates the introduction, and later, he names each number from 1 to 20 after Lily Bunny or both she and Huckle Cat count things.
Stock animation footages of the sign plane title "Richard Scarry's Best ABC Video Ever" replaced with "Richard Scarry's Best Counting Video Ever", the birds-eye view of Busytown, the Busytown people working and the wallpaper screens, "Based on books and characters created by Richard Scarry" and "Produced entirely in New York City", are reused from Richard Scarry's Best ABC Video Ever. However, the Busytown people working animation is slower and choppy, and these animations are in comprehensive color.
When Mr. and Mrs. Bunny ask "What is it, dear?" before Lily counts the 20 carrots, Mr. Bunny is missing.

Quotes

(the video opens with a plane flying upside down. Wrong-Way Roger turns it right-side up, then Baron Von Crow flies in)

Narrator: (reading title) Richard Scarry's Best Counting Video Ever. (shows a birds-eye view of Busytown, then zooms into the town) Welcome to Busytown. It's early in the morning. Everyone is just starting the day. (shows Mr. Frumble) That's Mr. Frumble out for his morning walk. (Mr. Frumble's hat blows off in the wind) Oops! There goes his hat! (shows Sergeant Murphy) Here comes Sergeant Murphy. He's on his way to the Busytown Police Station. (shows Farmer Fox and Grocer Cat) Farmer Fox is delivering apples to Grocer Cat. Don't they look delicious? (shows Mr. Frumble chasing his hat then Bananas Gorilla) There's Bananas Gorilla in his bananamobile. (shows Mr. Frumble still chasing his hat then The Bunny Family's house) Here we are at The Bunny Family's house. Let's see what The Bunny Family is up to.
Mr. Bunny: Lily, what book are you reading?
Lily Bunny: It's my counting book, Daddy. I'm learning my numbers.
Mr. Bunny: That's nice, Lily. What have you learned so far?
Lily Bunny: I've learned how to count to ten. Listen. (shows the viewers the book) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10.
Mr. Bunny: That's wonderful counting, Lily.
Lily Bunny: Thank you, Daddy.
Mr. Bunny: I have an idea. Why don't you make today a counting day?
Lily Bunny: What's a counting day?
Mr. Bunny: It's a day when you count all the things you see. First, you find something there's only 1 of. Then you find 2 of something. And so on. Until you've counted all the way to 10. Then you can tell your mother and me about all the things you counted.
Lily Bunny: That sounds like fun! I'll start right away. First, I need to find 1 of something. Now let me think. What is there only 1 of? Me! There's only 1 of me! I am 1!
Mr. Bunny: That's right! 1 bunny!

(a number 1 appears with one bug next to it)

Narrator: 1.
Lily Bunny: Now I have to find 2 of something. Look! I have 2 hands! And 2 feet... and 2 long ears!

(a number 2 appears with two bugs next to it)

Narrator: 2.
Mr. Bunny: Good. You've got the idea. Now, why don't you go outside and see what other things you can find to count?
Lily Bunny: (singing) ♪ Come along and count with me 'cause it's a counting day. We'll take a walk and count the things we pass along the way. Tra la la, 1, 2, 3. Won't you come and count with me? Tra la la, 1, 2, 3. Won't you come and count with me? ♪

(Lily curtsies)

Lily Bunny: Now where will I find 3?
David Cat: Hi, Lily!
Alex Cat: Hi, Lily!
Pablo Cat: Hi, Lily!
Lily Bunny: Look! 1, 2, 3! 3 friends! On three tricycles! With three horns!
David Cat: Bye, Lily!
Alex Cat: Bye, Lily!
Pablo Cat: Bye, Lily!

(a number 3 appears with three bugs next to it)

Narrator: 3.
Lily Bunny: Well, finding 3 was easy, but what will I count now? I know! I'll go to Farmer Fox's farm. There's lots to count on a farm.

Huckle Cat: Hi, Lily!
Lily Bunny: Hi, Huckle! Hi, Lowly! Today is my counting day! I've been counting things all day. I counted all the way to 10, but now I want to count to 20. I'm not sure if I can do it by myself. Can you and Lowly please help me?
Huckle Cat: Sure we can! Can't we, Lowly? (Lowly nods)
Lily Bunny: I just counted to 10. I need to find 11 of something.
Huckle Cat: Let's go to Busytown! There are lots of things to count there!

(at the Busy Burger)
Lily Bunny: Let's count those pancakes. (counts as Able Baker Charlie flips pancakes onto Mr. Hippo's plate) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12.
Huckle Cat: That's 12 pancakes.

(a number 12 appears)

Narrator: 12.

(scene changes to the Busy Burger, where Mr. Hippo swallows all twelve pancakes)

Huckle Cat: And one hungry hippo!

(Mr. Hippo eats 12 pancakes)

Mr. Hippo: Mmm! That was delicious. Now, what will I have for dessert?

(outside the diner)

Huckle Cat: Hey, where's Lowly? (looks inside and sees Lowly Worm eating pancakes) Come on, Lowly! We have to count to 13!

(Lowly Worm exits the restaurant. The trio then comes to a crosswalk.)

Sergeant Murphy: Okay, boys! It's safe to cross now!
Lily Bunny: Look, Huckle! We can count those scouts! (the scouts start walking two by two) 1, 2... 3, 4... 5, 6... 7, 8... 9, 10... 11, 12...

(The last scout is a mouse.)

Huckle Cat and Lily Bunny: 13. 13 scouts.
(scene changes with a number 13. A bug turns the 3 to the front)
Narrator: 13.

(at dinnertime at The Bunny Family's house)

Willy Bunny: Hello! I'm glad you're home! You're just in time for dinner! How was your counting day?
Lily Bunny: Huckle and I counted all the way to 19. But we didn't get to 20.
Mr. Bunny: The day's not over, Lily. Maybe you'll be able to count to 20 here at home.
Lily Bunny: Oh, there's nothing to count around here.
Mrs. Bunny: We'll see. Now let's sit down and have our dinner. (She sets the table with four plates with five carrots each. Lily appears and sees something.)
Lily Bunny: Mommy, Daddy, look!
Mr. and Mrs. Bunny (the former off screen): What is it, dear?
Lily Bunny: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5... 6, 7, 8, 9, 10... 11, 12, 13, 14, 15... 16, 17, 18, 19... 20! 20 carrots!

(a number 20 appears and a bunch of bugs come around it, clapping and cheering.)

Narrator: 20!

(scene changes to The Bunny Family claps for Lily)

Lily Bunny: I did it! I counted all the way to 20!
Mr. Bunny: We knew you could do it!

(at bedtime after dinner)

Mrs. Bunny: (she and Mr. Bunny tucks Lily Bunny in bed) Settle down, Lily. It's time to go to sleep. You had a very busy day.
Mr. Bunny: We're very proud of you, Lily. You did a wonderful job counting up to 20. (then he and Mrs. Bunny kisses Lily goodnight)
Lily Bunny: Maybe tomorrow I can count up to 30! Or 40! Or even 100!

(then Mrs. Bunny sings a lullaby)

Mrs. Bunny: (singing) ♪ Close your eyes and go to sleep it's been a busy day. You took a walk and counted things you passed along the way. ♪

(while Mrs. Bunny sings a lullaby, Lily Bunny imagines everything she counted)

Mrs. Bunny: (singing) ♪ You counted cows and frogs and birds and hats up in the sky. You counted pigs and pancakes and drums as they marched by. Hushabye, eight, nine, ten, tomorrow you can count again. Hushabye, eight, nine, ten, tomorrow you can count again. ♪

(During the last two lines of the lullaby, Mrs. Bunny leaves the room as she finishes her lullaby while Mr. Bunny turns off the light and leaves the room. Then, we pan to the right then zoom in towards the window showing a silhouetted Mr. Frumble still seen trying to catch his hat and a few fireflies. Then, the words "THE END" are shown by an arrangement of more fireflies.)