What's in a Name? Arthur

# Every day when you're walkin' down the street

# Everybody that you meet

# Has an original point of view... #

SHE LAUGHS

-# ..And I say, hey!

-# Hey!

# What a wonderful kind of day

# If you can learn to work and play

# And get along with each other

# You gotta listen to your heart Listen to the beat

# Listen to the rhythm The rhythm of the street

# Open up your eyes! Open up your ears!

# Get together and make things better by working together

# It's a simple message And it comes from the heart

-# Believe in yourself

-# Believe in yourself

# For that's the place to start

-# And I say, hey!

-# Hey!

# What a wonderful kind of day

# If you can learn to work and play

-# And get along with each other

-# Hey!

# What a wonderful kind of day, hey! What a wonderful kind of day, HEY! #

Hey, DW!

-Hey!

-Whoa!

THUD!

Arthur, look what I got from Grandma!

Please tell me you've already named it(!)

Of course I haven't named it. Come on,

we have to get started.

Whenever DW gets a new stuffed animal or doll,

I have to help her name it.

And it's a very elaborate process.

First, DW has to be blindfolded and spun around.

Stop!

All right, remove the blindfold.

The first letter of the first thing she sees

will be the first letter of the doll's name.

Xylophone!

X. Great(!) Only the toughest letter of the alphabet.

A challenge! OK, let's make the naming potion.

Then I mix the naming potion.

Easy with the cinnamon!

And she says...

Nama-lama-lama,

hoc-hic-moo!

Then she kicks her legs while drinking from her curly straw...

and takes a nap with the doll under her pillow.

Next the doll is supposed to tell DW its name while she sleeps.

Shades, please.

-What is your name?

-Squawk!

Tell me your name. Tell me!

I demand to know!

Sometimes this part goes on for a while but, eventually,

DW catches the doll.

PENGUIN WHISPERS

Arthur, meet Xeno. Xeno, meet Arthur.

Why are names so important to some people?

Normally I just give out one Thinky a year,

but this semester a student has improved so much,

-I've decided to award a second one.

-Thank you!

-Thank you...

-George, you won the last Thinky.

You can't win two.

Oh...sorry.

-Binky...

-Uh? I was doing work!

What's the question? The answer is 12.

Binky, I didn't ask a question.

This award is for you.

Your grades are up and you've really been paying attention in class.

Usually.

I've won an academic award?!

This has never happened to me.

< She did not say that, Chip!

Would you like to say a few words?

Um, OK. I'd like to thank some other kids...

< That is SO unfair!

Arthur, you really helped with that project last week...

-< ..Could do better than that!

-..and, and Brain, you've helped

-with dance...I mean, math!

-MUFFY TALKS OVER HIM

Muffy! Would you cut it out?

Got to go! Congratulations!

Miss Crosswire, not only have I told you not to bring your cellphone

to school four times this year,

but you have also been disrespectful to your classmate.

You will not be allowed to go to recess for a week.

-Instead you will stay here in class and do work.

-Oh!

Binky, you can continue your speech on Monday morning.

Starting today.

Oh!

Glad someone's here - although

I don't know why you'd want to be inside on a day like this!

It's the most beautiful Friday I've seen in years.

One for the books. Not a cloud in the sky.

And so much rain forecast too!

Could you give this class list to Mr Ratburn? I want to make sure

the names are spelled correctly.

Ha, ha! Look at that - even the birds are smiling today.

There I am! Mary Alice Crosswire.

Shelley Barnes?! Who's Shelley B...

Ohhhhh!

Hm...

Thanks for getting me in trouble.

You should know better than to cross a Crosswire... Shelley.

Who's Shelley?

Hello! You!

It's your real name. Don't you even know your real name?

My name isn't Shelley.

It is according to this official list.

I made a copy. Won't everyone be surprised to learn that big bad Binky

is actually just...Shelley!

My name is NOT Shelley. That's just a silly typo.

We'll see about that.

Can't wait to hear the rest of your speech, Shelley.

WHAT?! How come you never told me?

I thought you knew. We called you Shelley up until you were two.

But you loved your pacifier so much that we started calling you Binky.

-And the name stuck.

-But I can't be Shelley!

-Why not?

-Because I'm Binky!

-Everybody thinks of me as Binky.

-I

-think of me as Binky.

It's just a name, Sweetie.

It's not just a name!

Shelley's a terrible name! Think of all the things it rhymes with.

Belly, smelly, Machiavelli!

Well, you'll always be my little Binkums to me.

Shelley will be our secret. BINKY GASPS

Muffy...

COMPUTER BEEPS "What do you want?

"Just name it. You know who."

"Revenge or a pony. Your choice."

Ohhhhh.

Binky, dinner!

-I'm not hungry! ­

-SHE GASPS

CHAT AND LAUGHTER

-Ha, ha, ha!

-Statistically speaking,

the chances of anything being funnier than this are zero!

I thought I was the funniest thing in this class until he came along.

That is enough. Now let's let Shelley give the speech that...

Shelley has prepared. HE STIFLES LAUGH

You may proceed. Ha, ha, ha!

I can't take it any more! It's the funniest thing I've ever heard!

HE GUFFAWS

LAUGHTER CONTINUES

Still awake, Sweetie?

Of course I'm still awake. When I was Binky I slept well.

-Now - forget it!

-Here's a sandwich.

I thought you might be hungry. I also thought you should see this.

-Who's that?

-Shelley Barnes.

Your great-grandfather. The person you are named after.

Was he in the circus? Let me guess,

he was a sideshow attraction cos he had such a dorky name.

No, he owned the circus. At least he did eventually...

At first he was just part of the circus.

And not a very good one at that.

They were known as The Travelling Malenky Brothers.

Even their barker was bad.

(YAWNS) Step right up, come see a pretty good show.

When Shelley was only nine, he joined the trapeze act,

helping Ferdinand the Flying Fox,

who couldn't really fly at all.

-Waaaaah!

-SPLAT!

Next he helped Heinrich the Clown,

whose heart had been broken when the bearded lady left him.

SOBS: Why? Why? Why?

Then he apprenticed with Lionel the Lion Tamer who couldn't tame actual

lions but did have a very large cat.

MEOW!

The circus was a complete bust.

People stopped coming to see The Travelling Malenky Brothers.

Sometimes when Shelley thought how sad his life was,

he would go on long moonlit rambles. During one of these walks,

he discovered his special talent.

Move, rock. I said move!

Right, if you won't move, then I'm going to make you move!

Yaaaah!

When the others discovered how strong nine-year-old Shelley was,

they decided to make him the star attraction.

Soon people were coming from all over to see Brawny Barnes,

the world's strongest boy!

But Shelley was smart too.

With the money they made,

he suggested they get Ferdinand a more experienced partner.

And he suggested they get a real lion for Lionel to tame.

RAAAARGH!

But the lion actually didn't need much taming!

LIONEL GIGGLES

Then Shelley said they should give the cat from Lionel's old act

to Heinrich which cheered the clown up immensely.

In short, Shelley saved that circus!

When he got older, he took it over.

-It toured for years and years.

-Wow!

-What an amazing guy!

-Yep.

That's why we gave you his name -

because your dad and I think you're pretty amazing too!

Since you were cut short last week,

would you like to continue your speech before we begin class?

-You bet I would.

-Oh! Mr Ratburn, I feel terrible about interrupting

-Binky before, could I introduce him?

-That's nice of you, go right ahead.

Sometimes you think you know someone

but then you discover something about them surprises you.

That's how I feel about our very own...Binky Barnes.

-Congratulations!

-Uh...thanks.

(I was never really going to tell, Shelley.)

I'd like to dedicate this Thinky

to someone who's strong, smart and really strong -

the person I'm named after, my great-grandfather, Shelley Barnes.

-ALL: You're Shelley?!

-But your name isn't Shelley.

Actually it is. That's the name my parents gave me. I just found out.

So, would you prefer to be called Binky or Shelley?

Binky - for now. Someday I might be a Shelley.

If I'm lucky...

# Every day when you're walkin' down the street

# Everybody that you meet

# Has an original point of view

-# And I say, hey!

-Hey!

# What a wonderful kind of day, hey!

-# What a wonderful kind of day

-Hey! #