‘Schoolhouse Rock’ co-creator George Newall dead at 88

George Newall, the co-creator of the educational musical cartoon series “Schoolhouse Rock,” has died. He was 88.

Newall’s wife, Lisa Maxwell, told the New York Times he died of cardiopulmonary arrest Nov. 30 in a New York hospital.

Born June 17, 1934, the advertising executive and jazz pianist was the last living founding member of “Schoolhouse Rock.”

The children’s series — which ran from 1973 to 1984 before being revived in the 1990s — set math, civics, science and grammar lessons to music.

The idea stemmed from a conversation Newall, then a creative director at the McCaffrey & McCall advertising agency, had with agency president David McCall in which McCall expressed frustration that his young sons couldn’t multiply, “but they can sing along with Jimi Hendrix and the Rolling Stones.”

“I asked Ben, and he said, ‘Oh yeah, my partner, Bob Dorough — he can put anything to music!’ ” Newall told the New York Times Magazine in 2018.

“He told me Bob had written a song based on the words on the mattress tag that say, ‘Do not remove under penalty of law,’ ” Newall recalled. “So I brought Bob in, and David gave him the assignment. He came back about two weeks later with ‘Three Is a Magic Number,’ and we were all knocked out by it.”

That tune taught kids about tripods, triangles and counting by threes. Multiplication inspired a number of memorable ditties. Other fan favorites include “Interjection!,” “Unpack Your Adjectives” and “The Preamble” to the US Constitution.

Tom Yohe — the agency’s art director and a cartoonist — illustrated the group’s ideas, and the show was sold to ABC. Yohe died in 2000, and Dorough passed in 2018.

“Schoolhouse Rock” won four Emmy Awards and spawned books, recordings and live singalong shows to educate Generation X.

The Walt Disney Company will reportedly air a national primetime singalong in early 2023 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the series. “The Official Schoolhouse Rock Guide,” by Newall and Yohe, and an adult coloring book featuring series characters is due out as well.

A celebration of Newall’s life is set for Saturday at the St. Andrews Golf Club in Hastings-on-Hudson.