Radio The comedy format of a teacher and his students already existed on the Brazilian radio, having as a precursor
Escolinha da Dona Olinda created by the humorist Nhô Totico and broadcast by
Rádio Record during the 1930s.
Escolinha do Professor Raimundo was created in 1952 by
Haroldo Barbosa for
Rádio Mayrink Veiga. It consisted of a classroom where Professor Raimundo Nonato (Chico Anysio) served as a foil for the jokes of three students: the smart one, played by Afrânio Rodrigues, the dumb one, played by João Fernandes, and a cunning one, played by Zé Trindade. Later they would be joined by Antônio Carlos Pires.
Television With the success of the radio show, the format got a television version in 1957, on
TV Rio show
Noites Cariocas. The intelligent student was now played by
João Loredo; its opposite by
Castrinho; Vagareza was the trickster who tried to deceive the teacher; and Ary Leite, a stuttering and confused student.
Escolinha was then aired on TVs
Excelsior and
Tupi, until getting into
Rede Globo, where it was aired as part of the shows
Chico City (1973), in its format of three students and a teacher, and
Chico Anysio Show (1988), with a larger, 20-student classroom The idea of turning the format into a solo program came from Chico Anysio. It premiered on August 4, 1990, directed by Cassiano Filho, Paulo Ghelli and Cininha de Paula. It was recorded initially at the studios of the defunct TV Tupi, at the former Cassino da Urca, and later at
Cinédia and at the Tycoon and
Renato Aragão studios (now Casablanca Studios), all in Rio de Janeiro, Escolinha aired on Saturdays at 9:30 pm. It premiered with twenty students, and from October 29, with the addition of three, began airing Monday through Friday at 5:30 pm On June 11, 1992, the program number 500 aired. Escolinha stopped being shown on Saturdays, moving to Wednesday nights, but after a while the change was undone. By then the cast had 37 actors, including students and supporting characters. In 1995 the evening editions began to be reran. Saturday's program aired on Wednesdays, returning to Saturday and ending on Sunday afternoons. As the changes did not work,
Escolinha was cancelled in May 1995 to make way for the soap opera
Malhação. In 1999, Chico Anysio decided to take Escolinha on stage in Brazil and his tour kicked off on October 8 for free at Shopping Grande Rio, in São João de Meriti, Rio de Janeiro. In the same year it was once again aired on Rede Globo, now as a sketch in the program
Zorra Total, remaining in the air until October 2000. A final season, again as a 25-minute solo program, aired Monday through Friday between March and December 2001. == Cast ==