Teacher’s Pets Acting Up

Little did Greg Lee know, while directing student plays at Ventura College and Buena High School in Ventura, that one day he would be trying to direct a chimpanzee named Rocky to tie up a toy-store employee with Silly String.

But that was what the Ojai resident was doing Wednesday at Ventura’s Toys R Us outlet. Lee, a longtime drama and English teacher, is the director and co-producer of a new children’s TV show, “Critter Gitters.”

The 30-minute show’s critter gitters are kids from a neighborhood who, with the help of a wacky but lovable professor, help a different animal in trouble each episode. The show broadcasts on 114 cable channels nationwide at 7:30 a.m. Saturdays. It is shown on station KSTV in Ventura County.

Based in Santa Barbara and often filmed in its studio there, “Critter Gitters” has been on television since March. “But we’ve been picked up for the fall, so now we’re doing next season’s 26 episodes,” Lee said recently before turning to speak with Rocky’s agent-owner about the chimp’s expression in a close-up.

Lee, 48, has also dealt with agents for an armadillo, a raccoon and a skunk.

The show has an international flavor. In one episode, the critter gitters helped search for “chupacabra,” a mythic vampire-like predator, in Costa Rica. In Spain, the kids lent a hand to Snowflake, an albino gorilla, and a recent show filmed in Switzerland is about homing pigeons that get lost.

One of Lee’s former Buena High School students, Jessica Aviles of Ventura, is the makeup artist for “Critter Gitters.” She loves her job.

“He was my drama teacher two years at Buena,” Aviles said. “He was everyone’s favorite teacher--light-hearted and warm. And it’s as fun to work on the show.”

Lee loves it, too. “Since I grew up on a farm, it combines my love of animals, love of working with kids and directing plays.”

Born and raised in Minnesota, Lee taught English and theater in Minnesota before gravitating west.

“I came to Southern California to get involved in the film industry,” Lee said. “But after three months of no work . . . I was used to a teacher’s salary, so I got a job at Buena in 1982 teaching English and theater.”

After eight years of teaching, plus directing plays at Ventura College, Lee began to feel as if he was repeating himself. This time, he struck out for Santa Barbara. He became managing director of, first, the Center Stage Theater, then of the Lobero Stage Company.

Then he was approached by Tom Moyer, the owner of a movie theater chain, who had an idea about a children’s TV show in which kids rescued animals.

So there he was, directing Rocky’s owner to take off the animal’s disposable diaper for a more “natural” look in the scene.

“Rocky is actually toilet-trained,” Cheryl Lynn said. “But if he gets excited, well . . . “

In the latest episode, which can be seen in September, Rocky has run away to a Toys R Us store to--what else?--play with toys. Once there, he decides to tie an employee to a swivel chair so he can fool around with a Godzilla toy he particularly likes.

However, he toddles by a TV that happens to be showing a “Wild Kingdom” episode on chimpanzees. Rocky ends up happily munching a banana and watching the animal show with the employee, now freed.

“We like to have a little moral to the story at the end,” Lee said. “I see our show as being like, say, ‘Flipper’ or ‘Lassie.’ We want moms and dads to watch, too.”

The families of two Ventura youngsters will certainly be watching when the Rocky episode broadcasts this fall.

Dillon Schaub, 7, and Michael Gordon, 8, were shopping for a Godzilla toy and a Lego set in the store when Lee spotted them and asked if they’d like to be extras in a 10-second scene.

“People become extras real easily on our show,” Lee said.

The boys were thrilled to oblige, and Lee promises that theirs will be the premiere episode of the new season.