Celebrity Toons: That Girl in Wonderland (Saturday Superstar Movie, 1973)

 From season 2 of the ABC Saturday Superstar Movie:

That Girl had been in syndication for a while, first-run production having ended 3 years earlier, when Rankin-Bass was asked to adapt the series into a 1-shot that one YouTuber said was a pilot.

Marlo Thomas reprises as Ann Marie, and is the only cast member returning for "That Girl in Wonderland" (italics mine).

This wasn't Marlo's 1st rodeo with Rankin-Bass. You'll recall she and papa Danny worked with R-B on "Cricket on The Hearth" 6 years earlier (which Danny co-produced). Forgive the poor video quality.

No rating. Just a public service.

George Lowe (1957-2025)

 George Lowe, the 2nd man to essay the role of Space Ghost, after the iconic Gary Owens, passed away on Sunday.

Lowe and the creative staff on Space Ghost Coast-to-Coast and its sister series, Cartoon Planet, took great pleasure in deconstructing Space Ghost and his adversaries in a parody of late night talk shows that served as the inspiration for [adult swim], which launched in 2001, well after Coast had reached its creative peak.

Lowe has also been heard on such shows as American Dad, and reprised as Space Ghost one final time on Jellystone a couple of years back.

Rest in peace.

Retro Toy Chest: Spellbound (1975)

 In the mid-70's, entertainer Jerry Lewis entered into an agreement with Hasbro for a series of board games, for which he'd do the commercials. He figured, since he bombed with an animated cartoon, board games can't be too worse.

Unfortunately, none of the Lewis games Hasbro produced survived the decade.

In this 1975 bit, Jerry is joined by Billy Barty (Sigmund & The Sea Monsters) and narrator Joe Sirola to plug Spellbound. 

Keep in mind that this was after Aurora had hired Don Adams to promote their Skittle line of games.

Tooniversary: Waldo Kitty as Robin Cat (1975)

 There was a time when episodes of The Secret Lives of Waldo Kitty were plentiful, but, those videos were deleted a ways back. Now, they're back.

Part of the reason that Waldo Kitty was cancelled was because the estate of James Thurber objected to the unauthorized adaptation of Thurber's work, specifically, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, which had been a movie with Danny Kaye years earlier, and remade with Ben Stiller 12 years ago.

Here, Waldo (Howard Morris) imagines himself as Robin Cat as "The Sheriff of Sherwood":

Rating: B.

Saturtainment: The Magnificent 6 1/2 (1969)

 Remember when ABC & 20th Century Fox brought Here Come The Double Deckers to the US in 1970? Well, a year earlier, the creators of Double Deckers had developed a series of short features for British cinemas in the mold of Hal Roach's legendary Our Gang, and the 7 protagonists were the prototypes for the Double Deckers.

The Magnificent 6 1/2 enjoyed a modest four year run in the UK theatres, with the cast changing with each series of shorts. Three of the shorts were packaged for import to the US for The CBS Children's Film Festival, later in 1969, and three more in 1973.

"When Knights Were Bold" was one of the 1969 shorts imported to CBS.

I'm only seeing this for the first time today, so, no rating.

Toon Rock: Skat Strut (1991)

 MC Skat Kat returned with his own CD in 1991. That was the good news for cartoon fans. The bad? The lone single, "Skat Strut", bombed, failing to crack the top 40 despite regular airplay on MTV. The song samples Earth, Wind, & Fire's 1981 hit, "Let's Groove". In an unintended homage to a certain Golden Age series of animated shorts, Paula Abdul pops out of an inkwell to create some mischief, as she returns the favor to Skat after he'd debuted on her "Forever Your Girl" CD 2 years earlier.

But, if you thought that was it for Skat, it wasn't. Seth MacFarlane brought Skat in for a guest shot on American Dad 15 years ago.

Rare Treats: US of Archie on record (1974-5)

 Concurrent with the series, Peter Pan Records was licensed to adapt the US of Archie into audio dramas, featuring the show's cast (Dallas McKennon, Jane Webb, John Erwin, Howard Morris, and guests).

Two episodes on each album. The music, however, is not the same as the original soundtrack from the show. 

You probably remember the format. Each episode started with a vignette in the then-present, with Archie taking us back to the days of the gang's lookalike ancestors.

Here's "The Great Divide", with Erwin and, I assume, McKennon, doubling up as Lewis & Clark.

To be honest, I didn't know these albums had even been released.

For educational & entertainment purposes only, so, no rating.