Billie Hayes reprised as Wilhelmina W. Witchiepoo from H. R. Pufnstuf, but instead of continuing her feud with Pufnstuf, she now ran the hotel, aided by her hench-monsters from Pufnstuf, plus Pufnstuf's pal, Dr. Blinky. Len Weinrib & Walker Edmiston voiced the characters. The hotel had one regular tenant, Horatio HooDoo (from Lidsville), with Paul Gale doing his best to mimic Charles Nelson Reilly (Match Game), who was the original HooDoo. Seems Witchiepoo is trying to make a go of it running a legit business. Pufnstuf would surface in the series' other regular feature, Lost Island, which we'll look at another time (Hayes reprised her Lidsville role as Weenie the Genie, in Lost Island).
In this skit, HooDoo brings in organist Egor Strange (Jay Robinson) to provide entertainment at the hotel. When that doesn't work, the Bay City Rollers take over....
Edit, 4/19/22: The video has been deleted as the Kroffts have filed copyright claims. In its place is a title card:
You'll notice that as HooDoo, Gale has the same kind of eye makeup that Witchiepoo has, largely because it compensates for the fact that he doesn't wear glasses, as Reilly did.
Robinson was also part of Lost Island, but his Krofft Supershow character of Dr. Shrinker was renamed Dr. Deathray, and Hugo (Billy Barty) was renamed Otto. Did they really think that by changing networks, they'd fool viewers?
Rating: B-.
8 comments:
I lost touch with The Krofft Supershow after it switched over to NBC (I wasn't as thrilled with season 2 of Supershow since my favorite Kong, Flatbush, flew the coop, so I wasn't watching the show as regularly as I was before), so I never knew about this segment. I thought the show just faded out after its' second season on ABC. Interesting. I wonder if the show offered an in-universe explanation for Wicthiepoo's apparent face turn; Wicthie and company seemed by all appearances to have buried the hatchet with the good guys, anytime Dr. Blinky is a co-worker alongside Orson, Seymour and Stupid Bat.
I read up on the show's other regular segment, "Lost Island", and it seemed to be a mash-up of several Krofft stars from various shows meeting up in a single location. Amazing how this one completely eluded me until now.
Flatbush, aka Albany NY native Bert Sommer, actually left after signing a solo deal with a label and going on tour, something I just found out myself. Anyway, they had separated Witchiepoo and Pufnstuf, so there went the animosity, and Witchiepoo was recast as more of a friendly sort, having reformed, etc., just to prove again that witches have a good side to them.
Lost Island is a mish-mash of Dr. Shrinker (Deathray), Pufnstuf, and elements of Land of the Lost. As noted, we'll have that up soon.
Interestingly, the premise of monsters running a hotel would be tried again decades later, in the form of 2-minute animated filler segments between shows on the USA Cartoon Express entitled "Monster Bash".
Nearly 2 decades later, and I'll see if I can find some of those.
Anybody else think Jay Robinson was kinda foxy in his goth get up? Just me?
Might be just you, Phairhead.
Thought you might want to see...I have the candle from the Horror Hotel Desk...yes its the original.
Hi hobbyfan, I actually have the Original Candle from the Horror Hotel desk...you can email.me at Wonbadappl@gmail.com...I'll send you a pic
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