Here's a Walter Lantz entry that probably hasn't seen any TV time in forever.
Director Alex Lovy, who'd later work for Hanna-Barbera, helmed "Pigeon Holed", whose protagonist (Dallas McKennon, who does all the voices) is a thinly veiled parody of Mr. Magoo, as Homer, like Magoo, is near-sighted.
By 1991, WWF Superstars of Wrestling experimented with a 3 man broadcast team. Roddy Piper was now a color analyst between movie gigs. "Macho Man" Randy Savage was the other analyst flanking Vince McMahon.
Early in September, former NWA champion Ric Flair came to the company, carrying with him the NWA World title, billed as the "real World champion". Flair had left the NWA/WCW two months earlier in a dispute with WCW executive Jim Herd. Flair & Piper were old friends off camera, and Piper would be Flair's 1st feud during his nearly 2 year run. He would return to the company in 2001.
As you'll see, Piper, after getting battered by Flair, nails McMahon in the back with a wooden chair. It was the first time McMahon had "taken a bump", as they say in the wrestling business.
This is a Cocoa Pebbles ad that should've been made, oh, I don't know, maybe 20 years earlier, when Hulk Hogan was still relevant?
"Bulk Boulder", a Hogan parody, engages Fred Flintstone & Barney Rubble in a handicap match, with Pebbles & Bamm-Bamm providing backup for their dads.
Here's one that may not have aired on Chumptoon Network, Boomerang, or even on Max.
Foghorn Leghorn and Pete Puma star in "Pullet Surprise". Stan Freberg reprises as Pete, with Emmy winner Frank Gorshin as Foghorn.
The Three Stooges have a little fun with the afterlife in 1948's "Heavenly Daze".
Shemp dreams that he has died, and is up in Heaven with his uncle, Mortimer (Moe Howard in a dual role). But, since when do they have a telephone system at the Pearly Gates? Much less, train service back to Earth? Hee-bee-bee-bee-bee-bee!
Today, Wonder bread is part of Bimbo Bakeries' line of products, along with Thomas' English muffins & bagels, and Freihofer's bread. In the 70's, it was part of Interstate Brands, the makers of Millbrook bread and Dolly Madison pastries. During this time, the ad agency came up with the idea of putting animated faces on the back of loaves of bread, hence The Fresh Guys.
Sounds like Daws Butler might be one of the voices.
Aurora Toys was best known for its Skittle line of pendulum games and their model sets.
Then, in 1972, the company introduced Shifty Checkers. To promote it, Don Adams (ex-Tennessee Tuxedo, Get Smart, The Partners) co-wrote, directed, and stars in this commercial. Check his Humphrey Bogart mimic in a spoof of "Casablanca":
From the summer of 1956: Paul Winchell & Jerry Mahoney return to What's My Line?, with actress Vivian Blaine filling in for Dorothy Kilgallon. In addition to headline guest Jerry Lewis, the panel meets a manufacturer of ventriloquist puppets, and one of the first female boxers. Jerry Mahoney joins the panel for game 2 (the boxer).
Rick Derringer and the Edgar Winter Group rocked the Midnight Special with 1973's "Rock & Roll Hoochie Koo". Winter had been on earlier to perform "Free Ride", and we'll have that up another time.
Aurora's Skittle Bowl was the longest lasting of the Skittle line of games in the late 60's & early to mid 70's.
Here, Gene Wood (Beat The Clock, ex-The Adventures of Lariat Sam) is doing what amounts to an auditon for the Pro Bowlers Tour as he calls the end of this match. But check out the name given to the younger contestant......
Mr. Peabody (Bill Scott) & Sherman (Walter Tetley) meet Jim Bowie in this episode of Peabody's Improbable History. You'll note that the open is different from what you're accustomed to. This aired during either season 3 or 4 of Rocky & His Friends/The Bullwinkle Show:
The Three Stooges are tailors, although their spelling leaves a bit to be desired, in 1947's "Sing a Song of Six Pants" (a play on "Sing a Song of Sixpence"), which was remade six years later as "Rip, Sew, & Stitch".
From season 1 of M. A. S. K.:
Agents of V. E. N. O. M. use a shrinking ray to steal some valuable cars. To think that this episode premiered on Christmas Eve.
This "Disappearing Act", of course, won't be confused with a He-Man episode of the same name 2 years earlier.
From season 1 of The Monkees comes one of their most recognizable hits.
Davy Jones sings lead on "Daydream Believer", and things get out of hand when the boys start mugging for the camera toward the end of the clip.
This 1st season episode of Underdog first aired around January 1965. This video collects all four chapters, which became the format when NBC repackaged the series in an all-rerun, done-in-one package until the series was cancelled in 1973.
Sweet Polly (Norma McMillan) is in the titular village when she falls under the spell of "The Witch of Pickyoon", and it's up to Underdog (Wally Cox) to find & rescue her. "Witch" borrows some of its plot from the classic "Sleeping Beauty":
Just a few months before Batman: The Animated Series launched, Kevin Conroy (ex-Tour of Duty) tried his hand at comedy.
Conroy was cast as a surgeon on Fox's Rachel Gunn, RN, opposite Christine Ebersole (ex-Saturday Night Live) in the title role. Check the sample episode, and you'll see just how Dr. Dunkel sounds a lot like Bruce Wayne.....
Popeye & Brutus are rival lumberjacks. Brutus' jealousy gets the better of him when he steals some of Popeye's trees.....and Olive! Here's "Timber Toppers":
One of Dr. Hook's earliest hits was an ode to a music industry magazine still going strong today. From The Midnight Special, here's "On The Cover of The Rolling Stone":
Yeah, I know. April Fool's Day was Monday. Five days later we have an appropriately titled cartoon that first aired on Halloween 1981.
From season 1 of Laverne & Shirley in The Army, a furlough turns into a working vacation for the girls (Penny Marshall & Cindy Williams) & Sgt. Squealy (Ron Palillo) in France. There's the predictable trope about an accidental swap of suitcases, espionage, and, well.......
ABC's Weekend Special closed season 6 with a 3 part adaptation of a 1960's children's novel, The Secret World of Og. At the time, ventriloquist Willie Tyler and his puppet, Lester, were the series hosts. However, this video is taken from a later VHS release that edits the 3-parter into a movie that runs just over an hour.
Voice talent includes Julie McWhirter-Dees, Hamilton Camp (Smurfs), and Fred Travalena (Shirt Tales). Produced by Hanna-Barbera's Australian division.
Wrigley's decided on a different approach when they introduced Hubba Bubba bubble gum in 1979. In order to hook the kids, they needed a heroic character, since the commercials would air smack dab in the middle of network programming, which, at the time, had its fair share of superheroes (i.e. Super Friends, Spider-Woman).
Enter The Gumfighter (Don Collier) in a series of commercials parodying old school Westerns. Western vet Dub Taylor is the Geezer, and would later join the cast of Hee Haw.
Len Lesser, later of Seinfeld & Everybody Loves Raymond for contemporary viewers, but a well traveled character actor, like Taylor, plays the villain here.
The Three Stooges head "Out West" when Shemp needs a vacation to treat an injured leg. "Out West" is a remake of "Pistol Packing Nitwits", made a few years earlier with Harry Langdon & El Brendel, the latter of whom co-starred with Shemp in the Glove Slingers series for Columbia, and would be remade again in 1954's "Pals & Gals":
Today, you'd be hard pressed to get a real cat to endorse something like Kitty Litter or its contemporaries, like Tidy Cat, for example.
In 1978, though, an ad agency contracted actor Pat Harrington (One Day at a Time, ex-Journey to The Center of The Earth, The Inspector) to voice a common housecat extolling the product's virtues.
The Three Stooges are boxing trainers in 1947's "Fright Night". If the plot looks familiar, the boys, along with Dick Wessel, revisited it 8 years later in "Fling in The Ring".
5 years after the project was first in development, the X-Men are back on the air.
X-Men '97 picks up where the 1992-7 series leaves off. Professor Charles Xavier is believed to be dead. In the original series, he had been taken to a distant world where his girlfriend, Lilandra, hoped to cure him of his illness. 27 years later, the creative team has decided to sell the idea that Xavier had been assassinated by rogue government agent Henry Peter Gyrich.
As we resume, the time-traveling Bishop and the shape-changing Morph have been added to the open. Scott Summers, aka Cyclops, has wed Jean Grey, who is expecting their first child. Roberto DaCosta, aka Sunspot, who debuted in the pages of The New Mutants circa 1992, makes his debut, and they're already teasing something between him and Jubilee.
Check the trailer.
Universal Cartoon Studios and Lacewood Productions, after Problem Child & Savage Dragon ended production, teamed with a French studio to produce a series that has been compared to the mid-80's series, M.A.S.K, except that aside from the use of morphing vehicles and masks worn by the drivers, it's not even a spin-off.
Vor-Tech: Undercover Conversion Squad started as a toy line developed by Kenner (now part of Hasbro). The series was part of Claster Entertainment's Power Block, but lasted just 1 season.
Depending on where you lived, the show aired on Sundays or Saturdays. I'm guessing the lack of station clearance, coupled with poor toy sales, doomed the show.
Following is a sample episode, "The Hunger":
The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera was starting to run out of steam by 1990.
The studio collaborated with England's Sleepy Kids to produce Midnight Patrol: Adventures in The Dream Zone, which lasted 1 season, but was very, very popular across the pond.
The Patrol is a group of kids, along with their dog, Potsworth (who was the show's star in England), and a stuffed animal. When their dreams take them into the Dream Zone, all except Rosie gain special abilities. Potsworth, in particular, is granted the power of speech, enabling him to vent about his issues in the real world.
The voice talent included Janice Kawaye (Captain Planet), Rob Paulsen, Michael Bell, Ronnie Schell, and Jim Cummings.
In this sampler, Rosie has trouble just trying to be nice to a boy she seems interested in....
A sure sign of a superhero parody is when the hero is prone to crashing into things (think Underdog or George of The Jungle).
For Laverne & Shirley, the season 1 episode, "Super WACS", parodies another ABC series of the period, The Greatest American Hero, especially when the girls (Penny Marshall & Cindy Williams) and Sgt. Squealy (Ron Palillo) discover that the supposedly benevolent alien that gave Laverne a super suit isn't really a noble fellow after all.
Sunn Classic Pictures announcer Brad Crandall guest stars as an Army officer.
"Love to Love You, Baby" was the title song from Donna Summer's 1975 album, in the early days of disco. Nearly 50 years later, an animated music video was produced, aimed to mark what would've been the singer's 75th birthday on New Year's Eve.
It's way past time we checked in on The Mighty Hercules.
Arch-enemy Daedalus, who really wasn't a villain in Greek myths, according to past commentaries, takes a bite of an apple from the Valley of Giants, and......
If you missed the opening of "Mrs. Doubtfire" back in 1993, you missed a treat at the very start.
Director Chris Columbus sets things up with an animated short, produced & directed by the inestimable Chuck Jones, in the latter's 1st work for 20th Century Fox.
Pudgy, a green parrot, and Grunge, a blue-furred cat, are a parody of both Tweety & Sylvester AND Tom & Jerry, with both characters voiced by the movie's star, Robin Williams, in his role as struggling actor Daniel Hillard. Williams was coming off "Aladdin" and a cameo in "FernGully", which itself was also a Fox movie.
Jean de Brunelle's Babar had first been adapted for television in a pair of NBC specials starring Peter Ustinov.
In 1989, Canada's Nelvana Studios obtained the rights to the series, which aired in Canada, and, while it wasn't listed per the series' Wikipedia page, I seem to recall it airing on HBO, too.
Five "seasons" were produced between 1989-91, and then, the series returned in 2001 for a short run.
I had read at least one of de Brunhoff's books when I was much younger, but never saw the cartoons until now. From season 2, here's "The Elephant Express":
It's been a while since we checked into the Fender Bender 500.
This time around, the racers are in Washington. This is tame compared to the real-life chaos that has consumed the nation's capital in the 33 1/2 years since this first aired. Get in line to catch "The Monumental 500". Our race announcer/narrator is Shadoe Stevens (American Top 40, ex-Hollywood Squares):
Today, 4 Way nasal spray has, well, disappeared, while Vicks' Sinex remains one of the top of the class for the product.
In this imaginative 1975 commercial, a sentient microphone interviews a nose......
How about some hair metal to start this morning?
Autograph has largely been forgotten amidst all the metal bands that were rolling out in the 80's. As American Bandstand host Dick Clark explains in his intro, the band made their debut opening for Van Halen in front of 12,000 fans.
"Turn Up The Radio", however, ended up a 1-hit wonder.
Greg Weisman's vision for The Spectacular Spider-Man began to unfold in the series opener, "Survival of The Fittest".
Norman Osborn (Alan Rachins, ex-LA Law, Dharma & Greg) has both Adrian Toomes (Robert Englund) and Otto Octavius (Peter MacNicol, ex-Ally McBeal in his employ, until he decides to dump Toomes and claim ownership of Toomes' inventions.
That leads to the debut of the Vulture as the first foe for Spider-Man (Josh Keaton), but Spidey must also battle the Big Man's Enforcers, who have been given a bit of an upgrade in that they're also helicopter pilots. Keith David & Danny Trejo are also among the guest stars.
From season 1 of The Abbott & Costello Show:
Stinky (Joe Besser) collides with Lou, and it leads to a wrestling match, where Stinky has his brother, billed as Ivan The Terrible, stand in for him when he takes ill. Given Besser's aversion to violence, this should be no surprise.
Here's "The Wrestling Story". I will remind that this series did air on Saturday mornings in reruns after its 1st run in primetime ended. The open & close have been edited off.
Rose Petal Place was a secondary line of toys for young girls marketed by Kenner (now part of Hasbro) in the mid-80's. However, after the 2nd of 2 animated specials, Real Friends, hit the air in the fall of 1985, a new set of figures, set to be released in time for Christmas, was cancelled.
Ruby-Spears and then-independent producer David Kirschner (who'd later work for Universal and Hanna-Barbera) co-produced the Rose Petal Place specials, headlined by singer-actress Marie Osmond as Rose Petal. I believe the Rose Petal specials marked Marie's voice-over debut, more than a decade after her brothers had their Saturday morning series.
In Real Friends, Nastina (Marilyn Schreffler, ex-The All-New Popeye Hour) tries to create discord among Rose and her friends.
From the Mork & Mindy animated prequel.
Football lineman Tyler is having trouble learning. It's not known if he had issues with, say, dyslexia, or something else, but the fear of losing his spot on the football team prompts him to take a risk, and, at the same time, Mork (Robin Williams) is framed for the crime.
Stan Jones (Richie Rich, Super Friends) is credited as Principal Caruthers, but in this case, the principal sounds more like Bill Woodson.
Dick Tufeld leads us into "Mork, PI":
From Josie & The Pussycats in Outer Space:
The gang is forced to land on a planet whose inhabitants can turn invisible at will. Melody (Jackie Joseph) finds some irradiated bubble gum, and finds herself turning invisible....! Ted Cassidy gets no screen credit as the ruler of this planet, but there's no mistaking his distinctive voice.
This was actually the middle part of the "Bruce Lee Urkel" trilogy from Family Matters.
In season 7, Carl (Reginald VelJohnson) steps into Steve Urkel's transformation chamber after the police warehouse is robbed. Mix in some Hope & Crosby (a quick pattycake sequence), some Three Stooges, and, well, you get the idea....
Bob Clampett needed a backup feature for Beany & Cecil after it was spun off from Matty's Funnies. The end result was Harecules Hare, a rabbit with genius level intelligence.
Only 2 episodes currently are circulating on YouTube, though there might be more. Harecules and his father, Ben, are two completely diverse personalities. Ben is interested in greyhound racing, for example. In "Harecules Hare & The Golden Fleecing", Harecules deals with a wolf.........
As the lead singer of the Raspberries, Eric Carmen had landed a big hit with "Go All The Way". In 1975, he peaked at #2 on the Hot 100 with "All By Myself", which became his signature solo hit, even after he returned to the charts 12 years later on the "Dirty Dancing" soundtrack with "Make Me Lose Control".
Carmen turned up on The Midnight Special, with host du jour Helen Reddy, to perform "Myself" at the piano.
After the release of their initial "Wrestling Album" three months earlier, the then-World Wrestling Federation decided to mark the occasion with the culmination of a winter-long on-air promotion, the 1st ever Slammy Awards, a live special airing on MTV. Vince McMahon, then a simple play-by-play announcer, hosted, as over the top as usual. MTV sent cute, cuddly Martha Quinn to the event as a backstage reporter, and, oh, that did not end so well. Little did the 518's gift to MTV realize this was the beginning of the end of her first tour of duty with the channel, as she would leave at the end of 1986 when her contract expired, only to return in February 1989 for another 3 year hitch.
To say anything further would spoil the memories for those who actually saw the show live (and I didn't)....
From the "Kung Fu Panda 4" Soundtrack comes Tenacious D (Jack Black & Kyle Gass) with a cover of Britney Spears' ".....Baby One More Time". Tenacious D, sporting the trendy beards, may not be the 2nd coming of ZZ Top, but Black, also the voice of Po in the movie, shows his vocal range here (compare this to his work in "School of Rock" 20 years ago).
Bozo The Clown was originally the property of Capitol Records, which produced those children's records of the famous clown for years. Before Capitol sold the rights to Bozo to Larry Harmon, they contracted with Hal Roach Studios to produce a live-action pilot in 1954, which, as you'll see, is a far cry from the clown's later animated adventures. A far, far cry.
Here, Bozo is just an action figure belonging to a little girl named Amy, and he only comes to life for her. Seems the family dog is being blamed for some issues involving a neighbor's hen......
In July 1984, Vince McMahon's national expansion of the World Wrestling Federation (now WWE) swallowed up the Georgia Championship Wrestling block on WTBS on what would become known as Black Saturday. Ultimately, the National Wrestling Alliance would gain a morning slot on the station, which we've previously discussed some time back.
However, it was not fated to last. Viewer apathy from long time NWA supporters led to a decline in ratings across the country, and, coupled with the fact that McMahon would not have a guaranteed two hour show every Saturday during baseball season, led to McMahon giving the 6:05 pm (ET) slot back to the NWA after a year.
From March 1985, two weeks before the 1st Wrestlemania card, is a show with Georgia standby Mr. Wrestling II, and a few names familiar to NWA and TBS fans from previous runs in the market, such as King Kong Bundy, Nikolai Volkoff, Hulk Hogan (he was known as Sterling Golden during an earlier run in NWA-Georgia a few years earlier), Jimmy Snuka, Ken Patera, and the Iron Sheik.
Gorilla Monsoon goes it alone on commentary, with ring announcer Freddie Miller serving as co-host.
We had this before, but it was taken down a ways back.
From season 8 of Family Matters:
Steve Urkel (Jaleel White) has a job as a park supervisor at a playground where 3J & Richie (Orlando Brown & Bryton McClure) go to play. However, a street gang has taken over the park.
This edited excerpt shows what led to Urkel having room for his friends in a certain chamber.........
From Space Stars:
A trio of desert nomads unwittingly release the "Mindwitch" (special guest June Foray), who subsequently enslaves the nomads, then enthralls Space Ghost (Gary Owens), and 2 of the Herculoids.
Inspector Gadget is sent to the Middle East to prevent Dr. Claw's minions from stealing a valuable scimitar. The subplot has Penny (Cree Summer) undercover in a red outfit, not quite a burqua, and doing most of the detective work, as usual.
Seeing the success Hanna-Barbera had with their Funtastic World anthology package, Marvel decided they needed to do the same.
Marvel Action Universe lasted three seasons (1988-91), and, depending on where you lived, it was 90 minutes, like Funtastic World, or just an hour. The components of Action Universe were these (all have been previously reviewed):
Spider-Man (1981): The syndicated solo series lasted 1 season, while Amazing Friends spent three on NBC (1981-4), so there was plenty available.
RoboCop: Spun off from the movie, the now-cyborg cop formerly known as Alex Murphy continues his patrol.
Dino Riders: Based on the Tyco toy line, this also spawned a miniseries from Marvel Comics
Pryde of The X-Men: An unsold X-Men pilot that pre-dated the subsequent series by 3 years, with Hanna-Barbera mainstays Michael Bell as Cyclops & John Stephenson as Professor Charles Xavier.
Here's the intro to Marvel Action Universe:
Heathcliff (Mel Blanc), seeing how a local chef has hired two German Shepherds to guard his trash, decides to do something about it. Here's "Phantom of The Garbage":
This one's a weird one, even for Popeye.
Y'see, in "Butler Up", Brutus is posited as an old high school (or is it college?) friend of Olive's, and she needs Popeye to pose as a butler to impress the cad. Of course, Brutus' true colors ultimately emerge, and.....
From season 2 of the original Mickey Mouse Club comes this educational serial, Adventure in Dairyland, which starred Annette Funicello and Sammy Ogg. Ogg had previously appeared in Spin & Marty, but seemed to have disappeared after the Club ended its 1st run.
Kevin Corcoran debuted as Moochie, the youngest of the children in this series. Here, the kids learn about pigs.
From Season 1 of Filmation's Lone Ranger:
The Ranger (William Conrad) & Tonto (Ivan Naranjo) at first make a simple collar of a Native American shoplifter, but then the military gets involved, leading to some complications. The ending, though, will warm the heart.
Also: Tonto fills us in on the Navajo nation, circa 1980.
Rating: A.
It has not been a good week for wrestling fans.
The week began with the passing of Ole Anderson (Alan Rogowski), founding member of the NWA's legendary Four Horsemen faction in the mid-80's, and a multi-time tag team champion, at 81. Anderson also was a matchmaker for Jim Crockett Promotions during the 80's, and had his final significant run in 1990-1 fronting the Horsemen.
Then, Mike Jones, better known as Virgil from his stint with the then World Wrestling Federation (1987-94), and under a variety of aliases in WCW, as well as Soul Train Jones on the indie circuit, passed at 61. Jones had suffered a pair of strokes in the last year or so. Best known as Ted DiBiase's valet from 1987-91 before turning babyface to finish his WWF run.
And, today, the last member of the Vachon wrestling family, Paul "Butcher" Vachon, passed at 86. Vachon was one of a number of heels (villains) who were regulars on WWWF programming in the 70's, before being used as enhancement talent in the 80's, leading to his retirement from in-ring competition.
Following is an episode of Championship Wrestling from 1977. Vachon was, at the time, managed by Capt. Lou Albano. The card also features a few more future Hall of Famers (Vachon was inducted a few years ago), including Mil Mascaras and Dusty Rhodes.
From season 1 of Laverne & Shirley in The Army (to use the full title):
The girls (Penny Marshall & Cindy Williams) and Sgt. Squealy (Ron Palillo) wind up getting caught under a shrink ray, and chaos ensues.....! Michael Rye (Super Friends) is our announcer.
In 1986, ALF took off like a runaway rocket, anchoring NBC's Monday night lineup, and, in time, spawned not one, but two animated spinoffs.
Not only that, but there was a toy tie-in comparable with some of the syndicated weekday cartoons on the air at the time. Coleco obtained a license for the ALF figures, and ol' ALF himself (voice of Paul Fusco) is seen in this ad.
Donna Summer's 1977 hit, "I Feel Love", which she co-wrote with producer Georgio Moroder, is considered one of the earliest electronic music tracks in history. An enterprising fan made this animated clip last year in tribute.
Here's a black & white Merrie Melodies entry, springing from the imaginations of Hugh Harman & Rudolf Ising.
"Freddy The Freshman" is based on a popular song of the era, and in this 1932 entry, Freddy is embodied as a canine college student in a raccoon coat who becomes a football hero.
I'd imagine this aired in New York back in the day, when WNEW (now WNYW) had a bigger library of WB shorts to complement later stars like Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, & Porky Pig.
Partridge Family 2200 AD turns 50 this year. With baseball spring training underway, let's take a look at what would be the 23rd century's answer to football, spaceball. Danny (Danny Bonaduce) pretends to play the game to impress his mom......
Just weeks after Rare Earth appeared on The Midnight Special to perform their hit, "I Just Want to Celebrate", Doc Severinson (The Tonight Show) not only was the MC, but he covered "Celebrate", backed by a band and 8 backup singers.
This show also featured Dobie Gray, Vicki Lawrence (The Carol Burnett Show), Henry Mancini, and more.
Here's Doc.
The Lone Ranger (William Conrad) allows Silver a little vacation time to return to Wild Horse Valley, but the great stallion is lured into a trap by "The Black Mare":
To be perfectly honest, I never saw this next item until today.
Gert & Bert are a brother-sister team of humanoid rabbits who dispensed advice in the Stay Alert-Stay Safe ad campaign.
Goofy (Pinto Colvig) and Pluto are enjoying a nap until they hear a radio announcer (Dick Tufeld) promoting Colgate's Soaky. Wouldn't ya know? The Disney legends are part of the Soaky line.
We posted this next item over at The Land of Whatever yesterday, and now, we'll bring it here, too.
The Department of Defense introduced the Survivor Benefit Plan in 1972, since folded into Social Security. Michael Bell shares the screen with comedy legend Phil Silvers, playing Silvers' assistant. Not sure exactly when in '72 this was released, but we do know Michael started his toon career that fall (The Houndcats, Oliver & The Artful Dodger, The Barkleys).
In the early days of children's television, the networks relied mostly on game shows (i.e. Goodson-Todman's Choose Up Sides) and educational programs that went under the heading of public affairs programming, which suggests that it was meant for the whole family.
One such show was Let's Take a Trip, which bowed on CBS in 1956, and subsequently spawned a comic book spin-off from Pines Comics. Neither lasted all that long.
Sonny Fox, three years before Wonderama made him a NYC legend, served as host/tour guide. Fox had previously piloted The $64,000 Challenge for a few weeks before his inexperience as a MC cost him the gig. In this sample, Sonny and his two, ah, students, for lack of more appropriate description, visit a rubber factory.
From season 1 of the 1st Lone Ranger animated series.
Borrowing a plot from the live-action series, the Ranger (Michael Rye) is framed by a newly escaped convict, the Sonora Kid, who is seeking revenge on the Ranger for putting him away. I'm not so sure the writers on this show even knew there'd been a frame-up plot or two in the earlier series.
Once upon a time, Chun King was under the same roof as Jeno's pizza products, as they were both created by Jeno Paolucci. In 1960, this animated commercial introduced Chun King chow mein to a wider audience before Stan Freberg began producing & directing live-action spots for both Jeno's & Chun King (Freberg also starred in a Chun King sponsored special in 1962). The gentleman accepting the award may sound like film icon Vincent Price, but it's not. It's Paul Frees (Rocky & His Friends) impersonating Price.
Cartoonist Roger "Rog" Bollen's Animal Crackers was a staple of the Sunday funnies during the 80's & 90's. In 1997, Bollen's jungle strip was adapted for television by Canada's Cinar (now Cookie Jar), and aired here in the US on Fox Family (now Freeform), with a rerun stint on This TV a few years later.
Check out this sample from season 2.
Beyond Reason was a Canadian game show that played as if the Amazing Kreskin was a panelist on What's My Line? (Kreskin was a mystery guest on Line a few years before this show hit the air), but there were elements of Canada's long running Front Page Challenge in here as well.
This excerpt from the 3rd & final season in 1980 is significant because host Paul Soles, the original voice of Spider-Man, who was the 3rd MC for Reason in as many seasons, has Spidey's co-creator, Stan Lee, as a guest, and gets to interview Lee after the panel is done.
For the "Shrek" soundtrack in 2001, Smash Mouth recorded a cover of the Monkees' "I'm a Believer". The movie closes by moving from the Smash Mouth cover to Donkey (Eddie Murphy) taking over, and improvising on the chorus.
Neil Diamond, who wrote "Believer", probably didn't mind.
While Sha Na Na had 4 productive seasons in syndication, the format wasn't always what we saw on TV.
The pilot, which was shown to advertisers by distributor Lexington Broadcast Services, cast the band as hoodlums just out on parole, according to Ginger (Pamela Myers), who appears in several bumper segments in this installment.
Luckily, they ditched the hoodlum plotline, and went with the band as the retro cover band we all know and love. In the pilot, actress-singer Rita Moreno, fresh from The Electric Company, is the featured guest.
Here's another B. C. ad from the Ad Council. This time, the characters are depicted getting tickets to head overseas, even though air travel wasn't really possible in their era. Lloyd Bridges (ex-Sea Hunt, The Loner) narrates.
Here's another Popeye classic from the Golden Age. This time, Bluto (Gus Wickie) is a disreputable window cleaner who creates his business opportunities by fleecing his customers. Olive is a stenographer who needs a larger desk and/or chair......
Here's "The Paneless Window Washer":
"Morning, Noon, & Night Club" finds Popeye (Jack Mercer) & Olive (Mae Questel) doing a nightclub act as "Popito & Olivita", which draws the attention of a jealous Bluto (Gus Wickie). Lou Fleischer, Max & Dave's brother, voices Wimpy.
Butch Hartman co-wrote & directed this What a Cartoon! entry, "Hillbilly Blue", which debuted on Cartoon Network in February 1996. Jeff Bennett voicing an Elvis impersonator foreshadows his casting as Johnny Bravo, who'd get his own series a year later.
Adjusting to life in the modern world of 1975 wasn't easy for Wacky & Packy. In this installment, they end up in the wrestling ring......
Popeye takes Olive Oyl to the museum, where Brutus is working as a guard. Of course, the big fella immediately crushes on Olive, and the usual chaos follows. You were expecting "My Fair Olive" to be a full parody of "My Fair Lady"? For shame!
"Weird" Al Yankovic's Devo send-up, "Dare to be Stupid", landed him on American Bandstand late in 1985. The video quality is a bit wonky at the start, but picks up when host-executive producer Dick Clark comes out to interview Al.
British rocker Howard Jones came up with an innovative means of making a video for his single, "You Know I Love You----Don't You?", back in the mid-80's. Seems the animation in A-ha's "Take On Me" was an inspiration........
The Hudson Brothers may have only gotten 1 season with their Saturday morning Razzle Dazzle Comedy Show on CBS (from the producers of The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour), but they did make a run at the pop charts with "So You Are a Star":
From The New Archie-Sabrina Hour, or, in this case, The Archie-Sabrina Surprise Package:
Jughead (Howard Morris) ends up a fall guy during Fire Prevention Week at Riverdale, forcing the gang to work at the firehouse on a Saturday morning after one mishap after another, though, in his defense, it didn't start with him, but, as you'll see, with Moose.
Here's "Where There's Smoke":
The songwriting team of John McFadden & Gene Whitehead, who authored the O'Jays' 1972 hit, "Back Stabbers", hit the charts themselves in 1979, reaching the top of the R & B chart and peaking at #13 on the Hot 100 with "Ain't No Stopping Us Now", which landed them on Soul Train.
You'll see this next item over at The Land of Whatever when you check out The Bob Hope Special from April 1969, just posted.
Anyway, Wile E. Coyote, in his never ending quest to catch the Road Runner, ends up in orbit when one of his Acme rockets misfires.
Michael Rye, who'd finished a 3 season run as the voice of The Lone Ranger, narrates.
The O'Jays' 1973 hit, "For The Love of Money", has been licensed for use in commercials over the years, and, as I'm finding out today, also served as the theme to The Apprentice. We can at least trust that producer Mark Burnett worked out the necessary details, since the show's "star", one Donald J. Trump, likely wouldn't, given what we know about him today.
From season 2 of Problem Child:
Junior Healy (Ben Diskin) and friends take part in a school Olympics, but principal Peabody (Gilbert Gottfried, Aladdin) and Big Ben (Jonathan Harris, ex-Space Academy, Lost in Space, Three Musketeers, Uncle Croc's Block) are being pressured by some mob wise guys to throw the competition. Will they never learn?
When reruns of Magilla Gorilla aired on WPIX in the 70's, they often used an extended closing credit block, strung together with balloons, and modeled after the closing credits of the game show, Video Village. What you'll see will be the same open & close you remember, albeit with Magilla (Allan Melvin) plugging the sponsor, Ideal Toys.
Plus, Magilla, along with Mushmouse, Punkin' Puss, Ricochet Rabbit, & Droop-a-Long, have a curtain call, before the credits roll, with Magilla singing along with the Hanna-Barbera Singers. The back-up stars lip-synched the opening theme.
The Three Stooges are mistaken for incoming college professors at Mildew College. Moe, Larry, & Curly in caps & gowns is one thing. Teaching a class and performing "The Alphabet Song"? Priceless.
Here's "Violent is The Word For Curly":
Sugar Bear (Gerry Matthews) sees that the Blob has chosen pickles & soda for breakfast, in contrast to Post Super Sugar Crisp with toast, milk, & orange juice.
The Blob sounded like someone was trying to mimic Vaughn Meader's mimic of John F. Kennedy, or at least, the Bostonian accent.
"I've Got Ants in my Plans" marks the debut of a 2nd Aardvark, albeit a green one, whom we'd see again in "Odd Ant Out" a year later. This was one of the better Ant & The Aardvark entries.
The Three Stooges are headed to Africa on a film shoot after nearly being fired as janitors. Clips of "Three Missing Links" were later used in the video for Jump 'N' The Saddle's "Curly Shuffle" 45 years later.
Lassie's Rescue Rangers head to Alaska to locate a missing plane and clean up a disaster in "Alaskan Adventure":
The Lone Ranger (William Conrad, ex-Cannon) goes undercover to nail a vengeful ex-employee of the Pullman Company, who's looking to sabotage the company's trains. Andy Heyward, 2 years before launching DIC, wrote "The Great Train Treachery":
Regina had a 1-hit wonder in the mid-80's with "Baby Love". Around the same time, the singer teamed with McGruff The Crime Dog to do an anti-drug PSA, which, in turn, led to a full length single used largely for television, not radio.
Regina & McDuff (not animated, but a guy in a costume) are joined by Nickelodeon personality Fred Newman, Marshall Efron (who was doing voice work at the time on Smurfs), archived footage of Bullwinkle and Fred Flintstone (Barney Rubble appears briefly), and actresses Allison Smith (Kate & Allie) & Tempestt Bledsoe (The Cosby Show), Child actor Frederick Koehler rounds out the cast.
Most of you have seen the minute long "Users Are Losers" PSA, but this is the complete song.
Breezly & Sneezly turn 60 this year. Seeing as how most of the country is in a deep freeze today, let's take a trip to Camp Frostbite, and see Breezly crash a party in "Mass Masquerade":
Avast, ye swabs! Mr. Magoo (Jim Backus, Gilligan's Island) takes on the role of Long John Silver in an adaptation of Treasure Island, which was done in 2 parts for The Famous Adventures of Mr. Magoo. Check it.
Mr. Magoo made his debut as part of Columbia's Jolly Frolics series of theatrical shorts in 1949 with "Ragtime Bear". Magoo (Jim Backus) and his nephew, Waldo (Jerry Hausner), are off on vacation in the mountains, but Waldo's banjo playing attracts the attention of a bear, and the chaos really kicks in.
Keep in mind that in this initial outing, Waldo & Magoo don't have the familiar appearances we came to know. That would come later.
The Disney Movie Viewer, released in the early 70's, was Fisher-Price's answer to GAF's View Master and Kenner's Give-a-Show Projector. Until today, though, I didn't know about this. I had a couple of View Masters and a Give-a-Show, but not one of these, which predated VHS tapes by a few years.
With Cartoon Network's World Premiere Toons, nee What a Cartoon!, for every Powerpuff Girls or Johnny Bravo, there were clunkers like Sledgehammer Opossum, whose creator, Patrick Ventura, managed to get 2 shorts on the air.
Actor T. K. Carter (ex-Good Morning, Miss Bliss) voices Sledgehammer, who's looking for a warm place to spend the night, but.....he picks a mailbox?
Nickelodeon wanted to tweak the hand that fed, if you will.
The network's Nick at Nite division was home to many classic sitcoms in its early years, and in 1991, Nick, with a little help from ABC, came up with Hi, Honey, I'm Home, a short season series that aired first on ABC as part of its TGIF block on Fridays, then airing on Nick at Nite on Sundays. However, after the first summer of 6 episodes, ABC gave up on the project. Nick brought back Honey the following summer for 7 more.
Future Backstreet Boy AJ McLean was originally cast as the oldest son, Skunk, in the pilot, but the role was recast. As we all know now, McLean, most recently reuniting with his bandmates for a new CD, tour, and an ad campaign for Downy Rinse & Refresh, got the last laugh.
We previously reviewed this series over at The Land of Whatever a ways back, but here, we'll use a different episode, this one reuniting Audrey Meadows & Joyce Randolph as Alice Kramden & Trixie Norton from The Honeymooners:
The Three Stooges are Army scouts in the Old West, assigned to capture cattle rustlers. Check out how they turn a meat grinder into a makeshift Gatling gun. Here's "Goofs & Saddles":
Gage & DeSoto (Randolph Mantooth & Kevin Tighe) are on a movie set in this season 2 episode of Emergency! Plus 4. What happens, though, when Gage is trapped? Is it left up to "The Stuntmen"? Casey Kasem guest stars as the director.
Oh, man, this is a treat.
You've seen the individual opens for Scooby-Doo & Dynomutt dating back to 1976, but those were actually meant for syndication, it seems.
Following is a video that plays the audio of the original Hoyt Curtin composition, with Don Messick, Frank Welker, & Casey Kasem aiding the "Hanna-Barbera Singers" of the period. Gary Owens (Blue Falcon) is only heard introducing the show, leading to the theme.
Moxy was Cartoon Network's 1st attempt as a company, ah, mascot, if you will.
Originally starring as a solo act in The Moxy Pirate Show, developing a pirate studio and using the network's signal, Moxy was repackaged with The Moxy Show sometime in 1995. Now, the whole idea of a pirate signal isn't original. In fact Bobcat Goldthwait, who was the voice of Moxy and one of the writers, might've gotten the idea from his friend, "Weird" Al Yankovic, who did a series of Al TV specials for MTV in the 80's & 90's. While Al would be a guest VJ on MTV, Moxy was a guest toon jockey, if ya will.
However, after a pilot under the title, The Moxy & Flea Show, it went to series as The Moxy Show, and Chris Rock (ex-Saturday Night Live), who'd voiced Flea, was replaced by Penn Jillette, who otherwise was a studio announcer for Comedy Central when not touring as 1/2 of Penn & Teller.
Unfortunately, Moxy's last show aired in December 1995, and he hasn't been seen since.
Let's take a look at a sample clip.
These Are The Days, inspired by The Waltons, turns 50 this year. Television Obscurities brings us an ABC promo for the show as part of its 1974-5 Funshine Saturday block:
How can you confuse a mouse with a kangaroo?
That was the basic plot in all of Hippety Hopper's appearances, usually with Sylvester. Exhibit A is "Hop, Look, & Listen":
"Weird" Al Yankovic teamed with the folks at Ghostbot to serve up an animated video for "Party in The CIA", a parody of Miley Cyrus' "Party in The USA".
The Famous Adventures of Mr. Magoo turns 60 this year. To mark the occasion, we serve up the series' adaptation of Alexandre Dumas' The Three Musketeers, originally presented as a 2-part episode.
Frank Stallone might not have had the same kind of success in his career as his brother, Sylvester ("Rocky", "Rambo", "The Expendables", etc.), but he made the most of his 15 minutes on the pop charts.
"Far From Over", the 1st single from the movie "Staying Alive", the sequel to "Saturday Night Fever", brought Frank to American Bandstand:
Celebrity Bowling was a weekly primer on how not to bowl in many cases. Some stars actually bowled in leagues. Others, such as Scatman Crothers (Chico & The Man, ex-Hong Kong Phooey) and Dick Gautier (fresh from When Things Were Rotten), were pure amateurs. Alex Trebek, IIRC, was working on Goodson-Todman's Double Dare at the time of this episode, while actor-emcee Jim McKrell was wrapping up Celebrity Sweepstakes......
You've heard by now that Walt Disney's 1928 Mickey Mouse entry, "Steamboat Willie", entered into the public domain on Monday, just after its 95th anniversary.
What we're seeing amounts to a prototype, if you will, of Mickey, Minnie, and Pete, who is Mickey's boss in this one. Disney did the vocal effects himself, though none of the main characters have any actually audible dialogue.
To start 2024, we are going back to 1967 for this New Year's episode of Davey & Goliath.
Davey and his sister, Sally, have a spat, and that causes problems, meaning Davey has to bring Sally back. Norma McMillan (ex-Underdog) voices Davey in this one.
