Today, when someone asks about Walter Murphy, most folks will know him as the musical director of Family Guy. The series revived Murphy's career, big time, because otherwise, he was destined to be a 1-hit wonder, and what a hit it was.
As disco was in its nascent phase in the mid-70's, Murphy hit #1 with "A Fifth of Beethoven", a shortened version of which was later used on Family Guy. Murphy and his Big Apple Band appeared on The Midnight Special to introduce Beethoven to the disco era of the 20th century.
This Raid commercial looks like the animation was taken right off the sketch pad, and that's just being kind.
This 1970 offering was one of the last ones to use live-action footage of the product being used around the house. Paul Frees voices a construction worker bug. Dick Tufeld is our announcer.
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.
32 1/2 years later, AEW owner/booker Tony Khan, son of Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shad Khan, took his first bumps on national television last night on Dynamite in an angle with the Young Bucks (Matthew & Nicholas Jackson) and Jack Perry, son of the late actor Luke Perry (ex-Beverly Hills 90210, Riverdale), which brought the elder Khan to the ring for the first time. The Bucks' new-look Elite faction is now looking to emulate the New World Order during their peak years (1996-9) as the top heel faction in AEW.
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.
Pete, you'll recall, got his 15 minutes of fame dueling with Bugs Bunny, but I get the idea of Chuck Jones trying something different, and matching Pete with 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!
Producer-director Jules White is the off-camera voice of the train announcer.
This short establishes the boys as storyline cousins, although, as we all know, Moe & Shemp were actually brothers.
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.
Several years later, World Wrestling Federation announcer "Mean" Gene Okerlund covered "Hoochie Koo", with Derringer turning the knobs as producer, strictly for laughs.
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......
Most of you know that Don Yarmy was the birth name of comedy legend and Aurora commercial endorser Don Adams. Seems the ad agency and/or Aurora were paying homage to Adams in this spot, which he probably directed while staying off camera. I remember playing this game in my youth, probably at a friend's house, but I don't think I had it at home.
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:
I don't recall seeing this one the first time around. No rating.
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 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.
15 years later, Canadian-born country singer Anne Murray covered "Daydream", and took it to the top of the country charts. Both versions do get airplay on oldies channels to this day.
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":
Underdog turns 60 this year, but isn't getting the love.....!
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":
Not one of the better entries in Jack Kinney's run.
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":
Not too long after, Buck Owens reworked this song into "On The Cover of The Music City News" (bold italics mine), in response.
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.......
At least they got to see the world, unlike Olive Oyl & Alice the Goon over on CBS.
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.
Wrigley's discontinued this series after about a year or two, and later would merge with M & M Mars, which also had a heroic commercial pitchman during the 70's, Marathon John (Patrick Wayne).
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".
