Saturday, January 19, 2019

Toon Rock: The Human Race (1970)

DePatie-Freleng had an idea about adapting classic children's tales for television, with some A-list celebrities as the stars.

However, the pilot project, if ya will, a musical adaptation of Goldilocks & The Three Bears, shortened to simply Goldilocks, was a ratings flop for NBC in March 1970, despite the star power of actor-singer Bing Crosby and his family.

Bing, wife Kathryn, son Nathaniel, and daughter Mary (later of Dallas & Star Trek: The Next Generation) appear in live action segments, and voice the bears & Goldilocks, respectively. We're going to see if we can find the complete special for a review down the road, as the cast also includes Avery Schreiber (ex-My Mother The Car) and Paul Winchell, who served as narrator, and voiced Bobcat, who was originally intended to be played by Bing's brother, bandleader Bob Crosby, who had to back out due to conflicting commitments.

For now, it's just the Crosby family in this clip, as it segues into an animated segment. Papa Bear was designed to resemble Bing, right down to the fisherman's cap. Here's "The Human Race".



The special was later encored, and the ratings were even worse. Go figure.

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