Rare Treats: The Man From Button Willow (1965)

"The Man From Button Willow" was released in the spring of 1965, but the copyright at the end of the film suggests that it could've been out sooner. That is, two years sooner. By the time it was released, star Dale Robertson was a year away from Iron Horse.

Robertson not only introduces the movie, but co-wrote some of the music, and has the lead as Justin Eagle, a government agent assigned to Button Willow. Our supporting cast includes Thurl Ravenscroft as the preacher, Ross Martin (The Wild, Wild West), Howard Keel, and Edgar Buchanan (Petticoat Junction).



United Screen Arts, by the way, was Robertson's production company. I have no memory of this film having been on television. A pity.

Rating: B.

Literary Toons: Journey to The Center of The Earth (1977)

From Famous Classic Tales:

It's safe to say the series had found its footing again after having only produced one new episode during the 1974-5 season. There were five the next year, and Jules Verne's Journey to The Center of The Earth was the pentultimate episode of the 1976-7 season.



As you can see, this was a more faithful adaptation of Verne's classic than Filmation's 1967 Saturday morning entry for ABC. However, Professor Lindenbrook is shown here as more of the stereotypical eccentric scientist. Whether or not that was Verne's original vision, I cannot say. I never read the book.

Rating: B.

Celebrity Toons: Blast Off (Emergency +4, 1974)

From season 2 of Emergency +4:

Roy DeSoto (Kevin Tighe) has to teach an important lesson in fire safety when one of the kids is testing model rocket for a science fair. "Blast Off", it happens, was the series finale.



If the voice of Stanley's father sounds familiar, that's because it belongs to Richard Paul, later of Carter Country, who joined the cast in the 2nd season. Bobby Diamond (ex-Fury), who'd carved out a second career as a voice actor beginning in the 60's, is also heard.

Fred Calvert, as we've documented, would give it one more shot with boxing icon Muhammad Ali three years later, but that effort didn't survive Christmas.

Rating: C.

Retro Toy Chest: Mattel's Strange Change Machine (1968)

In the late 60's, Mattel, it seems, and maybe other toy companies, too, were encouraging kids to channel their inner mad scientists.

Case in point is Mattel's Strange Change Machine, which was introduced in 1968. Actor Paul Stewart, known to cartoon fans for his work on The Super Six and as the voice of Mightor, is the narrator.

Looney TV: The Great Piggy Bank Robbery (1945-6)

Bob Clampett's "The Great Piggy Bank Robbery", a Daffy Duck farce from the winter of 1945-6, holds the distinction of being the first cartoon shown on Cartoon Network when the channel launched in October 1992.

In a riotous sendup of Chester Gould's Dick Tracy (of whom Daffy is a fan), Daffy knocks himself into dreamland, and imagines himself as "Duck Twacy". You can guess the rest.

Edit, 10/8/26: Had to change the video. Here's a short excerpt:



Rating: A.

It Should've Been on a Saturday: USA High (1997)

Peter Engel was responsible for almost all of NBC's Saturday TNBC block in the 90's. 1997's USA High was supposed to be another entry for the block, but someone at NBC felt it may have been too much like Saved by The Bell to fit in, despite the fact that this series was set in Paris, with the core cast a group of exchange students attending high school in France.

The idea was that viewers were used to foreign exchange students coming here to learn, but we never knew about their American counterparts going overseas. Archie Comics tried to address that with an ill-fated Betty & Veronica story arc a few years back that sent the girls on what amounted to a foreign exchange world tour.

USA High aired instead on---wait for it---USA Network, which slotted the show on Friday afternoons and sometimes also on Sunday mornings, but not Saturdays. The first season consisted of a ridiculous 75 episodes, while the order was trimmed to a more reasonable 20 for the 2nd season. The series was cancelled after 2 seasons. The stigma of being a Bell clone, but lacking in charismatic characters, was too much to overcome in the long term.

Let's take a look at a sample episode:



With Bell well into its New Class era, entering season 5 in 1997, and airing for a full hour on NBC, viewers weren't interested. I have to say I fall into that category, as this didn't move the meter for me, either. No rating.

Toonfomercial: Linus & Lucy for MetLife (1991)

For several years, the Peanuts gang shilled for MetLife (formerly Metropolitan Life), which would explain why Snoopy appears on the company's rented blimp, or at least he did. MetLife ended their contract with the rights holders to the strip a while back.

Anyway, from 1991, Linus contemplates what he wants to do with his birthday money. Apparently, Lucy is more interested in spending.....