Kids' TV

The First Twenty-Five Years

Stuart Fischer

• Publisher: Open Road Media
• Year: 2014
• ISBN:
  9781497633902
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Television History & Criticism

In a freshly revisited and important text, Stuart Fischer summarizes the golden age of Kids' TV with entries for every important children's television program which aired between 1947 and 1972. It's a nostalgic journey that highlights the programs of imagination and creativity which influenced the baby boom generation and their children, listing important factual information for everything from "Howdy Doody" to "Sealab 2020."

1969 – 1970 Season

The Archie Comedy Hour

Saturday, 11:00-12:00 noon,CBS

Debut: 9/13/69; Cancelled: 9/5/70

Supplier: Filmation Associates

Voices: See “The Archie Show” (1968/69)

The Riverdale High School students returned in this extended and reformatted show, first seen in 1968. Jughead, Reggie, Betty, Veronica and the freckle-faced hero rocked, cavorted and laughed their way through yet another series. The show introduced the character, “Sabrina, The Teenage Witch”, and “Archie’s Fun House”, a feature consisting of sketches and music.

Archie and his friends returned in other formats on both CBS and NBC. These include “Archie’s Fun House” (1970/71); “Archie’s TV Funnies” (1971/72); “Everything’s Archie” (1973/74); “The U.S. of Archie”, a program related to the bicentennial (1974); “The New Archie/Sabrina Hour” (1977/78); and “The Bang-Shang Lalapalooza Show” (1978/79).

The Cattanooga Cats

Saturday, 9:00-10:00 a.m., ABC

Debut: 9/6/69; Cancellation; 9/5/70

Supplier: Hanna-Barbera Productions

Voices:

Country: Bill Galloway

Groovey: Casey Kasem

Scoots: Jim Begg

Kitty Jo: Julie Bennett

Chessie: Julie Bennett

Mildew Wolf: Paul Lynde

Lambsy: Marty Ingels

Bristol Hound: Allan Melvin

Phineas Fogg, Jr.: Bruce Watson

Jenny Trent: Janet Waldo

Happy: Don Messick

Smerky: Don Messick

Crumdon: Daws Butler

Bumbler: Allan Melvin

Motor Mouse: Dick Curtis

Auto Cat: Marty Ingels

“The Cattanooga Cats” was an animated cartoon featuring five singing felines, who would p-u-r-r-r-notes and wink heavy lidded lashes at the audience.

Thirty minutes of this hour-long show were devoted to the antics of this group on stage and on the road. The remaining half-hour was given over to three additional animated cartoon segments: “It’s A Wolf”; “Around The World In 79 Days”; and “Auto Cat and Motor Mouse”.

“It’s A Wolf” followed the trials and tribulations of Lambsy, a quick-witted, curly-haired creature. He was stalked by Mildew, a tenacious wolf determined to get himself some dinner. Lambsy had a doting guardian in Bristol Hound, a self-proclaimed defender of young lambs.

“Around the world in 79 Days” was loosely based on the Jules Verne classic. Phineas Fogg, Jr., son of the original traveler, was determined to circumvent the globe, accompanied by his friends, JennyTrent and Happy. Opposing the trio at every turn was Crumdon and Bumbler.

“Auto Cat and Motor Mouse” offered a new twist to the old conflict between cat and mouse. It was essentially “Tom and Jerry” in a race-car setting. This cartoon later returned in a series titled “Motor Mouse”(1970/71), which also ran episodes of “It’s A Wolf”.

Many familiar actors provided voices for these characters, including Marty Ingels, who co-starred in the prime-time comedy, “I’m Dickens, He’s Fester”.

Dastardly and Muttley in their Flying Machines

Saturday, 1:00-1:30 p.m., CBS

Debut: 9/13/69; Cancellation; 9/3/71

Supplier: Hanna-Barbera Productions

Voices:

Dick Dastardly: Paul Winchell

Muttley: Don Messick

Klunk: Don Messick

The General: Paul Winchell

Zilly: Don Messick

Dick Dastardly, first seen in theprevious season’s “Wacky Races”, appeared here as a World War One flying ace who collaborated with the enemy. His assigned task, on orders from the General, was the interception of vital communications carried by the stalwart Yankee Doodle Pigeon. He was assisted by his snickering and inept dog, Muttley, and other members of the “Vulture Squadron”.

Get It Together

Saturday, 12:00-12:30 p.m., ABC

Debut: 1/3/70; Cancellation; 9/6/70

Producer: Dick Clark Productions

Announcer: Sam Riddle

Hosts: Sam Riddle, Mama Cass Elliott

This show presented a variety of popular musical acts. Top recording artists appeared on the program to perform their latest hit singles and other well-known songs.

The groups included Three Dog Night, Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Righteous Brothers and The Turtles. The show was co-hosted by the late Mama Cass Elliott, a vocalist with the popular band, The Mamas and The Papas

Sam Riddle went on to work on “Solid Gold”, a musical variety series for syndication, in conjunction with Paramount Television.

The Hardy Boys

Saturday, 10:30-11:00 a.m., ABC

Debut: 9/6/69; Cancellation; 9/4/71

Supplier: Filmation Associates

Voices: Dallas McKennon, Jane Webb, Byron Kane

Loosely based on the juvenile novels by Franklin W. Dixon, this cartoon series updated the teenage sleuths by having them double as rock-and-roll musicians on a world tour.

In each episode they solved a crime and played some popular music. A live band (called “The Hardy Boys”) performed the soundtrack for the show, playing up-beat contemporary tunes.

Franklin Dixon’s highly popular duo returned in the late 1970s in a live-action, prime-time series starring Shaun Cassidy and Parker Stevenson.

The Heckle and Jeckle Show

Saturday, 8:00-9:00 a.m., NBC

Debut: 9/6/69; Cancellation; 9/7/71

Supplier: Terrytonns

Voices: Paul Frees

This cartoon series brought Terrytoons’ zany twin magpies back to television.

Paul Terry created the innovative characters for “The Talking Magpies”, a 1946 theatrical cartoon. He provided them with contrasting voices—one with a Brooklyn accent, the other self-consciously British. These shorts were among the studio’s most successful, and they formed the bedrock for the sale of the studio’s inventory to CBS in 1955.

Heckle and Jeckle first appeared on prime-time in the “CBS Cartoon Theater” (1956/57), hosted by Dick Van Dyke. The twins continued to appear with other Terrytoons characters on CBS, in varying time-slots from 1958 to 1960, and during the 1965/66 season.

Here they played hosts to Dinky Duck, a duckling with a squeaky voice; Little Roquefort, a buck-toothed mouse with overdeveloped ears; Percy, the cat; the Terry Bears (another set of twins); and Gandy Goose, a highly original character conceived in the late 1930s. The original theatrical Gandy was based on the personality of Ed Wynn, a well-known entertainer of the time. This idea was more fully developed 40 years later by Hanna-Barbera, for such series as “The Harlem Globetrotters”.

The magpies and their companions have been featured in Claude Kirschner’s syndicated series, “Terry Tell Time”, since the 1950s. “Heckle and Jeckle” returned to network TV in Filmation’s 1979 series, “The Mighty Mouse and Heckle and Jeckle”, aired by CBS.

“Heckle and Jeckle” not only became popular in the theatrical cartoon shorts and on television, but were popular on licensed products as well.

Here Comes The Grump

Saturday, 9:00-9:30 a.m., NBC

Debut: 9/6/69; Cancellation; 9/4/71

Supplier: DePatie-Freleng Enterprises/Mirisch Television

Voices:

Princess Dawn: Stefanianna Christopher

Terry Dexter: Jay North

The Grump: Rip Taylor

The setting of this animated series was a fantasy island ruled by a miserable and vindictive creature known as the Grump. Plots centered on young Terry and his dog, Bip, who had been magically transported to “Dawn’s Kingdom”.

The Grump had the power to project his misery on others. None could withstand his will power, apart from Princess Dawn. Aboard the Jolly Green Dragon, the three (Dawn, Terry and his dog)searched frantically for the crystal key that would unlock the Curse of Gloom.

Each episode had the trio overcoming the inevitable obstacles put in their way by the Grump, who resolutely sought to divert them from their goal.

Hot Wheels

Saturday, 10:00-10:30 a.m., ABC

Debut: 9/6/69; Cancellation; 9/4/71

Supplier: Pantomime Productions Corporation

Voices: Bob Arbogast, Melinda Casey, Susan Davis, Albert Brooks, Casey Kasem

Jack Wheeler was the leader of the “Hot Wheel Club”, a group of young racing car enthusiasts. Janet, Skip, Bud, Mickey, Tag, Art and Kip were his teenage cohorts. They put safety and common sense first, with excitement and daring next on the list.

Episodes of this animated series placed the “Hot Wheels” in competition with either “Stuff Haley or his Bombers”, whose objective was to “win at any price”. The program emphasized good driving skills and dealt with such “non-cool” activities as smoking.

Mattel, the toy manufacturer, was a major sponsor of this show. It was no secret that they manufactured the “Hot Wheels” toy line. Both the Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Communications Commission looked askance at this apparent 30-minute weekly commercial, or what was thought to be a 30-minute weekly commercial. Although neither commission brought action, they pressured Mattel to withdraw sponsorship, resulting in the show’s cancellation in 1971. Since this incident, animation studios and producers have been extremely careful to avoid connections between show subject matter and the products of sponsors.

The cancellation of this Saturday Morning cartoon for these reasons has been something of a revolution in the history of children’s television. What is so ironic is how things change over the passing of time, including what goes on television and off and why.

When the 1980s came, children’s television did a complete U-turn from when this cartoon was on the air in the late 1960s. Toys had suddenly become te prize catch for every animation studio to base their shows on and it started first in syndication with the introduction of cartoon series based on action toys like “G.I. Joe” and “The Masters of the Universe” and it continued for years later. This is a complete contradiction from what happened with the “Hot Wheels” show from 1969 to 1971 when a show based on product was looked down upon because there were some who thought that it influenced children in a negative way. When the 1980s came, a complete turn-around took effect, which happens tobe an event in and of itself that is worth analysis.

“Hot Wheels” had been a popular toy when this show was first broadcast and since this show, the “Hot Wheels” toy line has grown bigger and better and is more popular than ever before and is one of Mattel’s biggest sellers and one of the most successful toy lines in the history of the toy business.

Ken Snyder was the producer of this show based on “Hot Wheels” and is also known for his work on “Roger Ramjet”, a once-popular cartoon that ran in syndication.

The characters of “Mickey” and “Kip” in this series were voiced over by Albert Brooks, the famous comedian, who has since gone into movies.

“Hot Wheels” made a return to television (in more liberal times) in a new cartoon done by Lucky World Productions in association with Mattel...