Request Page Archive Five

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Date: June 8, 1997
From: jfoxxx@msn.com

Greetings, Toontracker!

This is an amazing site you have here. A lot of love has been put into it, and
it shows. I spent a lot of time here, and enjoyed all the old memories.

I have been looking for some time for a black and white cartoon I used to
watch on the old Chicago station 44 in the mid-seventies. The feature may date
back earlier than that. It was a kind of cartoon-noir, very dark, about a
young boy who wore this pendant (with a "P" on it) around his neck that could
change him into a superhero. He may have been from outer space, or his pendant
was. The big, dark, evil villain was always trying to obtain this pendant from
our hero. Whenever the transformation would occur, it was like lightning
hitting the boy and the sound effect went something like "Peeeeeee-kazow!"
(This is still how my younger brother remembers the show) I never noticed this
at the time, but it seems to me now that the art was very similar to Japanese
imports like Gigantor or Speed Racer, and is probably from the same time-period.
Can you help me identify this show, and possibly obtain a tape?
Everyone else I ask looks at me like I'm nuts.

Thanks for your time,
Joel Fox

Well, if your sanity is being judged soley on this question, I can assure you that you're not nuts!

The old WSNS, Channel 44 in Chicago ran lots of neat cartoons in the 70's which were rarely seen elsewhere. The cartoon you're referring to was Prince Planet, a Japanese cartoon from TCJ Animation Center (the original producers of the Gigantor and 8th Man cartoons). It was originally imported to the US in 1966 by American International Television. The rights are currently held by Orion Pictures, and to the best of my knowledge, the episodes have never been officially released on video tape in the US. There is a site on the web that has three volumes of unofficial Prince Planet videos for sale. The site is called Cool Stuff, and they offer many other videos, animation and live action, for sale.

Prince Planet, a royal scion from the planet of Radion, was sent to Earth on a mission to study the people here to see if they were fit to join the Galactic Union of Worlds. As a member of the Universal Peace Corps (a UN-like conclave of alien beings concerned with preserving galactic peace and justice), he assisted the Earthlings in the fight against all kinds of evil.

Prince Planet took the name "Bobby" as an alias, and with the assistance of two other members of the Corps, Hadji Baba and Dynamo, and his girlfriend Diana, he used his superhuman powers in his efforts to rid Earth of criminal conspirators, such as Warlock, a sinister martian.

Prince Planet's power came from his medallion, which was capable of just about anything and had to be constantly recharged by a power transmitter on Radion. Bobby changed into Prince Planet by holding the medallion and shouting "Kazow". The dubbing was so poor that occasionally the original Japanese "Popi!" could be heard in this scene.

Date: June 7, 1997
From: Purefnmagc@aol.com

I was wondering if you could help me.... I was lookin for a cartoon character
with the name of Al E. Gator? Could you tell me if this "gator" is a real
cartoon character, or something else? and if it is, could you tell me where
i could find a photo of him on the net. I kinda have a bet going with
another guy, so any help you could give me would be terrific.

Thanx
Bob Giacolo

The cartoon you're referring to is Wally Gator, a Hanna-Barbera cartoon from 1962 voiced by Daws Butler (sounding alot like Ed Wynn).

This picture is from Cartoon-O-Rama's Forgotten Hanna-Barbera Page.

Wally was a "man-about-town" type gator, who resided in the city zoo. Refusing to remain confined to his home, he continually created frustrations for Mr. Twiddle, the zoo curator.

He had a catchy theme song which stated "Wally Gator was a swinging alligator in the swamp...".
Wally was part of a syndicated trilogy from Hanna-Barbera that also included Touche Turtle and Lippy & Hardy.

"..see ya later, Wally Gator !!"

Date: June 6, 1997
From: Poppedart@aol.com

I don't know if you do a requwst for a Warner Bros. Cartoon.
Anyway, it's a liitle Gremlin that was on a Bugs Bunny cartoon.
He was a little yellow creature. He appeared once on the show.
He had a high pitched voice and I was just wondering if you'd ever
heard of him. He's not Marvin the martian.

If you do find him please let me know.
Thanks a bunch.

The Gremlin you're referring to appeared with Bugs in the 1945 cartoon, "Falling Hare". This cartoon was directed by one of my favorites, Robert Clampett (of Beany and Cecil fame).

The cartoon started out with Bugs at an Army air field reading a book, "Victory Through Hare Power". The book made reference to mischievious little orange gremlins who wreaked havoc on airplanes. At that point, a gremlin appeared with a mallet and was hammering on a bomb. Then the fun began. Bugs and the gremlin eventually wound up airborne, with the gremlin at the controls. After several near misses, the plane took a steep dive towards the ground. Bugs passes out and the plane suddenly comes to an abrupt stop, inches from the ground. The gremlin turns to the audience and apologizes, "Sorry, folks! We ran out of gas!" At this point Bugs comes to, and adds "You know how it is with those A-cards!", an obvious reference to the rationing cards issued at the time.

Date: June 2, 1997
From: SWSP89A@prodigy.com
I'm trying to find a picture of Shleprock from the
Pebbles and Bamm Bamm show. Any help would
be appreciated. Thank you;

Jim

Pebbles and Bamm Bamm appeared September 11, 1971 on CBS-TV. An updated remake of Hanna-Barbera's The Flintstones, the series featured the voice of Sally Struthers as the teen-aged Pebbles (later voiced by Mickey Stevens) and Jay North as the teen-aged Bamm Bamm.

"Bad-luck" Schleprock was one of the other pre-historic teens featured in the series.

Date: June 2, 1997
From: pagcor@ibm.net
Hi, sorry to disturb you but my friend and I were trying to remember the
name of the (dog?) character who, when given a treat, would float up
into the air, spin around like he was in heaven, then loat back to earth.
I think he was a sidekick of some sort.

Thanks. BTW the real Audio page is a scream.....I'm 45 yrs young and
really enjoyed the memories.....I really got a kick out of the
Flintstones being sponsored by Winston Cigarettes....amazing!!
Thanks.

Jack Hamill

No disturbance whatsover! The character you're referring to was Snuffles, a treat loving canine who helped Quick Draw McGraw and Baba Looey track down their adversaries in The Quick Draw McGraw Show, a Hanna-Barbera cartoon originally seen in 1959. All three of these characters were voiced by the multi-talented Daws Butler.

Thanks for the positive comments on the RealAudio page. When I find rare gems like that I like to share them with the world. The WWW has given me an outlet to do just that. Thanks again.

Date: May 15, 1997
From: chobbs@mail04.mitre.org
I told my little brother (he's now 37) about your great website and he
brought up another one of our forgotten favorites from the late
60s-early 70s, "Here Comes the Grump". It had a story-telling theme
song that we can still remember, even nearly 30 years later (wish I
could find a copy on the Web somewhere). Was this a Depatie-Freleng
cartoon? What can you tell us about this show?

Chris Hobbs
Leesburg, Virginia

Here Comes the Grump was indeed a DePatie-Freleng cartoon. It debuted on NBC-TV September 6, 1969.The Grump, voiced by comedian Rip Taylor, was an ill-natured, gnome-like rascal who rode on the back of the Jolly Green Dragon. He was resentful of all the joy and merriment in the village, and put a Curse of Gloom on the realm. The villagers, seeking relief from the hex, sought the help of Terry, a young boy voiced by Jay (Dennis the Menace) North. Terry, along with his dog, Bib, and Princess Dawn (voiced by Stefanianna Christopher) were the only ones unaffected by the curse. The Princess knew of the only way to break the spell- the Crystal Key, which had been hidden by the Grump in the Cave of the Whispering Orchids. Together they set out in a baloon-car to search for the Land of a Thousand Caves, in the hopes of finding the Key's hiding place. Their journey was hampered by the efforts of the Grump, who sought to keep them from the key.

The show ran through September 4, 1971. I am not aware of any web site with the theme music, but if I run across it, I will post it on the RealAudio page.

Date: May 13. 1997
From: GeauxTgrs@aol.com

First of all, what a great page!!!

I was hoping you could help me.
I am looking for a place that sells T-shirts with the Great Gazzoo on them.

Any help you could give would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for your time.

Bill

There is a place on the Web that sells Gazoo T-Shirts. Go to: TshirtNOW. They've had Gazoo shirts in the past, along with other Hanna-Barbera shirts. They look like they have a great selection of Toon and non-Toon related shirts and hats.

Date: May 11, 1997
From: pauls@crdi.fr
your site is amazing, and i thank you for putting all the time and effort into it for our enjoyment. you might be interested to know that here in france, where i live, ancient cartoons have a wide following, and some of the best are shown each sunday evening at 7 on arte, a french-german public network. they show quite a few works by john foster and harry bailey for the van beuren company (c. 1934). who are these madmen? their artwork is tremendous and the stories surreal--i think they are some of the best ever, and i would like to know a little more about them.

also, do you have anything on two of my childhood favourites, king leonardo and odie colonie? and one more question haunts my dreams, one that i think is of surprising importance in our country's cultural history. perhaps you have an opinion on it. what was it that made the fleischer studios go from being brilliant, iconoclastic and eternal in the early 30's, to vapid, witless and forgettable by the end of the decade?

again, thanks a lot, and love to all of you in wisconsin,

mike pauls

John Foster and Harry Bailey began work at Paul Terry's New York based Fables Pictures in the early 1920's, turning out silent Aesop's Fables cartoons. In 1928, the studio was taken over by Amadee J. Van Beuren, who began releasing the cartoons with a synchronized sound track. After numerous disputes with Van Beuren, Paul Terry left the studio in 1929. Van Beuren appointed John Foster as his new animation director, supervising the work of his colleagues Harry Bailey and Mannie Davis.

The Aesop's Fables cartoons, originally developed by Paul Terry, relied heavily on a cast of Mickey-looking mice. Walt Disney was granted an injunction against Van Beuren to prevent the further use of the mice. Foster began work with newcomers George Stallings and George Rufle to develop original characters to take the place of the mice. They came up with Tom and Jerry, a Mutt-and-Jeff-like duo with little or no personality. Van Beuren was looking for a success to rival that of fellow New York studio, Max Fleischer and it's Betty Boop cartoons. Tom and Jerry, after twenty six outings, failed to put a dent in Betty's popularity. Van Beuren fired John Foster in 1933, replacing him with George Stallings. The Tom and Jerry cartoons were re-christened Dick and Larry for their television release, to avoid confusion with M-G-M's cat and mouse duo.

The King and Odie was originally titled King Leonardo and his Short Subjects when it began it's initial run on NBC-TV October 15, 1960. Jackson Beck was the voice of good King Leonardo, the ruler of the mythical kingdom of Bongo-Congo. He was aided by the real-power-behind-the-throne, the ever faithful Odie Cologne, a skunk voiced by Allan Swift. Together they fought off the King's sibling, Itchy Brother, and his goading accomplice Biggy Rat in their attempts to steal the throne. The cartoons were produced by Total/TTV, and later syndicated as part of the D-F-S Program Exchange package.

Update - Toon Tracker now has a page devoted to King Leonardo and all the other Total TV/Leonardo cartoons Check out Toon Tracker's TOTAL TV PAGE.

As for your last question, I try to remain neutral (although it's not always possible) as to my opinions. It's pretty well documented, though, as to the effect Will Hays and his office had on American motion pictures in the 1930's. It would be my guess that it was his censorship that had the greatest effect on the decline of the Fleischer cartoons towards the end of the decade.

Here is a reply I received from Mr. Paul:

Date: June 7, 1997
From: pauls@crdi.fr

You must get a lot of mail, so I'll remind you I'm the fellow who asked
about Foster and Bailey and the Fleischer brothers (I think your sources
underestimated F&B; though their stories are uneven, some of their
artwork rates among the all-time best) . Now, everybody says that the
threat of lynching by the Hays office took the starch out of the
Fleischers in the 30's, but I don't think that explanation is good
enough. If they were clever enough to create all that madness in the
first place, they should also have been clever enough to find a way
around censorship without losing their edge. Maybe moving out of New
York to that fancy studio in Florida did it. Maybe there was one
particular genius (Max, or Dave, or somebody else) who was really
responsible for taking the cartoons to a cultural plane where cartoons
are not often found, and maybe he just left, or hit the bottle, or got
sad and discouraged.

I'm only so interested in this little question because I take Betty and
Koko and Popeye pretty seriously. They arrived in America's most
creative era, and they are among the best art of any kind America ever
produced. Living over here in France, I have plenty of opportunity to
reflect on just what a strange country we have. The best things we
do-our culture, with a capital-C are usually things that make people
laugh. We make brilliant starts, and then they fade away and we forget
about them, just as we build beautiful cities and neighbourhoods and
then abandon them.

Sorry for going on so. I'm a writer by trade; I'm coming back to the
states soon, and maybe I'll have the time to do some digging and
explore this further. It was encouraging to read on your site that lots
of these old gems are available in the bargain bin at Wal Mart. I've
never been in a Wal Mart, though I've heard a lot about them (and I
don't even know how a video machine works!). Anyhow, thanks again,
especially for the picture of King Leonardo that now decorates my
desktop.

I agree with you that the Fleischer's move to Miami probably had a large effect on the output of the studio. The brighter locale of Florida also was evident in the tone of the cartoons. The gray-tone of the older, New York produced cartoons (which I feel added so much to their appeal) was replaced by streamlined, stylized full-Technicolor backgrounds. These didn't fit with the zany, imaginative style that the Fleischer's were noted for. The decline may also have been due to the pressures put on Dave, Max and the rest of the studio by Paramount. Pressure definately effects creativity, and Paramount's decision to foreclose on the studio probably didn't help. There will probably never be another Betty Boop, Koko or Popeye. Thankfully, there are still examples of the films available for us, and future generations, to enjoy.

As for the Foster-Bailey situation at the Van Beuren studio, I also appreciate their artistic style. The "rubber-legged" look of the cartoons of that era had a simplistic appeal that, in my opinion, has never been matched. Unfortunately these cartoons are harder to find in the states, but as noted earlier, a search through the discontinued product bins at various department stores can often result in a rare gem!

THX for any help

The Mighty Hercules, based upon the mythical Greek hero Hercules, began it's syndicated run in September, 1963. Produced by Joe Oriolo's Adventure Cartoons for Television, in association with Trans-Lux, the show featured a catchy theme song by Johnny Nash, which is available at the Toon Tracker RealAudio Page.

Hercules was voiced by Jerry Bascome, with Helene Nickerson as the voice of the fair maiden, Helena. Newton, the half-human, half-horse, was voiced by Jimmy Tapp, who also provided the voices of the villain Daedalius and the half-boy, half-goat, Tewt.

More info about the series can be found at Cartoon-O-Rama's Mighty Hercules Page.