King Leonardo
and his Short Subjects

[10/15/60 - 9/28/63] Renamed The King and Odie in syndication, King Leonardo and his Short Subjects began on NBC-TV October 15, 1960. It was the second color cartoon series on the network's Saturday morning schedule, replacing the first run of Ruff and Reddy. In addition to The King and Odie, the show featured The Hunter, Tooter Turtle and Twinkles.

Tke King and Odie

The adventures of good King Leonardo, the ruler of the mythical kingdom of Bongo-Congo and his ever faithful companion Odie Cologne, a skunk who was the real brains behind the throne.

Together they fought off Leonardo's dim-witted sibling, Itchy Brother, and his goading accomplice Biggy Rat in their attempts to take over the throne. Other adversaries included Odie's flirtatious sister, Carlotta, and the diabolical Professor Messer, who once created androids looking exactly like The King and Odie. Jackson Beck (Popeye's Brutus and Buzzy The Crow) provided the voices of King Leonardo and Biggie Rat, while Odie Cologne and Itchy Brother were voiced by Allen Swift.

Initially the cartoons were seen as two-part serials over the course of two shows. King Leonardo would introduce the other cartoons by watching them on TV. During the second year, The King and Odie adventures were re-cut and used as wraparounds to introduce the component fillers.

The Hunter

Kenny Delmar provided the southern drawl of The Hunter, a voice reminiscent of Delmar's famous Senator Beauregard Claghorn character from radio's The Fred Allen Show.

A bumbling bloodhound who carried a card which read "Have Nose, Will Hunt", The Hunter worked for Officer Flim Flanagan. He was continually in pursuit of The Fox, a cunning con-man who once stole the Brooklyn Bridge. The Fox would eventually be nabbed by the end of the cartoon, in spite of The Hunter's bumbling.

Tooter Turtle

Mild-mannered Tooter Turtle, voiced by Allen Swift, lived out his fantasies through the sorcery of Mr. Wizard, the Lizard of the Great Forest (voiced by Frank Milano).

Assuming many different identities, Tooter went from being a lumberjack to a taxi driver, from pre-historic times to the moon. He always wound up botching the jobs and getting in trouble. Crying out "Help, Mr. Wizard!", Tooter invoked the powers of Mr. Wizard to get him home. Mr. Wizard complied, with his magical chant: "Drizzle, Drazzle, Druzzle, Drome, time for this one to come home!"

The Singalong Family

Joe Harris wrote me concerning the origin of this animated short:

"The Singalong Family was a Total TV production. Because of the 20s tune I was able to design a fresh new look for the characters and setting."

Twinkles

Twinkles, a flying baby elephant, appeared in ninety second cartoons dealing with elementary subjects for pre-schoolers. In addition, he was featured on General Mills Twinkles cereal. The cereal boxes could be opened up into a story book, featuring tales with the scholarly tot and his buddies Fulton the Camel, Sanford the Parrot and Wilbur the Monkey.

Watch "Twinkles and the Haunted House"

See a Twinkles adventure, in RealVideo, encoded for 56 Kbps.

Twinkles adventure and commercial

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Since August 8, 1997