THE MAGILLA GORLLA SHOW
(Syndication, January
14, 1964-December 25, 1965)
Hanna-Barbera Productions
The Magilla
Gorlla Show was an animated series developed by Hanna-Barbera Productions
for Screen Gems that
was broken up into several smaller segments. The main segment starred the
titular Magilla (Allan Melvin),
an anthropomorphic gorilla who resided in Melvin Peebles’ (Howard Morris & Don Messick) pet store. Peebles
sought any way to get Magilla sold and out of his store before he ate away all
his finances, but every attempt was only met with brief success as Magilla
would constantly end up back at the shop. The only one genuinely interested in
acquiring Magilla was a little girl named Ogee (Jean Vander Pyl) who could
neither afford nor convince her parents to let her keep him.
 |
| Punkin Puss & Mushmouse (top), Ricochet Rabbit & Droop-A-Long, and Breezley & Sneezley. |
The next segment, Punkin’
Puss & Mushmouse, starred the hillbilly titular characters (voiced by
Melvin and Morris, respectively) that took the classic cat and mouse formula
and mixed it with a send up of the legendary feud of the Hatfields
and McCoys. Ricochet Rabbit &
Droop-A-Long followed the adventures of super-speedy rabbit sheriff
Ricochet (Messick) and his slow as molasses deputy Droop-a-Long Coyote (Mel Blanc) as they protected the
town of Hoop N’ Holler. Ricochet often employed a wide variety of trick bullets
to thwart his foes. To promote their other series, The Peter Potamus
Show, Ricochet Rabbit was exchanged in 1965 with that show’s segment Breezley & Sneezley. Breezly Bruin
(Morris) was a resourceful polar bear who wanted to break into the local army
camp for various reasons while evading its leader, Colonel Fuzzby (John Stephenson). Breezly’s best
friend and sidekick was Sneezly Seal (Blanc), who had a perpetual cold that
caused him to sneeze with a devastating power.
 |
| Peebles giving away Magilla for a song. |
The Magilla
Gorilla Show debuted in syndication on January 14, 1964. It was prefaced by
a half-hour special, Here Comes a Star, hosted
by George Fenneman who led
the audience on a tour of Hanna-Barbera’s headquarters. In 1966, reruns of the
show moved to ABC’s Saturday morning
schedule. Hoyt Curtin
composed the series’ music, including the theme whose line “he’s really ideal”
was a nod to the show’s original sponsor, Ideal Toys. Magilla
promoted Ideal in the original opening sequence by flashing their logo on a
balloon and then on the television that showed the program’s title. A second version
of the intro had Magilla’s face on the balloon and put introductions of the
other characters featured into the show on the television.
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