CLUE CLUB /
Patricia Stich – Pepper
Bob Hastings – D.D.
Tara Talboy – Dottie
John Stephenson – Sheriff Bagley
One in a
series of Hanna-Barbera’s
attempts to duplicate the successful Scooby-Doo
formula, Clue Club followed the titular club of teenaged sleuths as
they investigated a series of mysteries that often involved the strange
disappearance of some object or person typically at the behest of Sheriff
Bagley (John Stephenson). The Club was comprised of Larry (David Jolliffe), the
oldest member and leader that typically handled interviewing the suspects; Pepper
(Patricia Stich), who handled the investigation by looking for clues; D.D. (Bob
Hastings), who wore a deerstalker cap and often worked with Pepper; and Dottie
(Tara Talboy), Pepper’s brilliant sister and the youngest member who typically
stayed home (although sometimes made her way into the field) and entered
information relayed from Larry into her crime-solving minicomputer or run
various forensic tests. The Club was accompanied by two dogs: Woofer (Paul
Winchell), a bloodhound that also wore a deerstalker and tended to accuse suspects
of the crime without good reason, and Whimper (Jim MacGeorge), an easy-going
and intelligent basset hound that sometimes went along with Woofer’s schemes
and other times worked against him. While Woofer and Whimper could talk, they
did only to each other and communicated in traditional dog fashion with their
humans (similarly to Winchell’s earlier vehicle, Goober
and the Ghost Chasers). The Club travelled around in a dune buggy (a reworked
version of the one from The
Funky Phantom) and utilized wristwatch communication devices.
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| The Clue Club crew: Larry, Sheriff Bagley, D.D., Dottie, Pepper, Whimper and Woofer. |
Clue
Club debuted on CBS on September 4, 1976.
The series was written by Herb
Armstrong, Haskell Barkin,
Dick Conway, Jack Fox, Gordon Glasco, Orville H. Hampton,
Duane Poole,
Dick Robbins,
James Schmerer,
Jeffrey Scott and Lee Sheldon, with music
provided by Hoyt Curtin. Alex Toth and Donna Zeller handled the
character designs. Although the series primarily aired on Saturday morning, the
episode, “One of Our Elephants is Missing”, received a special airing on
Thanksgiving.
 |
| Whimper trying to see Dottie right-side-up in the buggy's malfunctioning monitor. |
Following
the initial airings, the series was heavily edited to put a greater focus on the
antics of the two dogs and have the episodes’ overall length shortened.
Retitled Woofer & Whimper, Dog Detectives, these reformatted episodes
aired as a segment of the package program The Skatebirds from September
10, 1977 until January 21, 1978. Following The Skatebirds’ cancellation,
it was moved over to be a part of The
Robonic Stooges after they were spun off into its own show. The unaltered
episodes returned to CBS on Sunday mornings on September 10, 1978 and remained
until January 21, 1979. Clue Club returned periodically to television in
the 80s as part of USA
Cartoon Express, in the 90s on Cartoon
Network as part of their Mysteries, Inc. programming
block, and in the early 2000s on Boomerang.
 |
| Dottie at her computer. |
Despite its
short run, Clue Club gained a decent bit of merchandise. Rand McNally
published a storybook, The
Case of the Missing Racehorse by Fern G. Brown and Jim Franzen, a coloring book, a
read & color book, The Racetrack Mystery
and tray
puzzles. Whitman released several
standard puzzles.
Marvel Comics featured Clue Club stories
in two issues of the anthology comic Hanna-Barbera TV Stars in
the United States, and World
Distributors released Clue
Club Annual 1979 in the United Kingdom. Europe was also the only one to
receive the board
game based on the show from Arrow Games. Letraset Action Transfers released
a set of rub-on
transfers to create your own scene with the characters. There was also a
school tablet from Westab. In 2015, Warner Archive
released the complete
series to DVD as part of their Hanna-Barbera
Classics Collection.
EPISODE GUIDE:
“The Paper Shaper Caper” (9/4/76) – In the middle of their abduction, Larry, D.D. and Pepper discover a counterfeiting scheme.
“The Case of the Lighthouse Mouse” (9/11/76) – The Clue Club
investigates a jewelry theft that seems to point to Uncle Salty as the culprit.
“The Real Gone Gondola” (9/18/76) – The Clue Club investigates
the disappearance of a woman at a ski resort.
“Who’s to Blame for the Empty Frame?” (9/25/76) – The Clue
Club is called on to investigate the theft of a million-dollar painting, resulting
in Woofer and Whimper being stolen.
“The Weird Seaweed Caper” (10/2/76) – An investigation into
a sea monster leads to a diamond smuggling operation.
“The Green Thumb Caper” (10/9/76) – The Clue Club investigates
a string of robberies at Mr. Cosgrave’s mansion.
“The Disappearing Airport Caper” (10/16/76) – A pilot asks
the Clue Club to investigate the disappearance of the plane he landed.
“The Walking House Caper” (10/23/76) – The Clue Club is
asked to check out a top security safe that ends up missing.
“The Solar Energy Caper” (10/30/76) – A solar generator goes
missing at the science fair the Clue Club attend.
“The Vanishing Train Caper” (11/6/76) – The Clue Club
investigates the disappearance of a train carrying gold bullion that they
witnessed themselves.
“The Dissolving Statue Caper” (11/13/76) – The Clue Club are
presented with a statue at the amusement park that suddenly vanishes.
“The Missing Pig Caper” (11/20/76) – Sally brings the Clue
Club to the county fair to see her prize pig only to discover he’s missing.
“One of Our Elephants is Missing” (11/25/76) – The search
for a missing elephant at the zoo leads to the discovery that more animals are
missing.
“The Amazing Heist” (11/27/76) – A werewolf interferes with
the Clue Club’s investigation of a crown theft at a rock festival.
“The Circus Caper” (12/4/76) – While at the circus the Clue
Club witness the disappearance of an acrobat.
“The Prehistoric Monster Caper” (12/11/76) – A prehistoric
film shoot is put on hold when its director vanishes.
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