MAIN
CAST:
H.R. Pufnstuf was the first
television series to be created by Sid and
Marty Krofft. The Banana Splits Adventure Hour, for which the
Kroffts designed the costumed characters for, proved to the networks that
productions outside of animation were still viable on Saturday morning. NBC invited the Kroffts to develop their own
show for the network. However, the Kroffts didn’t want to just make wraparounds
for more animated fare; this time, they wanted to go full live-action.
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| Jimmy, Pufnstuf, Cling and Clang on the Rescue Racer. |
Their
show involved 11-year-old Jimmy (Jack Wild) being targeted by the evil (yet
ineffectual) witch, Wilhelmina W. Witchiepoo (Billie Hayes), for his golden
magic talking flute, Freddy (Joan Gerber). She lured Jimmy to Living Island where
he fell under the protection of the mayor, dragon H.R. Pufnstuf (performed by
Roberto Gamonet, voiced by Lennie Weinrib using a southern accent), and his
Rescue Racer Crew, mute anthropomorphic bells Cling (Joy Campbell) and Clang
(Angelo Rossitto).
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| Some of the citizenry on Living Island. |
On Living Island, everything was
alive (as the name implied). That included the houses, the trees, vegetation,
household items and even the four winds called on by Pufnstuf to blow
Witchiepoo out of the sky. Among the residents of Living Island were Dr. Blinky
(performed by John
Silver, voiced by Walker Edmiston impersonating Ed Wynn), an owl that served as
a physician and scientist that lived in a house prone to sneezing fits; Judy
Frog (performed by Sharon Baird, voiced by Gerber), a singing, dancing frog
that served as an entertainer; Pop Lolly (Weinrib), a lollipop that sold sweets
with Cheese Guards serving as protection against hippie ants looking for
freebies; Ludicrous Lion (Silver & Edmiston impersonating W.C. Fields), a shady and
greedy peddler that operated out of a carriage pulled by Polka-Dotted Horse
(performed by Felix Silla,
voiced by Weinrib); Tick Tock (performed by Andy Ratoucheff, voiced by
Weinrib), a traveling alarm clock that warned of Witchiepoo attacks; Shirley
Pufnstuf (Silver & Gerber impersonating a younger Shirley Temple), H.R.’s sister
and a famous actress; Akim Toadenoff the Great (based on Erich von Stroheim, named after
Akim Tamiroff, voiced by Weinrib),
a monocled toad that worked as a film director; clock couple Grandmother Clock
(Gerber) and Grandfather Clock (Edmiston) who were just two of the clock people;
resident avian band The Boyds (based on The Byrds) and their lead
singer, Lady Boyd (Baird & Gerber); Hippie Tree (Weinrib), a tree that
often spoke in hippie slang; Madame Willow (Gerber), an old and elitist tree
that used a lorgnette; and Chief Redwood (Edmiston), a Native American tree.
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| Witchiepoo and Orson on the Vroom-Broom. |
However, not every resident of
Living Island was friendly. Under Wtichiepoo’s employ was Orson Vulture
(Campbell & Weinrib), a stuffy and inept vulture that was her favorite
flunky and performed a variety of tasks for her; Seymour Spider (Rossitto &
Edmiston), a dim-witted spider that served as her hairdresser; Stupid Bat
(Baird & Weinrib), who served as a messenger that tended to bring her
messages a second too late; a group of evil trees, one that sounded like Bela Lugosi (Weinrib), one that
sounded like Peter Lorre
(Edmiston), and one that always rhymed (Weinrib); Musrhooms with the ability to
turn anyone they touch into mushrooms and whose leader chomped on a cigar while
sounding like James Cagney (Weinrib);
and skeleton guards that were easily frightened and prone to running off. When
not scheming at her snarky castle, Witchiepoo often took to the skies on her
rocket-powered Vroom-Broom.
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| Program for the '68 World's Fair featuring Kaleidoscope. |
H.R. Pufnstuf was an
amalgamation of various projects the Kroffts had worked on before. The main
plot was recycled from Kaleidoscope, a live puppet show they performed
in the Coca-Cola Pavilion
of the HemisFair ’68 World’s Fair. That
show included a dragon character originally named Luther who became the mascot
of the fair, and a silly witch. Living Island’s currency was buttons, which
came from Sid’s childhood of charging his friends buttons to view puppet shows
he held in his back yard, as did inspiration from The Wizard of Oz
which was the first theatrical film he ever saw. Ludicrous Lion was a
reworking of Irving from a 1957 pilot they made called Here’s Irving. The
Kroffts also paid homage to their time touring as the opening act for Judy
Garland by basing Judy Frog
on her (unfortunately, she died six months before getting to see that tribute).
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| Freddy the Flute hanging out in Jimmy's pocket. |
In
casting Jimmy, a character with the hopes of connecting with their potential
audience, Sid first saw Wild when his friend Lionel Bart showed him a rough
cut of the film Oliver!
The Kroffts immediately hired him, and Marty took guardianship of the
16-year-old British actor while he was filming the show at Paramount Studios in California. Although
Wild remembered his time in the Krofft household fondly, Marty found him a
handful considering he was already dealing with two young daughters on top of
building up a show from scratch. Casting Hayes was a simple choice for the
Kroffts when she came in to audition as the character she presented was
basically an extension of herself. To cast the little people needed to wear and
control the various character suits, the Kroffts had their friend Billy Barty (who was
unavailable to star in the show but did portray a de-aged Witchiepoo in
an episode) get the word out through the newsletter of his organization, the Little People of America. Credited as
“puppeteers” since they not only wore the suits but often had to operate
various parts of them, the cast was comprised of many people who worked with
the Kroffts before and would continue to do so through many of their television
and stage productions. The various costumes were designed by Evenda Leeper. Originally, the
concept for the series was to have a Western element to it before being changed
to a fantasy one. Pufnstuf’s accent and cowboy boots were the only remnant of
that original direction to remain in the final product.
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| Dr. Blinky experimenting. |
H.R. Pufnstuf debuted on NBC
on September 6, 1969. As would become customary in Krofft productions, the
series’ theme by Les Szarvas
laid out all the exposition to set up the premise as well as catch up new
viewers who may have missed previous episodes; allowing the writers to focus
entirely on the story at hand. Unfortunately, the Szarvas’ tune seemed a little
too close to “The 59th
Street Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy)” for Paul Simon’s liking, resulting in his
suing the production. As part of their settlement, Simon was credited as the
song’s co-writer. Along with all the voices he provided, Weinrib was also one
of the series’ writers with Paul Harrison
and Robert Ridolphi. The
series’ music was composed by Gene
Page, Jr., with Szarvas providing the various song numbers used during the
episodes. The show made use of a laugh track that producer Si Rose, having come from
sitcoms, insisted on. The Kroffts were initially hesitant until Rose convinced
them that with the type of show they were making the laugh track would be
necessary to let the children watching know when to laugh.
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| Witchiepoo and her Skeleton Guards. |
A persisting notion about the show
was that it made reference to drug culture, what with the colorful sets, crazy
characters, talking mushrooms and even the name “Pufnstuf”. Some maintain that
“H.R.” was some kind of drug slang, despite the production stating that they
stood for “His Royal” or “Royal Highness” backwards. By some accounts, either
one or both of the Kroffts indulged in recreational drugs, which they have
repeatedly denied in interviews. They’ve also denied any intentional allusion
to drugs both directly and with a bit of a wink. Marty would eventually admit
in a later interview that “Pufnstuf”, as well as the title of another show, Lidsville,
were actually intentional marijuana references done as pranks to see if
they could slip them past clueless network executives. Regardless of how much
truth or projected subtext goes into analyzing H.R. Pufnstuf, the show
did find a loyal fanbase among a crowd looking for a psychedelic trip.
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| An aged Jimmy turns out to be Witchiepoo's dream man. |
Despite being one of NBC’s
highest-rated programs, it was also extremely expensive as the Kroffts had
chosen to shoot it on film (their only program to do so as they switched to the
much-cheaper videotape for the remainder of their library). Rather than proceed
with a second season, NBC just renewed it for several cycles of reruns until
1972. Following the conclusion of the NBC run, ABC
began airing it on both Saturday and Sunday mornings until 1978. That year, it
was packaged into Krofft Superstars with other Krofft productions, which
ran until 1985. Reruns would return to television in 1999 when TV Land would air it as part of their Super Retrovision Saturdaze
Saturday morning-themed overnight programming block, and then again in 2004
as part of their weekend late-night block TV Land Kitschen.
Looking to get in
on the show’s popularity, Universal Studios
approached the Kroffts about doing a film version financed by the studio and
primary sponsor Kellogg’s. Titled simply
Pufnstuf, the film essentially combined the plots of “The Magic Path”
and “The Visiting Witch” with gags recycled from “The Stand-In” and “The Box
Kite Caper”. A little more backstory was added to Jimmy’s life before he ended
up on Living Island, as well as several new characters: a previously mentioned Boss
Witch (Martha Raye, the
second choice after Bette Davis felt
insulted at being the first choice), her chauffer Heimlich Rat (Allan Melvin),
Witchiepoo’s rival Witch Hazel (Cass Elliot, who was Sid’s neighbor and
took the role as a favor), Googy Gopher and Orville Pelican (both performed by
Barty, voiced by Don Messick and Melvin, respectively). The rest of the cast
and crew was largely held over from the television production, with some
modifications made to the sets and costumes. Weinrib wasn’t available to work
on the film, resulting in his being replaced by Melvin and Messick for many of
his various voices, and the film was written by Rose with John Fenton Murray. Norman Gimbel and Charles Fox also came in as the
composers, offering a groovier soundtrack than Szarvas’ (and would go on to be
successful music-writing partners). The film, directed by series director Hollingsworth Morse, premiered
in San Antonio, Texas on June 3rd, 1970, before a wider limited
release on June 15. The film was modestly successful, although it was hampered
by detractors who felt it was just an extended episode of the show and the
growing public disinterest in G-rated films.
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| Paul Lynde finds himself caught between two witches. |
Although further adventures of
Pufnstuf and his friends had come to an end, the characters still continued to
make appearances in other Krofft productions and beyond. Pufnstuf and
Witchiepoo guest-starred in an episode of Lidsville (on which Hayes was
a regular as another character), then Pufnstuf on his own in The Lost
Island, Witchiepoo with Orson, Seymour and Stupid in Horror Hotel, and
on her own in The Bay City Rollers Meet the Saturday Superstars preview
special and The Bay City Rollers Show. The Kroffts also loaned out Witchiepoo
to The Paul Lynde
Halloween Special where she appeared as the sister of the Wicked Witch
of the West (Margaret Hamilton),
and Pufnstuf to an episode of CHiPs for a cameo appearance (with Weinrib
reprising the voice). The characters appeared in a number of stage show tours,
most notably H.R.
Pufnstuf & The Brady Kids Live at the Hollywood Bowl in 1973 and
the Ice Capades.
In 1971, an elaborate puppet show was run at Six Flags Over Mid-America (now Six Flags St. Louis) at The Sid and Marty Krofft
Puppet Theater while costumed performers as Pufnstuf, Cling and Clang
walked the park.
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| Funko bobblehead of Pufnstuf. |
At the height of its popularity, Pufnstuf
was a merchandising goldmine. As mentioned, Kellogg’s was the primary
sponsor of the show and they included various offers and premiums with their
products including colorful rings,
stickers, a
Freddy the Flute
replica, records,
pennants,
and hand
puppets. Remco produced
their own set of
puppets, and Mars Incorporated offered free playsuits
with the purchase of their Maltesers,
Revels and Treets candies. From 1970-72 Gold Key Comics
published an 8-issue series
based around the show, while Whitman
released several puzzles,
coloring
books, sticker books and a press-out book. Aladdin also released a tin lunchbox, and Milton Bradley
a board
game. In 2000, new merchandise began to be made starting with an action
figure as part of Living Toyz’s The
Kroft Superstars toyline. In 2005, Modern
Publishing released a new set of coloring
books. Beginning in 2019 Funko released
several products including a
set of POP! toys featuring Pufnstuf, Witchiepoo, Cling and
Clang, Pez
dispensers, Nodniks,
and a soda.
One merchandising partner, however,
attempted to cut the Kroffts out of the picture entirely. The ad agency of Needham,
Harper and Steers (now DDB Worldwide)
approached the Kroffts in 1970 about creating characters they could use in
their upcoming McDonald’s advertising
campaign. After meeting with the Kroffts and getting a bit of information about
how they created their suits and puppets, they were told that the McDonald’s
deal fell through. In reality, Needham already had the account and took what they
learned to create the McDonaldland
ad campaign utilizing some former Krofft employees. The sets and costumes,
particularly that of Mayor
McCheese (performed by Billy
Curtis, voiced by Howard
Morris impersonating Ed Wynn), bore a strong resemblance to Pufnstuf. Weinrib
was also retained to voice one of the characters: the large purple monster
named Grimace. Because
of McDonaldland, merchandising deals with Pufnstuf fell to the wayside and
their characters were replaced in the Ice Capades by the McDonaldland ones. The
Kroffts sued McDonald’s in 1973 for infringement and lost profits, ending up
winning a judgement of $50,000. On appeal in 1977 and with the changes brought
about by the Copyright
Act of 1976, the court found in their favor again and they were awarded
more than $1 million. McDonald’s was also ordered to stop airing commercials
featuring some of the characters. McDonaldland itself, however, continued on
until 2003 when they abandoned the campaign and all of the characters (except
their mascot, Ronald
McDonald) outside of special uses.
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| Pufnstuf with his nephew Stuff. |
The
Kroffts have often
talked about revisiting the world of Pufnstuf and doing something
new with the character. While not exactly what they meant, they did get a
chance in 2016, as Pufnstuf (Mary Karcz
suit, Donna Kimball face, Randy Credico voice), Cling (Arturo Gil), Clang (Joseph S. Griffo) and Freddy
(Kimball) returned to television for the first time in an episode of the
Krofft-created Mutt
& Stuff on Nick Jr.; where
Pufnstuf was revealed to be the uncle of giant stuffed dog, Stuff (Meegan Godfrey suit, Drew Massey face and voice).
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| The complete series DVD. |
Beginning
in 1999, Rhino released several VHS tapes
with two episodes apiece and the , as well as an ultimate
box set and the Hollywood
Bowl performance. In 2002, Pufnstuf made the leap to DVD in the
compilation collections The
World of Sid & Marty Krofft and Saturday
Morning with Sid & Marty Krofft, which featured an episode from each
of the Krofft shows. In 2004, they released the complete
series to DVD for the first time, while Universal Studios released
the film in 2009. 2009 also saw the release of the VHS collection The
World of Sid & Marty Krofft by Columbia House, which featured
an episode from each Krofft show per volume. A compilation of four episodes,
billed as 4
of Sid and Marty’s Favorites, was released in 2005, while Fabulous
Films release their own 7-episode compilation, H.R.
Pufnstuf: The World of Sid & Marty Krofft, overseas. SMK and
Vivendi Entertainment (now Cinedigm) obtained
the rights to the show. Vivendi re-released the complete series in 2011 on two versions:
a
traditional set, and a collector’s set featuring a Pufnstuf bobblehead,
while SMK released the compilation Sid
& Marty Krofft’s Saturday Morning Hits. In 2015, Beyond Home Entertainment
released the complete series internationally alongside Land
of the Lost, Sigmund and the Sea Monsters and Electra
Woman and Dyna Girl in the compilation The
World of Sid & Marty Krofft Collector’s Set, and then re-released
it in 2018.
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| The film soundtrack. |
Along with home video, there were several musical releases as well. In 1969, Capitol Records released Sing-along with H.R. Pufnstuf, which featured the songs used in the show, as well as the motion picture soundtrack the following year. The Pickwick Children’s Chorus covered the song on their compilation album Sesame Street & Other Children’s Pop Hits! In 1990, the opening and closing theme were featured on the Australian compilation album 30 Years of Funtastic TV Toons 1960-1990 from Concept Records. In 1995, The Murmurs re-recorded the show’s theme as part of MCA Records’ compilation album Saturday Morning (Cartoons’ Greatest Hits). The following year, the original theme was included on TVT Records’ compilation Television’s Greatest Hits Volume 5: In Living Color. In 1998, Interscope Records and Gazillion Records released H.R. Pufnstuf and Other Sid & Marty Kroft Favorites, featuring several songs from the show and the various themes and a couple of songs from other Krofft shows.
EPISODE
GUIDE:
“The
Wheely Bird” (9/13/69) – Jimmy and Pufnstuf use a bird-shaped “Trojan Horse” to
get inside Witchiepoo’s castle and rescue Freddy.
“Show
Biz Witch” (9/20/69) – Jimmy and Pufnstuff hold a talent show to raise money
for Jimmy to buy a pogo stick that could bounce him home.
“The
Mechanical Boy” (9/27/69) – Witchiepoo catches Jimmy stealing her boat and
turns him into a mechanical boy that will do her bidding.
“The
Box Kite Caper” (10/4/69) – A kite-flying contest inspires Jimmy and Freddy to
try and get off the island using a giant box kite.
“The
Golden Key” (10/11/69) – Jimmy is given a map to a key that will open a door
back home, but he has to choose between his escape and rescuing Pufnstuf from
Witchiepoo.
“The
Birthday Party” (10/18/69) – Witchiepoon crashes Jimmy’s birthday party,
dousing the attendees with laughing gas so that she can make off with Freddy.
“The
Horse with the Golden Throat” (10/25/69) – Dr. Blinkey has to rescue Freddy
after he’s accidentally swallowed by Polka-Dotted Horse.
“The
Stand In” (11/1/69) – A plan forms to get Witchiepoo into Shirley’s movie so
that Jimmy can steal her Vroom-Broom and escape the island.
“You
Can’t Have Your Cake” (11/8/69) – Judy Frog has to use her new dance step to
rescue Jimmy and Freddy when they fall into Witchiepoo’s cake trap.
“Dinner
for Two, Please, Orson” (11/15/69) – Jimmy hopes to use a time machine to
prevent his arrival, but it ends up aging him into the man of Witchiepoo’s
dreams.
“Flute,
Book and Candle” (11/22/69) – Jimmy, Pufnstuf and Dr. Blinky go through one of
Witchiepoo’s books to find a way to change Freddy back from a mushroom.
“Tooth
for a Tooth” (11/29/69) – Witchiepoo disguises herself as a little girl to get
Dr. Blinky to look at a bad tooth and he sprays her with an anti-witch potion.
“The
Visiting Witch” (12/6/69) – Witchiepoo captures Pufnstuf as a gift for Boss
Witch, but when she ends up delayed Jimmy takes her place to free him.
“The
Almost Election of Mayor Witchiepoo” (12/13/69) – Witchiepoo enters the mayoral
race against Pufnstuf, and naturally she cheats to win.
“Whaddaya
Mean the Horse Gets the Girl?” (12/20/69) – Shirley makes a movie to raise
money for the anti-witch fund which prompts Witchiepoo to demand that her life
story be made.
“Jimmy
Who?” (12/27/69) – Dr. Blinky and Witchiepoo try to remind Jimmy of who he is
when he gets amnesia from a blow to the head.
Film:
“Pufnstuf”
(6/15/70) – Witchiepoo lures Jimmy to Living Island to steal his magical flute
and win Witch of the Year when the Witches’ Council visits for their
convention.
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