50TH ANNIVERSARIES

 Wow! Half a century! Our anniversary celebration continues with these shows turning

*Everything's Archie (actual intro not available)

BUTCH CASSIDY

 

BUTCH CASSIDY
(NBC, September 8-December 1, 1973)
 
Hanna-Barbera Productions

 

MAIN CAST:
Lloyd “Chip” Hand II – Butch Cassidy
Micky Dolenz – Wally
Kristina Holland – Stephanie
Judy Strangis – Merilee
John Stephenson – Mr. Socrates
Frank Welker – Elvis, various

 

            Surprisingly, this wasn’t Hanna-Barbera’s attempt to adapt the 1969 film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid into a kid-friendly animated romp—heck, it wasn’t even a western. No, instead this was another Scooby-Doo clone—with mystery-solving teenagers and a pet sidekick—and a dash of Josie and the Pussycats.

Meet the band: Stephanie, Merilee, Butch, Wally and Elvis.

        Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kids were a teenaged rock band that worked as secret government agents for the World-Wide Talent Agency; solving crimes as they toured around the world with the help of local agents (although you’d think being famous musicians would make keeping a low profile for investigating difficult). The band was comprised of lead singer and guitarist Butch Cassidy (Lloyd “Chip” Hand II), tambourine player Merilee (Judy Strangis), bass guitarist Stephanie (Kristina Holland), and drummer Wally (Micky Dolenz), as well as Wally’s trusty anthropomorphic (though non-speaking) dog, Elvis (named after The King, voiced by Frank Welker). They were given assignments and advised by a giant supercomputer named Mr. Socrates (named for the Greek philosopher, voiced by John Stephenson using a stereotypical robotic voice), who was housed inside the WWTA and could communicate with Butch, codenamed “Sundance 1”, through the device in the ring he wore. Despite being an artificial intelligence, somehow Mr. Socrates had a strong allergy to dogs which meant Elvis had to be kept out of the lair. A running gag featured Elvis managing to find his own way in or Wally forgetting about Socrates’ allergy and bringing Elvis in with them. The characters were designed by Takashi Masunaga.

Mr. Socrates.

        Butch Cassidy (also known as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kids) debuted on NBC on September 8, 1973, running only a single season of 13 episodes. The series was written by Bill Raynor, Fred Fox, Seaman Jacobs, Bernie Kahn, Myles Wilder, Norman Hudis, Ed Jurist, Sam Roeca and Dick Wesson, with story direction by Joe Bruno, Earl Klein, Paul Sommer, Carl Fallberg, Don Sheppard and Ken Southworth. Similarly to Josie, Butch Cassidy featured a musical number in each episode performed by the band. These songs were produced by Universal Presentations, with Buddy Buie as executive producer. Four of these songs were released as singles by Romar Records. A full album was announced, but never materialized. The rest of the series’ music was composed by Hoyt Curtin.  

Hanna-Barbera Fun-In #11.

        The episode “The Pearl Caper” was adapted into comic form for Gold Key Comics’ Hanna-Barbera Fun-In #11 in 1974 (with Elvis given a “voice” in the form of thought bubbles). In 2013, Warner Archive released the complete series to DVD as part of their Hanna-Barbera Classics Collection. It’s also been made available to stream on Prime Video and iTunes. 

The Hex Girls poster in Scoob! baring the Sundance Kids' name (among others).

The characters would go on to make appearances in several episodes of Sealab 2021: playing as a band in “All That Jazz”; as residents of SeaLab Pod Six in “Let ‘Em Eart Corn!” (with Butch and Wally sporting mustaches); “Butchslap”, where the character of Marco (Erik Estrada) was revealed to have been a Sundance Kid; and the character models for Butch and Wally were recycled for the appearances of writer John Miller and creator/writer Adam Reed, respectively, in the episodes “Swimming in Oblivion” and “Return to Oblivion”. The band was also listed as a featured act for the Hex Girls—the fictional goth female group within the Scooby universe—on a poster in the 2020 film, Scoob!

 

EPISODE GUIDE:

“The Scientist” (9/8/73) – The band must smuggle a scientist out of a foreign country without being discovered.

 

“The Counterfeiters” (9/15/73) – The band investigates a Latvanian baron for his connection to a counterfeiting ring.

 

“One of Our Ships is Missing” (9/22/73) – The band ride on a cruise ship that’s targeted by a group of boat thieves.

 

“Double Trouble” (9/29/73) – The band must expose an imposter prince put in place to hide his kidnapping.

 

“The Pearl Caper” (10/6/73) – The band heads to Honolulu to search for pearl thieves and their stolen loot.

 

“The Gold Caper” (10/13/73) – The band goes to London to uncover a gold smuggling ring.

 

“Road Racers” (10/20/73) – A diamond theft coincides with The Grand Prix Cross-European race that begins in Venice.

 

“Hong Kong Story” (10/27/73) – The band deals with both their fan club and the theft of a priceless jade statute.

 

“Operation G-Minus” (11/3/73) – An anti-gravity device is stolen from a Munich toy expo.

 

“Orient Express” (11/10/73) – Mr. Socrates is taken over by an enemy agent while the band is off delivering an important document.

 

“The Parrot Caper” (11/17/73) – The band escorts a parrot that memorized an important formula to Switzerland.

 

“The Super Sub” (11/24/73) – The band sets out to retrieve a stole experimental submarine.

 

“The Haunted Castle” (12/1/73) – Wally inherits a castle that appears to be haunted.

45TH ANNIVERSARIES

*Note: Intros for Everthing's Archie and Go! are unavailable.

JOHN STEPHENSON DEAD AT 91

John Stephenson died on Friday, May 15th, at the age of 91. You can read about it here.

Stephenson had a long career, especially on Saturdays and usually in Hanna-Barbera productions. He was probably best known for his portrayal of Mr. Slate, amongst many other smaller characters, and Doggie Daddy throughout The Flintstones and various entries of the Yogi Bear franchises, and various guest voices in episodes of Scooby-Doo. 

His starring roles included Dr. Benton Quest and others on Jonny Quest, Chief Winchley on The Secret Squirrel Show and The Atom Ant/Secret Squirrel Show, Fariik and Bakaar on The Banana Splits Adventure Hour, Luke and Blubber Bear on Wacky Races, Eustace P. Peevly on Help!...It's the Hair Bear Bunch!, Captain Mike Murphy on Sealab 2020, Mr. Socrates on Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kids, Doggie Daddy, Hardy Har Har and others on Yogi's Gang, Hadji on Jeannie, Reuben Kinkaid on Partridge Family 2200 AD, Tom, Jerry and Spike on The New Tom & Jerry Show, Mildew Wolf, Doggie Daddy, Dread Baron and The Great Fondoo on Laff-A-Lympics, Captain Snerdley and General Blowhard on Galaxy Goof-Ups and Yogi's Space Race, Harry Scary and the Commander on Casper and the Angles, Chief Quimby on an episode of Inspector Gadget (1983), Beef Bonk on Galaxy High School, Doc, Philo and Grunge on Fraggle Rock: the Animated Series, and Professor X on Pryde of the X-Men.

He provided guest voices in episodes of The Magilla Gorilla, Frankenstein Jr. and the Impossibles, Birdman, Moby Dick and the Mighty Mightor, The Adventures of Gulliver, The ABC Saturday Superstar Movie, Inch High Private Eye, Super Friends, The Scooby-Doo/Dynomutt Hour and Dynomutt Dog Wonder, The Fantastic Four (1978), The Super Globetrotters, The Puppy's Further Adventures, Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, ABC Weekend Specials, Pound Puppies (1986), The Flintstone Kids, Aaahh!!! Real Monsters and Duck Dodgers.

He served as narrator on Ruff & Reddy Show and The Atom Ant Show, while providing additional voices on Abbott & Costello, Young Samson & Goliath,  Harlem Globe Trotters, The Addams Family (1973), Speed Buggy, Goober and the Ghost Chasers, CB Bears, The Plastic Man Comedy/Adventure Show, Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels, The Kwicky Koala Show, Spider-Man (1981), Space Stars, Shirt Tales, Laverne & Shirley with Special Guest Star the Fonz, Rubik the Amazing Cube, Mister T, The incredible Hulk (1982), The Dukes, The Littles, Kissyfur, Centurions, Ruby-Spears' Superman and The Karate Kid: the Animated Series.