THE NEW
CASPER CARTOON SHOW
(ABC, October 5-December 28, 1963)
Harvey Films, Famous Studios
MAIN CAST:
 |
| The first issue of the Harvey Comics series. |
Initially, the Harvey Comics followed the theatrical
shorts closely. Determining that to be very limiting due to their formulaic
nature—Casper scared off potential friends because he was a ghost until he did
something for them—the comics branched out and did their own thing beginning
with Casper,
The Friendly Ghost #20 (1953). Casper
became a bit more well-adjusted and now lived in an Enchanted Forest where he
had a plethora of friends (although the running gag of new beings he
encountered being frightened by his lack of corporeal state was still used from
time to time). Among them was Wendy, a good little witch, Nightmare, a talking
ghost horse, the mischievous Spooky, who wore a derby and enjoyed scaring
people, and Spooky’s girlfriend, Poil.
Several of these characters appeared in the shorts at the same time, which was
no surprise since the comics were written and drawn by members of Famous
Studios. Casper also interacted with and befriended various other Harvey
characters, including Hot Stuff,
the little devil, and wealthy urchin Richie Rich.
 |
| Casper with Wendy, The Ghostly Trio, Nightmare and Spooky. |
Casper was always depicted as residing in haunted
houses with a group of indistinguishable ghosts who, unlike him, enjoyed
scaring and often picked on Casper for his friendly ways. Harvey decided to take
three of those ghosts and give them their own defining traits, eventually
creating The Ghostly Trio. They were Fatso, the overweight and gluttonous
(ghosts could eat in early stories) leader of the group due to his being
marginally the smartest of the group and the toughest; Fusso, an
average-looking ghost with extreme fussiness and attention to detail; and Lazo,
the tallest, laziest and dumbest. It should be noted that only Fatso’s name
remained consistent in their appearances, as sometimes the other two could have
different names such as Eeko and Stretcho (which would become one of the official
names circa the 1995 film).
 |
| Production cels of Wendy with her magically cursed dancing shoes. |
In 1959, Harvey purchased the character outright
along with several other Famous properties; giving him access to all the theatrical
shorts produced after 1950 (the pre-1950 library had already been acquired by U.M. &M TV
Corporation in 1956). Harvey put the shorts
on television in the compilation series Matty’s Funday Funnies, which
was sponsored by Mattel and presented by
their mascots, Matty
Mattel and Sister Belle. The original Paramount Noveltoons banner was changed to Harveytoons to reflect their
new ownership. The series ran from October 11, 1959 until December 30, 1961 on ABC. Afterward, it entered syndication as Casper
and Company without Mattel’s involvement. With the shorts doing well,
Harvey decided to invest in some new material created specifically for
television.
 |
| Casper and Wendy with The Evil Witch. |
The New Casper Cartoon Show debuted on ABC on October
5, 1963. The series was comprised of classic Casper shorts with 26 new
ones created by Famous Studios. However, unlike the Famous shorts, the new
Paramount shorts followed the format of the Harvey Comics in everything from
the setting to the supporting characters. Norma MacMillan voiced Casper, Wendy
and all of the female characters, while Bradley Bolke voiced the Ghostly Trio,
Spooky and all of the male characters. The music was by Winston Sharples. Many of the
same crew who worked on the original theatrical shorts also worked on the
television shorts. The series marked the final solo directorial work of prolific
Famous Studios director Seymour
Kneitel, who died of a heart attack in 1964.
 |
| Casper with his woodland friends. |
Each episode was comprised of two Casper shorts,
with one of the theatrical ones in between; typically, from the Modern Madcaps series.
These new shorts were directly adapted from the Harvey Comics condensed to fit
into a 5-minute runtime (an unusual reversal as the comics were usually inspired
by the shorts). Although only 26 new Casper shorts were produced
and aired entirely in their first season, ABC kept the program on their
schedule until the end of 1969. The series entered into syndication, running
either under its original New title, as Casper, or as The
Casper Show.
 |
| The Ghostly Trio spooking. |
Universal Studios
Home Entertainment began releasing various segments onto VHS in 1992 in their
own collections and with the theatrical
shorts. The only segment not to see release was “The Bored Billionaire”,
likely due to an instance of cigar smoking in the short. In 2011, Shout! Factory released Casper
the Friendly Ghosts: The Complete Collection (1945-1963) onto DVD. The
set contained every Casper short made until 1963, including the 26 for
the show (although they weren’t presented as broadcast and lacked their opening
and closing segments). Bonus features included commentary and interviews by
Bolke, Edmee Reit (widow of Casper co-creator Seymour Reit), Alison Arngrim (daughter of
MacMillan), and Mark
Arnold (editor of The
Harveyville Fun Times), as well as a gallery of comic book covers.
EPISODE GUIDE (new segments only):
“The Greedy Giants / Red Robbing Hood” (10/5/63) – Casper decides to
help the Weeping Willow stop being teased by the other trees. / Casper helps
vigilante Red Robbing Hood get his throne back from his evil cousin.
“The Lonesome Giant / A Visit From Mars” (10/12/63) – Casper tries to
help a giant become friends with the forest animals. / A little Martian boy
runs away to Earth and the Martians are convinced his “borrowed” saucer was
stolen by humans.
“Bedtime Trouble / The Bored Billionaire” (10/19/63) – While The
Ghostly Trio keeps him up, Casper tries to help an insomniac bear get some
sleep with the help of the Sandman. / Casper saves a billionaire from a witch.
“City Snicker / Cold Wave” (10/26/63) – Casper wants to protect his
visiting cousin Spooky from the strange noises in the night. / Casper has to
stop an evil scientist from blocking the sun’s light from reaching Earth.
“Growing Up / Kings of Toyland” (11/2/63) – The Ghostly Trio give
Casper a growth potion. / Casper settles a war between two kings.
“Little Lost Ghost / Mother Goose Land” (11/9/63) – Casper helps a
little ghost find his mother. / Casper and Wendy have to save Mother Goose Land
from the Ghostly Trio.
“The Professor’s Problem / Small Spooks” (11/16/63) – Casper helps
another ghost turn a castle into a nursery. / The Ghostly Trio trick Casper
into getting them shrinking pills so that they can scare all of the insects.
“Super Spooks / The Absent-Minded Robot” (11/23/63) – Casper recruits
his muscular look-alike cousin to scare the Ghostly Trio out of bullying. /
Casper tries to help a misfit robot make new friends in the forest.
“The Enchanted Horse / The Enchanted Prince” (11/30/63) – An evil
magician gives Nightmare an apple that turns her into his slave. / Wendy helps
Casper free a prince from an evil spell.
“The Heart of Gold / The Magic Touch” (12/7/63) – Casper helps Midas
find a heart of gold to help free him from the golden touch. / Casper helps the
Great Foozini perform his magic act.
“The Timid Knight / The Wandering Ghost” (12/14/63) – Casper helps a
cowardly knight find courage to rescue the princess from a dragon. / Casper
rescues a boatful of pilgrims from a sea monster.
“The Witching Hour / Twin Trouble” (12/21/63) – Casper has to help
Wendy retrieve all of her furniture after a hex causes them to run away. /
Wendy’s aunts and The Ghostly Trio create evil duplicates of Wendy and Casper
to cause trouble.
“Weather or Not / Wendy’s Wish” (12/28/63) – The Ghostly Trio want to
go scaring and send Casper out to check the weather. / Casper tries to fulfill
Wendy’s wish for dancing shoes, but ends up giving her a cursed pair.
No comments:
Post a Comment