SABRINA, THE TEENAGE WITCH (1970) /
SABRINA AND THE GROOVIE GOOLIES / THE SABRINA COMEDY HOUR
(CBS, September 12- December 26, 1970)
Filmation Associates
(CBS, September 12- December 26, 1970)
MAIN CAST:
Jane Webb
– Sabrina
Spellman, Aunt Hilda,
Aunt Zelda, Della
the Head Witch, Betty
Cooper, Veronica
Lodge, Miss Grundy, Big Ethel, various
Dallas
McKennon – Salem,
Archie Andrews,
Hot Dog, Mr. Weatherbee, Pop Tate, Mr. Lodge, Coach Kleats, various
Don Messick
– Harvey Kinkle, Spencer, Chili Dog, various
John Erwin
– Reggie Mantle,
Hexter, various
Treva Frazee
– Ophelia
Larry Mann – Boneapart, various
Larry Storch – Drac, Hagatha, Ghoulihand, Batso, Ratso, Icky, various
Larry Mann – Boneapart, various
Larry Storch – Drac, Hagatha, Ghoulihand, Batso, Ratso, Icky, various
When
Filmation acquired the rights to adapt Archie Comics’ Sabrina, the Teenage
Witch, she was still a fairly new and minor character; only appearing
sporadically in the pages of the anthology Archie’s Mad House. To test
her out with audiences, it was decided to include her as part of the expanded The
Archie Show, The
Archie Comedy Hour. The Sabrina segments proved a hit with
audiences, and for her second season on the air she was split off into her own
series. Sort of.
 |
| Sabrina with her cousins Wolfie, Drac and Frankie. |
In similar
fashion, Filmation had another untested property they wanted to do. Called The
Groovie Goolies, it was their comedic take on the Universal
Monsters combined with a healthy dose of Rowan and Martin’s
Laugh-In. Since both featured witches, they paired them up with Sabrina
to form Sabrina and The Groovie Goolies (alternatively known as The
Sabrina Comedy Hour). Both shows were developed by Jack Mendelsohn,
with Jim
Mulligan also working on Goolies.
 |
| Sabrina with Salem. |
The first
half hour focused on the adventures of Sabrina Spellman (Jane Webb), your
ordinary teenage girl attending ordinary Riverdale High. Well, ordinary except
for the fact that she was a witch accidentally created by her aunts, Hilda and
Zelda (both also Webb). They sought to create another wicked witch like themselves
and instead mixed in the ingredients for a typical teenaged girl. Residing with
them was their magical cat, Salem (Dallas McKennon), and occasionally popping
in to cause trouble was warlock cousin Ambrose (Howard Morris, replacing John Erwin
from the previous season). Sabrina’s human friends consisted of her bumbling
boyfriend Harvey Kinkle (Don Messick), best friend Ophelia (Treva Frazee),
girl-crazy Archie Andrews (McKennon), mischievous Reggie Mantle (Erwin),
girl-next-door Betty Cooper, spoiled rich girl Veronica Lodge (both Webb),
eternally-hungry Jughead Jones, big lummox Moose Mason, and genius Dilton
Doiley (all Morris). Head witch Della (Webb) frequently popped in to give
Sabrina a headache; especially when tasking her with watching her naughty
nephew, Hexter (Erwin).
 |
| Rocking out with the Goolies. |
The second half hour focused on the
Goolies, who were members of a band based out of a creepy castle called
Horrible Hall. The primary group was comprised of Drac (Larry Storch), a
pastiche of Dracula, the
short-tempered leader who played the pipe organ; Frankie (Howard Morris, doing
a loose impersonation of Boris
Karloff), based on Frankenstein’s
monster, who was the easygoing head of the Muscleleum Gymnasium and played
either bone xylophones or drums (later misinformation would call Frankie the
son of Drac and Hagatha); and Wolfie (also Morris), based on the wolfman, who spoke in a
mix of beatnik, surfer and hippie slang and played a lyre-like instrument. Despite
the separation of the two shows, the characters often crossed over. The Goolies
were said to be Sabrina’s cousins, and typically she had to try and keep their
true natures a secret from her mortal friends lest her own witchcraft be
exposed.
 |
| Sabrina spending time with Aunts Hilda and Zelda. |
Sabrina
and the Groovie Goolies debuted on CBS on
September 12, 1970. The series was written by Mendelsohn and Mulligan with Bob Ogle, Chuck Menville, Len Janson, Jim Ryan and Bill Danch. The series’ music
was provided by Horta-Mahana Corp. and Jan Moore, with the background score
done by Ray Ellis and David
Jeffrey. The series was a hit, becoming the highest-rated children’s program of
1970. Despite that, however, this would be the last time new episodes of Sabrina
would be produced until 1977 in The New Archie and Sabrina Hour.
 |
| Worlds collide. |
For the
1971 season, CBS split up the two shows into their own half-hours. Reruns of
both seasons’ worth of episodes continued on Saturday morning under the newly-titled
Sabrina, the Teenage Witch. The Groovie Goolies became its own entity,
completely omitting Sabrina from their intro, and was moved to Sunday morning
to air alongside Tom and Jerry; however, they remained in the Sabrina
episodes in which they appeared. Sabrina remained on the network
until 1973 and would be sold into syndication with Archie and Goolies
in 1976.
 |
| Sabrina and The Archie gang. |
With
Sabrina’s new media attention, Archie finally gave her a series of her own with
the first volume of Sabrina,
the Teenage Witch in 1971. Before that, Sabrina began appearing as
a regular feature in the anthology series Archie’s TV Laugh-Out (a
play on the Laugh-In title), which starred all of Archie’s
televised characters and introduced Harvey and Ambrose alongside Comedy Hour.
Episodes of the series were released as part of the Archie & Friends
compilations Sabrina
the Teenage Witch and Archie’s
Classic Cartoons by Nostalgia Ventures in 2004. A complete
series DVD set was released by Classic Media in
2012, followed by a 10
episode collection from 20th
Century Fox. The series set was reissued by Universal
Pictures Home Entertainment in 2019.
