DENNIS THE MENACE (1959)

 

DENNIS THE MENACE (1959)
(CBS, October 4, 1959-July 7, 1963)

 

Dariell Productions, Screen Gems, Hank Ketcham Enterprises

 

For the history of Dennis the Menace, check out the post here.

            Hank Ketcham was inspired by the antics of his son, Dennis, to create the comic strip Dennis the Menace. The strip followed young Dennis as he inadvertently caused chaos for the adults in his life through his well-meaning intentions. The strip became immensely popular, and it wasn’t long before Hollywood came calling.

Dennis with his parents (front) and the Wilsons (back).

            The first adaptation of the strip was a sitcom for CBS, who were looking to replace Leave it to Beaver after losing it to ABC, produced by Dariell Productions and Screen Gems. Like the strip, Dennis (Jay North) was a well-intentioned mischievous boy whose antics often came at the expense of his long-suffering neighbor, George Wilson (Joseph Kearns). Dennis, at first, was more directly responsible for the trouble he caused, but that was toned down at the network’s request to avoid imitable behavior among younger members of their viewing audience. Herbert Anderson and Gloria Henry portrayed Dennis’ parents Henry and Alice, and Sylvia Field played George’s wife, Martha. Missing was the Mitchells’ dog, Ruff, who was replaced by the Wilsons’ dog, Fremont. Other characters included Dennis’ best friend Tommy Anderson (Billy Booth); Margaret Wade (Jeannie Russell, cast at North’s suggestion), who had a crush on Dennis though he found her annoying; Sergeant Harold Mooney (George Cisar), a local policeman that took great pleasuring in ruining Mr. Wilson’s day; Otis Quigley (Willard Waterman), the local grocer; Miss Esther Cathcart (Mary Wickes), a spinster that threw herself at every man she could; and Grandma Mitchell (Kathleen Mulqueen), Henry’s mother who stayed with them briefly while Alice was away taking care of her father (a cover for Henry being on maternity leave). Ron Howard portrayed another of Dennis’ friends, Stewart, for six episodes before he was cast to star in The Andy Griffith Show.

The replacement Wilsons.

            Dennis the Menace began on October 4, 1959 and ran for a total of four seasons. North would also reprise the role for appearances on The Donna Reed Show, The Red Skelton Hour, and in the film Pepe. After the filming of the 100^th episode, Kearns died suddenly of a cerebral hemorrhage. For the remainder of the third season, George was said to be out east settling an estate, and his brother, John (Gale Gordon), was staying in his house as a guest. John, interestingly enough, bore a stronger resemblance in appearance and personality to the Mr. Wilson of the comic strip than George did. For the final season, the original Wilsons were written out as having moved away, with John buying their house with his wife, Eloise (Sara Seegar). At the end of the season, CBS ultimately decided to cancel the show as North, approaching 12-years-old, was getting too old to believably be involved in the antics of the character. The show entered reruns on NBC Saturday mornings later that year before going into syndicated reruns in 1965. In the 1980s, it began to make the rounds on various cable networks including Nickelodeon, TV Land and Antenna TV, and on the streaming service Hulu.

STORYBOOK SQUARES

 

STORYBOOK SQUARES
(NBC, January 4-April 19, 1969)
 
Heatter-Quigley Productions

 

MAIN CAST:
Peter Marshall – Host
Kenny Williams – The Guardian of the Gate

 

Hollywood Squares (also The Hollywood Squares) was a long-running game show created by Heatter-Quigley Productions. Two contestants competed against each other for cash and prizes in a game of tic-tac-toe. The twist? The game board was populated by celebrities.

The show’s game board was comprised of a large 9-compartment grid in which celebrities from various entertainment media sat. Contestants would pick out a celebrity and the host would then ask them a trivia question, and it was up to the contestant to figure out if the answer they gave was correct or not. Guessing that correctly meant the contestant secured that square with either an “X” or an “O”. A wrong answer awarded it to their opponent (except if that would lead to an automatic win, in some versions of the rules). The game was won by lining up 3 X’s or O’s in a row in any direction, or by capturing the most number of squares if all the rows were blocked.

The celebrity grid, comprised of Rich Little, Rose Marie, John Davidson, Sandy Duncan, Paul Lynde, Totie Fields, Charley Weaver, Leslie Uggams and George Gobel.

The show, however, was basically a backdrop for the comedy in the form of jokes—or “zingers”—delivered by the celebrities before they answered. The writing staff supplied the jokes when needed, and the celebrities were clued into the questions’ subjects (but not the actual questions) prior to the show to help develop those zingers as well as plausible bluff answers.

After two pilots were filmed, NBC acquired the show and debuted it on October 17, 1966. Two years later, it gained a nighttime version, as well as a syndicated version in 1971. Peter Marshall was hired as host; his taking the job only to prevent Dan Rowan from getting it. Marshall had worked as a writer for Rowan along with his partner, Tommy Noonan, and took issue with the lack of respect he showed Noonan during his terminal illness. Kenny Williams, a Heatter-Quigley regular, served as the announcer. Although the celebrities were cast on a rotating basis, many became known as regulars on the show and appeared often. Among these regulars were Cliff Arquette (as his alter-ego “Charley Weaver”), Rich Little, Wally Cox, Roddy McDowall, Rose Marie (playing to her lovelorn persona), and Demond Wilson. Most notable was Paul Lynde, who was known for delivering outrageous and innuendo-laden jokes. Not only did he earn a permanent spot in the all-important center square, but he nabbed three daytime Emmy Award nominations for his tenure as well.

Kenny Williams introducing Peter Marshall.

In 1969, Heatter-Quigley decided to try a spin-off geared towards a younger audience, having previously dabbled in children’s game shows with Video Village Jr. and Shenanigans. Dubbed Storybook Squares, the set behind the players was designed with a medieval theme and featured children as contestants; always a boy, playing “X”, and a girl, playing “O”. Williams appeared on camera as “The Guardian of the Gate” in full costume, acting as a town crier by introducing the show and host Marshall with a bell. Marshall would then introduce that episode’s panelists, who emerged from a castle gate that appeared after Williams closed the “storybook” the show’s name was emblazoned on.

Promotional image of Ted Cassidy as Tarzan.

While the grid remained the same as the parent version, the big change was that the panelists would appear adorned in costumes representing historical figures, fictional characters, or roles they had played previously. Among them were Arquette still as Charley Weaver; Jim Backus reprising his characters Mr. Magoo and Thurston Howell III from Gilligan’s Island; Arte Johnson reprising Wolfgang the Nazi from Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In (billed as the “Very Interesting Soldier”); Soupy Sales as King Henry VIII and Thomas Edison; Leslie Uggams as Snow White; Stu Gilliam as the wizard Merlin; Ted Cassidy as Tarzan, which was also played by Marty Allen when he wasn’t being Cupid; Paul Winchell and Jerry Mahoney as Romeo and Juliet and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde; Roy Rogers and Dale Evans; Nanette Fabray as The Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe; Bob Crane reprising Colonel Hogan from Hogan’s Heroes; Marie as Pocahontas and Annie Oakley; Cox as Paul Revere and Davy Crockett; Carolyn Jones reprising Morticia Addams from The Addams Family; Abby Dalton as Little Miss Muffet; and Barbara Eden reprising Jeannie from I Dream of Jeannie. Each panelist would do a quick routine as they were introduced, often interacting with Marshall.

Paul Lynde and Jerry Mahoney as Romeo and Juliet.

Storybook Squares debuted on NBC on January 4, 1969. Rather than cash and prizes, the contestants played strictly for prizes for as many games as time permitted. A “Secret Square” was in play for the first two rounds of the episode, similar to the 1968 primetime version. A random celebrity was labelled as the “Secret Square” and awarded a prize for the contestant that correctly agreed or disagreed with them. If the prize was missed in the first round, it was carried over into the second. At the end of each episode, the contestants were brought over to the stage entrance to meet the panelists as they walked off during the credits. Unfortunately, the concept ended up being short-lived as it would end its run on April 19^th. Of the spinoff, Marshall would say in a 2003 interview for E! True Hollywood Story that while the concept was good, the character introductions took too much time away from actual gameplay. Heatter-Quigley would revisit the concept during the 1976-77 season of Squares for special episodes of the daytime series. The set was redesigned to expand the medieval theme around the panel grid as well. This time around, a boy would play with his father and grandfather against a girl and her mother and grandmother, alternating between each family member per round. $50 was awarded for each captured square, $300 for each game, and the most money at the end of play won a large prize.

The original Hollywood Squares ended its run in 1981 after moving to Las Vegas from California for the final year. NBC, however, would attempt several revivals not long after. In 1983, they combined Hollywood Squares with Match Game to form the short-lived Match Game Hollywood Squares Hour, with Jon Bauman of Sha Na Na serving as the host of the Squares segment and long-time Match Game host Gene Rayburn presiding over the rest. It returned on its own again in 1986 until 1989, hosted by semi-regular original panelist John Davidson and announced by Shadoe Stevens, who himself became a regular panelist occupying the bottom center square. Joan Rivers was that version’s permanent center square starting in the second year. The next revival came in 1998-2004 with Tom Bergeron as host, and executive producer Whoopi Goldberg as the center square until 2002. Stevens returned to announce for the first couple of seasons. In 2023, BET had greenlit a new revival of the series called Celebrity Squares and CBS their own for 2025. There were also several spin-off versions: Hip Hop Squares was a music-based version aired on VH1 and MTV2 in 2012 and 2017; The West Virginia Squares in 2014 was a one-off limited stage production that had questions that dealt with the history of the state; Nashville Squares was a country music-themed version in 2019; and Hollywood Museum Squares served as a fundraiser for the organization in 2021.

THE ADVENTURES OF GULLIVER

 

THE ADVENTURES OF GULLIVER
(ABC, September 14, 1968-January 4, 1969)
 
Hanna-Barbera Productions

 

MAIN CAST:
Jerry Dexter – Gary Gulliver
John Stephenson – Captain John Leech, Thomas Gulliver, King Pomp, various
Ginny Tyler – Flirtacia
Allan Melvin – Bunko
Don Messick – Eager, Tagg, various
Herb Vigran – Glum

  

 Gulliver’s Travels, or Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. In Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of Several Ships is a book written by Jonathan Swift and first published in 1726. It was meant to be a satire of human nature, English customs, politics of the day, and travelouges, and contributed to the rise of the novel as a literary form in English. 

A well-known image of Gulliver being tied down by the Lilliputians.

The book was told in four parts from the first-person from the perspective of Lemuel Gulliver, a surgeon and sea captain that travelled the world. The first part, probably the most well-known, had Gulliver as the sole survivor of a shipwreck that ended up in Lilliput, a land where the populace was only 6-inches tall. Parodying the English political parties, the Tories and Whigs, the Lilliputians engaged in ridiculous customs and petty debates while court positions were filled by those that were good at ridiculous feats of skill. Gulliver is asked to help in the conflict with the empire of Blefuscu over which end of an egg should be broken, their religious doctrine. After falling out of favor with the Lilliputians he found a human-sized boat in Blefuscu and escaped back to England.

Gulliver in the land of giants.

The second voyage took him to Brobdingnag, this time populated by giants. Captured by a farmer, Gulliver was put on exhibit and eventually purchased by their queen. Their king, however, wasn’t quite as taken by him over his stories of England and was horrified by Gulliver’s offer to make them projectile weapons. He was snatched up by an eagle and rescued by normal-sized people at sea.

Gulliver spying Laputa.

The third voyage saw him on the flying island of Laputa, whose populace were so lost in thought they needed to be reminded to pay attention, and who loved mathematics and music but had no practical applications for either. Visiting the continent of Balnibarbi, the land below the island, he found the fields in ruin and people living in squalor as the citizenry were governed by a learned academy that spent all their time on impractical experiments; such as extracting sunbeams from cucumbers. The island of sorcerers, Glubbdubdrib, yielded insights into the great lies of history. Finally, he went to the kingdom of Luggnagg, whose citizens were immortal but aged as if they were mortal, rendering them miserable. From there, Gulliver was able to get to Japan and back to England.

The Houyhnhnms herding their Yahoos during a harvest.

The last voyage took him to the land of the Houyhnhnms, intelligent horses who were superior to the brutish humanoid race of Yahoos; some of whom were tamed in a twist on the human-beast relationship. The Houyhnhnms were fascinated by Gulliver who seemed to them to be a better version of the Yahoos, but his stories of England led them to conclude they were just as bad as the Yahoos and that Gulliver must leave. Upon his return to England, Gulliver decided to spurn human connections and bought horses to converse with instead.

The first edition of the book.

The book was first published in England by Benjamin Motte, utilizing five printing houses for speedy production to avoid piracy. Fearing persecution due to the book being transparently anti-Whig, he made several edits to the manuscript without Swift’s input to soften the blow and added material defending Queen Anne before publication. The book proved popular with the populace, although Swift’s peers were often critical of its messages and depictions of humanity. Naturally, members of the Whig party were offended at the mocking of their politics. The book was reprinted in 1735 by Irish publisher George Faulkner with Motte’s edits removed. Swift composed a “letter” from Gulliver to his cousin Sympson complaining of Motte’s alterations to be included in the new edition, as was a set of five Verses on Gulliver’s Travels written by Swift’s friend, Alexander Pope. Both versions of the book would be reprinted over the years with additional material.

Gary with Tagg and the sinister Captain Leech.

As with many other great works of literature that have endured over centuries, Gulliver’s Travels has been adapted numerous times—although many put to film have tended to focus only on the first two adventures—and there have been a wide range of unofficial sequels and imitations.  One of these efforts was made by Hanna-Barbera, loosely borrowing the names and themes from the first adventure for an all-new animated series. The Adventures of Gulliver followed father and son Thomas (mistakenly called “Lemuel” by many sources, voiced by John Stephenson) and Gary Gulliver (Jerry Dexter) as they went on a treasure-hunting voyage with their dog, Tagg (which many sources mistakenly call “Bib”, voiced by Don Messick). However, the sinister Captain Leech (Stephenson) also wanted the treasure and tried to steal their map, resulting in their ship crashing on the rocks.

Our Lilliputian friends (clockwise from top): King Pomp, Flirtatica, Bunko, Eager and Glum.

Gary and Tagg found themselves on the very island they were looking for, which turned out to be the home of the Lilliputians—beings only 6-inches tall. After some initial mistrust of their giant visitors, Gary’s rescuing of King Pomp (Stephenson) put him in their good graces; particularly with Bunko (Allan Melvin), Eager (Messick), Glum (Herb Vigran), and Flirtacia (who was never indicated as being a princess despite many claims as such, voiced by Ginny Tyler). As he helped protect their kingdom from assorted threats like giant birds and other tiny people, they in turn helped him search for his father somewhere in the perilous wilds of the island. Of course, additional danger continued to lurk in the form of Captain Leech, pursuing Gary for the map he was initially unaware his father hid in Tagg’s collar.

If someone doesn't end up tied down by little people, is it even a Gulliver adaptation?

The Adventures of Gulliver debuted on ABC on September 14, 1968. The series was written by Joe Ruby and Ken Spears, with character designs by Alex Toth and music by Ted Nichols. The biting satire found in Swift’s novel was greatly reduced, if at all present, to instead focus on fantastic adventure tales with the Lilliputians providing Hanna-Barbera’s trademark comic relief. Further differences involved neither Gulliver being noticeably British and being set in the present day. Although only 17 episodes were produced, the series ran through the summer of 1970 before being integrated into The Banana Splits and Friends Show syndicated package program. Reruns would eventually make their way to both Cartoon Network and its sister channel, Boomerang. A decade after the series’ production, Hanna-Barbera would return to Lilliput with a new adaptation of Gulliver’s Travels for their anthology television series Famous Classic Tales. This version would stick a bit closer to the book.

Model sheet by Alex Toth.

A line of figurines of the main characters were produced by Heimo in Germany, a Magic Slate by Western Publishing, and a frame tray puzzle by Whitman. An adaptation of the first episode was published by Gold Key Comics in the first issue of the short-lived Hanna-Barbera Hi-Adventure Heroes, which featured some noticeable visual inconsistencies with the show (Greg and Tagg’s coloring, Flirtacia missing her hat and leggings, etc.). A dedicated German Gulliver comic was published almost a decade later by Bastei Verlag (now Bastei Lübbe). The characters were also represented in the Spanish Hanna-Barbera trading card set and as Mexican puffy stickers. As part of ABC’s Super Saturday Club promotion, a booklet was sent out with club members that featured a Gulliver coloring page.

 

EPISODE GUIDE:

“Dangerous Journey” (9/14/68) – After being attacked on the sea, Gary and Tagg end up on the island of the Lilliputians where Gary rescues their king.

 

“The Valley of Time” (9/21/68) – Leech blackmails Gary for the map by trapping him and his friends in a cave, only for them to find another way out into a land stuck in prehistoric times.

 

“The Capture” (9/28/68) – Leech and Gary are conscripted by Captain Cutler to serve as members of his pirate crew.

 

“The Tiny Vikings” (10/5/68) – Leech partners with a band of tiny Vikings to help them on their raid on Lilliput if they help him get the map.

 

“The Forbidden Pool” (10/12/68) – Gary and Tagg drink from a pool that shrinks them down to Lilliputian size and must race to another to restore themselves before it disappears at sunrise.

 

“The Perils of the Lilliputs” (10/19/68) – Bunko, Eager and Glum are captured by a circus owner for his show when their ship stops on the island for water.

 

“Exit Leech” (10/26/68) – Leech declares he’s leaving the island, but returns disguised as a witch doctor to trick the Lilliputians into giving him the map.

 

“Hurricane Island” (11/2/68) – Gary sets out to get an egg his friends need for a festival while searching for his father, and Leech watches over him believing he’s after the treasure.

 

“Mysterious Forest” (11/9/68) – A group of treasure-seeking ghosts drags Gary off into the Mysterious Forest.

 

“Little Man of the Year” (11/16/68) – Gary offers to leave for the duration of a contest so Eager could win “Man of the Year”, but Eager causes a disaster that requires Gary’s help to fix.

 

“The Rescue” (11/23/68) – Leech captures Tagg and offers to exchange him for the map, but with Gary gone searching his friends are left to rescue Tagg on their own.

 

“The Dark Sleep” (11/30/68) – Leech attempts to slip Gary a sleeping potion but Flirtacia takes it instead, leading the others to find the antidote for her.

 

“The Runaway” (12/7/68) – When King Pomp comes across a photo of an attractive woman Gary has, Flirtacia decides to leave the village in a jealous rage.

 

“The Masquerade” (12/14/68) – Leech and an outlaw Lilliputian gang decide they’ll acquire the map by replace the king with a doppelganger.

 

“The Missing Crown” (12/21/68) – Bunko and Eager investigate the disappearance of various items around the village, leading to the discovery of clues that pit friend against friend.

 

“Gulliver’s Challenge” (12/28/68) – Gary challenges the Black Knight to a duel for the freedom of his friends.

 

“The Hero” (1/4/69) – Eager becomes dejected when the others reminisce about Gary’s heroic deeds and ends up eating a fruit that makes him hallucinate that he is a superhero.

THE TWILIGHT ZONE (1959)

 

THE TWILIGHT ZONE
(CBS, October 2, 1959-June 19, 1964)
 
Cayuga Productions Inc., CBS Productions

 

MAIN CAST:
Rod Serling – Narrator

 

The Twilight Zone was an anthology series created, produced and written by Rod Serling that delivered morality lessons and delved into modern day issues with often fantastical and science-fiction elements to make the messages more palatable to the average viewer. Serling had gained prominence in American television during the 1950s, but dealt with the constant aggravation of his stories being altered on the whims of the networks and their sponsors. He figured that robots, aliens and the supernatural might significantly remove things from reality and give him more leeway to present thought-provoking controversial ideas. In 1957, he wrote the pitch pilot “The Time Element”, depicting a man sent back to 1941 Honolulu who tried to warn everyone about the eminent attack on Pearl Harbor unsuccessfully, but it was ultimately rejected and shelved. Bert Granet rediscovered it a year later and produced it as an episode of Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse, and its success allowed Serling an opportunity to do his series.

The Twilight Zone debuted on CBS on October 2, 1959, running for 5 seasons. While reviewers praised the series, it initially struggled in the ratings with audiences until close to the end of the first season. Serling wrote or co-wrote 92 of the show’s 156 episodes and served as the narrator, delivering monologues that set up the moment when the story’s characters “entered the Twilight Zone” and the story’s moral at the end. While he appeared in promos for the series, it wouldn’t be until the second season that he would appear on screen to deliver those monologues. Additional writers included Charles Beaumont (until complications from a developing brain disease reduced his involvement), Richard Matheson, George Clayton Johnson, Montgomery Pittman, Earl Hamner Jr., Reginald Rose, Jerry Sohl, John Tomerlin (both of whom ghostwrote for Beaumont), and Richard De Roy. Bernard Hermann composed the series’ theme for the first season, but was replaced from the second season on by Marius Constant’s more-familiar composition. As it was an anthology series, it had no permanent characters and a rotating roster of actors; some well-known at the time, and others just beginning their careers. Several actors would make return appearances in various episodes as other characters, including William Shatner, Burgess Meredith, William Windom, Jack Klugman and Martin Landau, with Robert McCord having appeared in the most.

Difficulties in finding a sponsor for the 4^th season resulted in the show being replaced by Fair Exchange, although it was ultimately renewed as a mid-season replacement for the replacement. To fill that timeslot, CBS demanded the series be expanded to an hour-long format, which didn’t sit well with Serling and the production crew. Serling’s involvement as an executive producer was reduced this season, and his monologues were filmed against a gray background back-to-back during his infrequent trips to Los Angeles. “The” was also dropped from the title. The 5^th season returned to the half-hour format, but was plagued by a number of unpopular decisions by new producer William Froug; such as shelving a script for “The Doll” which was later made an episode of Amazing Stories (and won a Writer’s Guild Award nomination) and alienating Johnson by having De Roy rewrite and dilute his screenplay for what would become “Ninety Years Without Slumbering”. CBS head Jim Aubrey ultimately decided to cancel the series, having disliked it since his instatement during the 2^nd season as it was an expensive series to produce and using the season’s middling ratings as further justification. Serling, severely burnt out by this time, sold CBS his 40% share of the series and left it behind until returning in 1969 with the similar series Night Gallery on NBC.

The Twilight Zone was nominated for 4 Primetime Emmy Awards, winning 2, and continued to be broadcast in syndicated reruns, initially less the episodes “Sounds and Silences”, “Miniature” and “A Short Drink From a Certain Fountain” due to copyright lawsuits, “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” which was a French short film whose airing as part of the series as a limited-time agreement, and “The Encounter” due to racial overtones. Notably, the series airs on Syfy regularly in late-night slots and as part of marathons for New Year’s and the 4^th of July, although they’re usually altered to allow for more commercials. Three revivals have been attempted—one in 1985 lasting two seasons, one in 2002 lasting one, and one in 2019 which concluded after two—as well as an infamous film version in 1983 that resulted in the deaths of actor Vic Morrow and two children, and a 1994 made-for-television film comprised of two stories found by Serling’s widow, Carol.

THE ARCHIE COMEDY HOUR

 

THE ARCHIE COMEDY HOUR
(CBS, September 13, 1969-January 3, 1970)

 
Filmation Associates

 

MAIN CAST:
Dallas McKennon – Archie Andrews, Hot Dog, Mr. Weatherbee, Pop Tate, Mr. Lodge, Coach Kleats, Salem, various
Ron Dante – Archie Andrews (singing)
Jane Webb – Betty Cooper, Veronica Lodge, Miss Grundy, Big Ethel, Sabrina Spellman, Aunt Hilda, Aunt Zelda, Della the Head Witch, various
Toni Wine – Betty Cooper (singing), Veronica Lodge (singing)
John Erwin – Reggie Mantle, Ambrose, Hexter, various
Howard Morris – Jughead Jones, Moose Mason, Dilton Doiley, Hot Dog Jr., various
Don Messick – Harvey Kinkle, Spencer, Chili Dog, various
Treva Frazee – Ophelia

 

For the history of Archie, check out the post here. For the history of Sabrina, check out the post here.

 

            1969 continued to be a banner year for the Archie Comics characters. The Archie Show was still doing well in the ratings, and the virtual The Archies band managed by Don Kirschner was working on their second (Everything’s Archie) and third (Jingle Jangle) album, and had scored a major milestone with their third single, “Sugar, Sugar”, which hit #1 on the U.S. Billboard and U.K. Singles chart for four and eight weeks, respectively, and was certified gold. They would score another gold with the single “Jingle Jangle” later in the year, while charting in the top 40 with two more singles. “Sugar, Sugar” even led them to yet another appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, and was brought up into space by Apollo 12 astronauts Alan Bean and Pete Conrad. Eager to keep the ball rolling, CBS asked Filmation to continue and expand with The Archies.

The Archies are back and still rockin'.

            The result was the second incarnation of The Archie Show, The Archie Comedy Hour. Along with reruns from The Archie Show, Comedy Hour incorporated new segments that were mostly one-off gags rather than story driven, such as “Dilton Doiley’s Inventions”. “The Funhouse” joke segment in the middle of the hour was modeled after Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In. Additionally, there were music segments designed to showcase the new music from The Archies.

Advertising mock-up introducing Sabrina.

            Comedy Hour also gave Filmation a chance to fulfill an itch. For a long time, producer Lou Scheimer had been trying to secure the rights to adapt the sitcom Bewitched into an animated series; continuing Filmation’s trend of banking on established properties and their audiences. While perusing some Archie comics on vacation, CBS head daytime programming Fred Silverman discovered that Archie themselves had their own witch character, and alerted Scheimer to the fact. After securing the rights from publisher John Goldwater, Scheimer immediately set Jack Mendelsohn to develop Sabrina, the Teenage Witch for inclusion within the Comedy Hour.

Archie and the gang getting to know the new girl in school.

            Unlike the comics where Sabrina (Jane Webb) was a half-mortal sent to live with her witch aunts, the series’ intro stated that Sabrina was created accidentally when said aunts Hilda and Zelda (both also Webb) mixed the wrong ingredients into their brew. So, instead of gaining a fellow wicked witch, they found themselves with a groovy teen who liked hanging out with her friends at Riverdale High as much as using her magic to help them (in secret, of course). Much like the comics, however, Sabrina’s efforts often ended up making situations worse. Sabrina’s adventures often featured as much of the Archie cast as her own, which included her magical cat, Salem (Dallas McKennon); oblivious boyfriend, Harvey Kinkle (Don Messick); best friend, Ophelia (created for the show, voiced by Treva Frazee); and warlock cousin, Ambrose (John Erwin). Occasionally, Sabrina even had to put up with head witch Della (Webb) and her bratty nephew, Hexter (Erwin). Sabrina’s segments bookended the hour with an additional short segment of her demonstrating magic tricks to the audience.

Reggie is certain there's something peculiar about Sabrina.

            The Archie Comedy Hour debuted on CBS on September 13, 1969. However, canonically, it was preceded by a prime-time special that aired the following night: Archie and His New Pals. The special saw Sabrina coming to Riverdale High just as Reggie (Erwin) and Big Moose (Howard Morris) were set to run against each other for class president. While Sabrina was technically the only “new pal” introduced in the special, its title was actually based on the special’s sponsor: Pals Vitamins. Unlike The Archie Show, this time around one of the Archie writers was employed in George Gladir, co-creator of Sabrina. Additional writers included Bob Ogle, Jim Ryan, Bill Danch and Mendelsohn. Legendary animator Don Bluth, still early in his career, worked as a designer. While The Archies’ music was written by Jeff Barry, Ritchie Adams and Mark Barkan and performed by studio musicians Gary Chester on drums, Dave Appell on guitars, Joey Macho on bass, and Ron Frangipane on keyboards with Ron Dante and Toni Wine on vocals, Ray Ellis composed the rest of the music.

Hilda, Zelda and Salem.

            Sabrina proved popular right out of the gate, prompting Filmation to produce more episodes with her and spin her off into her own series the following year. She was combined with the original concept, The Groovie Goolies, to make the new hour-long program Sabrina and the Groovie Goolies (sometimes known as The Sabrina Comedy Hour). The Archie format was adjusted again to feature more music and more comedy routines rather than typical stories in Archie’s Fun House featuring the Giant Juke Box. That same year, “Jingle Jangle” was featured on The Ed Sullivan show in January while the special was rerun on March 22^nd as The Archie Sugar, Sugar, Jingle Jangle Show with different opening and closing songs.

Sabrina grooving with Harvey.

            Archie Comics continued their staunch support of Filmation and their programs. Along with blurbs about the shows on their covers, “Sugar, Sugar” was woven into practically any story that featured music or The Archies playing; starting with Archie’s Pals ‘n’ Gals #57 (1970).  Further, Archie began publication of a new title called Archie’s TV Laugh-Out (a play on Laugh-In) that primarily showcased their television characters (although, really, it wasn’t any different than any other Archie title besides the combination of all the characters into one book). It ran for 106 issues, ending in 1986, and some stories were collected into a digital trade for Archie's 75th anniversary. Comedy Hour and TV Laugh-Out simultaneously introduced the characters of Ambrose and Harvey; both created for the show that became permanent additions to the Sabrina mythos. While cover-dated for that December, Laugh-Out’s first issue actually went on sale just two weeks after Comedy Hour’s debut.

Archie's TV Laugh-Out #1.

            Post Cereal ran a promotion that included records of “Everything’s Archie”, “Bang-Shang-A-Lang”, “Boys & Girls” or “Hide and Seek” that could be cut out of the back of the boxes of select cereals; a set of 10 metal pins; Jughead’s hat; iron-on images; stationary; Archie’s car; temporary tattoos; and jumping figurines. Unfortunately, no home releases of the Archie portions of the show or short segments are known to exist. When the series was sold into syndication, the shows were cut up and merged into a package called The Archies. Those segments continued to live on in television while the rest wound up on the cutting room floor. When Hallmark purchased Filmation’s assets from then-owner L’Oréal in 1995, they converted everything to digital and PAL-region formats and discarded all of the originals. The restored special—sans the Pals promotional material—and the music segments for “Sugar, Sugar”, “Jingle Jangle” and “Get on the Line” were included as bonus features on the Archie’s Funhouse complete series DVD from Classic Media in 2008. Four additional segments were featured across all four of the Archie & Friends compilation DVDs. The segment for “You Know I Love You” was recovered from an overseas broadcast and uploaded to YouTube. The Sabrina segments, which continued to air in reruns as part of her own show, were released as part of the Archie & Friends compilations Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Archie’s Classic Cartoons, as well as in a complete series DVD set by Classic Media in 2012 and a 10 episode collection from 20^th Century Fox. The set was reissued by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment in 2019, including the first episode of The New Archie and Sabrina Hour (also known as The Archie and Sabrina Surprise Package).

 
 
EPISODE GUIDE:
Sabrina segments:

“The Fairy Godmother / Hiccups” (9/13/69) – Sabrina uses magic to get Spencer to take Ophelia to the school dance. / Sabrina’s hiccups causes her magic to go out of control.

 

“Which Witch is Which? / The Basketball Game” (9/20/69) – A magical mishap causes Hilda to get Sabrina’s face. / Sabrina attempts to use magic to stifle the opposing team’s cheating during a basketball game.

 

“Will the Real Weatherbee Stand Up? / Caveman” (9/27/69) – When the school ends up short-staffed, Sabrina duplicates Mr. Weatherbee to help out. / Attempting to help Sabrina with her history homework causes Ambrose to bring a caveman into the present.

 

“Paint Story / Aunt Zelda’s Broom” (10/4/69) – Sabrina joins the others in painting Mr. Weatherbee’s house. / Sabrina tries to get Zelda her broom for a race in the other world.

 

“Cinderella Story / What the Hex is Going On?” (10/11/69) – Sabrina’s magic goes wild during the costume ball. / Hilda hexes Jughead after he speaks ill about witches.

 

“Wishbone / Babysitter” (10/18/69) – Hot Dog Jr. and Chili Dog find a magic soup bone that grants wishes. / Sabrina has to babysit Della’s wicked nephew, Hexter.

 

“Carnival / Stage Fright” (10/25/69) – A comet passes by overhead that causes everything a witch does to be backwards. / Hilda lands the role of a witch in a play.

 

“Pet Show / Funny Bunny” (11/1/69) – Sabrina enters Salem in a pet show just as a cosmic constellation occurs that causes witches’ cats to be rambunctious. / Sabrina tries to help Jughead be successful, but instead turns him into a rabbit.

 

“Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow / A Witch in Time” (11/8/69) – Sabrina tries to change Mr. Weatherbee’s mind about people with long hair. / Della decides Hilda and Zelda aren’t witch enough to watch over Sabrina and assigns her a new guardian.

 

“When the Cat’s Away / Costume Party” (11/15/69) – Sabrina and Salem trade places. / Sabrina realizes the gang is holding their costume party at the home of the Witches’ Convention.

 

“Let’s Have a Hand for Jughead / The New Freeway” (11/22/69) – Sabrina tries to help Big Ethel attract Jughead. / The Spellmans must save their house from the construction of a new freeway.

 

“Blue Whale / Football Game” (11/29/69) – At the aquarium, Hexter decides to help out a homesick whale. / Hilda attends the school football game and unwittingly helps the opposing team win.

 

“Town Beautiful / Horse’s Mouth” (12/6/69) – A pair of bikers undermine the gang’s efforts at beautifying the town. / Sabrina grants a horse the gift of speech to help get a law changed.

 

“Birdman of Riverdale / Hoedown Showdown” (12/13/69) – Sabrina learns some secrets about a grumpy old man. / The gang helps Moose’s uncle with his harvest so he won’t lose the farm.

 

“Spooky Spokes / You Oughta Be in Pictures” (12/20/69) – Sabrina accidentally gives away Ambrose’s motorcycle and tries to get it back. / Sabrina helps the gang with their movie.

 

“The Generation Flap / School Daze” (12/27/69) – Sabrina arranges a birthday party for Archie on the same night her aunts arranged a magic seminar. / Hexter goes to Riverdale High after shrinking Sabrina down to doll size.

 

“Ug at the Bat / Computerized Moose” (1/3/70) – Hilda makes Sabrina take the caveman to school where he turns out to be a natural batter in baseball. / Moose becomes super-intelligent after an accident with the school’s computer.

 
 
Special:

“Archie and His New Pals” (9/14/69) – Sabrina starts at Riverdale High just as a heated election is about to begin between Reggie and Moose for class president.