NEIL SEDAKA DEAD AT 86

 

You can read the full story here.

He was a musical guest on American Bandstand and wrote some songs for The Harlem Globetrotters cartoon.

55TH & 60TH ANNIVERSARIES

 Believe it or not, these shows are turning 55 and 60 this year!

50TH ANNIVERSARIES

 No mid-life crisis here...just these shows turning

SATURDAY MORNING MASTERS: SCATMAN CROTHERS

 

SCATMAN CROTHERS

(May 23, 1910-November 22, 1986)

 

Notable Roles: Cheshire Cat, Scat Cat, George “Meadowlark” Lemon, King Louie, Hong Kong Phooey/Penrod “Penry” Pooch, Louie Wilson, Rosey, Liquid Man/Nate Branch, Dick Hallorann, Sam the piano player, Uncle Moses, Jazz, Eugene the Genie, Excell Dennis

 

Born Benjamin Sherman Crothers, he began a musical career as a teenager; teaching himself how to sing and play the guitar and drums. He would play with a band in speakeasies throughout his native Terre Haute until he ended up performing five days a week on a radio show in Dayton, Ohio in the 1930s. It was there the station manager suggested he needed a catchier name, so Crothers called himself “Scatman” after his scat singing style. He released several singles through Capitol Records, and an album with High Fidelity Records, went on USO tours with Bob Hope and performed with bandleader Slim Gaillard. Crothers appeared in 3 short films before making his feature-film debut with 1953’s Meet Me at the Fair. He appeared in four Jack Nicholson films; notably Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining for which he won an Academy Award. His television career began in 1957 on an episode of The Adventures of Jim Bowie and went on to include programs like Dragnet, McMillan & Wife, Kojak, Ironside, Charlie’s Angels, The Love Boat, Magnum P.I. and Laverne & Shirley. In 1966, Crothers went into voice acting when he took over the role of the Cheshire Cat from Sammy Davis, Jr. for Hanna-Barbera’s album for The New Alice in Wonderland (or What’s a Nice Kid Like You Doing in a Place Like This?) animated special, as Davis was signed exclusively to Reprise Records, and in 1970 he voiced Scat Cat in the animated film, The Aristocats. The following year, he was cast as the voice of the animated version of Harlem Globetrotter George “Meadowlark” Lemon in The Harlem Globe Trotters and The New Scooby-Doo Movies. He would later play fellow Globetrotter Nate Branch in the follow-up, The Super Globetrotters, as Meadowlark had left the team by then. In 1974 he played the title character in Hong Kong Phooey, which he reprised for Laff-A-Lympics, and provided additional voices for several other Hanna-Barbera shows. During the 1980s, he starred in three short-lived live-action series--One of the Boys, Casablanca (1983) and Morningstar/Eveningstar--as well assumed the role of the Autobot Jazz in the Transformers franchise. He was also given an NAACP Image Award and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. After a four-year struggle with lung cancer, Crothers died in 1986 at the age of 76. He was posthumously inducted into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame the following year.

 

Saturday Credits:
Harlem Globe Trotters
The New Scooby-Doo Movies
Hong Kong Phooey
Scooby’s Laff-A-Lympics
The Skatebirds
CB Bears
ABC Weekend Specials (episodes)
The Super Globetrotters
Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels
Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo (1981)
Trollkins
Pryor’s Place

50TH ANNIVERSARIES

FRED "CURLY" NEAL DEAD AT 77

You can read the full story here.

He was a professional basketball player and played 22 seasons with the Harlem Globetrotters from 1963-85 as the team’s featured ballhandler. His name and likeness were used in the Hanna-Barbera Productions cartoons Harlem Globetrotters, The New Scooby-Doo Movies and The Super Globetrotters; although his voice was done by professional actor Stu Gilliam. He also appeared with the rest of his team in the live-action Harlem Globetrotters Popcorn Machine. 

45TH ANNIVERSARIES

THE SUPER GLOBETROTTERS

THE SUPER GLOBETROTTERS

(NBC, September 22-December 15, 1979)

Hanna-Barbera Productions

MAIN CAST:

Scatman Crothers – Liquid Man/Nate Branch

Stu Gilliam – Super Sphere/Freddie “Curly” Neal

Johnny Williams – Multi Man/Hubert “Geese” Ausbie

Buster Jones – Spaghetti Man/James “Twiggy” Sanders

Adam Wade – Gizmo/Louis “Sweet Lou” Dunbar

Frank Welker – Crime Globe, Attila the Hun, Eagle, Fenwick, igor, Weird Beard, Make-Up Master, Putt Putt

Michael Rye – Narrator, announcer, Lightning Man, Mayor of Breadbasket City, Whaleman

For the history of the Harlem Globetrotters, check out the post here.

Spinning off from Hanna-Barbera’s earlier Harlem Globetrotters, The Super Globetrotters saw The Harlem Globetrotters serving as the cover for their true identities: The Super Globetrotters. To protect the world from evil, the Globetrotters would challenge the villains and their henchmen to basketball games for whatever goal or object they have in mind for their nefarious plans.

Character model sheet.

Like the earlier series, while the show featured the names and likenesses of members of the actual Globetrotters team, they were instead voiced by professional voice actors. Reprising their earlier roles were Stu Gilliam as Freddy “Curly” Neal and Johnny Williams as Hubert “Geese” Ausbie. Scatman Crothers also returned, was instead cast as Nate Branch. Also new to the animated line-up were James “Twiggy” Sanders (Buster Jones) and Louis “Sweet Lou” Dunbar (Adam Wade). 

Multi-Man, Super Sphere, Gizmo, Spaghetti Man and Liquid Man.

Each Globetrotter possessed incredible powers granted to them whenever they stepped into magical portable lockers. Hanna-Barbera recycled the powers, identities and moves of three of the Globetrotters from the Impossibles segment of Frankenstein, Jr. and the Impossibles: Branch was Liquid Man (sometimes referred to his Impossibles counterpart’s name of “Fluid Man” or “Aquaman”, and still bore the former’s “F” logo on his suit) and could turn himself into water; Sanders was Spaghetti Man (based on Coil Man), who could stretch and manipulate his body; and Ausbie was Multi Man, who could create duplicates of himself. New for the series was Neal as Super Sphere, who could retract his limbs into his basketball head in order to bounce, smash and grow; and Dunbar as Gizmo, who could pull an unlimited supply of gadgets for any situation out of his afro (including their lockers). They were alerted to problems and aided by a basketball-shaped satellite called Crime Globe (Frank Welker).

Attila and his Huns.

Facing off against the Globetrotters was an eclectic blend of colorful one-off foes voiced by an assortment of frequent Hanna-Barbera players. Amongst them was Museum Man (Herb Vigran), a disgruntled janitor who had a remote control that could bring fossils and statues to life; Facelift (John Stephenson, who also portrayed several other villains), a nuclear-powered alien that could steal anyone’s face for use on his Demon Droids; Whaleman (Michal Rye), a pirate who used a mechanical whale in his crimes; Bad Blue Bart (Paul Winchell), a western outlaw who used a remote-controlled Phantom Cowboy (also Winchell) to take over a ranch; The Time Lord (Don Messick), who could alter time using a crystal and summoned villains of history to aid him; and Count Bragula (Lennie Weinrib), a vampire with ambitions to dominate Transylvania. A real person also crossed paths with the Globetrotters in the form of Attila the Hun (Welker), who was shunted forward in time by following a scientist through his time machine. Although the Super Globetrotters would often attempt to stop the villains through comical heroics, things were always ultimately settled with a basketball game like the original cartoon.

Teamwork makes the dream work!

The Super Globetrotters followed executive Fred Silverman from CBS, home of the original, to NBC where it debuted on September 22, 1979. The series was written by Tom Dagenais, Rowby Goren, Andy Heyward, Robby London and Larry Parr. It ran until December 1^st when it was combined with Hanna-Barbera’s Godzilla to create The Godzilla/Globetrotters Adventure Hour. Both shows played out their respective seasons as part of this block and continued on as reruns until September 20, 1980. Instead of using the team’s theme song “Sweet Georgia Brown” by Brother Bones, the series employed a sound-alike whistle theme composed by Hoyt Curtin. 

Ad for the DVD release.

Reruns would air on Cartoon Network from 1994-2004, and on sister network Boomerang from 2001-2012. Because the series was solely produced and owned by Hanna-Barbera, it was the first of the two shows to be released to DVD through Warner Archive’s Hanna-Barbera Classics Collection. The original Globetrotters series was co-owned by CBS Productions who maintain its rights. This was also the final series starring the Globetrotters, although they were the stars of the 1981 television movie The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan’s Island. The team and their various members continued to appear or be referenced on television programs, films and documentaries over the years while also continuing to perform on the court almost 500 times a year shared between three different rosters.

EPISODE GUIDE:

“The Super Globetrotters vs. Museum Man” (9/22/79) – Museum Man brings dinosaur skeletons to life in order to take over Big City.

“The Super Globetrotters vs. Bwana Bob” (9/29/79) – Bwana Bob plans to hunt the passengers of a grounded cruise ship and the Globetrotters.

“The Super Globetrotters vs. The Facelift” (10/6/79) – The alien Facelift plans to put the faces of world leaders on his Demon Droids to control the world.

“The Super Globetrotters vs. Whaleman” (10/13/79) – Whaleman uses a mechanical whale to steal supertankers full of oil.

“The Super Globetrotters vs. Robo and the Globots” (10/20/79) – Robo builds robotic duplicates of the Globetrotters in order to discredit them and get revenge on G.G. Godfrey.

“The Super Globetrotters vs. Tattoo Man” (10/27/79) – Space pirate Tattoo Man comes to Earth to steal gold.

“The Super Globetrotters vs. Movie Man” (11/3/79) – Movie Man plans to steal a top secret robot full of Globetron.

“The Super Globetrotters vs. The Phantom Cowboy” (11/10/79) – The Globetrotters try to put an end to the Phantom Cowboy’s western crime spree.

“The Super Globetrotters vs. The Time Lord” (11/17/79) – Time Lord steals a time machine and recruits criminals from history.

“The Super Globetrotters vs. Transylvania Terrors” (11/24/79) – Count Bragula and his Terrors plan to take over Transylvania.

“The Super Globetrotters vs. Bull Moose” (12/1/79) – Bull Moose steals the Goose that Laid the Golden Eggs to complete his golden ray.

“The Super Globetrotters vs. Merlo the Magician” (12/8/79) – Merlo and his knights steal the world’s monuments.

“The Super Globetrotters vs. Attila the Hun” (12/15/79) – Atilla and his Huns follow a scientist through his time machine and raid San Francisco.


Originally posted in 2016. Updated in 2020.

MEADOWLARK LEMON DEAD AT 83

Meadowlark Lemon died on Sunday, December 27th. You can read the full story here.

Lemon was a professional basketball player, actor and minister who was best known as the “Clown Prince” on the Harlem Globetrotters for 22 years. As a Globetrotter, his name and likeness was used on Hanna-Barbera’s Harlem Globetrotters, for which he supplied background vocals in the music, as well as all of the team’s appearances on The New Scooby-Doo Movies. He also starred and performed in The Harlem Globetrotters Popcorn Machine variety show.

HISTORY OF THE HARLEM GLOBETROTTERS

The Savoy Big Five team.

            The Harlem Globetrotters were formed in 1926 at Wendell Phillips High School in Chicago. They played during the Black Fives era—when the sport was segregated and independent teams of Black players were sponsored by athletic and social clubs, businesses, churches and newspapers—as the Giles Post American Legion Five under manager Dick Hudson. The team became popular, which caused some friction between them and their home in the George L. Giles Post of the American Legion. In 1927, Hudson would make a deal with the then-new Savoy Ballroom to serve as their home court and rename the team the Savoy Big Five in order to draw patronage to the venue.

Abe Saperstein and the new Harlem Globetrotters.

            Different sources offer differing timelines and accounts of the events that followed. What they all have in common is that several members of the team ended up leaving over pay disputes with the Savoy management. They would go on to form a new team that ended up under the control of Abe Saperstein; a Jewish man hired to be their promoter, booking agent and general manager who would continue on in those functions and provide several more over the years. In 1929, Saperstein renamed the team the New York Harlem Globetrotters. The name was in reference to the Harlem neighborhood of New York City, then considered to be the center of Black culture, and Saperstein felt that having an out-of-town name gave them team an air of mystique (the Globetrotters wouldn’t play in Harlem until 1968).              

Poster for the 1951 film The Harlem Globetrotters.

From the outset, the Globetrotters were a standard team of highly-talented individuals; gradually becoming one of the best teams in the country. Comedic antics began working their way into the Globetrotters’ games; both as a means of keeping fans entertained during dull matches against weaker opponents and as a way to give the players a much-needed break. These would ramp up at the beginning of the 1940s, credited to an initiative spearheaded by player Reece “Goose” Tatum. These bits would go on to showcase their tremendous skill and coordination as they dealt with one or multiple balls at once.  

This ended up being the team’s saving grace. They began to be eclipsed by the rising National Basketball Association (NBA) after the league started recruiting Black players in the 1950s. Especially when players of the Globetrotters were lured away by the better pay being offered. Becoming an exhibition team, they’ve played more than 26,000 games in 124 countries; often against other exhibition teams created to be their straight men opponents. Brother Bones’ whistled version of “Sweet Georgia Brown” had become the team’s signature song; played during their exhibitions and advertisements.

In 1951, the team took their first leap off the court in the movie The Harlem Globetrotters; a drama about young Bill Townsend (Billy Brown) dropping out of college to join the team and finding love along the way. It was followed up in 1954 with the sequel, Go,Man, Go!. On television, twelve members of the team were featured on What’s My Line? in 1956. Then, in 1970, the Globetrotters came to Saturday mornings…

HARLEM GLOBETROTTERS

HARLEM GLOBETROTTERS

(CBS, September 12, 1970-October 16, 1971)

Hanna-Barbera Productions, CBS Productions

MAIN CAST:

Scatman Crothers – Meadowlark Lemon

Stu Gillam – Freddie “Curly” Neal

Johnny Williams – Hubert “Geese” Ausbie

Richard Elkins – J.C. “Gip” Gipson

Eddie "Rochester" Anderson – Bobby Joe “B.J.” Mason

Robert DoQui – Pablo "Pabs" Robertson

Nancy Wible – Granny

Don Messick - Dribbles

For the history of the Harlem Globetrotters, check out the post here.

             CBS executive Fred Silverman secured the rights to the Harlem Globetrotters in the hopes to bring their zany antics from the court to the small screen and maybe attract some of their fans to the network. Turning to Hanna-Barbera, the result was Harlem Globetrotters.

Globetrotters character model sheet.

            The series adapted the then-current team of Globetrotters into animated form; however, seasoned voice actors were used as not all of the players could actually act. The team included their leader, who always got them in--and out--of trouble, Meadowlark Lemon (Scatman Crothers), bald Freddie “Curly” Neal (Stu Gilliam), Hubert “Geese” Ausbie (Johnny Williams), giant strongman J.C. “Gip” Gipson (Richard Elkins), diminutive Pablo “Pabs” Robertson (Robert DoQui) and scatterbrained Bobby Joe Mason (Eddie Anderson) as they traveled around in their American flag-colored bus. Originally coach Leon Hillard was going to be featured in the series, but as production began he was cut out and replaced with original character Granny (Nancy Wible), who served as the team’s coach and driver. The team was also given a dog mascot in the form of Dribbles (Don Messick).

Close-up character art from the Globetrotters album.

            Harlem Globetrotters debuted on CBS on September 12, 1970. Like other Hanna-Barbera productions, the series followed a formula for each episode. Typically, they would find the Globetrotters winding up in a location where they get involved in some kind of conflict either voluntarily or by chance. The Globetrotters settled the matter with a basketball game in which the villains would constantly cheat to win. But, of course, the Globetrotters managed to turn it around in the second half and triumph over all adversity; driving home the pro-social message of sportsmanship and fair play. The series was written by Heywood Kling, Tom Dagenais, Michael Maltese and Dalton Sandifer, with Joe Ruby and Ken Spears serving as story editors.

Globetrotters 1971 program.

Globetrotters was not only the first Saturday morning carton to feature real sports stars, but it was the first to feature a predominantly African-American cast; both on screen and in the recording booth. It shared a distinction with another Hanna-Barbera property that aired earlier in the day: Josie and the Pussycats, which featured the first African-American female character. The year prior, Filmation’s The Hardy Boys had the first African-American male (however, this would eventually be retroactively replaced by their series Aquaman when it was revealed the villain Black Manta was African-American in 1977).

The Globetrotters album.

Don Kirshner, music supervisor for the show, also oversaw the production of a soundtrack featuring the music used in the program; typically, from the basketball games in each episode. The record, The Globetrotters, was produced by series theme composer Jeff Barry and released in 1970 by Kirshner Records featuring songs by Neil Sedaka, Howard Greenfield, Rudy Clark, J.R. Bailey, Ken Williams, Ron Dante and Jamie Carr. The songs “Cheer Me Up” with “Gravy” and “Rainy Day Bells” with “Meadowlark” were released as two separate single albums. Three more single albums were released with songs not featured on Globetrotters; one of which included the actual Globetrotters’ theme, “Sweet Georgia Brown”. The real Meadowlark provided background vocals on several of the tracks, making him the only Globetrotter to have any direct involvement in the project.

Page from the Harlem Globetrotters comic by Gold Key.

Globetrotters ran for a full first season and an abbreviated second season before it was ultimately cancelled. The series did make a brief return to television in reruns in 1978 as Go-Go Globetrotters on NBC. In 1971, the team made their first appearance in Gold Key Comics’ Hanna-Barbera Fun-In #8 before getting their own twelve-issue series between 1972 and 1975. Whitman also published several coloring books. Milton Bradley produced a board game using the Hanna-Barbera character models, while Thermos released two different lunchboxes; one of which depicted an actual scene from an episode. Reruns would air in 1999 on TV Land as part of its TV Land Super Retrovision Saturdaze programming block. The series, which is owned by co-producer CBS and its parent company, has not yet seen a home video release.

The New Scooby-Doo Movies title card introducing the Globetrotters.

The animated Globetrotters were featured guests in three episodes of The New Scooby-Doo Movies in 1972 and 1973. In 1980, similar character models and their bus were used in the movie The Harlem Globetrotters Meet Snow White; although it featured a slightly altered cast to better represent the then-current line-up. In 1998, the series was lampooned as part of Robert Smigel’s “TV Funhouse” on Saturday Night Live. In it, the Globetrotters accidentally went back in time to the first Christmas, instead of their first Christmas together.

 

EPISODE GUIDE (the series was never released, making episode data hard to come by):

Season 1:

“The Great Geese Goof-Up” (9/12/70) – The team mistakenly believes a mad scientist has turned Geese into a kangaroo, who happens to be wanted for a jewel theft.

“Football Zeros” (9/19/70) – The team takes the place of a delayed team in a charity football game while two criminals plan to make off with the proceeds.

“Hold That Hillbilly” (9/26/70) – In order to stop a feud and allow their game to get underway, the team must unite the only two eligible members of the fighting families.

“Bad News Cruise” (10/3/70) – The team takes a cruise to Hawaii on a ship involved in a race for a contract against another ship with a despicable crew.

“Rodeo Duds” (10/10/70) – The team enters a local rodeo in order to help a poor family get the money they need to pay off their mortgage.

“Double Dribble Double” (10/17/70) – A mad scientist performs experiments on the team when they come to his house after their bus gets stuck.

“Heir Loons” (10/24/70) – Bobby Joe gains an inheritance that his crooked cousin would love to get his hands on.

“From Scoop to Nuts” (10/31/70) – The team decides to help a struggling newspaper get back on its feet in order to get their exhibition game back on.

“What a Day for a Birthday” (11/7/70) – Granny unknowingly borrows the money the team saved for her birthday present forcing the team to figure out ways to raise more quickly.

“It’s Snow Vacation” (11/14/70) – The team wants to help their friend Sam fix up his ski resort, but Sam’s competition wants to keep that from happening.

“The Great Ouch Doors” (11/21/70) – A youth center asks the team to calm down their clientele through sportsmanship before the kids’ behavior forces the center to be shut down.

“Hooray for Hollywood” (11/28/70) – NO SYNOPSIS AVAILABLE

“Shook Up Sheriff” (12/5/70) – The team arrives to help Wally Weakness raise money for his sheriff campaign in order to keep his opponent and his gang from winning the election.

“Gone to the Dogs” (12/12/70) – The team believes Dribbles is jealous of the dog they’ve been asked to babysit.

“The Wild Blue Yonder” (12/19/70) – In order to pay off the bills on the airplane they won in a raffle, the team sets out to open their own airline.

“Long Gone Gip” (1/2/71) – Believing he’s caused Pabs to never play again, Gip leaves the team.

Season 2:

“A Pearl of a Game” (9/11/71) – The team offers to help a private eye find the giant pearl that was stolen from the museum right under his nose.

“Nothing to Moon About” (9/18/71) – The team is invited to a space center to play an exhibition game in a dome that duplicates the gravity of the moon.

“Pardon My Magic” (9/25/71) – NO SYNOPSIS AVAILABLE

“Granny’s Royal Ruckus” (10/2/71) – NO SYNOPSIS AVAILABLE

“Soccer to Me” (10/9/71) – NO SYNOPSIS AVAILABLE

“Jungle Jitters” (10/16/71) – NO SYNOPSIS AVAILABLE

Originally posted in 2015. Updated in 2020.