50TH ANNIVERSARIES

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

*Everything's Archie (actual intro not available)

TODAY IN SEPTEMBER 1982

   It's September, so that means new television season! These are the Saturday Morning schedules that debuted today in 1982 (ABC's actually debuted the following week).

ARLENE GOLONKA DEAD AT 85

 

You can read the full story here.

She played Debbie in Speed Buggy, which she reprised in The New Scooby-Doo Movies and Laff-A-Lympics, and Mrs. Yarby on Fudge. She also provided additional voices for The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians.

SATURDAY MORNING MASTERS: CHUCK MENVILLE

CHUCK MENVILLE 

(April 17, 1940-June 15, 1992) 

Notable Roles: Animator, writer, story editor, producer, director 

Born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Menville moved to Los Angeles at age 19 with designs to become an animator. He was hired by Walt Disney Productions and served as an assistant on The Jungle Book (1967). Unhappy with his working environment, Menville got into writing and began a long partnership with his friend, fellow animator and writer Len Janson. Together, they produced a series of live-action short films utilizing the long-forgotten stop-motion pixilation method. Among them was the Academy Award-nominated Stop Look and Listen, which followed a day in the life of motorists who tooled around the city in invisible cars. They wrote, directed and starred in their shorts. Clips from their second film, Vicious Cycles, were used in ABC’s The New Communicators which landed them a gig making commercials for Gulf Oil’s “no-nox” gasoline. In 1969, Menville and Janson started long stints at both Filmation and Hanna-Barbera, serving as story editors and producers for several of their shows. Outside of television, he wrote the book The Harlem Globetrotters: Fifty Years of Fun and Games in 1978. Over at DiC Enterprises in the 1980s, Menville and Janson were offered the story editor position of The Real Ghostbusters, but they initially turned it down due to the massive workload of having to produce a syndicated and Saturday morning version of the show at the same time. Following the departure of story editor J. Michael Straczynski over creative differences in changes ABC wanted to make, Janson and Menville became the story editors for the remainder of the show’s run. They went on to write, produce and story edit for the reboot of Land of the Lost and Tiny Toon Adventures. Menville’s final project was a story for Batman: The Animated Series. However, he died of non-Hodgkin lymphoma before the script could be written. Brynne Stephens wrote the teleplay for the episode, and Menville was given story credit. His children keep the “family business” going, as Scott Menville became an actor primarily in animation and Chad Menville is an author. 

Saturday Credits: 

Cattanooga Cats 

Will the Real Jerry Lewis Please Sit Down 

Groovie Goolies 

Sabrina, the Teenage Witch (1969) 

Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids 

The Flintstone Comedy Hour 

The ABC Saturday Superstar Movie (episodes) 

Lassie’s Rescue Rangers 

Speed Buggy 

Star Trek: The Animated Series 

Wheelie and the Chopper Bunch 

Hong Kong Phooey 

Korg: 70,000 B.C. 

Shazam! (1974) 

Uncle Croc’s Block 

The New Adventures of Gilligan 

The Secrets of Isis 

ABC Weekend Specials (episodes) 

Ark II 

The New Adventures of Batman 

Space Sentinels 

Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle 

Tarzan and the Super 7 

Jason of Star Command 

The New Fred and Barney Show 

The New Shmoo 

Fred and Barney Meet the Shmoo 

The Flintstone Comedy Show 

Space Stars 

The Smurfs 

Mork & Mindy/Laverne & Shirley/Fonz Hour 

Benji, Zax & the Alien Prince 

The Biskitts 

Kissyfur 

The Real Ghostbusters 

The Little Wizards 

Tiny Toon Adventures 

Land of the Lost (1991) 

The Little Mermaid: The Animated Series 

Batman: The Animated Series 

SATURDAY MORNING MASTERS: MEL BLANC

MEL BLANC

(May 30, 1908-July 10, 1989)

Notable Roles: Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Foghorn Leghorn, Pepe LePew, Speedy Gonzales, Porky Pig, Sylvester Cat, Tweety Bird, Yosemite Sam, Tasmanian Devil, Elmer Fudd, Barney Rubble, Dino, Cosmo Spacely, Captain Caveman, Secret Squirrel, Heathcliff

Known as the man of 1,000 voices, Blanc became an orchestra conductor at age 19 and performed schtick in vaudeville shows. He made his acting debut in 1927 on the Portland, Oregon radio show The Hoot Owls where he gained attention for his ability to do multiple characters’ voices. He bounced between radio in Portland and Los Angeles before landing a recurring spot on The Jack Benny Program, playing multiple characters and providing sound effects for Jack Benny’s jalopy. That led to his own radio show, The Mel Blanc Show. In 1936, Blanc joined Warner Bros. where he would come to voice almost every male character in the Looney Tunes stable for his entire career. He also originated the voice and laugh of Woody Woodpecker for Universal Pictures before becoming a WB-exclusive player. In 1944, he became the first voice actor to receive on-screen credit for his work in an era when only the director and producers were credited. After his contract expired, Blanc became a regular performer for Hanna-Barbera while still working for WB; notably in their flagship franchise, The Flintstones. He continued to provide the voices for most of the characters he originated throughout his entire career (certain ones becoming more difficult to do with age, and ceded to replacement actors). After a car accident left him comatose in 1961, his neurologist successfully managed to work him out of it by addressing him as his characters instead of Blanc himself. His son Noel and colleague Daws Butler voiced several of his characters while he recovered. In 1962, he and Noel formed Blanc Communications Corporation, which produced thousands of PSAs and commercials. Blanc had been a smoker since age nine, quitting at age 77 after being diagnosed with emphysema. In 1989, he was hospitalized with advanced coronary artery disease and died shortly after.

Saturday Credits:

The Bugs Bunny Show

The Porky Pig Show

The Secret Squirrel Show

The Road Runner Show

The Atom Ant/Secret Squirrel Show

The Pink Panther Show

The Perils of Penelope Pitstop

Lancelot Link: Secret Chimp

The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show

The Flintstone Comedy Hour

The ABC Saturday Superstar Movie

Speed Buggy

The New Scooby-Doo Movies

Yogi’s Gang

Scooby’s Laff-A-Lympics

Fred Flintstone and Friends

Galaxy Goof-Ups

The Daffy Duck Show

Yogi’s Space Race

Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels

Trollkins

Heathcliff (1980)

The Flintstones Comedy Show

The Sylvester & Tweety, Daffy & Speedy Show

Alvin & the Chipmunks (1983)

Heathcliff (1984)

The Flintstone Kids

SPEED BUGGY

SPEED BUGGY

(CBS, September 8-December 22, 1973)

Hanna-Barbera Productions

MAIN CAST:

Mel Blanc – Speed Buggy

Michael Bell – Mark

Arlene Golonka – Debbie

Phil Luther, Jr. - Tinker

Mark, Tinker, Speedy and Debbie.

            The success of Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! prompted Hanna-Barbera to take advantage of the new comedy/mystery genre they’ve blown the door off of. As a result, Hanna-Barbera produced numerous clones of Scooby-Doo, tinkering with the format ever-so-slightly so as to make it a feasibly different show.

The Scooby gang meets the Speed Buggy crew.

            Speed Buggy centered on an anthropomorphic dune buggy named Speed Buggy (Mel Blanc), or Speedy to his friends. Built by his driver, Tinker (Phil Luther, Jr.), Speedy’s incredible speed made him a great race car. Speedy and Tinker traveled around the world to compete with their friends and pit-crew, Mark (Michael Bell) and Debbie (Arlene Golonka). Between races, the group always managed to find themselves getting involved in some kind of mystery. Although Speedy had a mind of his own, Tinker devised a remote-control device for him used primarily for the kids to communicate with Speedy. However, it often ended up in the hands of their foes and put Speedy in their power.

Speed Buggy lunch boxes.

            Speed Buggy debuted on CBS on September 8, 1973. The series was written by Larz Bourne, Len Janson, Joel Kane, Jack Kaplan, Heywood Kling, Norman Maurer, Jack Mendelsohn, Chuck Menville, Ray Parker and Larry Rhine, and featured music by Hoyt Curtin. Several episodes were reworkings of stories from the earlier Josie and the Pussycats, another Scooby clone. Despite only being produced for a single season, the show proved popular; generating the usual wave of tie-in merchandise like lunch boxes, coloring books and a board game. Charlton Comics also published a 9-issue Speed Buggy comic book. A later piece came in 1998 when Johnny Lighting produced a die-cast version of Speed Buggy with a small animation cel. In 2011, Warner Archive released the complete series to DVD as part of their Hanna-Barbera Classics Collection. 

Speed Buggy, Jabberjaw, Captain Caveman, Scooby and Funky Phantom on Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated.

 

The show continued on in reruns for the next two years until ABC acquired the rights and began airing it in place of Uncle Croc’s Block in 1976. Later that year, the show moved to NBC where it replaced McDuff, the Talking Dog until 1977. Once reruns made their way to Cartoon Network and Boomerang, the typical Hanna-Barber laugh-track was removed. Shortly after the show’s debut, the characters guest-starred on an episode of The New Scooby-Doo Movies, and later Tinker (Frank Welker) and Speed Buggy appeared as regulars on Laff-A-Lympics as part of Scooby’s team, The Scooby Doobies. In later years, the characters would make guest and cameo appearances on programs such as Johnny Bravo, Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law, and Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated, as well as referenced to as costumes in the direct-to-video movie Scooby-Doo! and the Mask of the Blue Falcon. In 2018, an origin for Speed Buggy’s sentience was provided by Scott Lobdell and Brett Booth in The Flash/Speed Buggy Special #1, which was part of DC Comics’ second wave of Hanna-Barbera crossover one-shots.

 

EPISODE GUIDE:

“Speed Buggy Went That-A-Way” (9/8/73) – The crew visits Debbie’s Aunt Belle and learn Belle’s cattle herd is being targeted by Beef Finger and his men.

“Speed Buggy’s Daring Escape” (9/15/73) – Dr. Kluge sets out to capture Speed Buggy in order to learn his secrets.

“Taggert’s Trophy” (9/22/73) – The criminal called The Chief hits all the cars in the race with a mind-control ray.

“Speed Buggy Falls in Love” (9/29/73) – Baron Vulch creates a female automobile named Mata in a plot to get a bugging device he hid in Speed Buggy’s trunk.

“Kingzilla” (10/6/73) – Forced to bail out into a valley inhabited by giant gorillas, the crew is used by Professor Grovac to capture Kingzilla, who has taken a liking to Speedy.

“Professor Snow and Madame Ice” (10/13/73) – Prof. Snow and Madame Ice plan to trick Tinker into installing his remote control device on their Freezemobiles in order to freeze the world.

“Out of Sight” (10/20/73) – The crew helps Professor Rigby against his evil colleague Professor Rishna, with whom he had discovered a formula for invisibility.

“Gold Fever” (10/27/73) – The crew encounter Gold Fever, who uses satellites to steal the world’s gold.

“Island of the Giant Plants” (11/3/73) – The crew falls overboard on a cruise and winds up on an island of mutant plants created by Dr. Meangreen.

“Soundmaster” (11/10/73) – Dr. Ohm and Panku use a replica of Speedy in order to frame the crew for the theft of an advanced battery.

“The Ringmaster” (11/17/73) – The crew encounters the ringmaster who plans to use an animal-controlling calliope in a plot to rule the world.

“The Incredible Changing Man” (11/24/73) – A scientist hides a special tape in Speedy’s cassette player, making them a target for the size-altering Incredible Changing Man.

“Secret Safari” (12/1/73) – Varzak and Emil steal a giant diamond to power a Laser-Blazer with the intent to rule the world.

“Oil’s Well That Ends Well” (12/8/73) – The crew tries to find out what happened to all of Oklahoma’s oil supply.

“The Hidden Valley of Amazonia” (12/15/73) – Encountering the female-led society of Amazonia, Mark and Tinker are made slaves while Debbie is made into one of them.

“Captain Schemo and the Underwater City” (12/22/73) – While on vacation, the crew stumbles upon Captain Schemo’s plot to rule the oceans with submarines.

Originally posted in 2014. Updated in 2020.