45TH & 50TH ANNIVERSARIES

 Along with our anniversary, these shows are turning 45 & 50 this year!

JERRY EISENBERG DEAD AT 87

 

You can read the full story here.

He did layouts for Frankenstein Jr. and the Impossibles, The Banana Splits Adventure Hour, Cattanooga Cats, Motormouse and Autocat, Josie and the Pussycats, Help!...It’s the Hair Bear Bunch!, The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan, ; designed characters for The Atom Ant Show, The Secret Squirrel Show, Moby Dick and the Mighty Mightor, Wacky Races (also layouts), Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines, “The Adventures of Robin Hoodwink” and “Lost in Space” episodes of The ABC Saturday Superstar Movie, Inch High Private Eye, Yogi’s Gang, Super Friends, Speed Buggy, Wheelie and the Chopper Bunch, Hong Kong Phooey, Fangface (also producer), “The Puppy Who Wanted a Boy” and “The Puppy’s Great Adventure” episodes of ABC Weekend Specials, Plastic Man Comedy/Adventure Show (also producer), Heathcliff (1980) (also producer), Thundarr the Barbarian (also producer), Little Clowns of Happytown and Tom & Jerry Kids Show; storyboards for Muppet Babies, Rude Dog and the Dweebs, Tom & Jerry Kids Show (also producer and writer), Spider-Man: The Animated Series, Droopy: Master Detective (also writer), Dumb and Dumber: The Animated Series, Histeria!, House of Mouse, What’s New Scooby-Doo?, Angelina Ballerina: The Next Steps; and served as a producer on 8 episodes of ABC Weekend Specials, Meatballs and Spaghetti and Pandamonium (the latter two which he also created).

45TH ANNIVERSARIES

 These are the groovy shows that are turning 

40TH ANNIVERSARIES

 Where does the time go? These are the shows turning

RAMONA FRADON DEAD AT 97

 

You can read the full story here.

She co-created Metamorpho, Simon Stagg and Sapphire Stagg, who all appeared in Beware the Batman (with the former also in Young Justice). She also drew most of the Super Friends tie-in comic series, an issue of Archie Comics’ Sonic the Hedgehog, and two issues of SpongeBob Comics.

50TH ANNIVERSARIES

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

*Everything's Archie (actual intro not available)

LEO D. SULLIVAN DEAD AT 82

 

You can read the full story here.

He was a pioneer for Black animation that formed Vignette Films with Floyd Norman in the 1960s, which produced educational films about Black historical figures, and started a multimedia foundation to train underserved youth in new media technology. During his 60+-year career, he worked on Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids, the “Nanny and the Professor” episode of ABC Weekend Specials, Jabberjaw, Laff-A-Lympics, I am the Greatest!: The Adventures of Muhammad Ali, CB Bears, Challenge of the Superfriends, The New Adventures of Mighty Mouse and Heckle and Jeckle, Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo (1979), Casper and the Angels, The New Shmoo, The World’s Greatest SuperFriends, The New Adventures of Flash Gordon, Richie Rich, The Flintstones Comedy Show, The Little Rascals (1982), Pac-Man, Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventures, Tiny Toon Adventures, Animaniacs (1993), Taz-Mania and Dumb and Dumber: The Animated Series. He also wrote two Slimer! segments of Slimer! and the Real Ghostbusters and directed 3 episodes of C-Bear and Jamal.

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).

45TH ANNIVERSARIES

 We've passed the halfway point in our anniversary celebration as we acknowledge the shows going on

*No intro available.

*Wacko, no intro available.

JACK ANGEL DEAD AT 90

 

You can read the full story here.

He played Flash, Hawkman, Samurai and several smaller characters in The All-New Super Friends Hour, Challenge of the Super Friends, Super Friends (1981), SuperFriends: The Legendary Super Powers Show and The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians; Donald Blake, Man Mountain Marko and Moe in Spider-Man (1981); Dr. Zachary Darret in Pole Position; Dr. Aeolis in Challenge of the GoBots; Miguel Alonso, Lord Carfax, Andrew, Miyan, Archbishop, Emmett Benton, Beldrix’ manager, Carfax guards and a conman in Jem; Professor Chin in Denver, the Last Dinosaur; Robert Mullins, Eucrates Cookson and Olook in Peter Pan and the Pirates; Rex-1 and LEX in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987); The Liquidator, Moloculo Macawber and a robber in Darkwing Duck; Cro-Magnum PI in Raw Toonage; Oniro and a computer in Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm; Nick Fury in Spider-Man: The Animated Series; and Old Man Year Before That and Old Man Year Before Year Before That in ChalkZone.

 

He also provided voices for Meatballs and Spaghetti, Mork & Mindy/Laverne & Shirley/Fonz Hour, Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo, The New Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo, The Smurfs, Alvin & the Chipmunks (1983), The Dukes, Snorks, CBS Storybreak, Dino-Riders, Kid ‘n’ Play, Tiny Toon Adventures, The Wizard of Oz (1990), Back to the Future: The Animated Series, Where’s Waldo?, Space Cats, ProStars, Super Dave: Daredevil for Hire, Wild West C.O.W.-Boys of Moo Mesa, All-New Dennis the Menace and Casper (1996).

DON JURWICH DEAD AT 87

 

You can read the full story here.

He wrote for The Super 6, The Bugs Bunny Show, The New Tom & Jerry Show, The Mumbly Cartoon Show, Heathcliff (1980), Tom & Jerry Kids Show and Droopy: Master Detective, also serving as story editor for the latter two; worked as a layout artist for The Bullwinkle Show, Linus! The Lion Hearted, Wacky Races, Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines, Josie and the Pussycats, The Flintstone Comedy Hour, The ABC Saturday Superstar Movie, The Roman Holidays and Hong Kong Phooey; served as a designer for George of the Jungle (1967); was a story director for Jabberjaw, The All-New Super Friends Hour and The Kwicky Koala Show; a recording director for Challenge of the Superfriends, The World’s Greatest Superfriends, Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo, The Richie Rich/Scooby-Doo Show and Droopy: Master Detective; production designer Emergency +4; director for Spider-Man (1981), supervising director Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, and voice director for The Incredible Hulk (1982); and was a producer for Scooby’s Laff-A-Lympics, Challenge of the Superfriends, The World’s Greatest SuperFriends, Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo, Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels, The Richie Rich/Scooby-Doo Show, The Fonz and the Happy Days Gang, The Incredible Hulk (1982), The Smurfs, Tom & Jerry Kids Show, Red Planet and Droopy: Master Detective.

1970s SATURDAY MORNING ADS

            It wasn’t until the late 60s that Saturday mornings were beginning to get into full swing. Content with airing primetime reruns and a few new shows here and there, that all changed in 1966 when CBS revitalized its schedule with an action-heavy slant. When CBS showed massive success, the other networks followed and Saturday morning suddenly became good business. So, how would the networks advertise to their targeted audiences to tune in every week? Simple: advertise in comic books! For almost every Saturday schedule for decades, there was an artfully designed cartoon representing the networks’ schedules in every major publication. They even made sure to cover their bases with ads in TV Guide and newspapers so that parents would be aware shows for their kids would be on.

                Below are some of the ads that ran for the 1970s:

ABC

1970.

1971.

1972.

1973.

 

1974.

1975.

1976.

1977.

1978.

1979. 

CBS

1970.

1974

1975.

1976.

1977.

1978.

1979.

 NBC

1972.

1973.

1974.

1975.

1976.

1977.

1978.

1979.

1979 Saturday Morning club application.

SATURDAY MORNING MASTERS: BUSTER JONES

 

BUSTER JONES

(December 12, 1943-September 12, 2014)

 

Notable Roles: Black Vulcan, Spaghetti Man/Twiggy Sander, Blaster, Doc, Zap, Winston Zeddemore, Lothar

 

Born Edward Jones, he began his career playing music with various bands around the world before ending up in Washington, DC as a DJ. In 1972, he shifted into a career on camera with a role in the film The Marshal of Windy Hollow. In 1973, he was recruited by Dick Clark to host the short-lived spin-off to American Bandstand called Soul Unlimited, which was designed to compete with Soul Train by appealing to that program’s audience. In 1977, after a stint doing voiceover for commercials, Jones’ agency sent him out for an interview and he landed the role of Hanna-Barbera’s original character, Black Vulcan, in the Super Friends franchise. Hanna-Barbera later tagged him as the voice of Harlem Globetrotter Twiggy Sanders in the series The Super Globetrotters. In 1981, he began a long association with Marvel Productions, Sunbow Productions and Hasbro when he lent his voice to the syndicated Spider-Man, then went on to have multiple roles in G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, Transformers and Jem. Jones’ biggest role, however, came in 1988 when he replaced Arsenio Hall as the voice of Winston Zeddemore in The Real Ghostbusters; which he would reprise in two episodes of the follow-up, Extreme Ghostbusters. After a few more minor roles in the likes of Batman: The Animated Series and The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat, Jones largely disappeared from the spotlight after 1998 as job offers dried up; getting mostly music gigs and starting up his own record company, Buster Jones Records. He died at his home in North Hollywood in 2014 at the age of 70.

 

Saturday Credits:

Soul Unlimited
The All-New Super Friends Hour
Challenge of the Superfriends
The Super Globetrotters
Spider-Man (1981)
Shirt Tales
Superfriends: The Legendary Super Powers Show
The Flintstone Kids
Jem
The Real Ghostbusters
The Karate Kid (1989)
Batman: The Animated Series
The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat
The New Batman Adventures