MAD, MAD, MAD MONSTERS
Rankin-Bass Productions supplied four cartoons to the series. Their first, The Mad, Mad, Mad Monsters (9/23/72), featured the marriage of Baron von Frankenstein to the "perfect bride" that he created for himself. The nuptials, held in the ballroom of the Transylvania-Astoria, are witnessed by his old buddies - Count Dracula, the Wolfman, the Mummy, the Invisible Man and his wife, and the Baron's assistant Igor. Voices were supplied by Allen Swift, Bradley Bolke, Rhonda Mann and Bob McFadden.
WILLIE MAYS AND THE SAY-HEY KID
Baseball legend Willie Mays supplied his own voice in Rankin-Bass' second entry, Willie Mays and the Say-Hey Kid (10/14/72). The story concerns a near-impossible pennant-clinching catch by Willie, thanks to a wish granted by an eccentric angel. The catch to the wish was that Willie had to care for a mischievous orphan girl, Veronica, who was named his godchild. Tina Andrews supplies the voice of the girl, with other voices supplied by Paul Frees and Ernestine Wade.
THE RED BARON
Rankin-Bass next portrayed the legendary flying ace, The Red Baron (12/9/72), as a schnauzer in a story about the kidnapping of the princess of Pretzelheim by the evil cat, Putzi. The Baron comes out of retirement to lead a new squadron of flyers who attempt to reclaim the princess and defeat the the mastermind of the sinister plan, Catahari. Voices were supplied by Allen Swift, Bradley Bolke, Rhonda Mann and Bob McFadden.
THAT GIRL IN WONDERLAND
Rankin-Bass' last contribution was That Girl in Wonderland (1/13/73). It featured Marlo Thomas in animated form, reprising her Ann Marie role from Daisy Productions' live-action That Girl series. In this tale, Ann Marie is a children's book editor who daydreams about being the heroine of various fairy tales including "The Wizard of Oz", "Goldilocks", "Alice in Wonderland", and "Cinderella". Other voices included Patricia Bright, Dick Hehmeyer, Rhonda Mann and Ted Schwartz.
NANNY AND THE PROFESSOR
Fred Calvert Productions adapted Twentieth Century Fox's live-action Nanny and the Professor (9/30/72) for an animated tale about a mysterious microdot and the struggle to protect and deliver it to the proper authorities. It featured the voices of Juliet Mills, Richard Long, David Doremus, Kim Richards and Trent Lehman reprising their roles from the popular night-time series.
THE MINI-MUNSTERS
The second season featured an animated adaptation of Universal's The Munsters from Fred Calvert Productions. The Mini-Munsters (10/27/73) featured Al Lewis as the voice of Grandpa Munster in a tale concerning the Munster clan's discovery that their hearse-dragster runs on music instead of gasoline. Richard Long supplied the voice of Herman Munster.
NANNY AND THE PROFESSOR
AND THE PHANTOM OF THE CIRCUS
Nanny and the Professor and the Phantom of the Circus (11/17/73) marked the animated return of Professor Harold Everett's enchanted housekeeper, Phoebe Figalilly. In this, the final Fred Calvert Production in the series, Aunt Henrietta (voiced by Joan Gerber) reports the mysterious disappearance of several performers from her traveling circus. Nanny, the Professor and his family attempt to locate the source of the problem. In addition to the actors from the original series, other voices were supplied by Thurl Ravenscroft, Walker Edmiston, Paul Shively and Dave Ketchum.
Hear,
in RealAudio, an original
network promo for
Nanny and the Professor and the Phantom of the Circus
THE MAN WHO HATED LAUGHTER
King Features Productions hired cartoon veterans Jack Zander and Hal Seeger to bring comic-strip favorites Popeye, Brutus, Olive, Wimpy, Swee'pea, Blondie and Dagwood, the Katzenjammer Kids, Hi & Lois, The Little King, Steve Canyon (under license from Field Enterprises), the Phantom, Snuffy Smith, Mandrake the Magician, Tim Tyler, Beetle Bailey, Flash Gordon, and Jiggs and Maggie together in The Man Who Hated Laughter (10/7/72). The film combined humorous elements featuring the comic characters with straight action featuring the adventure characters.
The story told the tale of an evil man, Professor Morbid Grimsby, and his assistant Brutus, who use an evil computer to devise a plan to kidnap all the comics and hold them captive on a secret island so they could no longer make people laugh. The comics are tricked into taking a vacation aboard Grimsby's yacht, The S.S. Hilarious. With the world free of laughter, The White House calls upon the adventure characters to help locate the missing funnies.
The secret island is located by the adventure characters, and a reactivated volcano is discovered to be underneath it. Meanwhile, the comic characters are trying to get the Professor to laugh by going through comedy routines. The comics are finally set free after the Professor learns to laugh when he sees his own reflection in a mirror. All the characters board the Professor's submarine to escape the island, but it becomes lodged between two boulders. Popeye saves the day by eating his spinach and freeing the submarine just before the volcano erupts.
The final scene has all of the characters lunching on the White House lawn. As they await the President they learn that he will be with them as soon as he's through laughing at the comics' section of the newspaper.
This entry, written by Lou Silverton, featured Jack Mercer reprising his roles as the voices of Popeye and Wimpy. The majority of the other voices are supplied by Bob McFadden. The original music was scored by Elliott Schiprut.
LUVCAST, USA
DePatie-Freleng Enterprises' only entry in the series was an odd anthology cartoon entitled Luvcast U.S.A. (1/6/73). Loosely based on the Love American Style premise, the romance-themed tales were tied together by a wacky Deejay (voiced by "Sweet Brother" Dick Whittington) playing old rock and roll classics, including Love Potion Number Nine and Moonlight Does the Strangest Things to Me, and telling bad deejay jokes: "Weather report for tonight...(turns out lights) DARK!". The story behind the song Moonlight Does the Strangest Things to Me was about a girl who was afraid to go out on a date because she would turn into a werewolf at night. She later finds out that her date turns into a vampire at night.
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