Los peligros de Penélope Glamour

One of Hanna-Barbera's better comedies. It was a good parody of cliffhangers that were popular during the early 20th century. Penelope herself had feminist overtones. The Ant Hill Mob were supposed to be her saviors, yet they usually botched their rescue attempts and Penelope would save herself from her predicaments. Last Tuesday, I viewed an episode in which she saved the Ant Hill Mob.// Another highlight is the way she ran. The animators humorously displayed her femininity by having her run like a ballet dancer.// And Paul Lynde was at a peak in his career at this time by doing the voice of The Hooded Claw in this series and that of the prissy suburbanite in another Hanna-Barbera series Where's Huddles? Lynde was almost as much a creative asset to the studio as was Mel Blanc. Art fans should appreciate the mixture of expressionism and impressionism in the cartoon's backgrounds. Adults enjoyed this show as much as kids.

As Fred Silverman shed his CBS Saturday morning lineup of violent cartoons in the late 60s, he struck gold with several successes. They were The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour, The Archie Show, Scooby Doo, Where Are You? and one of the few network cartoon spinoffs, The Perils of Penelope Pitstop.

The show was a spoof of movie melodramas of the 20s and 30s and emphasized comedy rather than violence. Two things I really enjoyed about Penelope Pitstop were Paul Lynde's portrayal of the evil Hooded Claw and the outstanding narration of Gary Owens. If you watch the closing credits carefully, you'll notice that in the voices section Paul Lynde doesn't receive any screen credit. Let's not overlook The Ant Hill Mob and their car Chugaboom. They were an intrical part of the storylines as they saved Penelope from The Hooded Claw's evil plans.

I've been catching reruns of this old cartoon on Cartoon Network over the last couple of weeks, and frankly I'm probably in the minority. I actually like this show. It stars Penelope Pitstop (a female racer from "Wacky Races") who is being constantly on the run by her laywer Sylvester Sneekly (aka The Hooded Claw who is just Sneekly in disguise) whom wants to elude of her since she inherited a fortune, and would give it to him if something were to happenn to her (you know like death or something like that for an example). But Penelope has protection thanks to my fave characters from "Wacky Races" the Ant Hill Mob (those guys rule!!!!!) who will keep our damsel in distress from being captured by the Hooded Claw.

I really like this cartoon a lot. I know that Hanna Barbera has made some lame spinoffs in the past, but this is great. 10/10

Okay ... we all pine with nostalgia for the pleasures of our youth. Sometimes they hold up, and sometimes they don't.

This spinoff from the Wacky Races ... quite a bit repetitive itself ... shunned a cohesive story in each episode for a series of seemingly deadly cliffhangers. It could have used less chasing and cliffhangers and more story.

However, if you can get hold of the version of episode one with the DVD commentary, it's a great listen, and you'll be quite amazed at the commentary from (then) 87-year-old Janet Waldo ... whose first voice work was as Judy Jetson! She sounds little different at 87 than she did in her 40s when she started voice work. The entire commentary is both amusing and interesting. Find it if you can.

The Perils of Penelope Pitstop follows Penelope Pitstop (Janet Waldo) a rich woman who travels the world only to be chase and place in danger by The Hooded Claw (Paul Winchell).

This show was a spin off of Wacky Races another cartoon by Hanna- Barbera. HB always makes interesting and classic cartoons and this is one of their more interesting ones.

It has a female protagonist with a villain who laugh always can make you shake.

Now that's rare for villains these days and even in the day.

The Perils of Penelope Pitstop had some good animation as HB is known for along with some good voice acting and music to boot.

The Narrator (Gary Owens) always makes the show interesting as he tells the story of each episode.

Some people may have different opinions on the show but I find it to be interesting if you are a fan of Hannah Barbera cartoons then give this one a try.

I'll get you Penelope Pitstop