You remember the Grovie Goolies from the early 1970's don't you? They were a variation on Rowin and Martin's Laugh-In but with monster characters instead of a vast array of comedians. The show took place at Horrible Hall, a kind of hotel/boarding house for monsters. The three main characters were leader Drac, stupid but lovable Frankie, and hippie werewolf Wolfie. Other characters were witch Hagatha, the Mortica Addams-like Bella, Mummy, the two headed Dr. Jeckle and Hyde (with one head being Jeckle and the other Hyde), skeleton Boneapart, Ghoulahand (a giant hand), flesh eating plant Orvile, as well as three brats named Ratso, Batso,and Hauntleroy. Ratso and Batso were always causing trouble for the other residents and were always getting caught and punished, except for the times when the whiny tattletale Hauntelroy was involved and who got it instead.
Each episode had two songs sung by such bands as the Mummies and the Puppies (with Mummy Cass - get it? - playing bongos), The Rolling Headstones, and the main characters own band with Drac on keyboards, Wofie on guitars, and Frankie on drums and percussion. All the songs had a definite 60's bubblegum feel (still prevalent sounding today)with all the lyrics having to do with monsters. Some of the songs, such as Cling Clang, Darkness, and Chick-A-Boom (a song that actually made it into the Billboard Top 40 by one of the shows songwriters who went under the name Daddy Dewdrop!) are pretty catchy, while others such as 1,2,3 and Where Are You Going, Little Ghoul? are bland and inane sounding.
Still this show was a lot of fun to watch with the impressive voice talent behind the characters (Larry Storch as Drac, using the same voice he used for Phenneus J. Whoopee on those Tennesee Tuxedo cartoons, comedy pro Howard Morris as Frankie, Wolfie, and Mummy) and the never ending barrage of one-liners, silly jokes, and sight gags (all done to a laugh track and canned applause no less!)
The recent release on DVD by the company that obtained the rights from Filmation, Entertainment Rights (out of England), have done a fine job in bringing back all 16 episodes and digitally remastering each one. For any self-respecting member of Generation X who grew up watching this on Saturday mornings with a bowl of, well, whatever their favorite cereal was, will have a flood of great memories come back to them. This one is very much a must on your TV DVDs collection.
