H.R. Pufnstuf

This is a weird, weird, weird show. My friend Tom and I are afraid to watch it because it feels like you are on drugs. Strange muppets, subliminal messages, hypnotic imagery, funky colors are all on parade in this 1969 TV Series about... you know, I have no clue what was going on! I don't know if this would be considered a recommendation, but I must admit, you should see this show once to see how "trippy" it really is.

This past Sunday I went to Best Buy and bought the complete series of episodes from this show on DVD. This show has brought back so many great memories... I can still remember waking up every Saturday morning at 6am and sitting in front of the TV until 11am and watching many shows...like the Superfriends, Hong Kong Fooey, Space Ghost, The Lost Saucer...and many others. BUT...this show by far sticks out more in my memories more than any other.

I remember seeing Witchie Poo trying to steal Freddy from Jimmy and PufNStuf and always failing in the end of each show. I remember the Frog with the sparkly pants, the Boyd's band at the end of each show, the Owl Doctor, Cling and Clang, the talking trees, the Vulture who Witchie Poo always hit on the head or nose...the monster with six arms...and many others... All of these creatures and people together put on half an hour of fun and laughs every Saturday morning for me...

If you have young ones, I HIGHLY encourage everyone who reads this to have them watch the series... I have two little boys, one 5 and the other 8, who are addicted to Jimmy Neutron and SpongeBob. This show, for them, has quickly become one of their favorites...as it once was one of mine. Their friends love the show too!!

Hope this helps anyone out there...

I just wanted to say that you couldn't pull me away from this show when I was a kid.

I LOVED IT.

What child didn't want to be wisked away to a far away place where trees and creatures of all sorts talked with you.

To this day I still love to reminisce about the show with other friends that have seen the show as well.

And to those who said it didn't make sense................WHAT children's show DOES make sense??? They are a make believe fantasy world that kids dream about. A place for them to get away and just have some PLAIN ordinary fun.

Tiala

This was one psychedelic children's show. In all,it was a memorable fantasy-musical adventure fiasco of a series that was filmed on a Hollywood studio lot-at Paramount Studios,and in turn was the first of several Sid and Marty Krofft Productions to be produced for Saturday Mornings. The executive producers were Sid and Marty Krofft themselves along with producer Si Rose,who was also the head writer for several episodes and also the producer-writer for several classic television shows which included "McHale's Navy","The Ghost and Mrs. Muir","F-Troop","My Three Sons","The Doris Day Show",and later with "The Dukes Of Hazzard".

The children fantasy-adventure series "H.R. Pufnstuf" had all the standard tricks associated with the production company,including fantastic costumes,brightly colored and outrageous noisy comedy. The action centered on prepubescent Jimmy,the only human seen on the show,who sail out one day with his talking flute Freddy in his shirt pocket. The evil and menacing and ugly Witchiepoo,however,who coveted the magic flute puts a spell on Jimmy's boat causing it to crash on Living Island. Once there,Jimmy is rescued by the island's leading citizen,an amiable dragon named H.R. Pufnstuf and is adopted by the other adorable denizens of the island including Blinky the wise owl,Cling and Clang,the midget cops,and Four Winds,a breeze with a human visage. All of them worked to keep Jimmy and his high-pitched nervous flute out of the clutches of the evil and diabolical Witchiepoo. However,Witchiepoo's plans constantly ran afoul of her incompetent help. On the plus side was her Vroom-Broom,a gandy contraption featuring a umbrella-shaded seat for the witch and a bathtub sidecar for her goofy vulture sidekick Orson. Unfortunately,Orson was part of Witchiepoo's problem as were Seymour the yellow spider and Stupid Bat. The fearsome(and sometimes frightening)looking Evil Trees and the Mushrooms were supposed to be the scary part of the show,but in turn was very effective in producing a scare tactic not only for little kids,but older teenagers in mind who were watching the show.

As for the show itself,the series "H.R. Pufnstuf" made a superstar out of British actor Jack Wild--who in turn before his television debut was see as the "Artful Dodger",who in turn was magnificent in his singing and acting talents in Carol Reed's 1968 Oscar-winning musical "Oliver",based on the characters from Charles Dickens' great novel. On the show however,you got to see some of the great musical talent that Jack Wild had and it shows with his singing and dancing abilities as well as his acting techniques. Not bad for a child actor though. Also mentioned here is the talents of Billie Hayes as the evil Witchiepoo. Her character was not only menacing but absolutely hilarious to boot,and it shows in some of the episodes. One funny lady. Bit of trivia about the show--"H.R. Pufnstuf"-only actors Jack Wild and Billie Hayes were the only human characters on the show--the rest of them were actors in costumes and their acting abilities were supplied by voice characterizations namely from the talents of Lennie Weinrib(who was one of the head writers for the show),Walker Edminston and Frank Welker.

When "H.R. Pufnstuf",made its premiere on NBC-TV on September 6,1969, the show became an immediate hit with not only with kids,but adults as well. The series lasted three seasons on the network until the final episode on September 4, 1971. Only the first season had original episodes. Seasons two and three were repeated episodes from the first season. During the height of the 1969-1970 season,"H.R. Pufnstuf", was a ratings winner and a smash hit with its audience--mainly with the audiences that consisted of children and its connection with the Saturday Morning audience. The show scored the highest ratings ever in the history of the network,and ousted the competition of other shows airing in the same slot on ABC and CBS. "H.R. Pufnstuf",was the most successful Saturday Morning series on NBC,and the only show besides the animated "The Pink Panther Show" and the live-action adventure series "Skippy:The Bush Kangaroo",to do so during the 1969-1970 season.

Only 21 episodes were produced for this series. After the phenomenal success of the show,Sid and Marty Krofft took "H.R. Pufnstuf",to the next level,and in 1970 Universal Pictures produced a feature length film version called "Pufnstuf",with Jack Wild,Billie Hayes,and Cass Elliott. After the show was cancelled in 1971,repeated episodes of the series were shown on Saturday Mornings on ABC-TV from September 16,1972 to September 1,1973 and from there moved to Sunday Mornings from September 9,1973 until the last repeated telecast on September 1,1974.

After the success of the show,actor Jack Wild went into oblivion never to be heard from since,with a exception for several appearances of children's shows during the remainder of the 1970's and 1980's. He is longer with us. A great talent on a great show.

Anyone who didn't grow up in the 70's who sees this show just sits there in stunned amazement. But, if you saw this show back in its heyday, you probably loved it.

The Kroft shows were a surreal breed. They were puppeteers, but the puppets in these shows were, generally, people in elaborate costumes. The colors were bright and psychedelic. The names were a mixture of puns and silly jokes. There were plenty of songs and hijinxs galore. The stories were silly and lame, but they had a spirit and warmth to them. Loyalty and honesty were always at the heart of the characters and good values always triumphed.

Jack Wild made a name for himself in Oliver and stared as Jimmy. He is marooned on the Living Island by Witchipoo, who covets his Magic Flute. Jimmy is rescued by the mayor of Living Island, H.R. Pufnstuf. Each week, Witchiepoo would concoct another wild scheme to steal Magic Flute; and, each week, her scheme would backfire, thanks to her inept henchmen and her own stupidity.

The one thing that cemented a love of this show, for me, was Billie Hayes as Witchiepoo. Billie was a great comedian and gave her all to Witchiepoo. I was easily scared as a kid, but she was never frightening. Witchiepoo was too much of a screw-up to pose a real threat. She had a charm that made you want to come back. Plus, she had a cool, souped-up broom! And, from all accounts, she was a heck of a nice lady.

I've heard the drug jokes about this and other shows (i.e. H.R. Pufnstuf Hand Rolled Pufnstuf) from the Krofts. Yeah, they're weird and look like the product of a demented or medicated mind, but the writers weren't that young and were pretty straight-laced. Maybe it was just something in the air back then.