The Ruff & Reddy Show

I remember this show, when it first aired as a Saturday morning show. Never missed it. I was 7 or 8 at the time, have always had the words to the theme in my head, but could have sworn it debuted in 1956, based on where we lived at the time. (My dad was in the AF & I remember shows, music, fads, etc. based on where we lived since we moved every 2 or 3 years.) At any rate, I remember it was about a cat & a dog who were best friends, with the dog looking out for the cat. Episodes were introduced by a live actor/narrator/host. Seems like the host was the same voice heard as the narrator of most HB cartoons after that. Figured out later this was the first TV cartoon series from HB after they left MGM, where they produced/directed the best of all the Tom & Jerry cartoons. They had developed a simpler method to make cartoons quicker & cheaper, almost eliminating the need for large art departments. In that respect this little cartoon series helped bring about the decline and eventual end of large studio cartoon departments at MGM, WB, etc. Soon after this success they followed with the Huckleberry Hound Show on weekday afternoons, followed by Yogi Bear's own show and all their other afternoon and Saturday shows, many of which were almost copies of some of the earlier MGM cartoon series. Of course they also made history with the first prime time cartoon series, The Flintstones, in 1960. While not a copy of an earlier cartoon it was loosely based on 'The Honeymooners'.

"Ruff n' Reddy" was a fun to watch and suspenseful TV cartoon series. The weekly adventures were a treat for kids in the 7 to 10 year old range, and the stories were always fresh and interesting to the young and curious mind.

I must fully agree with Mr. 'wdbasinger' on the "cliffhanger" technique employed at the end of every half hour show. The only story line I can still recollect was the pair's abduction to another planet by the "Munimula" robots (yes, aluminum spelled backwards). These creations were one-wheeled, hemisphere-topped droids, perhaps fore-runners of "R2-D2" of "Star Wars" fame. At the end of one episode, I was horrified that our heroes were somehow trapped in an assembly line and about to be somehow transformed into Munimulas themselves!!! My brother and I had to fret through an entire week of dread until next Saturday morning to see them escape this awful fate.

This show was one of my favorites during those years of Saturday morning bowls of cereal and hours of TV animation pleasure. If anyone knows where or how to buy these wonderful cartoons on DVD or VHS, please notify me. Thank you.

I remember watching this series as a young boy of 7 and 8 and I was astounded by the cliffhanger approach of the plots. Captain Greedy was a cartoon version of Peter Lorre. I don't know who Salt Water Daffy was modeled after, but both if these were very original villains.

My favorite stores were those when Ruff and Reddy were battling villains in outer space. There were actually two such stories. One in which they somehow get to "a very strange planet" by getting aboard a runaway rocket.

The second story is when they are captured by robot aliens and taken to a planet called Munimula ("Aluminum" spelled backwards). To a young boy of 7, this was a very eerie adventure and as I remember, my favorite of the whole series. I think this is the first one to feature the eccentric "Professor Gizmo".

It is incredible that here I am at the age of 54 and I still remember with a great deal of fondness these Saturday morning thrillers.

Does anyone know where I could purchase this on either VHS or DMD ?

Dan Basinger

THIS IS THE first Hanna-Barbera Produced TV cartoon series. It was different than their standard fare that was to come down the pike in the next few years. Rather than being all cartoon with multiple character features, this show featured a single cartoon series, Later syndicated half-hours, such as THE HUCKLEBERRY HOUND Show, featured the main star (HUCK)and two back-up features (PIXIE & DIXIE and YOGI BEAR).

FURTHER MARKED DIFFERENCES are apparent in the use of live (or videotaped) performers in studio. The implementation of a puppet side show added an element of contrast to the comedy of the RUFF & REDDY Cartoon adventures.

AND SPEAKING OF those R & R adventures, they had a sort of continuing theme, much like a movie serial, sans the cliff-hanger endings. Theirs were humorous, but strung together by the inclusion of a singular plot line and some protagonists.

IN WHAT WAS most likely an intentional switch in names for comic effect, RUFF & REDDY were polar opposites in their appearances. With Ruff ("ROUGH") being the expected name for the huge bulldog, he was Reddy ("READY") and the small cat partner was really Ruff ("ROUGH"). (Did you get that one, Schultz?)

UNLIKE SO MANY more of their productions, this Hanna-Barbera show was shown on the network of NBC, instead of being sent out via the wonders of syndication.

Growing up in the late 1950s and early 1960s, my favorite time of the week was Saturday morning. I enjoyed a variety of cartoon and live-action shows such as Sky King, Fury, Leonardo the Lion, Howdy Doody, Texas Rangers, and especially "Ruff and Reddy."

My keenest memory of this was the premiere on the Saturday morning right after I had my tonsils out. What a pleasant surprise just when I needed a lift, to see this great animated adventure show of a cat and dog drawn in to an adventure in the planet of robots called "Muni-Mula" which is aluminum spelled backwards. The evil leader, who literally would spin his head around between a kind face who would welcome you and the mean face that threatened you, was out to conquer the universe starting with Earth with his army of robots. The robots whizzing after our heroes on one wheel sometimes caught them, but in the end Ruff and Reddy managed to destroy the robot manufacturing assembly line and escape this planet just before it blows up. Hmm, come to think of it, I wonder if the authors of the film "Independence Day" might just have seen this show when they were little.

Ruff and Reddy beat all the bad guys, including the Pirate Captain Greedy. There was one villian who fired missiles from inside a barn that opened up. This was, of course, during the Cold War just after the Russians launched Sputnik.

My friends and I enjoyed many play adventures based on the Ruff and Reddy Episodes, and we also played World War II Marines and sometimes imagined World War III, especially on those Friday Afternoons when they tested the air raid sirens. The Cold War was a very real part of life, but we made the best out of it.

And yes, I did see the movie "Thirteen Days" and yes, we really did come that close.