The Banana Splits Adventure Hour

You don't Know how big this was back in the day...Heck I used to watch this ALL the time. Loved the Splits, the Musketeers Toons and their music. It was very funny. Haven't seen it much since but that's fine, it was meant for the 6 year old mind-set and it's in that frame of reference that it belongs.

*** outta ****.

This was basically, "The Monkees" for kids with cartoons and a weekly serial tossed in for fun. Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In was an obvious influence as well with the pop-art sets, patterns and color schemes. Paul Winchell's voice (Jerry Mahoney and Mortimer Snurd - a popular Ventriloquist/Dummy act of the time) as Fleagle was fun. Winchell was also the voice of "Tigger" from Disney's "Winnie the Pooh" and many other cartoon voices, including the leader of the "Anthill Mob" in "The Adventures of Penelope Pitstop." Daws Butler's voice (Huckleberry Hound and many others) as Bingo was great too.

I had to see reruns of this show to remember it was Jan Michael Vincent's t.v. debut in the "Danger Island" segment.

"Chongo" (Uh Oh) got a little irritating with his constant bird sounds in place of real language.

The cartoons were fun - Three Musketeers and Arabian Nights.

It was an obvious Hannah-Barbera effort.

Lots of fun for kids. Teens too.

GREAT theme song (La la la, la la la la)!

I watched this show in 1969 when my father was stationed in Bangkok and the family relocated. I didn't like it. I loved it. And I can still hum the Banana Splits theme song. The part I enjoyed a lot was the write-in letter for Dear Drooper. He would always come up with the zaniest reply. To a writer, amazed that the light from the sun travels 86,000 miles per second, he replies, "Don't forget, it's downhill all the way." To a safety conscious student driver, he replies, "The most dangerous part of the car is the nut holding the steering wheel." I still have the tape recording (monoraul audio) I made back then. This is part of my childhood and my early lessons in humor.

During half-way into the show,there was this short piece that have several survivors stranded on a tropical island where they faced great danger at every turn,and along the way they had this huge guy(played by Rocke Tarkington),and his mate who guided them through the treacherous jungles,and fought off deadly animals,and bloodthirsty pirates,and etc......... It also had a very young Jan Micheal-Vincent in this too,and it still comes on every Friday night on Cartoon Network. The show I'm preferring to was one action packed show,even though it only ran for like eight to nine minutes....Catch the non-stop excitement of "Danger Island",as part of the Banana Splits Show. In case you're wondering,the show was very good,and one of the best memories from my childhood.

I caught this on Cartoon Network's "Boomerang" preview about 2 weeks ago, and since it was my first time seeing it, I knew I was in for a treat since this was one of Hanna-Barbera's memorable shows. This show has live action(The Bannana Splits, Danger Island which was on the episode I watched. Got to admit, it rocked), animation(Arabian Nights, The Four Muskateers). What a concept this was!! It's a shame it didn't last at least 5 years because this show was pretty good. Plus, it featured Michael Vincent (now known as Jan-Michael Vincent). Another fact was that Richard Donner("Lethel Weapon") directed the episodes. Quite interesting.

This gets a perfect 10.