H.R. Pufnstuf

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 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...

Attention: If her charms are completely lost on you, read no further!

As someone who's never smoked the wacky tobacky, I do my best to ignore the alleged reference in H(appy).R(elaxing). Pufnstuf. Anyway, my story...

I was just a little too young to watch the show when it first aired. Today, having first seen it on TV Land quite recently, I would easily dismiss it as silly crap if it weren't for one thing: Witchiepoo, the resident villain. This little witch, as played by Billie Hayes, is irresistibly cute and utterly entertaining. She more than makes up for everything the show may lack. Kudos, though, to the rest of the cast, mostly puppeteers.

True, Witchiepoo may seem like a total rip-off of the Wicked Witches in "The Wizard of Oz", but I have yet to fall madly in love with Margaret Hamilton's green-faced ghoul, as excellent as she was in that role. It is a testament to Billie Hayes' talent that, through all the ugly make-up, she can be so wonderfully charming and adorable. Witchiepoo proves that a witch need not be pretty (Samantha, Sabrina) to be lovable. And I defy you to hear that sweet laugh of hers and not instantly fall under her spell!

Witchiepoo is the antithesis of so much sleazy TV programming today, and that's why I don't feel as silly as I could've about proclaiming my deep affection for this sweet and enchanting character. Thirty-five years since Witchiepoo first arrived, and it'll be a long time before I fall for another fictional character the way I've fallen for Witchiepoo. I am truly bewitched.

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.

I cannot recommend this show highly enough! It is a major reason that I grew up with the wild imagination I still have to this day! Along with Lidsville and Sigmund and the Seamonsters, Pufnstuf was a staple of my Saturday morning. I taught a group of high school kids last year. A few of them somehow found out about the show. We started talking and then one of them came back the next day with the DVD set! He bought all the episodes and a new generation was exposed to the big goofy dinosaur. They loved it! Now I need to show it to some younger kids and get them influenced early by Pufnstuf, Witchiepoo, Freddy, Jimmy, and the rest! HR Pufnstuf is a classic. Pufnstuf even went on stage with the Brady Kids at one of their cheesy concerts at the Hollywood Bowl ! The late 60's early 70's were a great time to be a kid. A big dinosaur puppet became a teen idol !