shadejford

One of Hanna-Barbera's better comedies. It was a good parody of cliffhangers that were popular during the early 20th century. Penelope herself had feminist overtones. The Ant Hill Mob were supposed to be her saviors, yet they usually botched their rescue attempts and Penelope would save herself from her predicaments. Last Tuesday, I viewed an episode in which she saved the Ant Hill Mob.// Another highlight is the way she ran. The animators humorously displayed her femininity by having her run like a ballet dancer.// And Paul Lynde was at a peak in his career at this time by doing the voice of The Hooded Claw in this series and that of the prissy suburbanite in another Hanna-Barbera series Where's Huddles? Lynde was almost as much a creative asset to the studio as was Mel Blanc. Art fans should appreciate the mixture of expressionism and impressionism in the cartoon's backgrounds. Adults enjoyed this show as much as kids.

Actually, the cartoon that could be truly titled "Bluto's Revenge" would the one released two years before this one--How Green Is My Spinach(l950). That's the one in which Bluto eliminates all of the spinach in the world. The punishment he dishes out to a weakened Popeye in that film far exceeds what he does to Popeye in this cartoon. The similarities between both cartoons are interesting. Bluto shares his nefarious plans with the (us) viewing audience and Popeye doesn't have a clue of what's about to happen to him. Both films show Popeye heavily dependent on his spinach. This is curious for I remember films in which Popeye wasn't so helpless without his spinach. Both films don't feature Olive Oyl. The emphasis in both films is Bluto's obsession with beating Popeye to death. The can marked"Spinach" is the real hero in these films.

Although it was called "The Lucy Show," the core of this program was always the interaction between Lucille Ball, Vivian Vance and Gale Gordon. Having key film crew personnel from "I Love Lucy" certainly didn't hurt. The show did lose some punch when Vance left for she,along with Ball and Gordon, were "The Lucy Show Triumvirate". However, I feel the post-Vance episodes were almost as enjoyable for they featured interesting and entertaining guest stars. The "Main Street" episode featuring Mel Torme, Paul Winchell AND John Bubbles is a delight for musical fans. Check out the sequence showing Bubbles dancing with Lucy. Also, these later episodes still featured Gale Gordon who bounced off Lucy just as effectively as Vance did. Plus, the addition of Roy Roberts as Gordon's boss helped for he and Gordon bounced off each other well.