The Magilla Gorilla Show

The Magilla Gorilla Show
Genre	Animation Comedy
Created by	William Hanna Joseph Barbera
Starring	Allan Melvin Howard Morris Jean Vander Pyl
Theme music composer	Hoyt Curtin
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of episodes	31
Production
Production companies	Hanna-Barbera Productions Screen Gems
Original release
Network	Syndication
Release	1963 – 1964

The Magilla Gorilla Show is an animated series for TV produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions for Screen Gems between 1963 and 1967, and originally sponsored in syndication by Ideal Toys from 1963 through 1966. The show also had other recurring characters, including Punkin' Puss & Mushmouse, and Ricochet Rabbit & Droop-a-Long. In syndication, the main and supporting characters from the Peter Potamus Show were also added. Like many of the Hanna-Barbera animal characters, Magilla was dressed in human accessories, sporting a small hat and a bow tie.

History

In Magilla Gorilla, the protagonist spent his time languishing in the front display window of Mr. Peebles' pet shop, eating bananas and being a drain on the businessman's finances. Mr. Peebles marked down Magilla's price considerably, but Magilla was invariably only purchased for a short time, typically by some thieves who needed a gorilla to break into a bank or by an advertising agency looking for a mascot for their new product. The customers always ended up returning Magilla, forcing Mr. Peebles to refund their money. Magilla often ended each episode with his catchphrase, "We'll try again next week."

The only customer who was truly interested in obtaining the trouble-prone ape for good was a little girl named Ogee ("Oh Gee!"), who, unfortunately, could never convince her parents to let her keep Magilla (During the cartoon's theme song, "We've Got a Gorilla for Sale", Ogee would always ask hopefully, "How much is that gorilla in the window?" a twist on the old standard, "(How Much Is) That Doggie in the Window?"). Magilla Gorilla was voiced by veteran actor Allan Melvin, Mr. Peebles was voiced by Howard Morris, and Ogee voice was provided by Jean Vander Pyl.

Episodes

#	Title	Summary
1	Big Game	Peebles sells Magilla to J. Whimple Dimple, who is intent on hunting the gorilla for his taxidermy collection.
2	Gridiron Gorilla	Peebles gives Magilla away to a football coach, who recruits him as a fullback in the Pennsyltucky Lions team against the Wabash Cannonballs.
3	Private Magilla	Magilla has been assigned with the military as a private. He bests the army and is about to be sent on a mission to the moon.
4	Bank Pranks	Peebles sells Magilla to a couple of thieves, who are hoping to make use of him, but Magilla foils their robbery attempt.
5	Groovey Movie	The director of Grotesque Pictures buys Magilla for his newest motion picture, but the showbiz proves to be painful for Magilla.
6	Airlift	Magilla drinks Professor Skiball's anti-gravity formula, making him float up in the air, and some advertisers take advantage of this.
7	Come Blow Your Dough	A little girl called Ogee buys Magilla. Upon bringing him home, Ogee's parents reject Magilla and call the police.
8	Mad Scientist	Peebles sells Magilla to a scientist, who takes the gorilla to his laboratory to perform some sinister experiments on his brain.
9	Masquerade Party	Magilla is invited to a dressing up party, where a couple of thieves are attempting to steal Mrs. Richley's diamond necklace.
10	Come Back Little Magilla	Upset that she can't have Magilla, Ogee runs away and Magilla goes after her, thinking of her safety.
11	Fairy Godmother	Magilla's fairy godmother grants Magilla three wishes. The first to go to the jungle, the second to go back and the third to get a lot of bananas.
12	Planet Zero	Inhabitants from Planet Zero, take Magilla to their home planet, where he makes them too afraid to invade earth.
13	Prince Charming	Ogee visits Magilla, who entertains her with various fairy tales involving the masked stranger and Prince Charming.
14	Motorcycle Magilla	Magilla drives off with Peebles in his motorcycle all over the town, until they plunge off a waterfall and get rescued by a helicopter.
15	Is That Zoo?	Peebles sends Magilla to the City zoo where he has to follow the rules, but he takes them a bit too seriously.
16	Bird Brained	Peebles brings to Magilla a lovebird, which attempts to escape. Magilla chases the bird to take him back before Peebles gets back with a mate for him.
17	Circus Ruckus	Magilla runs away to join a circus after Peebles scolded him. Soon Magilla misses Peebles and goes back to the pet shop.
18	Camp Scamps	Magilla mistakenly thinks Peebles is going to get rid of him, so he joins the junior rangers of Camp Kitchy Gooney.
19	The Purple Mask	Ogee gets upset as she can't prove the existence of the Purple Mask to Hector. Magilla takes the place of the superhero to help Ogee.
20	Love at First Fight	Magilla is taken to the City zoo to keep a lonely gorilla called Matilda company, but she becomes madly in love with him.
21	Pet Bet	Ogee visits Peebles' pet shop to take Magilla to her school pet contest. A dog called Horatio is all who stands between Magilla and the trophy prize.
22	Makin' With the Magilla	Magilla goes on a long surfing stunt at the beach and as a result becomes the Surfer King.
23	High Fly Guy	While out shopping, Magilla rides an airplane ride, but accidentally sends it into the sky and he has hard time making a touchdown.
24	Deep Sea Doodle	Peebles sends Magilla to take his goldfish Phoebe to the Oceanland doctor. During the check up, Magilla gets tangled in the aquarium.
25	That Was the Geek That Was	Magilla delivers to Peebles a rare pet bird, but it vanishes. Magilla tries hard to catch the slippery bird.
26	Montana Magilla	In order to help a bankrupt Peebles, Magilla enters a cowboy contest under the name Montana Magilla to win the money he needs.
27	Magilla Mix-Up	During an errand for Peebles, Magilla is mistaken for a secret agent in a secret hideout and is tailed by a villain on a secret delivery service.
28	Wheelin' and Dealin'	Magilla accidentally drives off with a man's sports car, causing a commotion and getting himself in trouble with the police.
29	Mad Avenue Madness	Peebles rents Magilla to some Advertisers from the Madison Avenue to accomplish their advertising campaign of a Huffmobile.
30	Beau Jest	Feeling unwanted, Magilla leaves Peebles and becomes involved with the French Legion, sent on a mission to capture the bandit Abu Ben Hakim.
31	Super Blooper Heroes	Inspired by Super Magnificent on TV, Magilla and Peebles become crime fighting heroes. Unfortunately they pick the wrong guys to fight.

Cast

• Allan Melvin as Magilla Gorilla
• Howard Morris (and later, Don Messick) as Mr. Peebles
• Jean Vander Pyl as Ogee

Other Appearances and Media

• Magilla Gorilla appeared on both Yogi's Ark Lark and Yogi's Gang where he would run the treadmill that powers the Ark as long as there were plenty of bananas.

• In Yogi Bear's All Star Comedy Christmas Caper, Magilla Gorilla (alongside Wally Gator and Yakky Doodle) was unable to help Yogi and his friends locate J. Wellington Jones.

• In the "Fender Bender 500" segment of Wake, Rattle, and Roll, Magilla Gorilla was partnered with Wally Gator as they rode a monster truck called the Swamp Stomper.

• Magilla appeared as a teenage gorilla on Yo Yogi! (as superstar Magilla Ice, a reference to Vanilla Ice).

• Magilla Gorilla appeared as Sinbad on Scooby-Doo in Arabian Nights (1994).

• In an episode of The Simpsons, Homer looks at a statue of himself created by Marge and exclaims "You made me a statue of Magilla Gorilla!" Also in the episode "When You Dish Upon a Star," Homer is heard singing the theme song in his sleep, right before Homer as Magilla apparently savages Mr Peebles.

• On the Adult Swim cartoon series Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law, in the episode "Free Magilla," Magilla Gorilla (voiced by Maurice LaMarche) was "liberated" by a parody of PETA called PAFF (the People's Animal Freedom Front), whom Mr. Peebles (also voiced by Maurice LaMarche) proceeded to sue. Whenever Magilla would use one of his trademark grating one-liners, the characters would slap him in the face or peck out his eyes. In the Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law video game, he and Secret Squirrel were suspected of robbing Harvey Birdman's office. After Secret Squirrel was found "not guilty," Magilla Gorilla was tried and was also found "not guilty" when it was mentioned that he wouldn't be able to fit in the window due to a machine left behind by X the Eliminator.
• Magilla Gorilla was seen in a Cartoon Network Rap in 1995.

Trivia

• Mr. Peebles' physical appearance was based on that of an earlier Hanna-Barbera character from 1962-1987's The Jetsons, Mr. Spacely (George Jetson's boss, voiced by Mel Blanc).

• The great ape's name is a near-homophone to the Hebrew/Yiddish word megillah, which means scroll, and is often used in a joking way to indicate a long, drawn out story; and, by extension, the teller of such a story. There is no apparent connection between that definition and the ape, other than making a suitable rhyme. In The Joys of Yiddish, by Leo Rosten, 1968, p. 233, the author observes that megillah "rhymes with guerrilla".

• As pointed out on the Rhino Records' CD liner notes for their collection of Hanna-Barbera theme tunes, part of Magilla's purpose was to sell likenesses of himself. The show was sponsored by Ideal Toys, which produced a Magilla stuffed toy.

• The Beastie Boys name check the ape on the album Pauls' Boutique (1989) – "Take my advice at any price a gorilla like your mother is mighty weak..."

• In the X-Men comics, Hank McCoy (Beast), was nicknamed "Magilla Gorilla" in High School.

• Brazilian boxer Adilson "Maguila" Rodrigues got his nickname because of his physical resemblance to Magilla Gorilla.

• Howard Stern Show co-host Robin Quivers was nicknamed Magilla Gorilla by comedian Bob Levy.

• Comedian Rondell Sheridan has repeatedly joked about his resemblance to Magilla Gorilla, dating back to being teased for it as a child.

• The term Magilla is used as slang to refer to bad play in a game of poker. "Wow, I played that hand like such a Magilla."

• In the second season finale of Lost, Sawyer refers to Hurley and Kate as "Magilla Gorilla and Pippi Longstocking".

• In the Australian National Basketball League, the Hobart Devils import Jim Havrilla in 1993, was nicknamed 'Magilla the Gorilla', due to his force in smashing backboards with his slam dunks.

DVD release

Warner Home Video released the entire Magilla Gorilla series, together with the Ricochet Rabbit & Droop-a-Long and Punkin' Puss & Mushmouse shorts in a boxed DVD collection on August 15, 2006.[1] The DVD set doesn't include the 1964 Magilla Gorilla Show main/end title sequences and the cartoons are not yet restored.

DVD Name	Ep #	Release Date	Additional Information
The Complete Series	23	August 15, 2006	Magilla Theme Song, Live and Unplugged Mr. Peebles Pet Shop Here Comes a Star

Magilla Gorilla in other languages

• Brazilian Portuguese: Maguila, o Gorila
• Spanish: Maguila Gorila
• Japanese: ゴリラのゴンちゃん (Gorira no Gon-chan)
• Finnish: The same as in English
• Polish: Goryl Magilla (pronouncing with double "l")
• Persian: گوريل انگوري (Gooril angoori)- Gooril angoori is Grape Ape.

External links

• Full episodes of "Magilla Gorilla" free on AOL Video