H.R. Pufnstuf

H.R. Pufnstuf
File:Pufnstuf.jpg
Starring	Jack Wild Billie Hayes Sharon Baird Joy Campbell Van Snowden Buddy Douglas
Voices of	Lennie Weinrib Joan Gerber Walker Edmiston
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	17
Production
Producer	Sid and Marty Krofft
Running time	0:25 (per episode)
Original release
Network	NBC
Release	September 6, 1969 – September 4, 1971

H.R. Pufnstuf is a children's television series produced by Sid and Marty Krofft in the United States. It was the first Krofft live-action, life-size puppet program. The seventeen episodes were originally broadcast September 6, 1969 to September 4, 1971. The broadcasts were successful enough that NBC kept it on the Saturday morning schedule for a full three seasons, until August 1972, when it was cancelled. The show was shot in Paramount Studios and its opening was shot in Big Bear Lake, California.

In 2004 and 2007, H.R. Pufnstuf was ranked #22 and #27 on TV Guide's Top Cult Shows Ever.

Origins

The H.R. Pufnstuf character was originally created for the HemisFair '68 world's fair in 1968, where the Kroffts produced a show called Kaleidescope for the Coca-Cola pavilion. The character's name was Luther and he became the symbol of the fair.

Plot

H.R. Pufnstuf introduced the Kroffts' most-used plot scenario: their fairy tale of good versus evil. The show centered on a shipwrecked boy named Jimmy (played by Jack Wild). He is 11 years old when he arrives on the island and turns 12 in the episode called "The Birthday Party". Jimmy and his friend, a talking flute named Freddy, take a ride on a mysterious boat, which promised adventures across the sea, to kooky Living Island, home of dancing, talking trees and singing frogs. The Mayor of Living Island was a friendly and helpful dragon named H.R. Pufnstuf (voiced by the show's writer Lennie Weinrib). The boat was actually owned and controlled by a wicked witch named Wilhelmina W. Witchiepoo (played by Billie Hayes) who rode on a broomstick-like vehicle called the Vroom Broom. She used the boat to lure Jimmy and Freddy to her castle on Living Island, where she was going to take Jimmy prisoner and steal Freddy. But Pufnstuf found out about her plot and was able to rescue Jimmy when he leaped out of the enchanted boat with Freddy and swam ashore.

Jimmy was taken in by Pufnstuf, who was able to protect him from Witchiepoo, as the cave where he lived was the only place her magic had no effect. Apart from Jimmy and Witchiepoo, all of the characters on Living Island were realized via large, cumbersome costumes or puppetry. Since everything on Living Island was alive (namely houses, castles, boats, clocks, candles, books, trees, mushrooms), virtually any part of the Living Island sets could become a character, usually voiced in a parody of a famous film star, such as Mae West, Edward G. Robinson or most notably John Wayne as "The West Wind". A frequent plot device involves Witchiepoo and her henchmen Orson Vulture, Seymour Spider, and Stupid Bat trying to steal Freddy, only to be thwarted by Pufnstuf. Another concerns Jimmy and Freddy's efforts to return home from Living Island, with the same lack of success.

Characters

Main characters

• Jimmy (portrayed by Jack Wild) - One of the main characters of the series. He was lured to Living Island by a boat that worked for Witchiepoo due to the fact that Jimmy possesses a magic flute named Freddy.

• H.R. Pufnstuf (voiced by Lennie Weinrib) - One of the main characters of the series. H.R. Pufnstuf is a dragon who is the Mayor of Living Island.

• Freddy the Flute (voiced by Joan Gerber) - A magic talking flute that is owned by Jimmy. He is often targeted by Witchiepoo.

• Cling and Clang (performed by Joy Campbell and Angelo Rossitto) - Two short humanoids who work for H.R. Pufnstuf as his Rescue Racer Crew. Throughout the show, Cling and Clang never spoke.

• Wilhelmina W. Witchiepoo (portrayed by Billie Hayes) - The primary antagonist of the series. Wilhelmina W. Witchiepoo is a witch who has been targeting Freddy the Flute. She rides a large broom with a steering wheel called the Vroom Broom.
  • Orson Vulture (performed by Joy Campbell, voiced by Lennie Weinrib) - A vulture who is one of Witchiepoo's henchmen.
  • Seymour Spider (performed by Angelo Rossitto, voiced by Walker Edmiston) - A spider who is one of Witchiepoo's henchmen.
  • Stupid Bat (performed by Sharon Baird, voiced by Lennie Weinrib) - A bat who is one of Witchiepoo's henchmen. He is not very bright.

Other characters

• Dr. Blinky (performed by John Silver, voiced by Walker Edmiston) - An owl who is H.R. Pufnstuf's medical expert.

• Judy the Frog (performed by Sharon Baird, voiced by Joan Gerber) - A singing, dancing frog who is one of H.R. Pufnstuf's friends. Judy is based on Judy Garland.

• Pop Lolly (voiced by Lennie Weinrib) - A character who makes and sells candy.

• Ludicrous Lion (performed by John Silver, voiced by Walker Edmiston impersonating WC Fields) - A lion who works as a peddler and owns a horse-drawn wagon.
  • Polka-Dotted Horse (performed by Felix Silla, voiced by Lennie Weinrib) - The horse who works for Ludicrous Lion.

• Alarm Clock (performed by Andy Ratoucheff, voiced by Lennie Weinrib) - A mobile alarm clock that would often warn the characters when Witchiepoo is coming or any other dangers.

• Grandfather Clock (voiced by Walker Edmiston) - A mobile grandfather clock who is the husband of Grandmother Clock.

• Grandmother Clock (voiced by Joan Gerber) - A mobile grandmother clock who is the wife of Grandfather Clock.

• Lady Boyd (performed by Sharon Baird) - A bird who is the lead singer of The Boyds. She was often seen singing the end theme to this show.

• Shirley Pufnstuf - A dragon who is H.R. Pufnstuf's sister and famous actress.

• Toadenoff the Great - Max Von Toadenoff is a toad character that directs movies.

• The Good Trees - several walking, talking trees who always help out HR Pufnstuf and the good guys. They consist of
  • Groovy - A tree with sunglasses and dreadlocks who often speaks in hippie slang
  • Society - An older, elitist female tree with opera glasses
  • Redwood the Injun - A Redwood who dawns a feathered headdress and speaks in stereotypical Native American fashion.
  • There is an older, male tree who may or may not be the husband of Society tree.
  • There is a baby tree and another female tree whose lips are always in the shape of an "O".

• The Evil Trees - Three evil trees that speak in a Transylvanian accent. One speaks like Béla Lugosi. One speaks like Boris Karloff. The third one always speaks in rhyme.

• The Crustaceans - They are shown in several episodes as well as the closing theme song, some crab-like characters who are never named or introduced. There is a family of them, much like the clock people and tree people. They never say anything, but one of them has a couple brief lines in "The Almost Election of Witchiepoo."

• Witchiepoo's Castle - A talking, living entity that is home to the witch and her minions. There is also a door inside the castle that is a separate living entity.

• Dr. Blinky's House - A talking house that is home to Dr. Blinky. It houses several other inanimate talking characters such as fireplace and candle. There is a talking human skull and a few talking books, one of them named Charlie. Charlie's brother, an evil black book of spells, is kept on Witchiepoo's nightstand.

• The Winds - The Winds of Living Island are often called upon by H.R. Pufnstuf to blow Witchiepoo out of the sky. They consist of the North Wind (voiced by Walker Edmiston), the South Wind (voiced by Joan Gerber), the East Wind (voiced by Walker Edmiston), and the West Wind (voiced by Lennie Weinrib impersonating John Wayne).

Production

After creating costumes for characters in the live-action portion of The Banana Splits Adventure Hour, Sid and Marty Krofft were asked to develop their own Saturday morning children's series for NBC. The plot was recycled from Kaleidescope, a live puppet show the Kroffts had staged in the Coca-Cola pavilion of the HemisFair '68 world's fair in 1968, including several key characters from this show, such as Luther the dragon and a silly witch. Other ideas were cultivated from Sid's life. As a child, he'd charged friends buttons, not pennies, to view puppet shows in his back yard; buttons were standard currency on Living Island. Sid and Marty had toured with their puppets as the opening act for Judy Garland, and they based Judy the Frog on her. Ludicrous Lion bears more than a passing resemblance to Irving, the eponymous lion in a pilot they had made in 1957 called Here's Irving.

Sid's friend, Lionel Bart, asked him to view a rough cut of the movie adaptation of Oliver. Sid took notice of young actor Jack Wild and immediately decided that was the kid he wanted to play the lead in his television series. Only two actresses auditioned to play Witchiepoo. The first was then unknown Penny Marshall, but it was felt that she was not right for the part. Stage veteran Billie Hayes came in next, set into a maniacal cackle and hopped up on a desk. She was given the part on the spot.

For Marty Krofft, the production was a particular headache. Marty accepted guardianship of Jack Wild while the teenage boy was in the United States filming the show. He later described bringing Wild into his home as a mistake.

Like most children's television shows of the era, H.R. Pufnstuf contained a laugh track.

Theme song

The show’s theme song, titled "H.R. Pufnstuf", was written by Les Szarvas but is also credited to Paul Simon. Simon's credit was added when he successfully sued The Kroffts, claiming that the theme too closely mimicked his song "The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)". He is credited as the song's co-writer in TeeVee Tunes's Television's Greatest Hits Volume 5: In Living Color.

A cover of the show’s theme song, performed by The Murmurs, is included on the 1995 tribute album Saturday Morning: Cartoons' Greatest Hits, produced by Ralph Sall for MCA Records.

Episode list

№	Title	Plot	Airdate
1	"The Magic Path "	Jimmy and H.R. Pufnstuf infiltrate Witchiepoo's castle to rescue Judy Frog.	September 6, 1969
2	"The Wheely Bird"	Jimmy and Pufnstuf use a bird-shaped "Trojan Horse" as a ruse to enter Witchipoo's castle and recover the Golden Flute from Witchiepoo.	September 13, 1969
3	"Show Biz Witch"	When shyster Ludicrous Lion convinces Jimmy that he has a super-duper pogo stick for sale that could bounce him home, Pufnstuf and Jimmy conduct a talent show to raise the money.	September 20, 1969
4	"The Mechanical Boy"	Witchiepoo puts a spell on Jimmy, making him believe he's a mechanical boy and commands him to acquire Freddy, the Talking Flute for her.	September 27, 1969
5	"The Stand In"	When Pufnstuf’s sister Shirley comes to Living Island to make a movie, Jimmy and Freddie get parts in it. Together, they hatch a plot to get Witchiepoo into the movie so that Jimmy can steal her Vroom Broom to escape.	October 4, 1969
6	"The Golden Key"	When Jimmy buys a map to the location of the Golden Key, which unlocks the Golden Door, a secret way off of Living Island, Witchiepoo captures Pufnstuf in her dungeon, diverting Jimmy from his escape.	October 11, 1970
7	"The Birthday Party"	Witchiepoo invites herself to Jimmy's surprise birthday party and steals the flute by rendering the partygoers helpless with laughing gas.	October 18, 1969
8	"The Box Kite Kaper"	Jimmy and Freddy the Golden Flute attempt to fly from Living Island in a giant box kite during a kite-flying contest.	October 25, 1969
9	"You Can't Have Your Cake"	Witchiepoo hides in a cake to steal Freddy.	November 1, 1969
10	"Horse with the Golden Throat "	The polka dotted horse accidentally swallows Freddie.	November 8, 1969
11	"Dinner for Two"	Jimmy and Freddy both age 70 years when the clock family's time machine malfunctions.	November 15, 1969
12	"Flute, Book and Candle"	Freddie gets turned into a mushroom by the touch of Witchiepoo's evil mushrooms.	November 22, 1969
13	"Tooth for a Tooth"	Disguised as a little girl, Witchiepoo visits Dr. Blinky about a bad tooth. But she breaks into fits of rage when the pain becomes too much, forcing the doctor to calm her down via love potion.	November 29, 1969
14	"The Visiting Witch"	Witchiepoo receives a message from headquarters that the Boss Witch is coming to Living Island for an inspection.	December 6, 1969
15	"The Almost Election of Witchiepoo"	Witchiepoo runs for Mayor of Living Island challenging Pufnstuf.	December 13, 1969
16	"Whaddya Mean the Horse Gets the Girl?"	Pufnstuf's sister Shirley stars in a movie to raise money for Living Island's anti-witch fund.	December 20, 1969
17	"'Jimmy Who?"	Jimmy gets amnesia that Dr. Blinky and Witchiepoo take turns trying to cure with flashbacks.	December 27, 1969

Cast

• Jack Wild – Jimmy
• Billie Hayes – Wilhemina W. Witchiepoo

Krofft puppeteers

Performer	Character(s)	Voice(s)
Sharon Baird	Stupid Bat	Lennie Weinrib
	Judy Frog	Joan Gerber
	Shirley Pufnstuf
	Lady Boyd	End credits vocals
Joy Campbell	Orson Vulture	Lennie Weinrib
	Cling	No voice
Roberto Gamonet	H.R. Pufnstuf	Lennie Weinrib
Angelo Rossitto	Seymour Spider	Walker Edmiston
	Clang	No voice
John Silver	Dr. Blinky	Walker Edmiston
	Ludicrous Lion
Jerry Landon	?
Jon Linton
Scutter McKay
Harry Monty
Andy Ratoucheff	Alarm Clock	Lennie Weinrib
Robin Roper	?
Felix Silla	Polka-Dotted Horse	Lennie Weinrib

Voice characterizations

• Lennie Weinrib – Bela Lugosi Tree, H.R. Pufnstuf, Dr. Blinky's Talking Book, Stupid Bat, Pop Lolly, West Wind
• Walker Edmiston – Boris Karloff Tree, Dr. Blinky's Candle, East Wind, Grandfather Clock, North Wind, Redwood
• Joan Gerber – Freddy the Flute, Grandmother Clock, Judy the Frog, South Wind

Film

Main article: Pufnstuf (film)

While the television series was still in production, the Kroffts were approached to do a film adaptation. A joint venture between Universal Pictures and the show's sponsor Kellogg's Cereal, the film retained most of the cast and crew from the series and featured guest appearances by Cass Elliott as Witch Hazel and Martha Raye as the Boss Witch. The movie was finally released on VHS in 2001 by Universal Home Video as part of their Universal Treasures Collection, and on DVD on May 19, 2009. The film also included Googy Gopher and Orville Pelican who were exclusive to the movie. A main difference in the film is that the characters that were voiced by Lennie Weinrib were each voiced by Allan Melvin and Don Messick.

The Kroffts have long had plans for a new H.R. Pufnstuf film. Sony first attempted a remake in 2000, but dropped the project. In September, 2008, it was revealed that a live-action feature film is again being developed at Sony.

Tours

A number of USA stage show tours were run starring the same characters from the show.

DVD releases

In 2004, Rhino Entertainment released H.R. Pufnstuf: The Complete Series, featuring all 17 episodes on three discs, accompanied by interviews with Sid & Marty Krofft, Billie Hayes, and Jack Wild. The Complete Series has gone out of print, but individual (best-of) releases continue to be sold. Pufnstuf, a major motion picture released in 1970, was also released on May 19, 2009, by Universal Studios. SMK and Vivendi Entertainment has obtained the home video rights to the series and released the complete series on Jan. 11, 2011. Two versions of the release exist; one is a traditional complete series set, while the other is a collector's set, featuring a bobble-head of H.R. Pufnstuf.

H.R. Pufnstuf / McDonaldland lawsuit

H. R. Pufnstuf at Knott's Berry Farm, 1970s

The show was the subject of a successful lawsuit brought by the Kroffts against the fast food restaurant McDonald's, whose McDonaldland characters were found to have infringed the show's copyright. The case, Sid & Marty Krofft Television Productions, Inc. v. McDonald's Corp., 562 F.2d 1157, was decided by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in 1977.

Claims of drug references

The Krofft brothers have responded in several interviews to popular beliefs that subtle recreational drug references exist in the show. For example, the title character's name "Pufnstuf" has been interpreted as a reference to smoking hand-rolled (H.R.) marijuana (puffin' stuff) — Marty Krofft has said the initials "H.R." actually stand for "Royal Highness" backwards The show's theme song lyric "he can't do a little, 'cause he can't do enough" has been read as referring to the addictive nature of drugs. Pufnstuf has quotes like "Whoa dude!" and other "hippie" slang words. Lennie Weinrib, the show's head writer and the voice of Pufnstuf, has said, "I think fans gave it a kind of mysterious code-like meaning, like ‘Ah, was Pufnstuf puffing stuff? Like grass?’ Was it psychedelic? Was it drug oriented? Not to us, it wasn’t." In a 2000 interview, Marty Krofft answered the question by saying, "The Krofft look has a lot of color, but there were no drug connotations in the show." He addressed the topic at length in an interview with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in 2004, in response to the question, "OK, let's get this right out in the open. Is 'H.R. Pufnstuf' just one giant drug reference?":

We've heard that for 35 years. We did not intentionally do anything related to drugs in the story. People thought we were on drugs. You can't do good television while on drugs. People never believe you when you say that, but you can't. The shows were very bright and spacey looking. They may have lent themselves to that culture at the time, but we didn't ascribe that meaning to them, and I can't speak to what adults were doing when they were watching the shows. We just set out to make a quality children's program.

— Marty Krofft

Authors of books on the show and its contemporaries, however, have not always accepted the Kroffts' alternative explanations for apparent references to drugs. David Martindale, author of Pufnstuf & Other Stuff, maintains that the Kroffts' need to attract an audience that are now parents of impressionable children forces them at least to downplay the double entendres: "But to deny it, the shows lose some of their mystique. The Kroffts prefer to remain playfully vague." Martindale said in another interview that he fully believes Marty Krofft's insistence that he did not use drugs, especially given that Marty's focus was that of a businessman, but Martindale describes Sid Krofft as "a big kid" and "a hippy," saying, "His comment when I told him we were going to do this book was — and I quote — 'Oh, far out.' He says these shows didn't come from smoking just a little pot, and you could say, 'Oh, yeah. It comes from smoking a lot of pot.' But I think he was very deliberately doing double meanings so the show could amuse people on different levels." Kevin Burke, co-author of Saturday Morning Fever: Growing Up with Cartoon Culture, argues that the "consistency of thought" in the rumors of drug references has a basis, although his co-author and brother Timothy Burke, a history professor at Swarthmore College, insists "human beings are capable of achieving hallucinatory heights without chemical assistance." Contradicting his own position, Marty Krofft has neither admitted nor hinted in occasional interviews that the references were made knowingly; in one case, a writer reported that when pressed as to the connotation of "lids" in the title Lidsville, "Well, maybe we just had a good sense of humor," Krofft said, laughing. His comments to another interviewer were more direct; in a Times Union profile whose author observed, "Watching the shows today, it's hard to imagine a show with more wink-and-nod allusions to pot culture, short of something featuring characters named Spliffy and Bong-O," Krofft conceded that the show's title had been an intentional marijuana reference, as had Lidsville, but "that was just a prank to see if they could get them past clueless NBC executives".

Parodies and tributes

• One of the most notable parodies of H.R. Pufnstuf was "The Altered State of Druggachusetts", a segment on the HBO comedy series Mr. Show with Bob and David. The sketch consists of a failed television pilot for a kids' show introduced by "Sam and Criminy Craffft" (Bob Odenkirk and David Cross). The show itself is similar to H.R. Pufnstuf, with drug references made humorously overt. Instead of a talking flute, the boy carries a talking bong, and all of the residents in Druggachusetts take or are living incarnations of various drugs.

• Nike made a skateboarding shoe for their SB Dunk line named after the show, with the colors of the shoe resembling those of Pufnstuf.

• Excerpts from the show can often be seen playing on the TV in the hotel room Earl and his brother share in My Name Is Earl, and the October 18, 2007, episode features an extended scene with H.R. Pufnstuf as a super-crimefighter working alongside the title character's brother in a fantasy creative-writing exercise.

• In an episode of the TV sitcom The George Lopez Show, H.R. Pufnstuf makes a guest appearance at a birthday party. Lopez dances with him and the theme song is used as the music.

• An episode of the animated television series The Simpsons features a "Hufnstuf on Ice" show which has characters that resemble the cast of H. R. Pufnstuf.

• H.R. Pufnstuf appears in the animated television series South Park episode "Imaginationland".

• H.R. Pufnstuf appears in the CHiPs episode "Green Thumb Burglar"

External links

• 70s Live Action Kid Vid
• The Straight Dope Was McDonaldland plagiarized from the old "H. R. Pufnstuf" kids' TV show?
• CoolCopyright.com full text of the Kroffts vs McDonald's court case
• DVD Verdict – Region 1 DVD Review
• DVD Times – Region 0 DVD Review
• H.R. Pufnstuf at IMDb