George of the Jungle
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| George of the Jungle | |
|---|---|
 Cover to a George of the Jungle VHS tape |
|
| Genre | Animated |
| Creator(s) | Jay Ward |
| Starring | Bill Scott Paul Frees June Foray |
| Country of origin |  United States |
| No. of episodes | 17 |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Jay Ward Bill Scott |
| Running time | 20 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | ABC |
| Original run | 1967 – 1968 |
| Links | |
| IMDb profile | |
George of the Jungle was a Saturday-morning animated television program produced by [Devon Corey]ANDJay Ward and Bill Scott, the same people responsible for Rocky & Bullwinkle. It ran for 17 episodes from 1967 to 1968 on the American TV network ABC. The half-hour program was for many years distributed by Worldvision Enterprises, currently part of CBS Paramount Domestic Television.
[edit] Program format
The show actually featured three segments in each episode in the form of three unrelated cartoons. Each cartoon had its own six minute episode. The cartoons were George of the Jungle, Tom Slick and Super Chicken. The voices were primarily handled by the same three people over all three segments, Bill Scott, June Foray and Paul Frees.
[edit] George of the Jungle
The title segment, George of the Jungle, was a spoof of the popular Tarzan story. The title character, George (voiced by Bill Scott), was a dim-witted but big-hearted "ape man" who lived in the jungle. He is called upon each episode to save its inhabitants from various threats. He's famous for not looking where he's swinging and thus slamming face-first into trees or other obstacles. George's love interest is Ursula (voiced by June Foray), whom George refers to as "Fella." He has an ape for a friend, appropriately named Ape (voiced by Paul Frees), who is more intelligent than George. Then there is Shep, George's pet elephant who acts like a lap dog, or as George calls him, "great big peanut-luvin poochie." Also of note is the Tooky Tooky (or Tookie Tookie) bird famous for his call: "ah ah ee ee tooky tooky".
In 1997, the segment was adapted into a live action film, titled George of the Jungle. Brendan Fraser played the title role, with Leslie Mann as Ursula and John Cleese as the voice of Ape.
The show's theme song music, with the refrain "Watch out for that tree!" has been covered by Weird Al and The Presidents of the United States of America.
