H.R. Pufnstuf

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H.R. Pufnstuf
Genre Children's television series
Starring Jack Wild
Lennie Weinrib
Billie Hayes
Sharon Baird
Joy Campbell
Van Snowden
Buddy Douglas
Country of origin Flag of United States United States
No. of episodes 17
Production
Producer(s) Sid and Marty Krofft
Running time 0:25 (per episode)
Broadcast
Original channel NBC
Original run September 6, 1969 – September 4, 1971
Links

H.R. Pufnstuf was a children's television series produced by Sid and Marty Krofft in the United States. There were seventeen episodes of the show, which ran from September 6, 1969 to September 4, 1971, but it was so successful that NBC kept it on the Saturday morning schedule for a full three seasons until August of 1972. The show was filmed at Paramount Studios, A Gulf + Western Company.

H.R. Pufnstuf introduced the Kroffts' most-used plot scenario, revolving around a boy named Jimmy, played by Jack Wild, who had accidentally found Living Island, a magical place where everything was alive. The Mayor of Living Island was a friendly dragon named H.R. Pufnstuf, who was voiced by the show's writer, Lennie Weinrib. Jimmy had been lured to the island with his friend, a talking flute named Freddie, by a magic boat which promised adventures across the sea. The boat was actually owned and controlled by their nemesis, a wicked witch named Whilemina W. Witchiepoo, played by Billie Hayes, who rode on a broomstick with a steering wheel called the Vroom Broom. 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 Witchiepoo, all of the characters on Living Island were realized via large, cumbersome costumes or puppetry. Since everything on Living Island was alive—houses, castles, boats, grandfather 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".

The show's popularity in the late 1960s and early 1970s led to the release of a movie based on the show, called Pufnstuf, in 1970. The film featured guest appearances by Cass Elliott and Martha Raye. The show and the movie were both notable for bright colors, fast edits, sped-up film, musical segments and pop culture in-jokes, and appealed to young adults almost as much as children.

The complete series was released as a DVD box set in the United States in February 2004. The film has also been offered on VHS, now out of print.

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[edit] H.R. Pufnstuf in pop culture

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. (Sid & Marty Krofft Television Productions, Inc. v. McDonald's Corp., 562 F.2d 1157, decided by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in 1977.)[1]

Many viewers believe the show contains subtle drug references - for example, the title character's name "Pufnstuf" can be interpreted as a term for smoking marijuana (puffin' stuff). Although it is often said that the theme song of the show included the lyric "can't do a little, 'cause you can't do enough" which some people claim refers to the addictive nature of some drugs, the line was actually "He can't do a little, 'cause he can't do enough." Sid and Marty Krofft have both denied that there were any intentional drug references in H.R. Pufnstuf. Lennie Weinrib, 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." The initials H.R. stand for "Royal Highness" backwards.

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 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 narcotics. The plot involves drug-addled puppets becoming paranoid over the prospect of ordering a pizza. The segment climaxes with "Professor Ellis D. Traills" (Tom Kenny) on a bad acid trip, tearing off his clothes, and being taken away to a tent by a hippy. Before leaving, the hippy gives advice on how to take drugs safely as the moral of the episode. The sketch is laced with many other drug puns and references, including the "Letsgit Highway", the "Canni-bus", and "Hallucino-Jenny".

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.

In 2003, at the University of Melbourne's Victorian College of the Arts, Spike McKenzie produced a short parody film called Wonderbang Island[2].

The rock band Everclear's music video for "AM Radio" features a short clip from the show.

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