Time for Beany

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Time for Beany
Format	Puppet show
Created by	Bob Clampett
Starring	Daws Butler Stan Freberg
Country of origin	United States
Production
Running time	15 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	Paramount Television Network
Original run	1949 – 1955

Time for Beany was an American television series, with puppets for characters, which aired locally in Los Angeles starting in 1949 and nationally on the improvised Paramount Television Network from 1950 to 1955. It was created by animator Bob Clampett, who later reused its core characters in the animated Beany and Cecil series. The principal characters were Beany, a plucky young boy who wears a beanie; the brave but dimwitted Cecil the Seasick Sea Serpent, who claimed to be 300 years old and 35 feet 3 inches tall; Beany's uncle, the pigheaded Captain Horatio Huffenpuff (whose name is a play on Horatio Hornblower), familiarly called Uncle Captain; Dishonest John, whose cape and handlebar mustache clearly identified him as the villain; and Tearalong the Dotted Lion. Another character, a circus clown aptly named Clownie, appeared in early episodes but was later dropped.

The principal voice actors were Daws Butler and Stan Freberg. The puppets, created by Maurice Seiderman, were presented against simple sets or crude background drawings.

Time for Beany recounted the exotic voyages and landfalls of the ship Leakin' Lena under the at times inept command of Uncle Captain. The episodes, each fifteen minutes in length, frequently contained topical references, usually of a satirical nature. One episode portrayed President Harry S Truman in puppet form, accompanying Cecil's singing. Other characters spoofed popular entertainers; examples are Dinah Saur and The Red Skeleton, parodies of Dinah Shore and Red Skelton.

Albert Einstein was a fan of the show. On one occasion, the physicist interrupted a high-level conference by announcing, "You will have to excuse me, gentlemen. It's Time for Beany."^[1] Rock musician Frank Zappa was also a fan.

Animaniacs Pinky and the Brain paid homage to the show by having a puppet show called "The Meany Show". It also references Albert Einstein being a fan of the show, as Pinky and the Brain are mice in his 1954 laboratory.