Spunky and Tadpole was an animated television series produced by Beverly Hills Productions and syndicated beginning on September 6, 1958. The show's characters were a boy and a bear who hunted down bad guys in a string of made for TV installments, usually running ten installments shown in two weeks or two for one week. The show remained in production until 1961.[1][2]
According to Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003:
"Ultra-chintzy both in concept and execution... Spunky and Tadpole was given a big-bucks promotional sendoff in 1958 by its first syndicator, Guild Films. A major TV distributor of the period thanks to such valuable properties as the Liberace Show and the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes theatrical cartoons, Guild secured bookings for Spunky and Tadpole in several top markets, promising a series that would appeal equally to grownups and children. Competition from stronger syndies like Huckleberry Hound and the Three Stooges shorts caused Spunky & Tadpole to fall by the wayside, and when Guild disappeared in a merger at the end of the 1950s, the cartoons were shunted around to several minor distributors. Offered at bargain rates to less affluent stations in smaller markets, Spunky & Tadpole continued to play unobtrusively into the mid-1960s."[3]
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