Groovie Goolies

Groovie Goolies is an American animated television show that had its original run on network television between 1970 and 1972. Produced by Filmation, Groovie Goolies was a spinoff of Sabrina the Teenage Witch (itself a spinoff of The Archie Show). Like most Saturday morning animated series of the era, Groovie Goolies contains an adult laugh track.

About the Goolies

The Goolies were a group of hip monsters, many of whom were, in look and sound, pop-culture echoes of the classic horror-film monsters created in the 1930s and 1940s, mostly by Universal Pictures. The group sang a pop song each episode.

Premise and Plot

Sabrina's cousins the Groovie Goolies all reside at Horrible Hall (a haunted boarding house for monsters) on Horrible Drive. Among its inhabitants are:

• Drac (voiced by Larry Storch): The short-tempered vampire who is the head of Horrible Hall.
• Frankie (voiced by Howard Morris impersonating Boris Karloff): An easygoing Frankenstein's Monster who headed the Muscle-leum Gymnasium ("great for body building").Often would be zapped by lighting, revealing his inner workings and then remarking "I needed that!!" Also had a dual identity as the inept superhero "Super Gool"
• Wolfie (voiced by Howard Morris impersonating Wolfman Jack): A hippie werewolf always out for a good time, often by running wild, surfing, or driving his Wolfwagon. Especially gets on Drac's nerves.
• Hagatha (voiced by Jane Webb): A plump witch who served as resident cook. She also has a living broom named Broomhilda and is the cousin of Hauntleroy.
• Bella La Ghostly (voiced by Jane Webb): A vampiress switchboard operator.
• Dr. Jekyll and Hyde (voiced by Howard Morris and Larry D. Mann): The two-headed resident doctor who often fought as to which one of them was Jekyll and/or Hyde. One head (the right) is a normal "human" doctor while the other (left) head is a green-skinned, "monster" doctor. He's his own second opinion.
• Mummy (voiced by Howard Morris impersonating Ed Wynn): A bandaged mummy who dabbles in First Aid and serves as the announcer for "The Mummy's Wrap-Up" newscasts. Often became unraveled.
• Boneapart (voiced by Larry D. Mann): A skittish skeleton in a Napoleon hat who had a tendency to go to pieces (literally!).
• Ghoulihand (voiced by Howard Morris): A giant, disembodied glove (no Irish brougue).
• Batso and Ratso (voiced by Larry D. Mann and Larry Storch): Two fanged imp-like brats with a penchant for coming up with plans for swiping treats, as well playing mean practical jokes that often backfired.
• Hauntleroy (voiced by Howard Morris): A rotund, coniving and selfish two-faced sissy kid in a sailor suit who was often the primary foil for Batso's and Ratso's tricks. He is the cousin of Hagatha.
• Icky and Goo Two gargoyle-like creatures that seem to be the main pets of Horrible Hall.
• Tiny: A diminutive, long-haired mummy with a high-pitched voice (a parody of the then-popular entertainer Tiny Tim). He is the cousin of Mummy.
• Missy: An enigmatic spook whose face was a large single eye and whose body was hidden by her long, pink hair. She is Tiny's wife.

Additional fixtures at Horrible Hall included:

• Orville (voiced by Howard Morris): A large thing-eating plant.
• Fido Wolfie's pet piranha, that eats anything and can even fly when necessary.
• The Ask-it Casket: A talking casket that answers any questions given to it.
• The Spookoo Clock: A cuckoo clock that has a vulture coming out of it.
• Rover: Frankie's pet dinosaur.
• The Lovesick Love Seat: It is very affectionate to anyone who gets too close.
• The Skelevator: A skull-shaped elevator.
• Wolf Wagon: Wolfie's convertible transport. A high speed racer shaped like a wolf's skull. Often had a mind of its own.

The show was structured very much like the then-popular show Laugh-in, with several short segments of one-liner jokes and riddles. This was most shown by the "Weird Windows Time", a take off on Laugh-In's famous Joke Wall. Every so often one of the Goolies had a special segment in which they instructed the audience in the finer points of one thing or another, such as:

• Dracula's Schoolhouse - It provides the finer points of (mad) science.
• Hagatha's Bedtime Stories - Hagatha reads a popular fairy-tale to Frankie with the other inhabitants in different parts.
• Home Movies - The inhabitants watch the home movies of their past activities.
• Wolfie's Theater - Wolfie re-enacted a popular fairy-tale with some of the inhabitants while the others watch.

Every episode featured at least two musical segments. The first one is by the Groovie Goolies with Drac on the organ, Wolfie playing a lyre-like stringed instrument, and Frankie on a drumset with a xylophone made of bones. The second musical segment is by one of the other resident bands including:

• The Mummies and The Puppies: A takeoff on the folk/pop group The Mamas & The Papas led by Tiny on guitar with Missy on tambourine, the green amply-contoured mummy Mama Casket on drums, and four puppies (two sharing a guitar, one on tambourine, and one on piano).
• The Spirits of '76: Three ghosts all dressed as colonial soldiers.
• The Rolling Gravestones: A takeoff of the Rolling Stones that are performed by three animate tombstones. Hudson Rock, Captain Marble, and General Granite.
• The Bare Boned Band: A band consisting of three skeletons.

Episodes

Production

The show originally aired on CBS as Sabrina and the Groovy Goolies, and also featured Archie Comics character Sabrina the Teenage Witch with her aunts Hilda and Zelda. Sabrina had had previous appearances as a supporting character on The Archie Comedy Hour the previous year. In 1971, Sabrina was spun off into her own show.

Never a critical success, the Goolies had appeal, reappearing in 1971 as The Groovie Goolies on their own solo show. After one season with Sabrina, executives decided that the Goolies were strong enough to make it on their own, and thus Sabrina and the Goolies both received their own separate shows. The following year they had a feature entitled Daffy Duck and Porky Pig Meet the Groovie Goolies (which was part of The ABC Saturday Superstar Movie), teaming them with the Looney Tunes stars. Interestingly, this movie featured a brief, live-action sequence featuring some of the Goolies, including Drac, Wolfie, and Hauntleroy. ABC later rebroadcast the original series for one season in 1975. They finally entered syndication in 1978.

The syndicated version became an anthology series, entitled The Groovie Goolies and Friends, with the Goolies introducing rotating episodes of many other Filmation series, including The New Adventures of Waldo Kitty (minus the live-action sequences), Lassie's Rescue Rangers, The New Adventures of Gilligan, My Favorite Martians, and former Uncle Croc's Block segments M.U.S.H., Fraidy Cat, and Wacky and Packy. M.U.S.H. standing for "Mangy Unwanted Shabby Heroes"; a parody of the very adult Korean War dramedy M.A.S.H., but starring dogs working in an arctic military fort.

The cartoon aired with the UK version of Hanna-Barbera's Banana Splits in the early 1980s, and as of May, 2009, the show can be streamed in the US in Minisode form on Crackle.

Production credits

• Directed by: Hal Sutherland
• Animation Directors: Rudy Larriva, Don Towsley, Anatole Kirsanoff
• Production Manager: Rock Benedict
• Written by: Jack Mendelsohn, Jim Mulligan, Bob Ogle, Chuck Menville, Len Jansen, Jim Ryan, Bill Danch
• Art Director: Don Christensen
• Key Assistants: Mike Hazy, George Carey, John Tucker
• Layout: Kay Wright, Alberto De Mello, Don Bluth, Herb Hazelton, Ray Jacobs, Carol Marshall, Mel Keefer, Enrique Arnau
• Storyboard: Sherman Labby, Mike O'Connor, Dale Hale, Jack Miller, Paul Fennell
• Background Director: Erv Kaplan
• Background Artists: Paul Xander, Maurice Harvey, Bill Loudenslager, Patricia Frye, Phil Lewis, Doug Stevenson
• Animators: Amby Paliwoda, Kaem Wong, Ben Shenkman, George Waiss, Louise Sandoval, Russ Von Neida, Virgil Ross, Ralph Somerville, Len Rogers, Ed Solomon, Ed Rehberg, Hank Smith, Lenn Redman, Larry Silverman, Virgil Raddatz, Bill Pratt, Norm McCabe, Barney Posner, Marsh Lamore, Rod Parkes, Paul Krukowski, Jack Ozark, George Kreisl, Casey Onaitis, Les Kaluza, Bill Nunes, Lou Kachivas, Larry Miller, Maria Jursic (Marija Dail), Bob Matz, Karen Haus, Laverne Harding, Butch Davis, Lee Halpern, Emil Carle, Dick Hall (Dick Marion), Herman Cohen, Z. Gasparovic, Bob Bransford, Frank Gonzales, Jim Brummett, Fred Grable, Ted Bonnicksen, Otto Feuer, Bill Ackerman, Ed Friedman
• Checking Supervision: Marion Turk, Jane Philippi
• Ink and Paint Supervision: Martha Buckley, Betty Brooks
• Xerography: John Remmel
• Prints by: Technicolor
• Camera Supervision: Sergio Antonio Alcazar, R.W. Pope, Frank A. Parrish, John D. Aardal, Ted C. Bemiller, Mike Kinney, Luis Melendez Jr., Tony Rivetti, Dennis M. Lady
• Editorial: Joseph Simon, Jim Blodgett
• Film Coordinator: June Gilham
• Music and Sound Effects by: Horta-Mahana Corporation, Jan Moore
• Voices: John Erwin, Dallas McKennon, Larry D. Mann, Howard Morris, Larry Storch, Jane Webb
• Groovie Goolies Songs Produced by: Richard Delvy, Ed Fournier, Dick Monda
• Groovie Goolies Background Music: Jeff Michael (pseudonym for Ray Ellis)
• Publisher: Shermley Music Corporation A.S.C.A.P.
• Sabrina Background Music: Yvette Blais (pseudonym for Ray Ellis)
• Publisher: Don Kirshner Music Inc. B.M.I.
• "Sabrina" is adapted from the Archie Comic Book Series and appears in the comic book titled "Archie's TV Laugh-Out featuring Sabrina, the Teenage Witch." Sabrina is a copyrighted feature of Archie Music Corporation."
• Produced by: Lou Scheimer, Norm Prescott
• Produced by Filmation Associates. A TelePrompTer Company.

Music

Adding music to the series, Filmation hoped that lightning would strike twice: the previous success of The Archie Show produced several musical hits. The song "Chick-a-Boom" was first featured on the show, and became a hit two years later for Daddy Dewdrop (actually one of the show's producers).

The music of the some of the later Groovie Goolie segments was produced by Jackie Mills, who had also produced Bobby Sherman, the Brady Bunch Kids, and some of the Archie programs. Tom McKenzie, a former member of the Doodletown Pipers, who was also the vocalist for the U.S. of Archie show, sang the vocals for these shows.

The show’s theme song, titled "Goolie Get-Together", was written by Linda Martin and Janis Gwin.

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

Autumn Teen Sound also recorded and performed the theme song. It appears on the bootleg "Beaten Up By Rock N' Roll."

DVD release

All 16 episodes were released on DVD on October 24, 2006 and titled the Saturday Mourning Collection.

Special features include:

• "Goolians"—brand new, 45 minute "docu-comedy" created by producer and voice over artist Wally Wingert (Family Guy, Invader Zim) and Daniel Roebuck (Lost, The Fugitive), featuring interviews with Alice Cooper, Forrest J. Ackerman, Ron Chaney, Lou Scheimer, Oscar winning make-up artist Bill Corso, "Goolie" head writer Jack Mendelsohn, and more. Includes new original rock song "True Blue Goolian," and a music video with the Sacramento punk band The Groovie Ghoulies.
• Audio commentary tracks for two episodes, featuring producer Lou Scheimer, "Goolie" head writer Jack Mendelsohn, Filmation historian Darrell McNeil, and Hollywood monster expert Bob Burns. Hosted by Wally Wingert.
• Image gallery featuring original model sheets, animation cels, storyboards, backgrounds and PSAs
• "Goolie-Get-Together Sing-a-Long"
• Candid story from producer Lou Scheimer about "The Creation of Filmation"
• Trivia and episode guide
• DVD-ROM extras, including scripts and the original Series Bible for "The Kookie Spookies"

External links

• Entertainment Rights - cartoon owners
• The Final Taxi Podcast on Archie Comics' publisher Richard Goldwater
• Sabrina and the Groovie Goolies at the Internet Movie Database
• Sabrina and the Groovie Goolies at TV.com
• Episode guide at the Big Cartoon DataBase