Froggy the Gremlin
Froggie with Smilin' Ed and rest of cast of Smilin' Ed's Buster Brown Gang, 1947.
Froggy the Gremlin was a character in the 1940s and 1950s on the Smilin' Ed's Gang radio and TV show and later Andy's Gang TV show, hosted by actor Andy Devine.
Froggy was a troublemaker; known for being disrespectful of adult authority figures, Froggy enjoyed playing practical jokes and disrupting other guests, repeating two-word phrases ("you will, you will") and giving commands that the guests had to follow despite their efforts to resist.
On radio and early TV shows Froggy's voice was frequently supplied by Arch ("Archie") Presby who was also the program's announcer.
Quotes and errata
- Smilin' Ed: "Plunk your magic twanger, Froggy!"
- Froggy (appearing in a puff of smoke): "Hiya Kids! Hiya! Hiya! Hiya!"
- Froggy appears as a character on the fictional television series "Young People's After-school Press Conference" to disrupt an interview with Dr. Henry Kissinger (as played by Roger Bowen) in the 1976 satirical film TunnelVision.
- Buckner & Garcia paid tribute to these characters on a 1982 novelty song about the arcade game Frogger called "Froggy's Lament" from their album Pac-Man Fever with its lyrics "Hiya kids" and "Plunk your magic twanger, Froggy!".
- Froggy the Gremlin was also used as the alter-ego of a character in George R. R. Martin's 1983 novel The Armageddon Rag.
- Froggy also made regular appearances on The Ghoul Show where he was more often the victim of the host's pranks rather than initiator of same.