The Banana Splits Adventure Hour, syndicated as The Banana Splits and Friends Show, was an hour-long package television program featuring both live action and animated segments, that ran for 31 episodes on NBC Saturday mornings from September 7, 1968 to September 5, 1970. The series was produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions, the Banana Splits costumes and sets were designed by Sid and Marty Krofft and the series' sponsor was Kellogg's Cereals.
Television series
The format of The Banana Splits Adventure Hour was loosely based on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, a comedy-variety show airing on NBC at the time. Each show represented a meeting of the "Banana Splits Club," and the wraparounds featured the adventures of the club members, who doubled as a musical quartet (meant to be reminiscent of The Beatles and The Monkees). The main characters were Fleegle, a beagle; Bingo, a gorilla; Drooper, a lion, and Snorky (called "Snork" in the theme song lyrics), an elephant. Fleegle would assume the role as leader of the Banana Splits and preside at club meetings. The characters were played by actors in fleecy costumes similar to later Sid and Marty Krofft series such as H.R. Pufnstuf. (After Krofft Enterprises designed the costumes and sets for The Banana Splits Adventure Hour, their work impressed NBC-TV executives, who picked up the Krofft's own H.R. Pufnstuf for the following season.) Like most children's shows of the era, the show contained a laugh track.
The Splits' segments, including songs-of-the-week and comedy skits, served as wraparounds for a number of individual segments. In the United States, The Banana Splits Adventure Hour featured the first appearances of the animated segments The Arabian Knights, The Three Musketeers, and Micro Ventures. In the second season, The Three Musketeers segments were replaced with repeats of The Hillbilly Bears, a cartoon segment that previously appeared on The Atom Ant Show (1965-1968).
Some of the live action segments (specifically those used during the musical segments) were shot at Six Flags Over Texas, an amusement park located in Arlington, Texas (during the first season) and, the following year, at the Coney Island amusement park, located in Cincinnati, Ohio. In many episodes The Banana Splits would be seen riding on the Runaway Mine Train rollercoasters, Log Flumes, Bumper Cars, Merry-Go-Rounds, and many other rides at Six Flags. Contrary to popular misconception, the amusement park scenes in the original series were not filmed at Kings Island, also in Cincinnati, Ohio, which did not open until 1972. (Filming for The Banana Splits Adventure Hour wrapped in 1969.) However, some of the rides seen in the series eventually were relocated to Kings Island (following a flood which led to the closing of Coney Island; the park later reopened on a smaller scale) and the live-action scenes in the 1972 production The Banana Splits In Hocus Pocus Park were indeed filmed at Kings Island in Cincinnati. All of the live-action material filmed for the first season of The Banana Splits Adventure Hour (including the Banana Splits and Danger Island sequences) was directed by future Superman director Richard Donner.
The original show, as well as the syndicated package, also contained the live-action segment Danger Island, a cliffhanger serial starring a young Jan-Michael Vincent, billed as Michael Vincent, as Lincoln "Link" Simmons. Also, Ronne Troup, who later joined the cast of My Three Sons, played Leslie Haydn. (Each of the ten-minute chapters was cut into two five-minute segments in syndication.) Danger Island was meant to be a live action equivalent to Jonny Quest, another Hanna-Barbera property.
The Banana Splits Adventure Hour was one of the first two Hanna-Barbera productions in 1968 in which William Hanna and Joseph Barbera received executive producer credits; the other being The New Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Edward Rosen served as producer on both series). They would not, however, assume the title full-time for another five years.
Season 1
During the first season, the Banana Splits segments often concerned the group's confrontations with a rival club: The Sour Grapes Bunch. The Sour Grapes were not seen on camera, but would send notes (usually a challenge or some other kind of threat) delivered by one of the "Sour Grapes messenger girls," who would dance into the Splits' clubhouse wearing purple minidresses, matched with pink leotards, tights and black go-go boots. They would normally intimidate or frighten the Splits until they gave the note to Fleegle. They would then dance out and take a bow before leaving. Five young actresses appeared as the messenger girls: Debra Thibodeaux, Colette Chenault, Julie Graham, Kathy O'Dare, and Shirley Hillstrom; only one would appear at a time, always called "Charlie" in the context of the show, except for the performance of the song "Doin' The Banana Split" (the segment first appeared in show #5, originally telecast October 5, 1968) which featured all five girls dancing with The Banana Splits. Their dance instructor was Byron Gilliam. Both Julie Graham and Kathy O'Dare would later appear in the 1970's TV series Happy Days.
The Splits also occasionally were visited by the Mariachi-tuned Dilly Sisters (an actual musical act from Mexico), who would appear at their door playing guitars and singing "The Mexican Hat Dance" or "Ta-ra-ra Boom-de-ay". In other recurring features during the first season, Drooper and Bingo offered advice to viewers in the "Dear Drooper" segment, while Fleegle served as the reporter for Banana Splits News. Other running gags included Fleegle repeatedly hitting himself by accident with his oversized gavel. The show introduced some catch phrases: the line, "That's An Ooch," would be said every time a member was hit or injured (sometimes, it would be a double or triple-ooch depending on the extent of the injury). Other memorable sayings included "Hold the bus!" and "Uh-oh, Chongo!" (the latter from the serialized Danger Island segment).
Season 2
In the second season, all new live-action segments were produced with the Banana Splits characters, while the animated segments and Danger Island serial were repeats. (Arabian Knights and Danger Island were reprised from Season 1, while The Three Musketeers would be replaced by repeats of The Hillbilly Bears, previously seen on The Atom Ant Show.) For the new season, the set was slightly modified, and the Splits' recurring routines were all new: Fleegle attempted (quite unsuccessfully) to perform magic tricks as alter ego The Great Fleegali, while Super Drooper fought crime and Coach Bingo kept the rest of the group active in sports competitions. Other new elements included School Time, Nursery Rhymes and a Gag Wall segment (reminiscent of Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In), as well as Fan Club meetings where the Banana Splits would read viewer mail. Goofy Gopher (voiced by Paul Winchell) would pop out from a flower pot to deliver the occasional one-liner, joining the Cuckoo Clock and Banana Vac as secondary characters. The characters' costume designs also received an overhaul (introduced in the next-to-last Season 1 episode, The Great Banana Splits Buggy Race), with Snorky now sporting a yellow and blue striped vest.
Syndication and cable
In syndication, the show was re-edited into a half-hour format and retitled The Banana Splits And Friends Show. That package consisted of 125 half-hours, including 36 Banana Splits Adventure Hour cutdowns (edited from the 18 original first season shows; 13 additional episodes produced for the 1969-1970 season were not included in the syndicated package; reconstructed versions of the 36 syndicated edits continue to air on Boomerang today). Four other Hanna-Barbera series (originally unrelated to The Banana Splits, apart from having been produced by the same studio) were folded into the syndicated series as well: Atom Ant (26 half-hours, also featuring Precious Pupp and the aforementioned Hillbilly Bears), Secret Squirrel (26 half-hours, also featuring Squiddly Diddly and Winsome Witch), The Adventures of Gulliver (17 half-hours), as well as The New Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (20 half-hours, originally seen in prime-time and here introduced as The Adventures Of Huck Finn) which combined live-action with animation. The four other shows occasionally are repeated on the Boomerang cable network in their original, non-Banana Splits configurations. (The syndicated Atom Ant, Secret Squirel and Gulliver episodes had a rotation of eight repeating clips edited into them, with Paul Winchell redubbing Fleegle's voice to introduce various cartoon segments. A total of a minute and a half of this footage was repurposed in this manner; the clips originated from Season 2 shows, as did the syndicated series' opening and closing titles. It was the only Season 2 material included in the syndicated package.)
Although fewer episodes were produced during the second season (13 compared to 18 in the first season), NBC repeated five Season 1 episodes (re-edited to feature the final five chapters of Danger Island) to maintain continuity of story line immediately following the first run of the 13 Season 2 episodes.
After the cancellation of the original series, the characters were revived in the TV special The Banana Splits in Hocus Pocus Park, which first aired as an hour-long installment of The ABC Saturday Superstar Movie on Saturday, November 25, 1972. Unlike the television show, The Splits spent most of the film in animated form.
In addition to the original 31 episodes of The Banana Splits Adventure Hour, NBC also aired two "preview" shows. Meet The Banana Splits was a half-hour special consisting of segments from the early episodes; it aired Friday, September 6, 1968, one day before the show's official premiere. Another "fall preview" show, called The Banana Splits And Friends (not to be confused with the later half-hour syndicated package The Banana Splits And Friends Show) aired in The Banana Splits Adventure Hour's regular timeslot on Saturday, August 30, 1969. The latter show served as a "fall preview" for NBC-TV's 1969-1970 Saturday morning lineup, and was produced by Don Sandburg (who was best known to Chicago-area TV viewers as "Sandy the Tramp" from WGN-TV's Bozo's Circus) for NBC-TV. The special featured appearances by Jack Wild (Jimmy of H.R. Pufnstuf), Judy The Chimp (of Jambo), and a costumed Pink Panther. Although the special aired before the start of the second season, it was the last original Banana Splits show to be filmed, after regular shooting for the series had been completed.
Joe Barbera wrote in his autobiography, My Life in 'Toons, that the original name for the series was to be "The Banana Bunch," but Hanna-Barbera was forced to change it after the author of a childen's book by that name refused permission to use the title. Kellogg's had printed up 1.25 million cereal boxes with references to "The Banana Bunch" on them but wound up trashing the stock and starting over.
Multi-platform release
In August 2008, WarnerBrosOnline announced that new comedy shorts and music videos featuring the Banana Splits would debut on Cartoon Network starting September 2, 2008 as part of a "multi-platform release",[1] which would also include a live show and a new website,[2] as well as a CD and a DVD featuring 13 new songs to be released by Universal Records.[3] In addition, a new kids-themed area called Banana Splitsville is being placed at Myrtle Beach, South Carolina's Hard Rock Park rock-and-roll theme park.
Comics
The Banana Splits' adventures continued in comic books. Gold Key began publishing a comic version in 1969, releasing eight issues through 1971. Drawn by Jack Manning, these followed the musicians trying to find work or on the road between gigs.
Music
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The Banana Splits' 1969 single "Long Live Love".
The Banana Splits' bubblegum pop rock and roll was provided by studio professionals, including Joey Levine ("I Enjoy Being a Boy", "It's a Good Day for a Parade"), Al Kooper ("You're the Lovin' End"), Barry White ("Doin' the Banana Split"), and Gene Pitney ("Two Ton Tessie"). The music director was prolific songwriter and producer Mark Barkan along with Ritchie Adams. The main theme, "The Tra-La-La song," was written by Nelson B. Winkless, Jr. (on all record releases as well as the TV show's closing credits, the song is credited to Adams and Barkan, due to contractual arrangements).citation needed Despite this, Winkless is credited as co-writer, along with Hoyt Curtin, of "The Beautiful Calliopa" (also called "My Beautiful Calliopasaxaviatrumparimbaclaribasotrombaphone"), which was featured several times in the television series and also issued on record.
Cast
1: Although Snorky's voice often has been mistakenly credited to Don Messick, the character never actually spoke. Messick did perform Drooper's voice in some portions of The Banana Splits In Hocus Pocus Park, with Allan Melvin voicing the character in other scenes).
2: Jeffrey, Terry, and Dan Winkless are brothers, the sons of N. B. Winkless Jr., a jingle writer for the show's sponsor, Kellogg's. Winkless composed some of the memorable Kellogg's cereal jingles, including "The best to you each morning," and also co-wrote (with Hoyt Curtin) "The Beautiful Calliopa," a song used on the series. The actors' names were changed in the show's credits to avoid the appearance of nepotism. Fleegle's voice is an imitation of actor/comedian Ed Wynn.
3: Ironically, James Dove, the original Snorky, was previously a voice-over artist. He was hired as a result of his small stature, and has stated that he was fired as a result of not being able to get along with the Winkless "kids". James Dove currently suffers from end-stage Parkinson's disease. He lives in assisted care in Los Angeles. Dan Winkless currently lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Jeffrey Winkless died of cancer at age 65 on June 26, 2006.
DVD release
Earl Kress, a reputable source in the animation industry who holds close ties with the Hanna-Barbera crew, posted on his blog that The Banana Splits Adventure Hour was tentatively scheduled to be released on DVD in 2007. After further research had been done on available master materials needed to reconstruct the shows for proper DVD release, the project was cancelled.[4]
References
- ^ "The Banana Splits". WarnerBrosOnline (2008-08-14). Retrieved on 2008-08-15.
- ^ "The Banana Splits". The Banana Splits. Retrieved on 2008-08-15.
- ^ "The Banana Splits are Back! Warner Bros. Consumer Products Serves Up Four Scoops of Hilarity with Relaunch", MarketWatch.com, MarketWatch (2008-08-15). Retrieved on 2008-08-15.
- ^ My Name Is Earl Kress Blog
External links
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