Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales

I remember watching Tennessee Tuxedo when I was a youngster growing up in New Jersey and in reruns for many years. It was a very entertaining and funny cartoon as Tennessee Tuxedo, a fast-talking penguin and his dim-witted walrus pal Chumley kept trying to improve conditions at the Megopolis Zoo, where there were constantly yelled at and punished by zookeeper Stanley Livingston. Whenever things went wrong, Tennessee and Chumley would escape from the zoo to see Phineas J. Whoopie, the Man With All The Answers. Mr. Whoopie would explain different scientific principles to the young home audience and I thought it was excellent to have a cartoon that was not only entertaining but educational.

But as the series went on, two new characters were added as frequent adversaries for Tennessee and Chumley, Jerboa Jump, a jumping mouse and Tiger Tornado, a boxing tiger. A lot of the later episodes featured our heroes battling Jerboa and Tiger and that's where I felt the show jumped the shark. It showed that the writers were running out of ideas.

Let's not forget the other two supporting characters of Yak, the steer and Baldy the eagle as well as the outstanding voicework of Don Adams, who also came to prominence on The Bill Dana Show, Larry Storch and Kenny Delmar. The show proved that TV in the 60s was not "a vast wasteland."

Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales was one of the best cartoons of the early Sixties. It was not only funny, but it was educational, too. And it had some great vocal talent--Don Adams (who provided the voice for Tennessee the same year he played Byron Glick on the Bill Dana Show), Larry Storch (almost unrecognizable as Phineas J. Whoopee), and Kenny Delmar (who played Senator Claghorn on radio). The animation was nothing to write home about, but they made up for it with witty and charming stories. I do have to point one thing out. This was not a Jay Ward production. It was produced by Total Television, also known as TTV. They were the people who would later produce Underdog. They used the same animation studio as Ward (Gamma Productions in Mexico) and had a similar style, not to mention both were sponsored by General Mills in a time when sponsors had a lot more power than they do now.

The story of a wisecracking penguin and a dimwitted walrus who lives in the South Pole for some reason, they are found by zoo-keeper Stanley Livingstone and taken to Megapolis Zoo. Tennessee is excited to go to civilization-only to find himself and his friend merely confined as a zoo exhibit. Tennessee, with reluctant help from the unambitious Chumley, escape from the zoo and attempt to live among human society, only to be caught and brought back in the end. To help with their problems they encounter, they visit the office of the always-helpful and friendly Phineas J. Whoopee, who answers their often scientifically-based questions. Tennessee and Chumley usually but not always try to escape into the human world-sometimes their problems are based on what goes on in the zoo.

The show works because the science is explained simply but clearly for children, and yet the science lessons don't always help our heroes-the cartoon isn't a morality play. Also, Tennessee Tuxedo is wisecracking and ambitious without being obnoxious; Chumley is dim but not overly stupid; Stanley is the villain, but he is sometimes legitimately provoked by Tennessee's actions; the supporting cast does their jobs properly too. Sadly they don't make shows like this for children anymore. :(

I used to love this show when I was a kid, but now I realized that this show has aged in fact very poorly. Why am I saying this? Well let me explain. The animation is bad like most Total Television cartoons, the jokes are unfunny, and characters like Stanley Livingston, Flunkey, Jerboa Jump, and Tiger Tornado are unlikable bullies. The only positives I can give this show are the voice acting, some of the episodes teaching kids how most things work, and characters like Chumley, Phineas J. Whoopee, Baldy and Yak, and even Tennessee himself come off likable. I don't outright hate this show, but it's just not my cup of tea for me anymore personally, and I think there are better shows out there that help teach kids about how things work.

One of the earliest cartoons I can remember where kids actually learned something while they were laughing. Whenever Tennessee and Chumley messed up, Mr. Whoopee would patiently explain what they did wrong, and how machines actually work. I also enjoyed the "Commander McBragg" segments. This was another early TV series for Adams, who had previously been an regular on "The Bill Dana Show" before going on to major success on "Get Smart". Another TV veteran, Larry Storch (voice of Mr. Whoopee) would later become the co-star of "F Troop".