Andy's Gang

Two of my favorite characters on the show were a frog and a cat! Someone off camera would say the words, "Pluck you magic twanger, Froggie," and Froggie the Gremlin would appear in a cloud of smoke. He wasn't a real frog, but a rubber frog about 10" high! The other character was a black cat named "Midnight." Andy would say something to the cat and its only response was "Nice"! I've never run into anyone who remembers the magic words, "Pluck you magic twanger, Froggie!" If there's anyone out there who knows what I'm talking about, please say something!

It was totally chaotic and raucous. It was like living in a nightmare, but I enjoyed it. Andy Devine did very little except stand and laugh like a carnival laughing lady, rocking back and forth. I most liked the cat with the fiddle. It never played a tune, just scraped the bow across the strings. I'm 64, and that show is stuck in my mind like glue.

I can't remember much about Froggy the Gremlin except for his entrance. I remember Buster Brown's role. "Hi, I'm Buster Brown, I live in a shoe. That's my dog Tige, he lives there too." Makes me wonder if they still make Buster Brown Shoes. I don't remember much else about the show. Did they show cartoons, movies, or what?

The song went (I think)

I got a gang, You got a gang Everybody's got to have a gang. But there's only one real true old gang it's Good Old Andy's gang.

Pluck your magic twanger Froggy (a cloud of smoke) Hiya Kids Hiya Hiya Hiya

Does your shoe have a boy inside? what a funny place for a boy to hide. Does your shoe have a dog there too? A boy and a dog and foot in a shoe. Well the boy is Buster Brown and the dog is Tige his friend and its really just a picture but it's fun to play pretend. So look look look in your telephone book for the store that sells the shoe with the picture of the boy and the dog there too so you can put your foot into, a Buster Brown shoe.

Saurday morning line up

1.Crusader Rabbit and Rags the Tiger 2.Andy's Gang, 3.Howdy Doody,4.Roy Rogers, 5.Fury, 6.Sky King, and 7.My Friend Flicka

The golden age of television

Andy's Gang was wild, something like a Saturday-morning Tonight Show for kids, with a rowdy audience howling with laughter or excitement -- although the kids weren't really there. The audience seen at the beginning was stock footage that was constantly reused.

I remember the audience singing a Buster Brown theme song to start the show.

I think it ended, "There's only one kind of gang for me, good old Andy's Gang!"

Andy Devine hollered "Hey kids!" and the crowd roared back. Froggy the Gremlin, a rubber toy, always said, "Hiya, kids, hiya hiya hiya!" He also brought on the film or cartoon when everyone yelled, "Plunk your magic twanger, Froggy!" There was usually a film episode of adventure with Gunga Ram, the mahout (Indian elephant wrangler) or the same actor as a Native American.

There was a black cat named Midnight who purred "Niiiiice" (voiced by June Foray) and a mouse named Squeaky who was played by a hamster. There were also comedy or variety sketches. Vito Scotti often appeared as some kind of "expert" who would do a demonstration for the audience. As Scotti narrated what he was doing Froggy would suggest wildly wrong things, which Scotti would repeat and do and then get upset about.

It was very low-budget, but hey, I was five or so and I loved it.

I was very young when "Andy's Gang" was on TV, but it was a great favorite of mine. I always liked Gunga Ram and his elephant, "Teela," but I always especially remember Froggy saying, "I'll be good, I will, I will!" However, Froggy was very seldom "good." I thought it was really great when Froggy appeared, or vanished, in a flash of light or smoke or whatever-it-was. It is only now that we can see that Froggy was the precursor to Bart Simpson, and that Froggy was subliminally brainwashing us Baby Boomers into rebelling against our parents and the whole Establishment, which came to full fruition in the Vietnam era with all those street demonstrations we remember so well. Oh, come on! Don't believe this? Get some tapes of this show (they have been made and sold) and see if I'm not right! (Also, check out "Froggy the Gremlin" on eBay--those rubber Froggy dolls are selling for hundreds of dollars!) A wonderful nostalgic memory!