Groovie Goolies

According to http://www.kidzworld.com/article/7211-groovie-goolies-cartoon-facts there is a DVD coming out. It is called "Groovie Goolies Saturday "Mourning" Collection DVD. Can't wait for it. Has all 16 original shows plus extras. I too loved this show dearly and can find few people who remember it. This was one of my weekly must-sees on Saturday morning. I am definitely going to be getting the DVD. I want to share this show with everyone who doesn't remember it, or was too young to have watched it when it was on TV. I have always enjoyed puns and groaners, and this show was full of them! Plus, it features the voice of one of my favorite character actors, Larry Storch. I definitely recommend Groovie Goolies to anyone who has a silly sense of humor and enjoys puns and plays on words.

This show will always be one of my favorites. The thing I liked about this show was that it mainly played like a kids version of Laugh-In, especially the "Weird Window Time" segment. The main thing that made this show great were the novelty tunes that Frankie, Wolfie and Drac played, especially the novelty classic "Chick-A-Boom (Don't Ya Jes Love It). Too bad this show isn't shown in reruns anymore so that a lot of younger kids could be exposed to this cult classic.

Sabrina was part of "The Archies" universe, and her popular comic book spawned this Saturday morning cartoon. Sabrina lived in a creepy house with her two aunts, who were also witches. She was also surrounded by friendly monsters (a werewolf, a vampire, etc.) who stayed in and out of misadventures. I remember that the show focused more on Sabrina's monster friends then her.

You remember the Grovie Goolies from the early 1970's don't you? They were a variation on Rowin and Martin's Laugh-In but with monster characters instead of a vast array of comedians. The show took place at Horrible Hall, a kind of hotel/boarding house for monsters. The three main characters were leader Drac, stupid but lovable Frankie, and hippie werewolf Wolfie. Other characters were witch Hagatha, the Mortica Addams-like Bella, Mummy, the two headed Dr. Jeckle and Hyde (with one head being Jeckle and the other Hyde), skeleton Boneapart, Ghoulahand (a giant hand), flesh eating plant Orvile, as well as three brats named Ratso, Batso,and Hauntleroy. Ratso and Batso were always causing trouble for the other residents and were always getting caught and punished, except for the times when the whiny tattletale Hauntelroy was involved and who got it instead.

Each episode had two songs sung by such bands as the Mummies and the Puppies (with Mummy Cass - get it? - playing bongos), The Rolling Headstones, and the main characters own band with Drac on keyboards, Wofie on guitars, and Frankie on drums and percussion. All the songs had a definite 60's bubblegum feel (still prevalent sounding today)with all the lyrics having to do with monsters. Some of the songs, such as Cling Clang, Darkness, and Chick-A-Boom (a song that actually made it into the Billboard Top 40 by one of the shows songwriters who went under the name Daddy Dewdrop!) are pretty catchy, while others such as 1,2,3 and Where Are You Going, Little Ghoul? are bland and inane sounding.

Still this show was a lot of fun to watch with the impressive voice talent behind the characters (Larry Storch as Drac, using the same voice he used for Phenneus J. Whoopee on those Tennesee Tuxedo cartoons, comedy pro Howard Morris as Frankie, Wolfie, and Mummy) and the never ending barrage of one-liners, silly jokes, and sight gags (all done to a laugh track and canned applause no less!)

The recent release on DVD by the company that obtained the rights from Filmation, Entertainment Rights (out of England), have done a fine job in bringing back all 16 episodes and digitally remastering each one. For any self-respecting member of Generation X who grew up watching this on Saturday mornings with a bowl of, well, whatever their favorite cereal was, will have a flood of great memories come back to them. This one is very much a must on your TV DVDs collection.

Sabrina and the Groovie Goolies was both an off-shoot of the Archies, and a cartoon version of Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In. Although Sabrina had her fans, the Goolies were the main attraction.

The Goolies were Frankie, Count Drac, Wolfie, Bella, Hagatha, Mummy, Bonapart, Dr Jekyll-Hyde, Batzo, Ratzo, and Hautleroy. There were joined by musical groups the Bare Bones Band and the Mummies & the Puppies. Frankie, Drac, and Wolfie were cartoon versions of the Universal monsters, with a few twists. Frankie was big, but dimwitted. Drac was pretty much himself, if a bit inept. Wolfie was a cool cat for a wolfman, with a t-shirt and baggies and a skateboard. He spoke in a hipster fashion while skating into castle walls. Bella was a vampire, probably named for Bella Lugosi, and bore a strong resemblance to Vampira. Hagatha was a witch, mummy a , well, mummy. Bonapart was a skeleton with a Napoleonic hat. Dr Jekyll-Hyde was one man with two heads; one Jekyll, one Hyde. Batzo and Ratzo were twin vampire troublemakers and Hauntleroy was a ghostly practical joker and coward.

The gang got together for jokes, many lame, but still funny to this (then) 4 year-old. They varied between sketches and quick gags, with recurring catch phrases; such as when Frankie would be struck by lightning and utter, in a Boris Karloff-like voice, "I needed that!" There was a wall with various doors and windows for pop-up appearances and jokes, as on Laugh-In. There would be musical numbers, in a breezy pop style, much like the Archies (they were actually pretty good for that kind of bubblegum pop).

The show was fun as a kid and I always enjoyed it. A few years back, I found a couple of videotapes with episodes of the cartoon. It didn't hold up as well, but was still funny in parts. It was a Filmation cartoon, so there was plenty of stock footage. It featured great voicework by Larry Storch (F-Troop) and Howard Morris (Andy Griffith Show, Sid Ceasar). You could do a lot worse than this show. Besides, you gotta love that theme song!