H.R. Pufnstuf

infobox television
show_name = H.R. Pufnstuf


format = Children's television series
runtime = 0:25 (per episode)
producer = Sid and Marty Krofft
starring = Jack Wild
Billie Hayes
Sharon Baird
Joy Campbell
Van Snowden
Buddy Douglas
voices = Lennie Weinrib
Joan Gerber
Walker Edmiston
country = USA
network = NBC
first_aired = September 6, 1969
last_aired = September 4, 1971
num_episodes = 17
imdb_id = 0063907

"H.R. Pufnstuf" is a children's television series produced by Sid and Marty Krofft in the United States. There were seventeen episodes of the show originally broadcast from September 6, 1969 to September 4, 1971. It was so successful that NBC kept it on the Saturday morning schedule for a full three seasons until August 1972. The show was shot in Paramount Studios and its opening was shot in Big Bear Lake, California.

Origins

The H.R. Pufnstuf character was originally created for the HemisFair '68 world's fair in 1968, where the Kroffts produced a show called Kaleidescope for the Coca-Cola pavilion. The character's name was Luther and he became the symbol of the fair. [ [http://www.liveworld.com/transcripts/borders/6-10-1999.1-1.html New video boxed-set "The World of Sid and Marty Krofft" ] ]

Plot

"H.R. Pufnstuf" introduced the Kroffts' most-used plot scenario, revolving around a boy named Jimmy (played by Jack Wild) who had accidentally found Living Island, a magical place where everything was alive. The Mayor of Living Island was a friendly dragon named H.R. Pufnstuf (voiced by the show's writer Lennie Weinrib) and the costume was worn by Property Master Albert F. Bentley. Jimmy had been lured to the island with his friend, a talking flute named Freddy, by a magic boat which promised adventures across the sea. The boat was actually owned and controlled by a wicked witch named Wilhelmina W. Witchiepoo (played by Billie Hayes) who rode on a broomstick-like vehicle called the Vroom Broom. Jimmy was taken in by Pufnstuf, who was able to protect him from Witchiepoo as the cave where he lived was the only place her magic had no effect. Apart from Witchiepoo, all of the characters on Living Island were realized via large, cumbersome costumes or puppetry. Since everything on Living Island was alive (namely houses, castles, boats, grandfather clocks, candles, books, trees, mushrooms), virtually any part of the Living Island sets could become a character, usually voiced in a parody of a famous film star, such as Mae West, Edward G. Robinson or most notably John Wayne as "The West Wind". A running gag is Witchiepoo always trying to steal Freddie-and always failing.

Cast

* Jack Wild - Jimmy
* Billie Hayes - Wilhemina W. Witchiepoo

Voice cast

* Lennie Weinrib - H.R. Pufnstuf, Bela Lugosi Tree, Dr. Blinky's Talking Book, Orson Vulture, Polka Dotted Horse, Stupid Bat, West Wind
* Walker Edmiston - Boris Karloff Tree, Dr. Blinky, Dr. Blinky's Candle, East Wind, Grandfather Clock, Ludicrous Lion, North Wind, Redwood, Seymour Spider
* Joan Gerber - Freddy the Flute, Grandmother Clock, Judy Frog, South Wind, Miles Vandusen
* Andrew Dowsey - Freddy the Flute (1 episode)

Film

The show's popularity led to the release of a film spin-off in 1970, called "Pufnstuf". [ [http://www.kiddiematinee.com/p-pufnstuf.html PUFNSTUF (1970, U.S.) ] ] The film featured guest appearances by Cass Elliott and Martha Raye. The show and the film were both notable for bright colors, fast edits, sped-up film, musical segments and pop culture in-jokes, and appealed to young adults almost as much as children.

In 2002, the Kroffts were in talk of a big-budget remake, to be made by Paramount Pictures, Nickelodeon Movies and Columbia Pictures. Plans for this remake have since been shelved.

The complete series was released as a DVD box set in the United States in February 2004. The film has also been offered on VHS, now out of print.

Tours

A number of USA stage show tours were run starring the same characters from the show.

In popular culture

The show was the subject of a successful lawsuit brought by the Kroffts against the fast food restaurant McDonald's, whose McDonaldland characters were found to have infringed the show's copyright. (Sid & Marty Krofft Television Productions, Inc. v. McDonald's Corp., 562 F.2d 1157, decided by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in 1977.) [ [http://www.coolcopyright.com/cases/fulltext/kroftmcdonaldstext.htm CoolCopyright | Chapter 6 | Sid & Marty Krofft Television Productions, Inc. v. McDonald's Corp ] ]

Billie Hayes reprised her role of Witchiepoo in the "Lidsville" episode "Have I Got a Girl for Hoodoo."

An epsiode of CHiPs featured H.R. Pufnstuf being stopped by the CHP!

Claims of drug references

The Krofft brothers have responded in several interviews to popular beliefs that subtle drug references existed in the show.Rob Owen. "'H.R. Pufnstuf' leads TV Land's foray into 'retrovision'," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, April 1 1999, page D1.] Liz Boas. "When giant puppets walked the Earth, Sid and Marty Krofft creations like `H.R. Pufnstuf ' once roamed wild on kids' TV - now they're invading again: A Sid and Marty Krofft Primer," "Austin American-Statesman", December 12 1996, XL Entertainment section, page 38.] Tim Clodfelter. "Revival: the fantastic worlds of Sid and Marty Krofft are back in vogue again," "Winston-Salem Journal" (Winston-Salem, NC, August 17 2000, page E1.] For example, the title character's name "Pufnstuf" has been interpreted as a reference to smoking hand-rolled (H.R.) marijuana (puffin' stuff)Ward Triplett. "Who's your friend?" (Etc. column), "The Kansas City Star", February 2, 2004, page D3.] Daniel P. Finney. "Creators are clear: 'Pufnstuf' was definantly an acid trip," "St. Louis Post-Dispatch", February 17, 2004, page D3.] Kevin Walker. "Masters of puppets - New videos. Movies deals on the table. Suddenly, former Saturday morning television kings Sid and Marty krofft are hot again," "The Tampa Tribune, June 18 1999, Friday Extra! section, page 20.] — Marty Krofft has said the initials "H.R." actually stand for "Royal Highness" backwards — and the show's theme-song lyric "he can't do a little, 'cause he can't do enough" has been read as referring to the addictive nature of drugs. Pufnstuf has quotes like "Whoa dude!" and other "hippie" slang words. Lennie Weinrib, the show's head writer and the voice of Pufnstuf, has said, "I think fans gave it a kind of mysterious code-like meaning, like ‘Ah, was Pufnstuf puffing stuff? Like grass?’ Was it psychedelic? Was it drug oriented? Not to us, it wasn’t." [cite web
title = H.R. Pufnstuf: The Strange World of Sid & Marty Krofft
work = E! True Hollywood Story
publisher = E!
date= 2000
url = http://www.bugaloos.com/THS-HR.html
format =
doi =
accessdate = ] December 11 2000, page 2.] In one 2000 interview, Marty Krofft answered the question by saying, "The Krofft look has a lot of color, but there were no drug connotations in the show," and he addressed the topic at length in an interview with the "St. Louis Post-Dispatch" in 2004, in response to the question, "OK, let's get this right out in the open. Is 'H.R. Pufnstuf' just one giant drug reference?":

Authors of books on the show and its contemporaries, however, have not always accepted the Kroffts' alternative explanations for apparent references to drugs. David Martindale, author of "Pufnstuf & Other Stuff", maintains that the Kroffts' need to attract an audience that are now parents of impressionable children forces them at least to downplay the "double entendres": "But to deny it, the shows lose some of their mystique. The Kroffts prefer to remain playfully vague." Martindale said in another interview that he fully believes Marty Krofft's insistence that he did not use drugs, especially given that Marty's focus was that of a businessman, but Martindale describes Sid Krofft as "a big kid" and "a hippy," saying, "His comment when I told him we were going to do this book was - and I quote - 'Oh, far out.' He says these shows didn't come from smoking just a little pot, and you could say, 'Oh, yeah. It comes from smoking a lot of pot.' But I think he was very deliberately doing double meanings so the show could amuse people on different levels."Elda Silva. "Head back in time with David Martindale's 'Reruns' column," "San Antonio Express-News, April 20 1998, page 1C.] Kevin Burke, co-author of "Saturday Morning Fever: Growing Up with Cartoon Culture", argues that the "consistency of thought" in the rumors of drug references has a basis, although his co-author and brother Timothy Burke, a history professor insists "human beings are capable of achieving hallucinatory heights without chemical assistance." Contradicting his own position, Marty Krofft has either admitted or hinted in occasional interviews that the references were made knowingly; in one case, a writer reported that when pressed as to the connotation of "lids" in the title "Lidsville", "Well, maybe we just had a good sense of humor," Krofft said, laughing." His comments to another interviewer were more direct; in a "Times Union" profile whose author observed, "Watching the shows today, it's hard to imagine a show with more wink-and-nod allusions to pot culture, short of something featuring characters named Spliffy and Bong-O," Krofft conceded that the show's title had been an intentional marijuana reference, as had "Lidsville", but "that was just a prank to see if they could get them past clueless NBC executives" (author's words).Mark McGuire. "Hey kids, it's Wink and Nod: Sid and Marty Krofft (mostly) made the '60s vounterculture safe for Saturday morning television," "The Times Union" (Albany, NY), February 13 2004, page D1.]

Parodies and tributes

One of the most notable parodies of "H.R. Pufnstuf" was "The Altered State of Druggachusetts", a segment on the HBO comedy series "Mr. Show with Bob and David". The sketch consists of a failed pilot for a kids' show introduced by "Sam and Criminy Crafft" (Bob Odenkirk and David Cross). The show itself is similar to "H.R. Pufnstuf", with drug references made humorously overt. Instead of a talking flute, the boy carries a talking bong, and all of the residents in Druggachusetts take or are living incarnations of various narcotics.Richard Leiby. "Wham! Right on the funny bone: the high low comedy of 'Mr. Show'," "Washington Post", October 23 1997, page B1.] [ [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEY96hDHxcM Video clip of "The Altered State of Druggachusetts"] on YouTube]

Nike made a skateboarding shoe for their SB Dunk line named after the show, with the colors of the shoe resembling those of Pufnstuf. [ [http://www.skiptomyshoe.com/cart/Nike-Dunk-Low-Premium-SB-Pufnstuf-pr-334.html Nike Dunk Low Premium SB (Pufnstuf) :: NIKE SKATEBOARDING :: skiptomyshoe.com ] ]

Excerpts from the show can often be seen playing on the TV in the hotel room Earl and his brother share in "My Name Is Earl", and the October 18, 2007, episode features an extended scene with H.R. Pufnstuf as a super-crimefighter working alongside the title-character's brother in a fantasy creative-writing exercise.fact|date=April 2008

H.R. Pufnstuf appeared in the "South Park" episode "Imaginationland." That episode also aired on the same week of his appearance on "My Name Is Earl."fact|date=April 2008

In the "Happy Birthdays" episode of "George Lopez," it is said that H.R. Pufnstuf was one of George's childhood heroes, and a man in a Pufnstuf costume appears at Max's birthday party. Later on, George dances to the Pufnstuf theme with the man in the costume.fact|date=April 2008

The rock band Everclear's music video for "AM Radio," a tribute to the 1960s and 1970s, features a short clip from the show.fact|date=February 2008

The first season "CHiPs" episode, "Green Thumb Burglar" featured H.R. Pufnstuf pulled over driving a car. Ponch and Jon make him get out of the car and walk, as the costume obstructs the driving view of the road.

In , when Ace is roughly shoved against a car, he says, "Hey! What are you? H. R. Shovenstuf?", an obvious reference.

On the NBC television show Will & Grace in episode 1-09 "The Truth About Will & Dogs" "Will" becomes obsessed with a new puppy "Grace" adopted. While having an argument about the way Grace is treating the puppy, he accuses her of giving the puppy the "Witchiepoo Finger" when the puppy does something wrong. This is a reference to the character Witchiepoo and her trademark point.

In the sci-fi series Farscape, the character Utu-Noranti Pralatong is nicknamed "Witchiepoo" by the series' protagonist, John Crichton.

In recent internet culture, some consider H.R. Pufnstuf to be a close relative to the Pillsbury Doughboy, who is better known as Pop'N'Fresh. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pillsbury_Doughboy ]

References

External links

* [http://www.worldofkrofft.com/3rdmil/krofft/krofft.nsf/Items+-+By+Show?openview&start=1&count=999&expand=10#10 World of Krofft - Online Museum of H.R Pufnstuf collectibles]
* [http://www.70slivekidvid.com/pufn.htm 70s Live Action Kid Vid]
* [http://www.retrojunk.com/details_tvshows/496-hr-pufnstuf/ Retro Junk]
* [http://www.jumptheshark.com/topic/hr-pufnstuf-general-comments/954 Jump The Shark]
* [http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a990827.html The Straight Dope] Was McDonaldland plagiarized from the old "H. R. Pufnstuf" kids' TV show?
* [http://www.pimpmyfoot.com/Nike-Dunk-SB-Puf-n-Stuff-Edition-p/sb-28.htm Nike SB Dunk Pufnstuf Edition]
* [http://www.coolcopyright.com/cases/fulltext/kroftmcdonaldstext.htm CoolCopyright.com] full text of the Kroffts vs McDonald's court case
* [http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/hrpufnstuf.php DVD Verdict - Region 1 DVD Review]
* [http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=13449 DVD Times - Region 0 DVD Review]
* [http://hrpufnstuf.blogspot.com/ Todd Kauffman's H.R. Pufnstuf based Blog]