------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Technical Details: From Fifty Years of Television, Vincent Terrence, 1991 H. R. Pufnstuf Adventure; 30 min; NBC: 6 September 1969 to 4 September 1971 Jimmy..........................................Jack Wild Miss Witchiepoo................................Billie Hayes Freddy, the talking, gold flute................??? Portraying life-size puppet(s).................Joan Gerber .................Felix Silla .................Jerry Landon .................Angelo Rosetti .................Hommy Stewart .................Buddy Douglas Producer: Sid and Marty Krofft ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Basic Premise of the show: >From dvandom@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Dave Van Domelen) H.R. Pufnstuf was the mayor, His Royal P, I think. Jimmy had the magic flute and the witch wanted it, but like the Ruby Slippers, it could only be gotten under certain conditions. So most plots were centered around getting Jimmy to give up the flute, or his attempts to get back to his home in the real world. >From iwhitney@mac.cc.macalstr.edu (IAN) Paraphrasing from magazine _The Nose_: A patriarchal fantasy in which Witchiepoo, obviously a Camile Paglia protege, is thwarted again and again by the phallic Pufnstuf. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Incredible Theme Song: >From mwg@garnet.msen.com (Michael W. Gardiner) I'm not too sure about the first two lines, but am fairly confident about the rest. [ed. see next section for other lyric options] [Jimmy and flute in slo-mo] Once on a magic summers' day, When everyone was out to play A boy and his magic golden flute Heard a voice from off the bay [Fairy-tale boat speaking] Come and play with me, Jimmy Come and play with me, And I will take you on a trip Far across the sea-ee-ee. [Witchiepoo on broom] But the boat belonged to a kooky old witch Who had in mind the flute to snitch, From her vroom-broom in the sky She watched her plans materialize. She waved her wand The Beautiful boat was gone, The sky grew dark, The sea grew rough, And the boat sailed on and on and on and on. But Pufnstuf was watching too And knew exactly what to do He saw the witch's boat attack And as the boy was fighting back He called his rescue-racer crew As often they'd rehearsed And off to save the boy they flew But who would get there first? But now the boy had washed ashore Puf arrived to save the day Which made the witch so mad and sore She shook her fist and screamed awaaaaaaaaaay! H. R. Pufnstuf, Who's your friend when things get rough H. R. Pufnstuf If you can't do a little, Then you can't do enough. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Annotated lyrics and more on the H. R. Pufnstuf Philosophy: >From hutton@pluto.dev.promis.com (Don Hutton) Pufnstuf was the dragon mayor of some kind of magical island [ed. Living Island]. The boy was played by Jack Wild and was a major child star in his day due to the series and the fact that Cockney accents were "in" at the time. He had a magic flute called "Freddy" (as in "Freddy T. Flute"): "On a lovely summer's day A boy and his flute went out to play.." Witchiepoo lusted after the flute and so sent out a great looking magic boat out to ask the kid if he would like to "go for a ride". After he got in the boat starts to look evil and gets stuck in a storm that blows them towards her castle on the island. I think Jimmy falls out of the boat... At any rate, Witchiepoo is seen zooming towards him on her jet-propelled broom: "But Pufnstuf was watching too And knew exactly what to do" [Scenes of both parties racing towards Jimmy and Freddy] "H. R. Pufnstuf Who's your friend...." [Scenes of Jimmy dancing with dragon and friends.] So now Jimmy's stuck on this Island and Witchiepoo is still trying to get her hands on the flute. Plots revolved around: Jimmy's attempts to get off the island - stealing Witchiepoo's wand or broom; plots and counter-plots to rescue/kidnap Freddy T. Flute and miscellaneous pranks pulled by both parties on each other. The witch's main henchmen were a spider and a vulture; both about eight feet tall in costume. Her spells always rhymed: "Crawling spiders, stinging bees Stand there you there, Cause I say FREEZE" [Special effect] Jimmy always had a song and dance number in each show: [Jimmy doing mime motions after having been turned into "Robotic Jimmy"] "Yes I'm a mechanical boy Just like a mechanical toy. I follow directions, I do what I'm told. I never grow hot and I never grow cold. That's 'cause I'm a mechanical boy Just like a mechanical toy. I never get older, I never can die, But I never can laugh and I never can cry. 'Cause I'm a....." One of the witch's major reasons for trying to possess Freddy was to enhance her status with the Head Witch; who contacted her via the Hot Line ("Sssss!" "OUCH!"). When they did the Motion Picture the Head Witch was played by Momma Cass who did a show-stopping number ("Different") at the Witches' Convention. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Specific Episodes: [ed. I'd like lots more of these] >From harlan@acpub.duke.edu (Harlan Freilicher) Okay, you got it. I don't remember which show, but one of the other Krofft shows once had H.R. as a guest star. They were all caught by the villainess (ever notice the large number of "wicked witch" types on the Krofft shows?), who announced her intent to cook and eat them all. The one line that sticks out in my mind today when I think of Pufnstuf is him saying: "Madame, I object. You can't cook a mayor!" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- On the topic "What does H.R. stand for?" >From mwg@garnet.msen.com (Michael W. Gardiner) His Reptilness? :-) >From dvandom@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Dave Van Domelen) In Ye Olde Days, the post of mayor was minor nobility in many areas, and titles like Lord Mayor were not uncommon. H.R. may stand for one of these titles, like His Regal/Royal, or Honorable Regent or so forth. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks to: mwg@garnet.msen.com (Michael W. Gardiner) dvandom@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Dave Van Domelen) hutton@pluto.dev.promis.com (Don Hutton) harlan@acpub.duke.edu (Harlan Freilicher) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Take Care All -joe jolomo@netcom.com