H R Pufnstuf (TV Program)

Subterms

    Latest story

    150 Shares169 Views

    Marty Krofft, Who Created Fantastical TV Shows With Brother, Dies at 86

    by

    Marty Krofft, who, with his brother Sid, created a string of television shows that captured audiences from Saturday morning to prime time, including fantastical children’s fare, like “H.R. Pufnstuf” and “Land of the Lost,” and variety shows, like “Donny and Marie,” died on Saturday in Los Angeles. He was 86.His publicist, Harlan Boll, said the cause was kidney failure.The Kroffts said they came from a line of puppeteers, and Sid, who as a child traveled the world performing an elaborate puppet show, was usually the creative force behind the partnership.But Krofft shows, which featured extravagant puppets and scenery, were often expensive to produce and sometimes had premises that could be a hard sell; one show, for instance, focused on magical, talking hats. Marty’s business acumen and ability to woo studio executives ensured that some of the strangest programs ever to appear on the small screen actually got made.“Sid was always ‘the artist,’” Marty was quoted as saying in “Pufnstuf & Other Stuff: The Weird and Wonderful World of Sid & Marty Krofft” (1998), by the critic David Martindale. “He never did have a business sense. So I came in and filled that vacuum.”The shows often had psychedelic sets and a trippy feel, leading many older viewers to read drug references in them. The Kroffts said that had never been their intention.The first Krofft television show, debuting on NBC in 1969, was “H.R. Pufnstuf,” which was about a boy who is spirited away to a magical island by a witch who wants to steal his talking flute. On the island the boy meets H.R. Pufnstuf, the dragon mayor of a town where virtually all the animals and objects can speak. Pufnstuf and island denizens try to help the boy get home in spite of the machinations of the witch and her doltish minions.Only 17 episodes were filmed, but they aired as reruns for years and in time inspired a made-for-TV movie, an ice show and extensive children’s merchandise.“He’s our Mickey Mouse,” Mr. Krofft said of Pufnstuf.“Pufnstuf’s” success also proved to studios that far-out Krofft programs could draw viewers.Mr. Krofft on the set of “H.R. Pufnstuf.”Photos Courtesy of Sid & Marty Krofft Pictures ArchiveThe Kroffts went on to produce “Sigmund and the Sea Monsters,” about a tentacled lump of seaweed who befriends humans; “The Bugaloos,” about a rock group made up of teenage insects; and “Lidsville,” about the hats.Those shows were all lighthearted fantasy. The next show the Kroffts produced, “Land of the Lost,” was more serious.In “Lost,” which premiered on NBC in 1974, a family plunges into another dimension populated by dinosaurs, primates called Pakuni and dangerous lizard-men called Sleestaks. Like “Pufnstuf,” the show was about the family’s attempts to get home while navigating their strange new surroundings.Episodes were written by seasoned science fiction writers like Ben Bova, Larry Niven and Norman Spinrad, and a linguist developed a language of sorts for the Pakuni.The Kroffts produced new episodes of “Lost” until 1977, and simultaneously made several other children’s shows, which starred, among others, the actors Bob Denver (“Far Out Space Nuts”), Ruth Buzzi and Jim Nabors (both in “The Lost Saucer”).A scene from the Kroffts’ science fiction show “Land of the Lost,” which premiered in 1974. Ron Tom/NBCU Photo Bank, via NBCUniversal, via Getty ImagesThey also went into prime time with the popular variety show “Donny & Marie,” starring two siblings from the singing Osmond family act. It premiered on ABC in 1976 with guest appearances by Farrah Fawcett, Vincent Price and Lee Majors.New episodes of “Donny and Marie” were produced for four years. But later Krofft prime time offerings had far shorter runs, like “The Brady Bunch Hour” (1976), which featured much of the cast of the sitcom singing and dancing. As a series, it lasted eight episodes.“It was like a freak show,” said Susan Olsen, who played Cindy Brady.Marty Krofft was born in Montreal on April 9, 1937, the youngest of four brothers born to Peter and Mary (Yolas) Krofft. Sid, who learned puppetry from their father, was already touring professionally by the time Marty could walk.Marty Krofft displaying some of the marionettes of Les Poupées de Paris, an early signature production by the Krofft brothers, backstage at the 1962 Seattle World’s FairPublicity PhotoThe brothers officially became partners in 1959, and the next year they debuted their signature production, “Les Poupées de Paris,” a risqué extravaganza that initially required 12 puppeteers working 240 marionettes.Les Poupees ran alongside the New York World’s Fair in 1964 and ’65, and traveled to Australia and Japan before closing in 1967. It also caught the eye of Angus Wynne, who owned the Six Flags amusement park chain; he asked the Kroffts to create a puppet show for his parks.The Kroffts went on to design puppets, costumes and props for clients like the Jackson 5, the Ringling Brothers Circus and the Ice Capades, working for a time out of a former airplane hangar in Southern California. Years later, they briefly opened their own theme park, “The World of Sid and Marty Krofft,” at the Omni Hotel in Atlanta.Marty Krofft, right, and his brother Sid in 2020, when they were honored with stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Nina Prommer/EPA, via ShutterstockMany Krofft programs had short initial runs but resurfaced decades later, first as reruns on networks like Nick at Nite and as streaming options for nostalgic Gen-Xers. For instance, a “Land of the Lost” feature starring Will Ferrell, Danny McBride and Anna Friel was released in 2009; and in 2017 Amazon rebooted “Sigmund and the Sea Monsters,” starring Rebecca Bloom and David Arquette.Mr. Krofft’s wife, the former Playboy playmate Christa Speck, died in 2013. He lived in Los Angeles and is survived by his brothers Sid and Harry; his daughters Deanna Krofft-Pope, Kristina Krofft and Kendra Krofft; five grandchildren; and one great-grandchild.Mr. Krofft’s daughters continued the family business, guided by their father, who kept working until recently. More

    More stories

    • 125 Shares149 Views

      in Television

      Billie Hayes, Memorable Witch on ‘H.R. Pufnstuf,’ Dies at 96

      by

      Ms. Hayes had quite a cackle, and it served her well in a number of witchy roles, beginning in 1969 on a short-lived but much remembered TV series.Billie Hayes, who rode a memorable cackle to kiddie-TV fame, playing a witch named Witchiepoo in the short-lived but much remembered 1969 series “H.R. Pufnstuf,” died on April 29 in Los Angeles. She was 96.News of her death was posted on her website.Ms. Hayes had built a moderately successful stage career and had portrayed Mammy Yokum in the 1959 film version of “Li’l Abner” (reprising a role she had played on Broadway) when she was cast as Witchiepoo.“H.R. Pufnstuf” was the first of a string of children’s shows made by the brothers Sid and Marty Krofft in the 1970s — trippy, slapdash-looking affairs that contrasted noticeably with the carefully pitched messages of “Sesame Street” and “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood,” which were born in the same era. Krofft shows tended toward the bizarre: “Lidsville,” for instance, which also starred Ms. Hayes (as well as Charles Nelson Reilly), involved a land of living hats.Few of the shows lasted long — “Pufnstuf” survived only 17 episodes — but they made an impression.“The Kroffts dished up a swirl of psychedelia, vaudeville and cheesy production values that might be described as brown acid for the toddler soul,” Emily Nussbaum wrote in The New York Times in 2004, when TV Land broadcast a marathon of Krofft creations.“Pufnstuf” was a sort of comic sendup of “The Wizard of Oz,” with Witchiepoo pursuing a talking flute possessed by a boy named Jimmy (Jack Wild) in much the way Margaret Hamilton’s Wicked Witch of the West craves Dorothy’s ruby slippers.The red wig and elaborate makeup Ms. Hayes wore made her a striking figure, but witchy ineptitude kept Witchiepoo from being too scary. In 1970 she played the character in a film version, called simply “Pufnstuf,” in a cast that also included Martha Raye as a character named Boss Witch and Cass Elliot of the Mamas and the Papas as one named Witch Hazel.For years afterward the role made Ms. Hayes popular among casting directors in search of a witch. In 1971 she played one in an episode of the sitcom “Bewitched” in which she was ultimately bested by Samantha, the series’ star witch, played by Elizabeth Montgomery. In 1985 she was the voice of the witch Orgoch in the animated Disney film “The Black Cauldron.” She was the voice of a cackling witch in “Shrek Forever After” in 2010.Perhaps most memorably, in 1976 the comedian Paul Lynde, with whom she had first worked decades earlier, managed to pair her and Ms. Hamilton in a running sketch on “The Paul Lynde Halloween Special,” which also featured appearances by Betty White, Donny and Marie Osmond and the rock group Kiss, and which has taken on a sort of kitschy fame.“The two witches bookend Mr. Lynde as they cackle their way through the hardcover editions of ‘Rosemary’s Baby’ and ‘The Exorcist,’ call ‘The Sound of Music’ a real horror movie and play Witches’ Monopoly, a board game in which contestants can either buy a property or blow it up,” The New York Times wrote in 2007 when a DVD of that television rarity was released.Ms. Hayes played other roles in her somewhat sporadic career, including providing the voices for characters on “The Brothers Flub,” “Transformers: Rescue Bots” and other animated shows. But Witchiepoo was the one that stuck in people’s heads. In 2003 Inside TV ranked her No. 3 on its list of Top 10 witches in TV history, behind only Ms. Montgomery and Catherine Hicks, who played Amanda Tucker on the 1980s series “Tucker’s Witch.”Ms. Hayes at the Museum of Television and Radio in Beverly Hills, Calif., at a party celebrating the release of “H.R. Pufnstuf” on DVD in 2004.Stephen Shugerman/Getty ImagesBillie Armstrong Brosch was born on Aug. 5, 1924, in Du Quoin, Ill. Her father, Charles, was a coal miner, and her mother, Marie (Armstrong) Brosch, was an administrator for the Perry County General Assistance Office.She began performing as a child and continued to do so after leaving high school early, performing in Chicago and with U.S.O. shows. (An agent at the start of her professional career suggested that “Brosch” was not an ear-friendly name for a performer.)She eventually secured a role in a touring show called “What’s New” with Mr. Lynde. In 1956 Mr. Lynde wrote and directed sketches for a Broadway revue called “New Faces of 1956,” and Ms. Hayes found herself as one of those new faces — along with a young British actress named Maggie Smith.Ms. Hayes said her commitment to “New Faces,” which ran for 220 performances, kept her from accepting an offer to originate the role of Mammy Yokum in “Li’l Abner,” a musical based on Al Capp’s comic strip characters, when it opened on Broadway in November 1956, but she later stepped into the part, replacing Charlotte Rae. She won the role in the 1959 film version.Ms. Hayes was also president of Pet Hope, an animal care organization. She leaves no immediate survivors.In a 1969 interview with the Dallas-area broadcaster Bobbie Wygant, Ms. Hayes noted that, though Witchiepoo was the villain of “Pufnstuf,” she received a lot of fan mail from children seeking her help with kid-size problems.“I’m the Ann Landers of the witch world,” she said.“I don’t know why they pick the witch to write to,” she said, “unless they figure either she’s so dumb she’ll give me a funny answer or she’s so smart I’ll get out of trouble.” More