How ‘H.R. Pufnstuf’ Helped Shape Children’s Television

AP Photo/John Hayes

The Sid and Marty Krofft brainchild, known as H.R. Pufnstuf, was a children’s tv series made in the late sixties for the NBC network. The series only lasted a few months, running from September to December of 1969 and produced 17 episodes and involved live-action puppets.

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What’s a Pufnstuf?

H.R. Pufnstuf was about a boy named Jimmy who takes his golden, talking flute named Freddy the flute (voiced by Joan Gerber) the only one in the world, on an adventure. The pair end up on a stage island, Living Island, in the clutches of Witchiepoo, a witch who wants Freddy for herself. While on Living Island, where everything is alive, they meet H.R. Pufnstuf is the magical dragon who wants to protect these stowaways along with an owl, Dr. Blinky, Judy Garland’s frog doppelganger, Judy the Frog, talking trees, The four Winds (many of which were voiced by Walker Edmiston.) Meanwhile, Witchiepoo plots to steal Freedy from Jimmy with members of Living Island a talking vulture, Orson, and Seymour, a spider, Stupid Bat. She of course had her own Witchbat, Vroom-Broom. Mayor H.R. Pufnstuf is a magical dragon on the island and his cave is the only place on Living Island were Witchiepoo’s magic won’t reach and that is free of magic.

What Went Wrong?

The Krofft brother’s H.R. Pufnstuf character debuted at the 1968 world’s fair in San Antonio, Texas. It was later taken on by Fred Silverman for CBS at the price of $54,000 an episode. The show was stated to run in conjunction with the Saturday morning programming for the fall of 1969 lineup. Sid and Marty Krofft started working on the initial seventeen episodes ordered by the network. However, given the expenses needed to make their set and puppets, money was stretched extremely thin, with much of it going to the puppets.

Another expense was content-heavy scripts from the writers, Joe Harrison and Lennie Weinrib (the voice of H.R. Pufnstuf) that increased production costs. Si Rose, a seasoned television producer helped the Krofts by condensing all of the scripts into bite-sized amounts that could be comprehended in the allotted 30 minutes. He also suggested the Krofts use a laugh track to make the show even more friendly and give the vibe of sitcom tv shows. For the most part, however, the laugh track was largely another expense. H.R. Pufnstuf largely remained over budget and thus turned down an offer for the second season, with a five percent raise.

The show was shot on 35mm as opposed to videotape, which was quite the variation for the seventies.

Post-Puf Television

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxHF-VnzvVo

Some large business conglomerates and television were impacted by the style of the Kroft’s H.R.Pufnstuf. McDonald’s, Nike, My Name Is Earl, George Lopez, The Simpsons, are just a few of the productions to have honored the style, characters, or plot of Pufnstuf. McDonald’s however is a category of its own here. The fast-food chain hired the Krofft’s to create their Mcdonald’s land commercial. When the commercial was ultimately turned down by the Kroft’s, Mcdonald’s ran it anyway. And then refused to settle after being sued for over a decade. Thankfully they may be the only brand to have done this to a brand that meant to much to many.

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