Today, we continue with some Disney afternoon and Saturday morning offerings in a circus setting, and also manage to find room for some brief coverage of DIC, and a pair of episodes from Garfield and Friends.
Stormy Weather (Talespin, 6/17/90) – An engaging story worthy of the quality standards of the Disney Afternoon. Returning from a cargo run, Baloo and Kit Cloudkicker find some available time, in which Kit suggests a little “cloud surfing”. Baloo opens the rear hatch of the SeaDuck plane, and Kit emerges on a tow rope, wind-surfing on his special aerodynamic wing board. Baloo is surprised when a strange pilot cuts across the sky in a flashy white biplane equipped with wheeled pontoons, nearly causing a head-on collision between the biplane and the SeaDuck. Baloo swerves upwards, and Kit, on the tow rope, also avoids the collision, but is seen by the unknown pilot. The pilot gives Kit a thumbs-up sign of approval, and reverses direction to follow along and observe Kit’s antics. Kit begins to show off, swerving from side to side and barrel-rolling, while Baloo catches sight of him in a mirror, and hollers for him not to overdo it. Baloo suddenly finds himself entering a patch of storm clouds, and becomes concerned for Kit, ready to haul the rope back in. Kit, however, has decided to really show the observing pilot something, and lets go of the tow rope, flipping a forward somersault on his board, and planting a landing upon the SeaDuck’s wing. The strange pilot applauds him as Kit takes a bow. Baloo, however, looks back to observe an empty tow rope, and goes into a state of near-panic, believing he has lost Kit. However, Kit slips quietly through a roof hatch in the plane, and appears beside Baloo in the navigator’s seat. Baloo and Kit begin a heated war of words, Baloo angry over the scare Kit’s showing-off caused him and the foolhardy chances he took, and Kit insisting he knew what he was doing. By the time they reach home base at Cape Suzette, Kit is declaring Baloo a “mother hen” who won’t acknowledge he knows how to take care of himself. Becky and Wildcat try not to take sides in the argument, but still note the danger of cloud surfing in a storm, and Kit takes this as everybody being against him. Suddenly, the white biplane appears from the clouds and lands in the bay, pulling up to the SeaDuck. Out jumps the pilot, one Daring Dan Dawson, proprietor of a Flying Circus currently performing at the local airdrome. He heaps endless compliments upon Kit’s performance in the clouds, and refers to him as “Ace”, boosting Kiu’s spirits and also his ego. Dan inquires if Baloo and Becky are Kit’s parents, and learns that Kit is an orphan, heightening his interest in the kid. Dan also learns that Kit has never seen an air circus before, and provides him with free passes for the show. Baloo is suspicious of Dan’s intent, and thinks of him as “full of hot air” in the way he seems to encourage Kit’s taking chances. But all Baloo gets for his concern is a rain of confetti from Dan’s plane as the stunt pilot departs in a barrel-roll for the air show.
At the performance, Dan performs a zig-zag slalom between tall poles studded with sharp axes, and a “dive of doom” in a spiraling tailspin which he pulls out of a few feet before reaching the ground. Kit is a bundle of enthusiasm, while Baloo only pays attention to his hot dog and pop bottle, muttering in underwhelmed fashion, “I’m all goose pimples”. Dan approaches them on the ground after the performance, finding Kit now fully ripe for suggestion. “How’d you like to join my circus?”, suggests Dan. Baloo finds the thought outrageous, but Kit has opposite reaction. Nevertheless, Baloo insists it is time to go, and leads Kit away by the hand, while Dan calls after him to think it over. On the way home, Baloo tries to remind Kit of the daring feats they have performed on their past missions and in evading air pirates, but Kit’s mind is elsewhere, still wrapped up in Dan’s derring-do – and Baloo begins to realize he is losing him. Even Becky can see what is happening at the dinner table that evening, as Kit recounts the events of the day – but gives Baloo a gentle word of encouragement – that she’s never seen him go down without a fight.
Baloo plans to surprise Kit with a morning of fun, bonding activities instead of work, but finds Kit’s bed empty. Kit has returned to the airdrome, and been taken up in a flight by Dan, who not only has learned to tow kit for cloud surfing, but has taught Kit a new stunt, which Dan and Kir decide to spring on the folks back at Cape Suzette. Kit stands in foot straps atop the wing of the biplane. Dan performs some high-speed spins, jettisoning Kit from the straps. Kit falls in free fall, looking as if he will meet his doom – but at the last minute pulls out his air-board, and soars neatly to the SeaDuck’s dock, planting a perfect landing on its boards. Baloo, who has witnessed the whole thing, is going out of his mind. But even Becky begins to wonder if Kit is meant for bigger things than hauling cargo. No one is completely surprised when Kit chooses to pack up his gear and depart for the glamour of fame and the “big bucks”.
All is not gold that glitters, and Kit soon learns that his share of gate is only a single dollar, Dan claiming the rest goes into providing dressing rooms, promotional advertisement, and flashy outfits. Worse yet, Dan keeps upping the ante, proposing new stunts, like a “ring of fire” stunt in which Kit will (provided he survives) soar through six flaming hoops before landing. Kit begins to wonder if he will soon be toast, but is placed in a take-it-or-leave-it situation when Dan threatens to fire him. Meanwhile, dejected Baloo hasn’t hauled cargo for a week. Baloo is approached by a policeman, and is ready to have the cuffs slapped on, believing the officer to be investigating his unpaid parking tickets, and stating he has nothing to lose. But the cop has nothing to do with traffic detail, and is instead making inquiries concerning Dan, who is under suspicion of subjecting his performers to unsafe working conditions, but with insufficient evidence to make a case. This is all Baloo needs to hear, and he is off in the SeaDuck to save Kit. At the airdrome, it’s showtime, but storm clouds are rising again. Kit remembers the words of Baloo, and finally quotes them to Dan, that some chances should not be taken. Dan again threatens to fire Kit, but Kit throws the dollar bill back at him, and announces that he quits. Dan feigns apology, and pretends to cancel the stunt, then tells Kit there’s no hard feelings, and offers him a lift back home. Once Kit is up in the plane, however, Dan passes over the airdrome, then pulls out a knife and cuts Kit’s seat straps, telling him it’s his choice to fly or fall – the crowd will love it either way. Turning the plane upside down, Kit is dumped from the plane. Kit barely manages to get his board, but is falling too fast, and with no idea how to navigate the flaming hoops. Baloo’s plane reaches the airdrome just in time, making a pass by Kit and dropping the tow rope out the back cargo bay. Kit grabs the rope, and is hauled back into the SeaDuck. Baloo now turns the SeaDuck on Dan’s plane, approaching it in a power dive, as Baloo repeats a phrase from Dan’s performances: “This is all part of the show.” Buzzing Dan’s plane, he forces the pilot to jump out. Dan wears a parachute, but comes dangerously close to the flaming hoops, barely avoiding them by a tug on his lines. However, he does not escape entirely, as a stray ember lands atop the parachute fabric. In a matter of moments, the parachute canopy disappears in smoke, and Dan falls – right into the waiting arms of the policeman below, who has observed the whole thing as evidence for his case. Kit and Baloo reconcile, and Baloo states there’s still an opening on the SeaDuck for an ace navigator.
Three Ring Bind (Goof Troop, 5/4/92) – Pete’s precocious daughter Pistol is out of control, wanting to play circus with a miniature ringmaster’s hat and whip, but no one else wants to play in her over-hyper, exuberant way. Pete sees a newspaper ad that a circus is in town – a suitable distraction to stop Pistol’s game play. He delegates P.J. and Max to accompany her to the show. The circus grounds, however, are run down and desolate, with no one else in attendance. P.J. knocks on the shut window of the ticket office, and is told by a snarling ringmaster that the show is permanently closed. Pistol remains determined to see the animals. The ringmaster orders them off the lot, or he will sic Giblet the Clown on them. (In a nod to Disney’s past, the voices for the Ringmaster and Giblet harken back to two old mainstays of Disney voicing, being impressions of the reads of deceased stars Hans Conried and Pat Buttram.) Giblet acts as bouncer to eject P.J. and Max, but overlooks one. “Where’s Pistol”“ asks P.J. “I don’t need no pistol to deal with the likes of you”, replies Giblet. Meanwhile, Pistol has crept away in the confusion, and discovers the animals all locked together in one circus truck. She releases a monkey, lion, elephant, roller-skating bear, and seal (the latter whom she addresses as a “wet slippery puppy thing”). Before you know it, she has befriended them all, and improvises her own circus in the deserted big top, having the elephant balance on the seal’s ball, the bear skating on the high wire, and the like, causing general confusion. The ringmaster is busy trying to hold out for the highest bid for the animals as his one asset of value, he and Giblet wishing to quit the business and retire on the profit. But the ruckus in the big top is soon discovered by the villains, and by the returning Max and P.J. Quite a bit of action and chasing ensues, but all ultimately for naught, as Giblet rounds up the animals and forces them back into the truck. The kids are ushered off the property once again, and learn from the ringmaster that he has succeeded in obtaining a suitable offer for purchase of the animals – to grind into puppy chow. Pistol gives the ringmaster a swift kick in the shin as a diversion, and before exiting the grounds, succeeds in leaving the door of the animal wagon ajar once again. The animals escape, and follow the kids home.
At night, Pistol slips the menagerie into the house, and they raid the ice box for some grub, the monkey leaving a tell-tale trail of peanut shells. Drowsy Pete is bluffed by Pistol several times over from discovering the intruders, but when she feels the moment is right and Pete is exhausted, she springs the secret, and asks, “Can I keep them?” Delirious Pete is too ured to mumble a clear answer, to which Pistol observes, “He didn’t say no.” Suddenly, realization hits Pete, who sobers into complete awakeness. He tries to tell Pistol she can’t keep the animals, and Pistol wails “Why?” “Because they’re ours”, snarls the voice of the ringmaster, backed up by Giblet, as they arrive at the curb with their circus wagon truck. They attempt to load the animals back in, but Pistol tries to stop them by entering the wagon too. In the confusion, the parking brake slips out of gear, and the truck begins rolling downhill, without a driver. Goofy is late to appear in his own show, and finally shows up in a pick-up truck. “Follow that circus wagon” orders Pete, as cast and villains all pile into Goofy’s truck. “Just like the movies”, chuckles Goofy. The circus truck approaches the end of the road, careening onto a river bridge, and crashes through the bridge wall into the water. The cast and villains peer over the edge, fearing the worst. But one gray object remains clinging to the bridge rail – the elephant’s trunk. The rest of the animal link in a living chain from the elephant, almost down to water level, where Pistol rides safe upon the floating back of the seal, and climbs back up the other animals to hug Daddy. Pete now turns his attentions to the ringmaster. “You’re not gonna turn the animals that saved my daughter into dog food, see?” Pete reaches into his pocket, and stuffs a wad of large denomination cash into the ringmaster’s mouth, announcing that the animals now belong to him. Pete orders the ringmaster and Giblet to get into their wagon and git. The Ringmaster reminds Pete that their wagon is “down there”. “I know”, says Pete, tossing them both over the side and into the drink. The animals wind up the new backyard playmates of Pistol as her birthday present, and Max comments that he can hardly wait for Pistol’s next birthday, as she has now expressed her latest desire – to visit the aquarium. Pete can only whimper in imagining the foreseeable consequences of the future, for the iris out.
Hey, Hey, They’re the Monkeys (Marsupilami, 11/13/93) provides a fun romp and three new engaging characters, in all likelihood voiced by Jim Cummings. On a rainy night, a circus truck drives into and stops in the middle of the jungle. A clown opens the truck’s rear door, and coaxes out therefrom a cargo of three small monkeys in diapers. The clown declares that they are back home in the jungle where they belong. “Sorry it didn’t work out, but these things happen.” Though the clown takes a hit in the face with a piece of ripe fruit, the trio of simians exit the vehicle, whereupon the clown races back to the truck cab, steps on the gas with a smile, and zooms away. The three baby apes are confused and wet in the rain, and put on their biggest sad-eyed expressions, looking entirely sympathetic and whimpering pathetically. Along comes Marsupilami, also caught in the storm and trying to get home to his tree nest. He uses his mile-long tail, coiled in a spiral above his head to form an umbrella (though his tail fur must feel mighty soggy), then encounters the monkeys. He is saddened to see them helpless in the rain, and further remarks “Nothing smells worse than wet monkey fur.” He volunteers the comforts of his nest for the evening, and loads the monkeys onto his back. The monkeys, however, exchange a hidden snicker between them, indicating to each other that they’ve got a “live one”.
The scene changes to the following morning, as Mars awakens on a bright, sunny day – upside down. Instead of finding himself bedded snug in his nest with the chimps, he is suspended by his tail knotted around a tree limb. The monkeys have taken over the nest themselves, and when they realize Mars is awake, begin complaining in aggressive French accents about the hotel service here being terrible. (The French dialect is never explained – perhaps their homeland is French East Africa?) Mars points out that if they don’t like the service, it is sunny now, which means that they could just GO. The chimps, however, put on their pathetic faces again, apologizing that they are orphans with no one to tell them right from wrong, and claiming that Mars can’t just throw them out into the cold, harsh jungle as they’ve not had a bite to eat in days. Mars gets them to agree that, if he provides them breakfast, they will depart. Of course, after rounding them up a multi-course meal, all Mars hears is more complaints. The bananas were overripe, and the souffle eggs were runny. Mars reminds them it is still “Check-out time”, but the monkeys confront him, backing him out onto the end of a tree limb, and declare they have taken a vote, “And the only one leaving is you.” Mars runs out of limb to stand on and falls to the ground, fortunately having his fall broken by the belly of his gorilla-friend Maurice. Mars asks Maurice to speak to the intruders monkey-to-monkey, but the three chimps pelt them with cocoanuts, and hurl verbal insults at them both, finally showing their diapered posteriors to them in an act of disdain. Mars has Maurice hold down a springy young tree to use as a catapult, and is launched by the ape back to the nest, where he lands among the chimps, and declares it’s time to clean house. The chimps agree, with the first thing to be disposed of being a boulder, which they have tied to the end of Mars’ tail. Mars quickly finds himself back on the ground again. The physical approach not having worked, Mars conspires with Maurice for a more subtle plan. We dissolve to a surprising sight – what appears to be an old Southern plantation mansion house, with Mars reclining on a lawn sofa in the front yard, fanned and waited on by Maurice, declaring that this is the life, and he’s through with tree nests. The three chimps take notice, and decide these new lodgings are too good for Mars, and more suitable for themselves. With their typical string of verbal insults, they storm past Mars through the front door of the mansion, declaring that they are taking over. As soon as they are inside, Mars slams the door, then releases a rope, which causes the entire mansion front to roll up like a painted theater backdrop, revealing what is behind it – a locked cage, containing the chimps. The chimps, realizing they have been duped, partially hide their heads in shame, assuming the poses of the “Hear no evil, speak no evil” monkeys. Mars wraps the entire cage in packing paper and tape, then has Maurice slurp and attach a label to the package reading “Return to sender.” The post office must be all-knowing, for the package is next seen somehow delivered back to the tent of the circus clown with whom we began the episode. He curiously opens the package, then shouts, “Oh no, not again!”, as the monkeys leap out, flinging a new stream of insults and swarming over the clown, whose shadow is seen within the tent attempting to ward off the trio with a chair like a lion tamer, for the fade out.
Big Top Breakfast (10/13/95) – A rare starring vehicle for the laughing hyenas from the Lion King, included in the “Timon and Pumbaa” show on its CBS run. It is unfortunately a disappointment. Included within a series that already departed substantially from its feature-length predecessor by emphasizing slapstick over story, this odd featuring of the hyena characters seems to lack direction as to what to do with them, becoming a rather-endless stream of dialogue with few worthy punchlines, punctuated by the appearance of a young chimpanzee, whose reactions and animation seem largely out-of-place for the setting. The animators are prone to placing the chimp into wild takes that are a blatant rip-off of Tex Avery (disconnecting head, face, etc.) that seem jarring versus the semi-realistic hyena models.
The Dingling Brothers Circus is in transit – on a gaudy multi-colored plane, over the unlikely territory of the African veldt. A young chimpanzee (Simon) practices juggling and balancing atop a ball within the cargo bay, while his dad, a larger ape, corrects hs errors in delivering punch-lines, and tries to get him to settle down, telling him the spotlight will be on him soon enough one of these days. The pilots of the plane (both clowns) have their red noses buried in books on stunt-flying, and decide to try out the principles in mid-flight in hopes of adding the new skill to their act. Their whirling loops and barrel-rolls jettison Simon, and a large crate of assorted objects labeled “Circus Stuff”. The trunk falls straight onto the hyenas, who haven’t had breakfast in months, one of whom has just uttered the words, “I’m so hungry, I could eat a…circus monkey”. After the hyenas emerge from being flattened, the inevitable chase for a square meal is on. Eventually, the hyenas discover what is in the trunk, and decide to use it to lure the chimp to them by performing a show. The hyenas’ leader Shenzi dresses as ringmaster, billing herself as the Toast of Tanzania, the Love of Liberia. She seats the chimp on a seat set on one end of a teeter-totter. Another hyena jumps on the other end, launching Simon into the trees, where the third hyena places Simon on a unicycle and down a slant-wire, to a high-diving platform on the other end. Hyena 3 then cuts the wire. (The background department blows the setup entirely, by leaving a rope-ladder visible to the diving tower which could easily be climbed-down, rather than properly leaving Simon stranded atop the platform.) At the foot of the platform, the first two hyenas have set up a cooking pot (old, with visible cracks), in which a stew is already boiling, waiting for its final ingredient. The hyenas shine a spotlight upon the diving platform, and request the chimp “drop in for dinner.” Simon finally finds himself “in the spotlight”, and vows the show must go on, taking the leap (instead of climbing down the obvious ladder previously mentioned). He lands with a terrific splash – enough to crack open the pot side. A wave of stew pours out from the pot, with Simon hanging-ten as he surfs to safety upon a carrot. Simon stalls when the hyenas catch up, sending his pursuers into laughing fits with old punchlines from his previously-rehearsed routine, then ducks into a cannon. Having already missed breakfast, the hyenas are eager to press a control button marked “launch”, thinking it to say “lunch”. Simon is blasted skyward, and scores a perfect landing, right back into the cargo bay of the circus plane which has somehow circled back to the same original position. The hyenas are left hungry again, with one uttering that he is so hungry, he could eat a blue whale. Guess what drops on them from the sky?
DIC provides four entries to our survey, yet are so lacking in creativity, they use the same title for two of them.
I will spare the reader the details of Gadget at the Circus (Inspector Gadget, 9/14/83). While watching same, I felt as if I was viewing “Inch High, Private Eye” all over again, realizing just how similar (in all the wrong aspects) the two shows really were. The episode is pure standard formula, with Gadget assuming the roles of clown, lion tamer, trapeze artist, stunt diver, and human cannonball, all in reasonably predictable fashion, with the occasional inclusion of the special gadgetry to help him (his umbrella and copter attachments to break falls, and his extendable arms to grab an out-of-reach trapeze). One accident makes somewhat clever use of the umbrella, having it pop open just as Gadget is putting his head in a lion’s mouth, preventing the beast from closing its jaws. An inconsistency, however, permeates the writing. Gadget first appears in disguise of clown make0up, to infiltrate the circus and flush out MAD agents working within. However, all disguise is dropped for Gadget’s later performances, so what happened to his cover? His presence makes him a sitting duck for those he is trying to disclose – so what’s the point? Nothing more than to meet a writing quota.
Big Top Bungling (Heathcliff and the Cadillac Cats, 10/29/84) finds Heathcliff in his usual mood of pulling pranks on everyone, beginning with tying the tails of two vicious-looking mutts together in an inseparable knot, then getting them tangled around a tree. The Cadillac Cats make a crossover appearance, waiting in a park playground for Heathcliff to pass, with intention of settling old scores. Heathcliff gets the jump on them as they sit upon a playground merry-go-round, giving the device a rapid twirl to send them dizzily spinning. With a branch as a crowbar, Heathcliff next flips the merry-go-round off its spindle, tossing the other cats onto three spring-based hobby-horses. Heathcliff pulls at each horse’s tail, using it as a slingshot to propel his opponents skyward. They land on one end of a see-saw, and Heathcliff jumps on the other, depositing his pursuers into a sprawled pile. For a flourish, Heathcliff swings from the seat of a kidde swing, somersaults around a tree limb, and slides down a kiddie slide, ending with a “Ta Daah!” Unbeknownst to him, all this has been observed by a passing limousine in which ride the owners of the Bungling Brothers Snoring and Boring Circus, who are in search of a new animal act with pizazz. It doesn’t take much inquiry to find out who Heathcliff’s owners are, as the cat’s reputation seems to already be famous in this neighborhood (one of the brothers thinks “infamous” might be a more proper word). Although Grandpa can’t fathom the thought of someone saying that Heathcliff did something – right(?), Heathcliff is offered a chance for a tryout at tonight’s performance.
The family brings Heathcliff to the circus grounds. Impatient for the show to begin, Heathcliff kills time by pestering the other circus animals – sending the mighty lion into shivers of fright by placing a mirror in front of him as he emits his most ferocious roar, and confusing the dancing bear by substituting hard rock records in place of her usual ballet music. Showtime arrives, and Heathcliff makes an entrance in formal cape. But waiting on top of the circus tent and gazing in through a hole in the canvas are the Cadillac cats, eager to crab the act. Heathcliff steps out onto the high wire, amazing the crowd with his nimble balancing and leaps. He springs off the wire, leaping high above it, and briefly out the hole in the tent roof – giving the other cats their cue to pursue. Writing falters somewhat at this point, with routine hijinks back and forth on trapeze and high-wire, leaving the Cadillac cats ultimately stuck in endless bouncing off a safety net, while Heathcliff slides down a ramp and plants another perfect landing in the center ring to the cheers of the crowd. The Bungling Brothers offer Heathcliff a contract, if he can promise to lay off clobbering other animals. Heathcliff shakes his head no, and turns them down, disappearing back into the tent, to hold a hoop over the still-bouncing Cadillac cats to make them jmp through it on each bounce. Heathcliff’s little boy owner explains, “Heathcliff needs motivation.”
The Cadillac Cats (alternatively referenced on the end-credits of the show as “Cats & Co.”) have their own episode entitled Circus Bezerkus (9/19/84). It is exceptionally weak. The beat-up Cadillac which most of the cats call their home disappears from the junkyard, apparently purchased by someone after all these years. The evicted cats just can’t seem to find any alternative vehicle in the yard that will provide a suitable substitute for sleeping. The cats’ leader Riff Raff tries to take their mind off their problem by a visit to the circus, although none of them have the price of admission. A guard dog does a reasonable job of booting them out, until the cats find even more incentive for gaining entry – their Cadillac is spotted, in the possession of the circus clowns, converted into a clown car. The cats find some clown outfits and make-up, and mingle into the act, waiting for an opportunity to hijack back their wheels. Notably, several shots of the performance look like dead-ringers for copies of scenes from the fire-rescue act of the clowns from “Dumbo”. With nothing happening that could be called original, the cats get behind the wheel, and penetrate a road black of clowns and the dog at the tent entrance by barreling right through it (what choice do they have, as the car has no brakes?), forcing the performers to construct a human archway to get out of the way. Back at the junkyard, they remove the clown paint, and restore the vehicle to nearly its normal condition – except for a custom water-squirter in the car radio, that gets Riff Raff for the closing shot.
Circus Bezerkus (Dennis the Menace, 10/1/86) – The annual circus parade hits town, and Mr. Wilson knows what that means – noise to spoil his afternoon, and worst of all, excited kids – including Dennis and Joey, who request that Wilson take them to the circus. Mrs. Wilon volunteers George’s accompaniment for him, and Wilson finds himself roped into spending the day with the kids as usual. The ticket line is long, and Wilson tries to keep track of his junior charges – but Dennis has disappeared. Joey says he’s playing with his new fried in the fur coat. Sure enough, Dennis is in the gorilla’s cage, pushing the ape on a tire-swing, and ready to switch places with him for his own turn. Wilson zooms in and out of the cage in a blur to rescue Dennis – but another figure lingers behind in the shadows. A villain of unknown profession who was fired from the show seeks revenge, and unlocks the bear’s cage to provide him the opportunity for a little destruction. Joey wants a souvenir teddy bear from a gift booth, for which Wilson provides him the money, telling him to pick out the one he likes. Joey returns with the real bear. Wilson can’t understand why Joey selected such an ugly one – but so realistic. A snarl sends Wilson into another blur run, carrying the kids. On the other end of the circus grounds, Wilson catches his breath, and, without pausing to report the escaped bear, hears the shouts of the kids for cotton candy. Wilson waits in the candy line, but a large patron in a trench coat looms in his way. It is the bear in disguise, who seizes Wilson in a bear hug, dips him into the cotton candy vat, then licks the gooey stuff off Wilson mouthful by mouthful. When finished, the bear turns on the boys. They presume the bear to be still hungry, and offer him a hot dog and a slice of pizza. The three odd foods have a negative effect on the bear’s innards, turning his face blue, and leaving the bear moaning with indigestion, crawling back to his cage and shutting the door behind him. The villain plans new skullduggery, plotting to snip the rope supporting the main pole of the big top with a set of shears. He is interrupted by the approach of Wilson and the kids, Dennis leading Wilson though the center of the arena, which he claims is a short cut to their seats. Wilson’s foot gets caught in a rope loop for raising trapeze artists to their platforms, and Wilson becomes an unscheduled part of the act. As he descends on a swing from a trapeze bar, he trips up the villain, knocking the shears from his hands. On the backswing. Wilson winds up on a unicycle on the high wire, is sprung off the wire, and passes the high-diver, stealing his stunt of diving 100 feet into a bucket of water. Dennis and Joey attempt to place a safety net over the pail, but it is only a clown net, and Wilson ends up with his head stuck in the bucket, and wearing the net hoop around his waist like a tutu. Dennis and Joey try to lead Wilson out, but he climbs upon and stumbles upon a large ball from the bear act – which the still-upset bear wants back. The bear whacks Wilson into the cannon, with the usual result. Wilson falls upon the villain, just as he is about to release a tiger into the crowd, and the villain is apprehended. Dennis, Joey, and Wilson are given lifetime passes to the show – ensuring that Wilson can take them again, every year. Just the thought of this sends Wilson into laughing, raving hysterics, as he scampers away into the darkness, and Dennis remarks that that’s what he likes about Mr. Wilson – “It takes so little to make him so happy.”
Early in the TV development of Garfield the Cat, a recurring nemesis of the feline was introduced, in the form of early-morning kid-show host Binky the Clown (an obvious parody of the long-running peanut-gallery kid programing of Bozo). Binky, however, has an abrasive personality, his catch-phrase being a loud, screaming shout of “HEYYYYYYYYYY, KIDS!!!”, which typically jars Garfield awake from his cat box when the feline leaves the TV running as he falls off to sleep at night. No wonder Garfield hates him. Binky became a recurring regular player in Film Roman’s “Garfield and Friends” hour, in a seven-season run on CBS. The clown even received his own 30-second interstitials in the show, entitled “Screaming With Binky”, where he would creep up behind unsuspecting persons, and let loose with his signature yell. We’ll feature here two sample episodes of his appearances with Garfield, illustrating his lack of subtlety, and Garfield’s overall air of disdain for his antics.
The Binky Show (11/12/88) – Garfield is not sure he can face the morning, cringing in his cat box in fear that it might be Monday. He knows yesterday was Friday, but would not put it past Monday to bump off Saturday and Sunday just to get to him sooner. With trepidation, he pulls away the previous sheet off the wall calendar, and discovers a sheet reading “Not Monday”, but in fine print reading “Jon’s Birthday”. Having no money to get Jon a present, Garfield ponders what to do. A TV announcer (Gary Owens, playing himself) on the air announces the premiere of a new game show with big cash prizes, hosted by Binky the Clown, called “Name That Fish”. Thinking he knows everything about fish, Garfield runs down to the TV station to become a contestant and win Jon a prize. A highlight of the episode is a musical number performed by Binky as he makes his entrance on the program, summing up nicely his persona and tendency toward screaming. Garfield is selected from the audience as first contestant. Things do not go well, as Garfield is subjected to trick questions (What did Christopher Columbus have for breakfast on the day he discovered America – a day he in fact skipped breakfast. What is the name of this fish? Walter.), and offered meaningless prizes (a tomato stretcher, an ostrich waxer – of professional grade, of course). Despite losing at these levels, the sound of a siren denotes that Garfield has been selected for a bonus round. Binky ushers him into a glass booth, shuts the door, then pulls a lever. A stream of water begins filling the booth from a pipe at the base, out of which also swim several fish at intervals. Binky states that Garfield must name all these fish before the water fills the booth. Submerged and holding his breath, Garfield surmises that this can’t be happening to him – that it must be a bad dream. Fortunately, the booth has no ceiling, and Garfield manages to escape the tank over the top, and races headlong out of the studio and back home. He enters the front door, to take in a view of himself, still asleep in his cat box. He was right – he was dreaming after all. The awake Garfield kicks the box of the sleeping one, then disappears. Garfield (the real one) awakens, relieved that he doesn’t have to see that clown again. But a knock at the door says otherwise. Someone has hired Binky to be Jon’s birthday clown, and Gary Owens announces to Jon a list of demeaning and humiliating things Binky intends to do to Jon throughout the day. Garfield walks casually past Binky into the front yard, picking up the garden hose, and hits Binky with a blast of water, driving the clown backwards into a wheelbarrow, which rolls down the block with him and out of sight. “I got rid of him – – That’s your birthday present!”, declares Garfield to Jon.
Binky Gets Canceled (10/7/89) – Binky’s regular morning show hits a snag when, after all these years, ratings take a drop. A memorable line has the station manager buzz “Miss Sondheim” with the instruction, “Send in the clown.” Binky receives his walking papers, and cries a stream of clown tears in the station manager’s office that flood the station. His program is replaced with the uplifting educational counter-programming, “Bowling for Meatloaf”. Job opportunities aren’t many for a clown of Binky’s trademark capacity. He thinks about going into politics – but there are too many clowns is Washington already. So, he ultimately winds up as apprentice handyman, as Jon calls for someone to perform overall repairs on the house. Binky’s idea of repairs is to redecorate the place in “clown provincial” with candy-striped columns, a merry-go-round in the living room, and built-in calliope. Potted plants have water squirters installed. The refrigerator greets those who open it with a spring-loaded lemon meringue pie. Binky won’t let Garfield try the dishwasher, claiming it’s acting “strange” – like nothing else is. Jon’s first reaction upon returning home is to faint, then pursue the clown for revenge once he revives. But the station manager appears at the door, announcing that Bowling for Meatloaf was too sophisticated for the viewers, so Binky’s show is back. The manager promises to pay for a real handyman to repair the damage, and everything points to a happy ending, until Jon starts the dishwasher. The whole house is subsumed in a flood of soap bubbles. The cartoon ends with Garfield and Jon taking a leisurely siesta in hammocks in the back yard, while Binky shovels away, knee-deep is soap at the front door, with only a few thousand tons of soap suds left to unload.
Next Time: We’ll move into items from Warner Brothers and others.
Charles Gardner is an animation enthusiast who toils by day as a member of LA Law – but by nights and weekends indulges in classic jazz and ragtime as a performer; and studies classic Hollywood cartoons… maybe a little too much.
The Marsupilami cartoon is by far the funniest one this week. I think the monkeys’ French accents are meant to play on the stereotypical rudeness of Frenchmen; I keep thinking of John Cleese yelling at King Arthur from the battlements of a castle. Besides, there are over a dozen African nations where French is a national language, and Marsupilami’s friend Maurice the gorilla has a French name, too, as far as that goes. And didn’t Marsupilami himself originate in a French-language comic book? As for “French East Africa”: as all stamp collectors know, there were confederations of French colonial territories in western and equatorial Africa, but France never had any colonies in the eastern part of the continent — unless you count Madagascar, which, though abundantly blessed with lemur species, has no monkeys at all.
Normally I would jump to the defence of Inspector Gadget, but in the case of “Gadget at the Circus” the criticism is fully justified. The comparison with Inch High, Private Eye is valid: both are examples of a genre of cartoon character that proliferated in the 1970s and ’80s, one that we might call the “accidental hero”. These heroes never cracked the case or captured the bad guys by any direct, deliberate action, but only by accident, usually facilitated by one or more sidekicks. It seems that cartoon heroes in those days couldn’t do anything genuinely heroic without running afoul of the prohibitions on violence in children’s programming.
Still, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: compared to the Catillac Cats, Inspector Gadget is Citizen F. Kane.
I discovered the DIC syndicated series “Beverly Hills Teens” a few years ago. For all its bad animation and cheesy music, I find it a mildly amusing period piece from the “Greed is good” ‘80s. It also had a circus episode: “Rampage” (26/11/87).
The Teen Club is sponsoring the Flying Linguini Bros. Circus as a charity fundraiser, and some of the teens get to participate as performers: vain Bianca is the ringmaster, equestrian enthusiast Blaze is the bareback rider, and so on. Chester the boy genius also wants to take part, but one or another of the Linguini brothers (they’re identical) assures him that his technical skills would be put to better use behind the scenes of the show. However, a mishap with a cotton candy machine causes a short circuit in Chester’s control panel, unlocking all of the animal cages. Next thing you know, lions, elephants, kangaroos, and charging rhinos are rampaging through the streets of Beverly Hills. The teens get in their limousines and manage to round up all of the animals, save one: “Prince Monko the Rock ‘n Roll Gorilla,” sort of a simian Elvis in white jumpsuit, pompadour and sideburns.
Bianca throws a net over Prince Monko, but the big ape simply tears his way out of it, then grabs Bianca and takes her hostage. The other teens are at a loss as to how they can subdue the gorilla without endangering Bianca. Like King Kong, Prince Monko takes the girl to the top of the tallest building in the vicinity — in this case, the clock tower on Bianca’s mansion. Then Chester remembers that Monko loves ice cream, and always takes a nap after eating it. So one of the teens flies Chester to the clock tower in her personal helicopter. Chester delivers a consignment of rocky road to the rock ‘n roll gorilla, who promptly gobbles it down; and Bianca is rescued while Monko is having his postprandial snooze.
The Disney Afternoons are the winners here.
With regard to Inspector Gadget, I’ll admit it’s watered down content for a young audience. “Accidental hero” or not, it’s basically an entertaining enough show.
That Heathcliff cartoon has some excellent animation by TMS.
Few cartoons have depressed me more than DIC’s “The Get Along Gang”. I remember watching it one Saturday morning in the waiting room at the blood bank and marvelling at the depths to which cartoons had sunk. But one episode, “Hunt for the Beast” (29/9/84) has a circus connection.
The Get Along Gang want to go swimming but are disappointed to find that their pond has dried up. Zipper the cat regales the gang with tales of the ocean, where none of the others have ever been: a body of water so vast that it can never dry up. Later, while the others are asleep in the gang’s caboose clubhouse, Zipper decides to show his friends the glories of an ocean beach. So he hitches up the caboose to a locomotive marked “Ocean Express” — or so he thinks. By mistake he hitches it to the “Mountain Express”, and by morning the gang finds themselves in a snowy montane landscape.
The locals are up in arms about a strange beast that has been seen prowling around and stealing food. Zipper catches sight of the beast and tracks it to its mountain cave. It turns out to be a snow-covered elephant that got separated from its circus, and it has only been stealing food because it was hungry. When Zipper shares a peanut butter sandwich with the elephant, the two become fast friends.
A commotion outside the cave draws their attention. A mob of locals have come to deal with the beast. Their shouts start an avalanche that seals off the cave, leaving the elephant homeless once again. When Zipper explains the situation, the locals are ashamed that they had misjudged the poor elephant, and they set about to return it to the circus. In the end, the circus owners are so grateful to have their elephant back that they treat the Get Along Gang to an all-expenses-paid trip to the ocean beach.