I’ve been pleased to have played a small part in the resurrection and restoration of Linus The Lionhearted, which has been underway for the past few years.
For those of you who have questions regarding Linus The Lionhearted now that it has returned to television for the first time in decades on MeTV Toons — and will soon be issued on DVD — here is some accurate info regarding the exact episodes, cartoons and wrap-around segments – as well as the sequencing and broadcast history of the series taken from original Ed Graham Production, CBS-TV and ABC-TV files – being utilized by the official restoration team at MPI Media Group.
The true hero behind this project is its producer Jim Pierson – a champion of lost TV and film – who has been contacting film collectors and scouring the various archives, for several years, to restore the series. What follows are Jim’s words.
In 1964, future producer and director Dan Curtis sold the Linus series to CBS-TV for his friend Ed Graham – who created the characters for Post cereals commercials and subsequently produced the cartoon series for two years.
CBS originally licensed the equivalent of 26 half-hours of the Linus series to debut on its Saturday morning schedule in the fall of 1964. Each weekly episode consisted of 4 separate cartoons. devoted to a main character plus wrap-arounds before each cartoon and at the end of the half-hour which were referred to as “The Company” since they featured characters from all five of the different cartoons seen on the series:
Linus the Lion (seen in every episode), Sugar Bear (which rotated with Rory Raccoon), Lovable Truly the postman (seen in every episode) and So-Hi, a young Chinese boy (also seen in each episode).
Accordingly, 26 sets of wrap-around “Company” segments were produced for the first season along with 104 individual cartoons devoted to Linus, Sugar Bear, Rory Raccoon, Lovable Truly and So-Hi.
However, the total sum of these cartoons did not appear in exactly 26 half-hour episodes since various cartoon segments were added throughout the season. In fact, over the course of 100 designated
broadcasts of the Linus The Lionhearted series on CBS from September of 1964 to September of 1966, all 100 telecasts had entirely different sequences of cartoons – so no two CBS versions were ever the same.
Although the episodes were produced in color, CBS broadcast the series in black-and-white for the 1964-65 season. Then, CBS licensed the equivalent of 13 more half-hour episodes for the 1965-66 season which would be broadcast in color — including all of the cartoons that had aired the previous season in black-and-white. (CBS actually presented their entire Saturday morning schedule in color starting September of 1965). This meant that the second season added 52 more individual cartoons and 13 more sets of Company wrap-arounds to the mix.
As with the first season, the second season of Linus on CBS had new cartoons gradually added into the mix of the existing cartoons. Due to the popularity of Sugar Bear and the decline of Post cereal connected with Rory Raccoon (Sugar Sparkled Flakes), there were no new Rory cartoons produced for the second season and by the summer of 1966, Rory cartoons were removed from the final months of LINUS episodes on CBS.
When negotiations failed for CBS to continue airing LINUS for a third year, Post placed reruns with ABC-TV to air on their Sunday morning cartoon block along with “Bullwinkle,” “Beany & Cecil” and other favorites.
From September 1966 through September 1969, ABC aired weekly reruns of LINUS in color via 39 newly-created half-hour episodes taken from the material that aired on CBS. However, to confuse matters further, the decision was made to drop many of the Rory Racoon cartoons along with two Linus cartoons and one Lovable Truly and one So-Hi cartoon each. These 39 half-hours would air repeatedly over the three years on ABC.
Then, in the fall of 1969, a Federal Communications Commission ruling mandated that children’s cartoons could no longer contain characters also depicted in the advertising and the reruns were dropped by ABC.
Subsequently, the series was offered in syndication to local stations, now without national Post sponsorship and without the character cereal commercials, with domestic distribution by the Jay Ward Company’s PAT Films. These were the exact 39 half-hours seen on ABC-TV with the exception, inexplicably, of two sets of “Company” wrap-arounds that were replaced with repeated segments.
After a flurry of stations aired Linus, often as stand-alone cartoons mixed in with other shorts, the local reruns disappeared by the early 1980s.
(Linus received significant overseas distribution, including foreign language dubbed episodes, in such territories as Japan, Australia, Mexico, Canada and England.)
With MPI’s long-time distribution of Dan Curtis’ Dark Shadows and other properties, Ed Graham enlisted the company to help bring back Linus, a multiple-years restoration effort that is now finally reaching its fruition with telecasts on MeTV Toons nationally and upcoming issue on DVD.
Please note that the episode guide and other information on the Wikipedia page for LINUS is incorrect and will be revised soon. The Wikipedia entries not only list incorrect air dates but also incorrect sequences and too many cartoons for a single broadcast date.
For the new restoration, the 39 half-hour episodes from the ABC and syndication have been renumbered and most of the lost cartoons not seen since the CBS years will be included as bonus features on the DVD.
For television, there will be a “bonus” black-and-white episode 40 which will offer three of the cartoons not seen since CBS airings. This will also have the extended black-and-white opening and closing credits with extra music and lyrics to the Linus theme songs. A couple of lost color cartoons from the CBS era will also be seen within the other 39 episodes in place of repeated segments from the ABC and syndication runs.
Thank you for clearing that up for us, Jim. The release date of the MPI Linus The Lionhearted DVD set will be announced soon and in the meantime the episodes will continue to air Sunday nights/Monday morning at 11:30 Central/12:30 Eastern/Pacific on MeTV Toons.
• For more background information on the Linus The Lionhearted series, please read Mark Kausler’s article – previously posted here on Cartoon Research.
• To get a look at vintage Linus The Lionhearted TV commercials, annotated by Mike Kazaleh, click here.
• Greg Ehrbar looks at and listens to the Linus and Sugar Bear record albums here.
Jerry Beck is a writer, animation producer, college professor and author of more than 15 books on animation history. He is a former studio exec with Nickelodeon Movies and Disney, and has written for The Hollywood Reporter and Variety. He has curated cartoons for DVD and Blu-ray compilations and has lent his expertise to dozens of bonus documentaries and audio commentaries on such. Beck is currently on the faculty of CalArts in Valencia, UCLA in Westwood and Woodbury University in Burbank – teaching animation history. More about Jerry Beck [
Oh, I am so psyched to get this DVD. So am I to understand that the abbreviated openings and closings for the “Linus the lionhearted“ show our part of the main program – while the complete opening and closings are only part of the special features? That is the only question I have for this whole thing.
Otherwise, I am anxious to see a lot of of these episodes, since I have been watching them on YouTube for the past Year or so. I am enjoying the series all over again, with new backgrounds regarding the voiceover talent (I thought that Stiller and Meara were part of the voice cast, or am I wrong?).
Again and again and again, I’m look forward to this DVD set. And I am loving the MeTV cartoons channel broadcast. This is the kind of rare stuff I really wanted to tune in for, when I started watching the MeTV cartoons channel. Thank you so much for all your work on this. I enjoyed this article.
To answer your question about the alternate openings for the show – and whether they will be on the DVD bonus features – I asked Jim Pierson to comment. Here’s his answer:
“The extended intro exists – it was only ever used in black and white during the first season on CBS – and does not exist in color.
“As mentioned in the article, it will air on MeTV Toons as part of a bonus black and white episode 40 with several rare CBS-only cartoons – and of course it will be on the DVD set as well.
“To clarify further, there are actually two versions of a longer opening with one being a few seconds longer containing a banjo solo by Sugar Bear – and that’s the one being used on epsode 40.”
So, Jerry, in other words, there never was a color version of the full opening and closing.
Am I right.
As far as we know – there is no color version of the longer CBS opening. We would love to be proven otherwise. If someone has a color version, in any format (35mm, 16mm, video, etc) please contact me – and we’ll try to include it on the forthcoming DVD set.
I just wanted to ask a question not related to Linus the Lionhearted. Out of all the Paramount cartoons Harvey Comics owned and restored for the HarveyToons Show, why was Northern Mites left out? Just wanted to know.
ABEL YIRGA – Northern Mites? No real reason its was left out – we just didn’t have enough space to use all the Harveytoons in the initial 65 episodes of “The Harveytoon Show”. I suppose you can ask the same of Trigger Treat, Peck Your Own Home, Turning The Fables, Terry The Terror and Giddy Gadgets. It has more to do with the needs of the original syndicated TV show. (The Harveytoon Show was never designed to be collected onto a “complete” DVD collection)
I’ve been watching MeTV Toons since it first aired two years ago but I don’t recall seeing Linus the Lionhearted on MeTV Toons.
I’ve seen Rocky&Bullwunkle;Wacky Races;Perils of Penrlope Pitstop; Yogi Bear;Huckleberry Hound;Casper;Herman and Katnip and more recently Mighty Mouse*(*both the originals and Ralph Bakshi’s late 80’s reboot.
It must be in a different time zone because it doesn’t come on here in the DFW Area.
MeTV Toons run LINUS THE LIONHEARTED on late Sunday nights – actually Monday mornings at 12:30am.
Linus did not air on MeTV Toons until Monday, September 22nd, 2025 at 12:30 am EST. That has been its weekly time slot since. Ten episodes have aired to date.
This is fantastic news! “Linus the Lionhearted” and Crispy Critters were both childhood favourites of mine, the latter all the more so after they added the Orange Moose. I had a Linus hand puppet that spoke in Sheldon Leonard’s voice when you pulled the string: “I am the king! I can do anything! Almost….” I also had a Crispy Critters card game featuring characters like Ella Elephant and Horatio Horse who, as far as I know, were never in the show itself. But I never had the Linus lunchbox or thermos.
I can say with a fair degree of certainty that the show was never broadcast again in the Detroit area after ABC cancelled it in 1969; it disappeared from the airwaves as completely as “The Alvin Show” following the death of Ross Bagdasarian. The only traces it left on Saturday mornings were those commercials in which Sugar Bear would admonish the Blob, who preferred pickles and soda pop, to eat a healthful breakfast including Post Sugar Crisp, aka Super Sugar Crisp, aka Super Golden Crisp, aka whatever they’re calling it these days. Decades later, watching the scratched and faded prints I found online made me feel as sad as the men’s chorus mourning over the closing credits. But today, after seeing that restored clip with its vibrant original colours, I feel as happy as Sugar Bear pulling a fast one on Granny.
MeTV Toons is unavailable in my country, so I will definitely be buying the DVD as soon as it comes out. Congratulations and many thanks to you, as well as to Jim Pierson and everyone else involved in this vital and laudable undertaking.
Ever since its original airing, this show has been harder and harder to find. I remember one time in the mid-70s when it aired briefly on a local station and was dismissed by critics as “potentially harmful,” with the result that within weeks of that pronouncement it was gone.
The episode I remember most and am most looking forward to seeing again is the Thanksgiving episode. There was a lot of hoopla surrounding Linus’ debut in the Macy Thanksgiving Parade, and this show depicted Linus and Sugar Bear on their way to NYC for the big event. The Linus balloon remained in the Macy Parade as a regular fixture for years after the show had gone off the air. I’m sure there were plenty of younger kids who didn’t know who the character was.
As for the controversy over whether the same characters should appear in commercials as well as the shows, there had already been plenty of beloved cartoon characters hawking various products, often in commercials that ran during their own programs. I don’t recall that it did any damage or warped any minds as far as I or any of my friends were concerned. And I know it will come as a shock to the watchdogs, but children from a very early age can easily differentiate between a cartoon that is designed to entertain and a commercial that is designed to sell a product. I remember some programs, animated or live action, where the commercials were written right into the program! Burns and Allen did this all the time as did, I believe, Jack Benny. The cast members of the Lucy Show appeared in their own commercials. The Flintstones featured the characters in commercials for Welch’s grape juice. (And earlier, though it predates my memories–Winston cigarettes!) And many of the other Hanna-Barbera characters were associated with various Kellogg’s cereals. So using the characters who had been created to sell Post cereals in the Linus show was certainly nothing new and nothing to get upset over.
Last month, I looked forward to the re-release of Huckleberry Hound. This month, I have something else to look forward to! I’m so glad these shows are finally getting the treatment and respect they deserve!
I think the difference was that the Post characters existed first as cereal-box mascots and in TV commercials before they appeared in full-length TV cartoons. The Hannah-Barbara characters started out as TV cartoons before appearing in sponsors’ commercials or on product packaging.
This was the same logic that led to the ban on toy-based TV cartoons, on the grounds that they were “half-hour commercials.”
it’s not so much damage or warped mind to the child. I think the idea is that if a cartoon character tells a child to buy the product, the child will obey and buy the product. and that causes damage and warped mind to Mom.
Does that mean that the color extended intro and credits don’t exist or are just lost media?.
Please confirm
Read Jerry Beck’s response above, and you’ll get your answer.
This is very good… but after receiving the Huckleberry Hound set just recently in the mail (and pre-ordering the M-G-M Tom and Jerry set), I must say I’m hoping for a restoration and release of (I think) William Hanna’s and Joseph Barbera’s first television cartoon series, Ruff and Reddy.
I’ll definitely be purchasing this once it’s available to order. I love supporting the restoration of classic animation. I purchase almost every Warner Archive animated release. They are always so excellent!!
Also really looking forward to the DVD! (MeTV reception is crap around here anyway!) One episode I weakly recall…60 years ago!… had, I think, the grouse character stealing the shadows of all the other characters. Look forward to seeing that one again! Maybe this will also cause Crispy Critters cereal to return? The one and only cereal that comes in the shape of animals!
Nice job Jim and all!
The reason Fred Silverman- the network’s executive in charge of CBS’ Saturday morning schedule back then- didn’t renew “LINUS” for a third season was because “THE BEATLES” (on ABC) suddenly became more popular at 10:30am(et) in the fall of 1965…..and Linus’ ratings declined to the point where Fred flip-flopped it with repeats of the later episodes of “LASSIE” [at 12:30pm] in February 1966. Still, Silverman was looking for an “edge” for next season’s schedule- and, inspired by the unexpected success of ‘BATMAN”, decided to offer an “all-superhero” lineup from 9am to 12 Noon……which meant there was no room for “LINUS THE LIONHEARTED”. General Foods, who owned the series, decided to move it to ABC that September, which kicked off their Sunday morning schedule at 9:30 for the next three seasons.
There are 2 YouTube videos that have popped up with Linus with both the show open and the show close in color for MeTV Toons. They look wonderful.
Here is the open:
https://youtu.be/7lwbc41Bv0k?si=yEZ9T_qssLmfqD7z
Here is the show close:
https://youtu.be/XGwbNDUcWdY?si=DmtMTannCCPSEbnH
I remember the Linus balloon appearing in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade for at least a year or two after the show had vanished from the Bay Area, with the commentators making no mention of his show or the cereal. Thinking Sugar Bear was the last of the show’s cast standing, laid-back Crosby persona intact in commercials featuring Granny Goodwitch and the Blob.
I liked Linus the Lionhearted Show. The problem was at the end of the day parents would buy the Kellogg’s Variety pack (anybody else try using the Kel-Bowl?). Or the kids would ask for Cap’n Crunch. The only Post cereal to survive was Sugar Crisp/Golden Crisp- and although I lately have seen some posts saying Post is bringing back Alpha-Bits.
What’s ironic is that it was Thunderbean who was going to put out Linus the Lionhearted but then somehow MPI is going to do it (though I heard Thunderbean/Steve supplied some prints), That said, I will definitely buy the show on DVD, though I noticed DNR was applied when watching it on MeTV Toons. Please tell me that won’t be the case for the DVD…
So glad to hear the news./…..
This is THE best news since sliced bread. “The” news, in fact, i have been waiting FOR!!!!! ” Roar…roar….roar…. ROAR!!!!”
I’ve been waiting for this for years since I first heard about it on Stu’s show. As someone who lives in Canada, growing up in the 1970s – I never saw Linus ever broadcast on Canadian TV. We were fortunate if we got the big name cartoons. Cable became our lifeline to be able to see the good shows. That doesn’t work anymore because most of the channels we get are Canadian clone versions of the actual channels from the US. This. Yes so they can insert Canadian programming into the mix.
By the way, Sugar Crisps still exist in its original form in Canada. It’s never gone through a name change here.
Will there be a post here when this is available for purchase or preorder? If not, what’s a good way to get a reminder? Thanks. Certainly don’t want to miss this.
Only thing that turned me off about Linus was the end credits. It was like a funeral dirge. Otherwise a hoot.
I assume this will be a Blu-ray only release, like the Huckleberry Hound Show?
No – this is a “DVD only” release. No blu ray at this time.
Amazing work to every on this restoration. Y’all are amazing.
Maybe one day something similar will happen to Total Television. HD King Leonardo will be my dream.
The only reason to release something on DVD is if the source is forever stuck in NTSC or PAL. And even then an SD on Bluray release would save on plastic costs, and provide less compression. Why DVD??
I cannot answer that question for this release – but there are other marketing factors that go into such decisions. I can tell you that the Porky Pig 101 set was deliberately put onto DVD because (as I had said often and many times before) that was an experiment, a test, of the collectors market. Would the consumers support such a collection? For that set, the opportunity arose for Warner Archive to do it – but internal budgeting to did not allow for restoration of every cartoon to the high standards of Warner Archive. Thus we didn’t commit it to blu ray at the time. I still contend that set is one of the greatest things we put out, and I’m quite proud of it for various reasons. Consumer reaction to it informed our decisions moving forward. The new Tom and Jerry collection is but one result of that test.
Yes, yes! But I was talking about putting SD on Bluray.
No…not really. But to each his own I guess.
Hi–is Warner finished restoring the many episodes of the Abbott and Costello cartoons for MeTV Toons broadcasts? And are they at all working on putting Daffy Duck and Porky Pig Meet the Groovie Goolies together for some type of release—many fans do want to see that restored also.
Last night I happened to catch an episode of LINUS THE LIONHEARTED on the ME-TV TOONS network that we get here in the wilds of Wisconsin. I was enrapped in a warm feeling of nostalgia hearing the voices of Sheldon Leonard and Co. and the fun “stock music” themes. The only drawback was that the soundtrack for the show had a lot of sound defects in it and it wasn’t as clear and vibrant as I would have liked, but I’m sure that this was the best sound that could be accomplished. Very happy to see this back and I’m hoping that more episodes will be shown. (I HOPE my wife didn’t “de-clutter” my old LP record album that I bought from Post Cereal Corp. some nearly 60 years ago? I gotta hunt for that!)
I’m hearing rumors that Paramount may finally be allowing the MIGHTY MOUSE cartoons to be broadcast once again. This is also great news! How about the very under-rated HOPPITY HOOPER SHOW?
mr.beck i know this is very unrelated but will the tom and jerry golden anthology have all the shorts restored from technicolor prints?
and why did the previous sets have some cartoons pulled from metrocolor prints?
oh and congratulations on getting terrytoons back one the air
The TOM & JERRY GOLDN ERA collection will have shorts restored from the original negatives or backup CRI master positives.
The “Metrocolor prints” you are referring to were used because most MGM cartoons original negatives were destroyed in a vault fire decades ago.
completely understandable but weren’t all of the turner prints of the tom and jerry shorts taken from technicolor prints?
in that case wouldn’t those prints then be transferred to the warner vaults?
either that or they somehow got damaged enough to not be usable
I am late to the party and just heard about this. Linus was my first favorite show. I have the record album and a Linus talking puppet. I will buy this as soon as it’s available!
This may be too nerdy (What am I talking about? This is fandom!), but over the past couple of years I’ve become aware of facts that alter a part of TV-history annotation accuracy, vis a vis: the correct series title we should be using when referring to any particular series in print.
My contention is that the colloquial title for a series is irrelevant “PARKS & REC), as are the in-house titles used on scripts, or even the title present on licensed merchandise.
It’s what appears onscreen in the opening credits that decides the title of every show–for better or worse.
For years I was annoyed when books and articles would refer to the series featuring Mary Richards, Rhoda, Phyllis, Lou Grant and company as “THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW.” In fact, when it won its Emmys, that’s the name that was used on air and in post-presentation lists of winners. Everybody on the show, in fact, called it that. Trouble is, on screen, it’s simply “MARY TYLER MOORE,” no “The,” no “Show.” And this isn’t a case like Jack Benny’s series, which was both THE JACK BENNY PROGRAM and THE JACK BENNY SHOW over its extensive radio and TV runs, or, despite no one ever mentioning that LAVERNE & SHIRLEY’s original title was LAVERNE DeFAZIO & SHIRLEY FEENEY, eventually devolving into its L&S form as the only one people know. MTM’s series remained MARY TYLER MOORE from beginning to end.. Perhaps it was because of THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW that the parallel construction was applied by TV writers to his erstwhile TV partner’s series.
Then, quite shockingly (because I’doverconfidently assumed the titles I recalled from my youth were correct), the same thing began happening with TV cartoon series as I regained access to ’60s series I hadn’t seen in decades.. I’d always assumed that the Gold Key Hanna-Barbera comics adaptations would carry the prescribed titles of the TV series. But no; whereas the 1965 one-shot Gold Key comic is titled MUSHMOUSE & PUNKIN PUSS, as well as all other story and coloring books publshed by Whitman and Golden Press (placing the prtagonist from the cartoons first in the credit order), the cartoon title cards reverse it as PUNKIN’ PUSS & MUSHMOUSE. Note also that those title cards call him “PUNKIN’ PUSS” with an apostrophe after the “N,” implying that it’s an elision of “punking,” rather than a corruption of the word “pumpkin,” which it most assuredly was meant to be, and which requires no apostrophes at all. Also, note that the actual title has an ampersand, and “Mushmouse,” like the later “Motormouse & Autocat”) is one, not two words, for some reason, while “Punkin’ Puss’ is two..
Then, thanks to YouTube, after nearly half a century, I was able to view the opening titles for my two favorite H-B series. For all this time, because I’d seen the title cards for THE RUFF AND REDDY SHOW (no ampersand). THE YOGI BEAR SHOW, THE MAGILLA GORILLA SHOW, THE PETER POTAMUS SHOW, THE ATOM ANT SHOW and THE SECRET SQUIRREL SHOW, I’d assumed all of the series had followed this title template. Again, I was mistaken. HUCKLEBERRY HOUND and QUICK DRAW McGRAW are their full titles. No “The,” no “Show.” I was shocked.
I bring it up now because, again, I had put my faith in Western Publishing Co.’s (Dell, Gold Key, Whitman, Golden Press) logos being correct. Every instance of the LINUS THE LIONHEARTED logo had the last part of the title as one word. That, however, is not its onscreen title, where LION and HEARTED are definitely two words, unhyphenated.
Sadly, there’s no healing ROCKY AND HIS FRIENDS, which is now officially called ROCKY & BULLWINKLE AND FRIENDS. For a long time there, the only logo on merchandise was THE BULLWINKLE SHOW, but during its MeTV TOON run, only one sixty-second spot used its theme music, so unless someone does a Blu-ray collection of the series using all of the ABC original, NBC prime-time and syndicated repackages, we may never see the episodes in their originally aired form with the correct openings and closings on home video, which
i’m sure would be a great seller.
.One final thought about LINUS: I was astonished to see Hoyt Curtin credited with the music on today’s episode. Scanning his obviously incomplete list of IMDb credits, I find four credits that were not MGM/Hanna-Barbera related in some way from 1954-2000: MICKEY (the 1964 Mickey Rooney sitcom), TIMBER TRAMPS (a 1975 feature), BATTLE OF THE PLANETS (1978-79), and GARBAGE PAIL KIDS (1988) Somehow, in ’65-’66, he managed to squeeze in LINUS during a busy period for H-B productions? Like Daws Butler getting work at Jay Ward smack-dab in the center of his H-B golden hey-days, you wonder why and how this happened.
I don’t know if anyone will respond to this message, but judging by the list on MeTV Toons’ website, will the Rory Raccoon cartoons be incomplete on the DVD release.
(If so, it’ll be understandable judging by how little he lasted in reruns)
Here’s one thing I know: there WILL be additional Rory cartoons on the DVD that are not be part of episodes on MeTV Toons.
Awesome news! (and thanks)
I remember watching these around 1972-74 in Maine and I liked the Sugar Bear toons then. Always nice to find these lost old toons again, same with the Terrytoons Hashimotos and Deputy Dawgs.