A classic Hanna-Barbera character gives a stellar performance in a surprisingly faithful retelling of Baum’s original Wizard of Oz.
Hanna-Barbera Presents
SNAGGLEPUSS TELLS THE STORY OF THE WIZARD OF OZ
Starring Daws Butler as Snagglepuss
Hanna-Barbera Records – Cartoon Series HLP-2026 (12” 33 1/3 RPM LP / 1965 / 41 minutes); Reissued as Columbia Special Products P-13904 (1977).
Condensed Version: Hanna-Barbera Records – Cartoon Series CS-7034 (7” 45 RPM / 1965 / 12 minutes); Reissued as Columbia Special Products P-13909, P5-13934 (1977).
Executive Producers: William Hanna, Joseph Barbera. Writer/Director: Charles Shows. Music: Hoyt Curtin, Ted Nichols (Library). 35MM Editor: Milton Krear. Art Direction: Harvard Pennington. Cover Design: Willie Ito. Cover Art: Ron Dias. Hand Lettering: Robert B. Schaefer
Voices: Daws Butler (Ed Sullivan, Snagglepuss, Munchkins, Scarecrow, Tin Woodman, Cowardly Lion, Guardian of the Gate, Wizard, Winged Monkey Captain); Janet Waldo (Dorothy, Wicked Witch of the West, Aunt Em); Leo DeLyon, Danny Hutton, Al Capps, Ron Hicklin, Stan Farber (The Hanna-Barbera Singers).
Songs: “Snagglepuss,” “If I Only Had a Brain,” “The Wizard of Oz,” “The Wicked Witch,” “The Land of Oz” by Lynn Bryson and Peggy Shows.
There were three ways in which the Hanna-Barbera Cartoon Series records presented classic literature and fairy tales: the H-B characters found themselves somehow immersed in circumstances similar to those of the stories’ protagonists, they spun them as groovy spoofs, or they told them in a straightforward manner.
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No Hanna-Barbera Record captures the essence of one of its characters better than this one. You may not “laugh until you ache,” as the album’s title song suggests, but the scripts winds itself seamlessly between the funny as the dramatic. Snagglepuss turns out to be genuinely fine “actor,” conveying a true sense of gravity for the tense, uncertain moments in the story as well as the comedy.
Tailor-made gags, asides and wordplay pop up throughout the script, making one wonder whether Butler contributed more than a few of them to Charles Shows’ script. Just a few samples include:
“…the unfunny, funnel-shaped cyclone lifted the tiny house into the air, watusi-ed it around and around, and slowly lifted it into the sky, like a giant balloon even! If you can imagine a square balloon. Heavens to Morpheus!”
“So they walked up to a big, green gate and rang a green bell. A tiny guard appeared, dressed in—what else? Purple. Fooled ya, didn’t I?”
And if a funny line works, why not do it twice?
On the LP, this is heard on both Side One and Side Two…
“Dorothy couldn’t believe her eyes. She thought her eyes were tellin’ lies! Fibs, even!”
Snagglepuss’ (Butler’s) unique pronunciation of certain words has influenced me to this day. I usually say, “ree-zull-ize” instead of “realize,” “cas-tull” rather than “castle” and “whis-tull” in place of “whistle.”
Daws Butler plays every male role in the entire story, “casting” his impressions of Frank (Crazy Guggenheim) Fontaine for the Scarecrow, Jimmy Stewart for the Tin Woodman, Ed Wynn for the Cowardly Lion, Charlie Ruggles to the Wizard and—funniest of all—Ned Sparks as the Guardian of the Gate.
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Janet Waldo co-stars as Dorothy and Aunt Em, but her standout performance is the Wicked Witch of the West. As she told Stu Shostak of stusshow.com, she grew to enjoy voice acting so much, every opportunity to stretch was a joy. As the Witch (sounding sort of like Marjorie Main mixed with Maudie Prickett) Waldo gets a rare opportunity to chew the scenery—and must have had a blast.
The H-B stock background music was selected to superb effect from The Flintstones, The Yogi Bear Show, Quick Draw McGraw, Jonny Quest and others, but mostly from The Jetsons. You can just picture Elroy’s space toy flying around the room before Astro swallows it.
The five “Hanna-Barbera Singers” songs are among the best in the Cartoon Series. Sure, two of them are derivative of songs from the 1939 MGM film, but they’re quite listenable. “If I Only Had a Brain” is not the same song you heard Ray Bolger sing in the movie, but it is noteworthy because it’s sung by Leo DeLyon, who voiced Brain and Spook on Top Cat.
Though cute, “The Wizard of Oz” song is too innocuous to fit its placement on the album, because it comes at a point in the story when the Wizard is still in scary mode. The album comes to a dreamlike close with “The Land of Oz,” the first time a string section was heard on an HBR Cartoon Series record.
The cover by Willie Ito and Ron Dias may not reflect the final script (since it was created before the recording sessions and from limited input), but it’s nothing short of spectacular nonetheless, with a weightless Yellow Brick Road suggesting the Unwinding Road in H-B’s Alice in Wonderland and a gleaming Emerald City straight out of The Jetsons.
GIVE A LITTLE LISTEN
“HBR Wizard of Oz”
This is the condensed 45 RPM edition of the album. I felt compelled to add on the introduction with Butler’s Ed Sullivan and the conclusion with Waldo’s Aunt Em. Judging from the edits, this was cut after the production was completed rather than from separate voice, sound effects and music elements re-mixed for the shorter version.
Songs from SNAGGLEPUSS TELLS THE STORY OF THE WIZARD OF OZ
Hanna-Barbera Records – Cartoon Series CS-7040 (7” 45 RPM / 1965 / 9 minutes)
GIVE A LITTLE LISTEN
“The Blob/The Wicked Witch”
HBR’s answer to “Ding! Dong! The Witch is Dead,” the catchy “Wicked Witch” song has a Kingston Trio style with a opening that is startlingly similar to Bacharach/David’s “The Blob.”
THE WIZARD OF OZ
The Hanky Pank Players (aka Happy Time Chorus, Mr. Pickwick Players)
Cricket Records CR-37 (1959, Mono, 32 minutes); Happy Time Records HT-1033 (1963, Mono, 32 minutes); Mr. Pickwick Records SPC-5109 (1974, Stereo, 35 minutes) (12” 33 1/3 RPM LP)
Executive Producer: Cy Leslie. Producer/Musical Director: Ralph Stein. Writers: Sid Frank, Ralph Stein. Cover Art: Norman Bridwell.
Performers: Jerry Roberts (Narrator); James Dukas (Scarecrow, Tin Woodman, Cowardly Lion, Wizard); Jane Connors, Bill Anders, Jack Mitchell, Bill Heyer, Candy Anderson.
Songs: “The Cyclone Song,” “The Emerald City,” “Thank You Song” by Sid Frank and Ralph Stein. “Follow the Yellow Brick Road / Off to See the Wizard,” “Ding! Dong! The Witch is Dead,” “Over the Rainbow” (SPC-5109 only) by E.Y. Harburg and Harold Arlen.
Ralph Stein and Sid Frank wrote and produced quite a few lighthearted recordings of children’s stories for various Pickwick and Golden records. This one of was a steady seller for decades—a knowingly humorous, yet fairly faithful vision of the Baum book. There is one sequence that does not appear in any Baum book at all, in which the Cowardly Lion defeats “Crockabears,” creatures with heads like crocodiles and bodies like bears.
This is one of a handful of records from the 1960’s with cover art by Norman Bridwell, creator of Clifford, the Big Red Dog and The Witch Next Door. His style is unmistakable—Dorothy even bears a striking resemblance to Clifford’s friend Emily Elizabeth.
Two songs from the MGM film were included in the three issues of the album, with “Over the Rainbow” added for the third release. The remaining songs are pleasant, amusing and fit the jaunty, unpretentious proceedings.
The cast of New York actors and vocalists includes the versatile James Dukas, veteran of thousands of commercials, recordings and stage work. A Ralph Stein favorite, Dukas was hired for countless records from the ‘50s to the ‘70s. The original voice of Count Chocula, Dukas plays many roles with expertise.
Stein (or the recording engineer) also used the novel idea of a backwards echo to add creepiness to the Wizard’s voice. Though this was likely not the first time this was done, it’s worth pointing out that The Beatles (or George Martin) employed a somewhat similar technique many years later for “Revolution 9”. (No, I’m not suggesting that John bought the Happy Time “Oz” album for Yoko after browsing the budget record bins at Woolie’s).
GIVE A LITTLE LISTEN
“Real Housewives of Emerald City”
Some of the performances on the Cricket/Happy Time/Mr. Pickwick version of The Wizard of Oz are, shall we say, more “adroit” than others, so much so that some sequences are have a comical effect beyond what is in the script. Listen to Dorothy take on the Wicked Witch in a fight to the death.
GREG EHRBAR is a freelance writer/producer for television, advertising, books, theme parks and stage. Greg has worked on content for such studios as Disney, Warner and Universal, with some of Hollywood’s biggest stars. His numerous books include Mouse Tracks: The Story of Walt Disney Records (with Tim Hollis). Visit 
Greg:
I really enjoyed Snagglepuss and the Wizaed Of Oz.Daws and Janet were great.And i think you’re right.Daws may have added a line or three,or five,even! Heavens to Ad-lib!
Thank you very large, Andy!
The Snagglepuss album was my first HBR record, a birthday present at age 6. I found it a sheer delight then, and it only gets better the more I hear it.
It is not a typical “kiddie record” as it doesn’t “talk down” to kids. Snagglepuss tells the story in his distinctive style, and the listener either “gets” the gags or doesn’t. The music, likewise, was kind of edgy and “with it” for its time. Note also that the song titles are reminiscent of the MGM song titles–when I first received the record, my impression was that except for the Snagglepuss song, they were renditions of the tried and true Oz music. I wasn’t at all disappointed with the music when I realized that it was original for the album–I really liked the songs.
The cover art suggests that the lion in the story is played by Snagglepuss–which would have made sense. Instead, the Lion is a separate character, with a voice similar to Daws’ Wally Gator voice. I still think it would have been better to incorporate Snagglepuss into the story itself rather than merely having him narrate–but that is a minor quibble.
Note also that when Dorothy and friends first start along the yellow brick road, the background music cue sounds just for a few bars almost like the MGM version of “Follow the Yellow Brick Road” before it morphs back into a customary H-B music cue. I also like the music as Dorothy and her friends enter the Emerald City.
One oddity is that the Wizard actually succeeds in bringing Dorothy home to Kansas–although by the time Aunt Em arrives, the Wizard and his balloon seem to have disappeared. This was probably to save time, as the story had already stretched out to a goodly running length. I believe this is the only version of the story in which Dorothy actually travels in the Wizard’s balloon.
Janet Waldo is fabulous as all of the female characters. I agree that her witch interpretation is fantastic. Another interesting thing to note is that Janet must be one of the few actresses to have portrayed both Dorothy and Alice.
It sounds as though a whole crew of voice artists had been enlisted to record this album–startling to realize (or “re-za-lize”) that there are only two–Daws Butler and Janet Waldo. So many different voices, so much talent.
This record is truly a classic. Thanks for all of the information about it.
Thanks for the nice comments, Frederick, as always. As to the Aunt Em observation, I have to wonder if the album needed trimming from being a little too long (it is one of the lengthiest HBR’s). The other moment that seems to have been edited is when Snagglepuss says, “If the Scarecrow’s eye hadn’t been painted on, they would have popped right out of his head,” followed abruptly by, “Then in the forest, they saw a man made out of tin.” The two sentences don’t really go together.
Yeah, having Snagglepuss playing the part of the Cowardly Lion would have made the most sense, especially since he was heavily based on the MGM version.
One question–there’s a line I never quite understood. When the Cowardly Lion is talking about how cowardly he is, he says something that sounds like “I’m an orthodox, dues-paying coward.” Is that what he says, or am I hearing the line wrong? And what on earth does it mean?
Any clarification would be appreciated.
That was one of those lines that took me a while to “get.” It’s pretty sophisticated, doing a spin on being orthodox “a person who abides by all religious doctrine,”and “dues paying,” as if he belongs to a group or organization of cowards, or maybe a coward’s union. How many children’s records mention psychiatry, except for Peanuts?
I LOVE these discussions!
Is this album available on CD?
Sadly, no, not as a download nor on CD. But we can always hope…
That would be nice Greg. There’s something money to be had here.
I meant, there’s certainly some money to be had here.
When I was a little kid, I thought that Jimmy Durante really played Doggie Daddy-but I also thought that GEORGE BURNS was Jimmy Durante. I also mistook Bobby Darin imitating Durante for the real one, and my father grouchily told me that he wasn’t Burns/Durante: “See, he took the nose off!”.
I had the Happy Time Oz record. I always had to run out of the room when the wizard’s weird voice was about to come on because it scared the crap out of me. Also, the Cyclone song scared me (the male chorus going “Ooooooooo!” for some reason. Kids. Whattaya gonna do?)
The stereo 1974 “Mr. Pickwick Players” incarnation of “The Wizard of Oz” is available as a download from Pickwick. On 7Digital, it’s in lossless FLAC format. Not sure if it’s from a tape source or not, but it sounds quite good to me:
https://us.7digital.com/artist/mr-pickwick-players/release/the-wizard-of-oz-7258400?f=20%2C19%2C12%2C16%2C17%2C9%2C2
It was fun to see Lynn Bryson’s name for the first SnagglePuss and the Wizard of Oz. Uncle Lynn was the youngest uncle in the Bryson family. There were twelve kids in the family. Uncle Lynn used to sing songs with us for hours when he came to visit. After a cousin published a history of our family I realized where the musical talent started. On Saturday evenings my grandfather used to take the family to the Rosebud, Montana community hall. He played the fiddle each week to earn a little money to feed the family.