Lidsville? What the heck...

[raz]

My boyfriend and I recently came across this show airing very late at night on TV Land - Lidsville (http://www.nostalgiacentral.com/tv/kids/lidsville.htm). Now I'm no TV show expert, and most shows probably deserve a second chance but all I have to say is WHAT THE HECK is this?

It's about a boy who ends up in this world popupated by giant hats. Seriously, people walk around in giant foam hat costumes. All different kinds of hats. It's disturbingly twisted. And there's an evil green guy who rides around in a squashed top hat trying to snatch the boy or something - I was too busy laughing at the weirdness of it all to actually figure out a plot. Plus, it seems like all of the dialogue is dubbed over so half of the time the hat's mouths don't even move when they're talking. It was made in the 70s so I guess some weirdness is to be expected. And to top it all off, the kid has a horrid British-type accent and brown pants that don't even reach his ankles.

Anyone else see this show?

[da_pope]

It also features Charles Nelson Reilly!!!

[Fenris]

It also features Charles Nelson Reilly!!!

Yup. Part of the weird and wonderful world of Sid and Marty Krofft--two twisted geniuses who warped a whole generation of Saturday Morning TV viewers.

They also did H.R. Pufnstuf (about a kid who ends up on an island where everything (rocks, trees, houses) is alive...see there's this witch who wants the kid's magic flute and the mayor is a dragon who sounds like Jim Neigbors...um...

Th' two shows also crossed over.

They also did "Land of the Lost" (the first season of which had some great SF writers doing the scripts), "The Bugaloos" (about a group of insects that were pop-stars and Martha Raye (as Bonita Bizarre) as an evil record producer who wanted to sign them up.

They also did the fondly remembered "Sid And Marty Krofft Variety Show" (not quite the right title) which included segments like "Dr. Shrinker" (he's a mad scientist who shrinks people...could you guess?) "Wonderbug" (a talking, magical VW Bug) and the hormone-carbonating "Electro-Woman and Dyna-Girl" (yowza! Spandex and boobs!)

Great, wonderful stuff.

Fenris

[Lady Eboshi]

Ahh yes, from the people who brought you H.R. Pufnstuff:

Lidsville! (http://www.nostalgiacentral.com/tv/kids/lidsville.htm)

[Fenris]

Lidsville! (http://www.nostalgiacentral.com/tv/kids/lidsville.htm)

That page leaves off the last bit of the theme song. After the "falling and falling" verse, it switches to :

Lidsville is the koo-koo-kookiest
Lidsville is the ki-ki-kickiest
Lidsville is the guh-guh-grooviest
Lidsville is the living end!
If you get a chance to go, go there
You'll be glad you did, 'cause..
Everybody who goes to Lidsville really flips his lid

(Hoodoo laughs and says) "How's that for a topper?"

Good God.

I did that from memory. I'm not sure whether that's pathetic or impressive.

;)

[hajario]

IIRC

Lidsville is the living end, friend

I remember all of those from my childhood. The Bugaloos was the first and I only barely remember it. They talked in British accents but I was too young to know what an accent was and I couldn't figure out why they spoke so strangely.

Haj

[hajario]

Oh yes, the plot.

You see there was a magician who performed at a magic show. This boy wanted to figure out how the magician did his tricks so he snuck into the dressing room and picked up the magician's top hat. Then things got a little weird and the hat grew to an enormous size. The kid fell inside of the giant hat and floated for a while until he ended up in an alternate reality where hats are alive and take on the personality of the type of hat they are. The magician lives in the alternate reality but he is a powerful and malevolent, but incompetent, wizard.

Got it?

Haj

[Master Wang-Ka]

Not sure why the kid would have a British accent. He's Butch Patrick, who was at that time attempting to salvage the disintegrating remains of his child-actor career by trying to become a teen crush idol, a gambit which failed horribly.

He is, today, best remembered as Eddie Munster. If he's British, it's news to me.

[Omega Glory]

Yea, I saw this, Sigmund and the sea monsters and H.R Pufnstuf for the first time last night on tvland. All three of these shows were incredibly weird, but for some reason I couldn't stop watching. What I want to know is how people took them the first time around. I did some searching and found an article that the Onion wrote on an adult still having nightmares Lidsville*, so I'm assuming that a lot people thought that the show was at least slightly creepy during it's first run right?




*I know that the onion isn't a real news source, but some of their articles are based on stuff that people can relate to. I doubt we'd see many jokes about people being scarred for life by the Flintstones or something.

[Fenris]

Not sure why the kid would have a British accent. He's Butch Patrick, who was at that time attempting to salvage the disintegrating remains of his child-actor career by trying to become a teen crush idol, a gambit which failed horribly.

He is, today, best remembered as Eddie Munster. If he's British, it's news to me.

He didn't have an accent, IIRC. I think he's being confused with Jimmy, from H.R. Pufnstuf who was played by um..The Artful Dodger from OLIVER! (Jack Wilde?).

[delphica]

I did some searching and found an article that the Onion wrote on an adult still having nightmares Lidsville*, so I'm assuming that a lot people thought that the show was at least slightly creepy during it's first run right?


Heck yes. As a small child in the early 1970s, I was both fascinated and terrified by most of the Kroft stuff, but especially Lidsville. It was one of those things where I hated it, but I couldn't look away. The opening sequence, of the kid falling into a giant hat, is burned into my memory. Just seeing the thread title gave me the creeps.

[voguevixen]

I saw this for the first time last night and have to say I was traumatised by the akward pubescentness of Butch Patrick. (Gah! The Peter Brady hair!) Luckily the episode required him to slick back his hair (to become the great Whizzo) and I was able to revert to my quasi-pedophilic Butch Patrick widow's peak lust.

There was also a line where he said "Wait until I whip out my big one!" and I nearly fell off my chair laughing.

I was surprisingly amused by Charles Nelson Reilly.

I watched about 5 minutes of the following show (Sigmund and the Sea Monster) and nearly died of boredom. I might tune in again to Lidsville & the original H.R. Puffinstuff, but Sigmund won't be getting a second look from me.

(Be sure to check out Cecil's column about how the McDonaldland characters are thinly-veiled ripoffs of the H.R. Puffinstuff characters!)

[Mehitabel]

Another kid in the 70s here. I remember avidly watching Lidsville and, for some reason, loving Tonsillini the tenor top hat most of all. And I saw them all in black-and-white, at that, because we didn't get a color TV until 1978, so the colors! the colors! were lost on me and a lot of other kids. Color TVs were pretty expensive and most people didn't have them then. Pop culture in general, however, and kids programming (of which there was a lot less than there is now--maybe an hour or two on weekday afternoons, the rest only on Saturday mornings) was a lot more colorful with big cheerful fat letters and Peter Max graphics. Someday, if I think you're ready to handle it, we will tell you of the clothes we wore--but, grasshopper, not yet.

You have to put it in context--there was no anime yet, also no VCRs, so it was a ritual of Saturday mornings to watch these shows, that one time. We didn't know from special effects or good voice acting so we just took them at face value. I remember thinking Sigmund was a wimp, but otherwise I enjoyed all of the shows mentioned and now have their theme songs running thru my head. Thanks a bunch.

[Reeder]

There were murmers among the drug generation at the time about these shows. I can't say for sure but I do know watching them under the influence of a certain leafy substance made them all that much better.

I mean come on..H.R. Puffin stuff??

[Girl Next Door]

Oh yeah, Lidsville! Takes me back. I remember a crossover episode where Witchiepoo from H.R. Puffenstuff was on there. I was not happy about that. I was little and I was really afraid of Witchiepoo.

[Reeder]

Oh yeah, Lidsville! Takes me back. I remember a crossover episode where Witchiepoo from H.R. Puffenstuff was on there. I was not happy about that. I was little and I was really afraid of Witchiepoo.

She had a part on each show. Witchiepoo on HR and the genie on lidsville.

[Jenaroph]

On Mr. Show they once did a Sid and Marty Krofft parody called "The Altered State of Druggachusetts." (http://www.lowculture.com/archives/001839.html) Funny as hell, and spot on, apparently.

I never watched Lidsville or any of the other shows, but judging by the stills, good lord, the parody hardly exaggerated at all, did it.

[Mame]

Girl Next Door is right - there was a cross over episode. Witchiepoo and the Wizard give fake lonely hearts club applications, meet and fall in love.

Embarrassing admission: I have all of HR Puffinstuff, including the movie, on video. Plus other Sid and Marty Krofft stuff, including the episode of Lidsville mentioned above. Saw Lidsville this morning for the first time. Not good. However, Bugaloos is worse. Bleeech

[Johnny L.A.]

I watched, and liked, Lidsville when I was a little kid; but I didn't think it was as good as H.R. Pufnstuf[/b] or [i]The Bugaloos. (I totally had a crush on "Joy", played by Caroline Ellis.)

What did kids think when these shows were first aired? Kids liked the colours (sorry, Mehitabel), the frenetic action, the music (which was kinds rockin' -- check out Saturday Morning Cartoons' Greatest Hits ), and the imaginative settings. We all wanted to go to Living Island or Lidsville where things were so much more interesting than at home.

And they were just the shows to watch whilst eating a big bowl of Freakies (http://www.lavasurfer.com/bchof/hof-freakies.html) :D

[Johnny L.A.]

About that link...

It says that the Freakies fad faded quickly because "it tasted terrible". I liked it better than Cap'n Crunch. I thought it was good.

Anyway, here's another Freakies link: http://www.freakies.com/

[Girl Next Door]

Ooooh my god. Ooooh my god. I had completely forgotten about Freakies. Oooooh my god. You are stretching my memory. Ow.

[Master Wang-Ka]

Hey, I liked Freakies just fine. Tasted okay to me. Then again, I'd eat about anything back then if it had sugar on it...

[Alma]

Did anyone else notice that the general on Lidsville must have been the model for Dark Helmet's desert headgear in Spaceballs?

[Sampiro]

The first nightmare I can remember having was about being chased by Hoodoo (Charles Nelson Reilly) when I was about five years old. A few years ago I saw Charles Nelson Reilly in an airport and literally instantly regressed for a few seconds- he's just as scary in person.

[Janx]

Oh BOY! Lidsville! – Drug connection? What was a baggie full of pot called in those days? That’s right, a LID. I always took Sid and Marty Kroft’s stuff as seconds on Saturday mornings, after all the good cartoons were over. Also I seem to recall their stuff was more prevalent after school. My favorite character was the old lady/motorcycle helmet. I always wondered why the kid didn’t just hop into the squished top hat and fly outta there.

[Siege]

Fenris, old chum, if you hadn't posted the last verse of the Lidsville theme song from memory, I might have been able to. As it is, I may have that and the theme from H.R. Pufnstuff stuck in my brain for the rest of the night. If I do, I intend to invoke karma and inflict an earworm on you! :D

I'm old enough to watch them the first time around, and I just remember thinking they were neat, fun shows. I did find the magicion on Lidsville a bit creepy, and Martha Raye on the Bugaloos was funny. As for the accents, what did I know -- that's what my family sounded like. I think I had the vague notion that if you had a British accent like I did and most kids in the town I was living in in America didn't, cool stuff happened to you. (Boy, was I wrong!) It was interesting because it wasn't a cartoon like most of the stuff on Saturday morning was, and there was a fixed line up of shows which you watched regularly.

Concering good old Charles Nelson Riley, for those of you who can't get enough of him, you can see him on re-runs of Match Game 7_ on Game Show Network. There's also something I've wondered about him for some time, but I've been too embarrassed to ask. Since I've just admitted to liking some of the worst of 70's television, including Match Game, I haven't got much else to lose. Was/is he gay?

I'll slink off now before I embarrass myself further.
CJ
H.R. Pufnsfuff!
Who's your friend when things get rough?
H.R. Pufnsfuff!
Can't do a little 'cause he can't do enough.

[Johnny L.A.]

I may have that and the theme from H.R. Pufnstuff stuck in my brain for the rest of the night.
I've been known to play the H.R. Pufnstuf theme on the guitar. (Yeah, after hearing it on Saturday Morning Cartoons Greatest Hits.)
and Martha Raye on the Bugaloos was funny.
Which reminds me of her henchman... er, henchrat. You'd never get away with having a Nazi rat as a sidekick nowadays.

Say, is Charles Nelson Reilly still alive? I remember there was a website where you could look such information up (other than IMDB), but I don't remember its name.

[Johnny L.A.]

Hm. deadoraliveinfo.com. Makes sense. He's alive.

[Olentzero]

Something just snapped in my brain. I had totally forgotten about the Freakies, and having seen the box brought back the memory that I had a pink Snorkledorf fridge magnet. Oh God, I don't think I can handle the stretch.

So anyway, did the Krofft brothers do the Skatebirds as well, or were they just a cheap knockoff?

[Hail Ants]

Charles Nelson Reilly was in an episode of The X-Files and Millennium playing the same character, an author named Jose Chung (which is kinda funny in and of itself because Reilly may be many things but he doesn't look Mexican or Chinese). And he was absolutely brilliant in both!

Both episodes were two of the best (definitely funniest) for each series. In the Millennium one he's writing a book exposing the cult/religion of 'Selfosophy', a thinly veiled parody of Scientology. Absolutely hilarious!

Anyway, at the beginning of the Millennium episode ("Jose Chung's 'Doomsday Defense'") he mentions that he, "was even in a short film which won acclaim at Cannes". Then they show a clip from the ridiculous Lidsville!

The X-Files episode was called "Jose Chung's 'From Outer Space'"

Guy should've got an Emmy...

[Sister Vigilante]

It's weird, I watched all the Sid and Marty Krofft shows... but Lidsville was one I didn't see.

I started watching them again recently when I found them through channelsurfing. They were showing Sigmund the Seamonster (now there's a song that will stick in your head), and Electrawoman and Dynagirl... the latter one starring none other than Dierdre Hall of Days of our Lives! Very surreal.

The next weekend I watched H.R. Pufnstuf and I just knew that was the Artful Dodger, thanks for the clarification! Then Lidsville came on and I couldn't remember having seen it at all. Incidentally, a friend of mine has a morbid fear of Mr. Pufnstuf.

My favorite in childhood was The Bugaloos, because they could fly. I'll be waiting for it this weekend.

[photopat]

When I was a kid I loved Puffinstuff and Sigmund. I wasn't too fond of Lidsville though. I mean, a land of hats? That's just silly. When I saw it again recently I was really disturbed. Then I saw Sigmund and was completely disappointed. It was so much cooler 33 years ago.

One thing that bothers me though. (Just one?) I recall Sigmund using the Beatles' Got to get you into my life as the theme. Am I mixing it up with another show, or was that the end theme? I didn't stick around for the whole show this time.

[hajario]

One thing that bothers me though. (Just one?) I recall Sigmund using the Beatles' Got to get you into my life as the theme. Am I mixing it up with another show, or was that the end theme? .

Sigmund had it's own theme song. I only remember a snippet of it:

Now Sigmund the seamonster
and Bobby and Joe are friends

IIRC, the older boy was played by Jonny Whittaker who earlier was Jody on A Family Affair.


Also, wasn't The Banana Splits a Kroft production?

Haj

[Johnny L.A.]

Son of a whore! Stupid Internet Exploder. I'll just have to type it all again.
Sigmund had it's own theme song. I only remember a snippet of it:

Going from memory here...

There's nothing like a day out on the beach
When all it does is rain
You need somebody else to make
The sun come out again

And when you meet that special someone
You never expected to
It'll make you believe in magic
And it will change your whole life too

I'm talkin' 'bout friends (friends, friends)
Yeah, I'm talkin' 'bout friends (friends, friends)
I'm talkin' 'bout friends if you're young or old
Everybody needs friends

I also remember...

Now Sigmond the Seamonster
And Johnny and Scott are friends...

But I don't remember where that was. (End credits?)

How frightening is it that I can remember the Sigmond theme song?

[Sister Vigilante]

Here's some of the ending credits theme; it was different from the beginning one. I always did think it sounded "Beatles"-ish, but it's obviously not, now that I look at the words:

You better run, you better hide
We gotta keep you out of sight
Be careful Sigmund.

Cover your tracks when you leave
Cause you know Zelda won't believe
Your friend is Sigmund.

And etc. (http://www.culttelly.co.uk/lyrics/ssm.html)

[GrizzRich]

Is there any doubt that Sid and Marty did a few drugs in those days?

[Papermache Prince]

. . .
Also, wasn't The Banana Splits a Kroft production?

HajApparently not, if this review of the DVD (http://www.tvdvdreviews.com/pufnstuf.html) of H.R. Pufnstuf is correct: "After providing costumes for Hanna/Barbera’s The Banana Splits Adventure Hour, the siblings went on to create and produce shows of their own, including Sigmund and the Sea Monsters, Land of the Lost, and The Bugaloos."

[DocCathode]

Weren't the Krofts also responsible for Far Out Space Nuts?

Yes, some of the Kroft creations could terrify small children. I feel that this is one of the things lacking in todays saturday cartoons. Witchie Poo's appearance was the stuff of nightmares. It was only her comical imcompetance which made her bearable to tots.

Having been born in 75, I have no memory of Freakies.

But, one of the local channel showed Land Of The Lost through my formative years. Many of the special effects were cheezy even to a seven year old. But some of the episodes (especially a few featuring Eenik, the Altrusian) were very well written.

[Fenris]

I'm talkin' 'bout friends (friends, friends)
Yeah, I'm talkin' 'bout friends (friends, friends)
I'm talkin' 'bout friends if you're young or old
Everybody needs friends[/i]

This is the "new" lame opening song.

Apparently there was some problem with the rights to the better, original song (below)

I also remember...

Now Sigmond the Seamonster
And Johnny and Scott are friends...

[Moonchild]

I had an "Up Close and Personal" with Charles Nelson Riley a couple years back while bartending an awards show. Still on his first scotch IIRC, I told him how scary I thought he was on Lidsville, and he BELTED out, "I AM THE GREAT HOO-DOO!!!" Really had me crackin' up.

He clearly loved doing it and clearly loves being remembered for it.

[NDP]

Sid and Marty Krofft ... oy! Even when I was a kid I found their shows aggressively annoying. That's why I don't think in my entire life I've ever watched more than two complete episodes of either Lidsville or H.R. Pufnstuf. (By the way, does anybody now think the talking flute on that show sounds a lot like Mr. Bill?)

[sqweels]

Charles Nelson Reilley, along with Paul Lynde and Alan Suess from "Laugh In" are people whose very existance seemed to be for the purpose of being wacky and appealing to kids on television. Until decades later when you discover what their persona really indicated (not that I'm convinced that CNR is gay).

Anyway, I think "Lidsville" was indeed my favorite Kroft production. I remember "The Bugaloos" being far too nauseating to consider watching, yet unlike the previous hour when there were several cartoon shows over which I had to agonize in choosing, there were few less nauseating alternatives. I usually wound up watching "Far Out Space Nuts", which was basically "Dusty's Trail" set in outer space.

[moriah]

Is CNR gay?

Is a clutch purse at the Emmies gay?

Are black leather chaps over a bare ass gay?

Are three dollar bills gay?

Is hiding behind Mrs. Muir because one sees a "hlllll-hnnn, a ghost!" gay?

Is loudly proclaiming, "I said boobs, Gene!" gay?

Is "openly gay funnyman, Charles Nelson Reilly (http://www.outsmartmagazine.com/issue/i11-01/animer.html)" gay?

You be the judge.

[syncrolecyne]

This is not so far in the past, but does anyone else remember "D.C. Follies"? It was one of the last things the Krofft Bros. did that made it to TV. It was syndicated, and usually on at a really bad time slot, and featured puppets of ex-presidents in a bar in D.C. (Nixon would bump into Gerald Ford and say "Pardon me!" - oh what comedy). I think that pretty much was the last we've seen of them.

[DocCathode]

Syncrolecyne Yep. One episode had guest star Robert Englund, as Freddy Krueger, having a chat with televangelist Jim Baker. The puppeteers and a few puppets sometimes appeared on Hollywood squares.

[choie]

Oh. My. God.

When I saw the title of this thread, and read the OP, I was thinking, "Okay, as a kid in the '70s I was traumatized by H.R. Puffinstuff, enjoyed Sigmund and Land of the Lost, and detested Space Nuts and Electra Woman (and that was before that bitch killed my beloved Jack Deveraux on Days!). So why the hell don't I remember this show???"

And then I clicked the link to the Lidsville page on NostalgiaCentral (http://www.nostalgiacentral.com/tv/kids/lidsville.htm). And saw Hoodoo.

And I remembered.

::curls up in a fetal position, whispering::

The horror! ... The horror!

Jerusalem H. Crickets, NOW I realize why I've been in therapy all these years. Hoodoo was like a much bigger, much louder, and only slightly campier version of the Oompa Loompas. He scared the BEJEEBUS out of me. Same goes for that *#&#$^ Genie.

Hmmm. Looking back, I think I had issues with brightly painted faces.

::choie glances warily at the smilies... ::

[Olentzero]

He clearly loved doing it and clearly loves being remembered for it.It sounds like it. I want to have no shame like CNR when I grow up. ;)

Since we're mentioning him, I figured a nod to his latest incarnation, the Dirty Bubble, ought not to be out of place. Oh, and just look at his latest entry on imdb.com - that ought to put the question to rest. :D

[Lute Skywatcher]

I usually wound up watching "Far Out Space Nuts", which was basically "Dusty's Trail" set in outer space.Which itself was basically "Gilligan's Island" set in the Old West. This is not so far in the past, but does anyone else remember "D.C. Follies"? It was on in the early '90s; Fred Willard played the bartender. Pretty good show, as I recall.

[Zebra]

To be fair to Sid and Marty there were other kidde shows that were also scary and weird.

Does anybody remember Big John, Little John? Not about any character in Robin Hood. A school teacher takes a sip from the fountain of youth and turns 12. But only for a little while. Hilarity was supposed to ensue as he had no controll over when he would change.

Oh and theme was

Big John has a problem
as you can plainly see
one minute he's forty
the next he's thirty-three

Big John keeps a-changeing
befor your very eyes

He's twenty-five and then nineteen
and then he's twelve in size.

Big John, Little John
What a way to grow
Big John, Little John
He grew from high to low

Of course I the idea that I would someday turn into an overwieight, bald school teacher was pretty freaky but I did wonder about how his wife reacted to the 12 year old husband.


Then there was also Run Joe Run. Kind of like the Hulk in that Joe wandered around helping people while he was a fugitive from (un)justice.

But Joe was a dog. An army trained German Shepard and I seem to recall that Joe had flashbacks. I found the flashbacks kind of weird.