Life With Ladytooner

It’s time once again for a little trip down (slightly foggy) Memory Lane to talk about the Saturday Morning cartoons of the past.  Today, it’s about the cartoons from the DePatie-Freleng animation studio, who brought you the Pink Panther cartoons and these lesser-known gems:

Super 6:  This nutty cartoon starred a sextette of costumed crimefighters working for Super Service: Granite Man, Magneto Man, Elevator Man, Captain Zammo, Super Scuba and Super Bwoing.  The last one was the Gilligan of the team:  a dopey, klutzy hero who flew on his guitar, the Super Bwoinger, yelling, “ZIP, ZAM, ZOWIE and SWOOSH!” to get it started. Also featured were the Brothers Matzoriley, three siblings who shared the same body–and the same mishaps.

Super President:  Commander-in-Chief James Norcross secretly fought our country’s enemies as Super President, with the power to change his body into different substances (steel, stone, etc.).  His secret identity was known only to his bespectacled Presidential aide, Jerry Sales (although with a name like Super President, I don’t see how he could’ve kept it secret).  The second feature on this show was “Spy Shadow”, where secret agent Richard Vance can cause his shadow to operate independently.  

Here Comes the Grump:  A grouchy old wizard and his fire-sneezing dragon seek to stop Princess Dawn, her pet the Bip, and Terry, a boy from our world from finding the Crystal Key that will unlock the Curse of Gloom from the Princess’s country.  The good guys travel through different magical lands searching for the key, meeting the Balloonie Woonies, the Blockheads and the shoes of Shoe-Cago.  The show ended before they found the key.

Bailey’s Comets:  No, it’s not another cartoon rock band.  Barnaby Bailey, Candy, Wheelie, Sarge, Bunny and Pudge were a young roller-derby team racing fourteen bad-guy teams to find clues to a million-dollar prize.  Most episodes found the Comets sidetracked helping somebody in trouble, with Comet Candy sweetly persuading team captain Barnaby to undertake a dangerous task to save the day.  Announcing the race were helicoptering sportscasters Gabby and Dude, caricatures of Howard Cosell and Don Meredith.

Does anyone remember these four cartoons besides me?  We Saturday Morning Veterans can have very fuzzy memories, especially about cartoon that weren’t the biggies and only lasted one season.  But then I had a tendency to like the little guys.  Maybe that’s why I remember them so semi-clearly.

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