1970s Cartoons and Tunes

A common thread runs through Saturday morning cartoons of the 1970s. Music. Rankin-Bass produced Kid Power for ABC.  Think Peanuts and Our Gang go through diversity training as songs convey messages of peace, love, and harmony for children.  ABC aired original...

Underdog and Thanksgiving

A year after Underdog debuted on NBC in 1964, the titular super-canine made his first of many appearances in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.  A shrewd bit of marketing boosted the publicity surrounding Underdog’s inaugural parade float. NBC aired the...

Three Men On a Base

When Charles Ebbets died in 1925, Ebbets Field remained as an emblem of his dedication to bring high-quality baseball to Brooklyn.  The play on the field, less so. Hitting a one-in-a-million line drive to a second baseman that fuels an unassisted triple play in the...

Tarzan on Television

Tarzan benefited from the superhero craze of the mid-1960s ignited by the 1966 launch of the camp television show Batman.  On September 8, 1966, Ron Ely debuted as the title character in Tarzan.  Jane did not appear on the show.  It lasted two seasons. Twenty-five...

Mad Comedians and Mad Monsters

Baby boomers and Generation Xers most likely recall Rankin-Bass as the studio responsible for the stop-motion animation television specials Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town. Rankin-Bass also produced two specials that were quite...