The Banana Splits
The Banana Splits is an American television variety show produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and featuring the Banana Splits, a fictional rock band composed of four costumed animal characters in red marching band hats with yellow plumes. The costumed hosts of the show are Fleegle (guitar, vocals), Bingo (drums, vocals), Drooper (bass, vocals), and Snorky (keyboards, effects).[1]
For the dessert, see Banana split.The Banana Splits
The Banana Splits Adventure Hour
The Banana Splits and Friends Show
- Richard Donner (Season 1)
- Tom Boutross (Season 2)
- Fleegle
- Bingo
- Drooper
- Snorky
- Jeff Winkless (as Jeffrey Brock)
- Ginner Whitcombe (as Fleegle 2008)
- Terence H. Winkless (as Terence Henry)
- Dan Winkless (as Daniel Owen)
- James "Jimmy" Dove
- Steve Kincannon
Nelson B. Winkless Jr. (credited to Ritchie Adams & Mark Barkan)
- Ted Nichols
- David Mook
United States
English
2
31 + shorts
Edward J. Rosen (Season 1)
45–48 minutes
September 7, 1968 –
September 5, 1970
The series ran for 31 episodes on NBC Saturday mornings from September 7, 1968, to September 5, 1970, and in syndication from 1970 to 1982. The show features the Banana Splits band as live-action costumed characters, who host both live-action and animated segments within their program. The costumes were constructed by Sid and Marty Krofft based on designs by Hanna-Barbera artists, and the series' sponsor was Kellogg's Cereals.[2]
A feature-length comedy horror film adaptation called The Banana Splits Movie premiered at the San Diego Comic-Con on July 18, 2019, and was released worldwide on August 13, 2019.
History[edit]
In 1967, William Hanna and Joseph Barbera approached Sid and Marty Krofft to build the costumes for a television show featuring animated and live-action segments, hosted by a bubblegum rock group of anthropomorphic animals. The show's format of fast-paced blackout gags was loosely based on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, so much so that Barbera and Hanna hired that show's head writers, Phil Hahn and Jack Hanrahan. (The Banana Splits later appeared as guests on Laugh-In on November 18, 1968.)
The Banana Splits Adventure Hour premiered on NBC on September 7, 1968.[2] In his autobiography, Barbera said that the show was originally going to be called The Banana Bunch, but permission could not be obtained from the author of a children's book by that same title.
The Krofft brothers credit the series' success for making possible their own entry into television, H.R. Pufnstuf. NBC picked up the Krofft series, which was launched on August 30, 1969, during an hour-long special hosted by the Banana Splits.[2]
The show's live-action segment Danger Island, a cliffhanger serial, as well as the short-lived Micro Ventures, a part-live action, part-animated[3] series consisting of only four episodes, ran alongside the animated segments Arabian Knights and The Three Musketeers.[2] Actors Jan-Michael Vincent (billed as Michael Vincent) and Ronne Troup appeared in the live-action component Danger Island. All the live-action material filmed for the series' first season, including the Banana Splits and Danger Island segments, was directed by Richard Donner.[4]
Jason Ankeny of AllMusic has blamed the show's drastic ratings drop during its second season on the production staff's failure to change backgrounds or set designs, which misled young viewers into thinking that they were watching reruns instead of new episodes.[5]
Synopsis[edit]
Each show represented a meeting of the Banana Splits Club, and the wraparounds featured the adventures of the club members, a musical quartet meant to be reminiscent of the Monkees.
The Splits' segments, including songs of the week and comedy skits, served as wraparounds for a number of individual segments.
For the first season, some of the live-action segments—specifically those used during the musical segments—were shot at Six Flags Over Texas, an amusement park in Arlington, Texas.[2] For the second season, filming took place at the Coney Island amusement park in Cincinnati, Ohio. In many episodes, the Banana Splits were seen riding the many rides at Six Flags and Coney Island.
The Banana Buggies, mentioned in the theme song, were customized vehicles driven by each live-action character. The buggies were customized Amphicat six-wheel drive all-terrain vehicles, each decorated to resemble the character who drove it. Plastic 1/25 scale model kits were issued by Aurora Plastics Corporation (catalog number 832) beginning in 1969. They were never reissued by Aurora, but have since been released as high-end resin-based kits.[6]
The Banana Splits was one of the first two Hanna-Barbera series in 1968 for which Hanna and Barbera received executive producer credits, the other being The New Adventures of Huckleberry Finn; Edward Rosen was the producer on both series. It was also one of the first Saturday morning shows to use a laugh track,[7] but only during the live-action comedy segments. In its first year, the cartoons were adventure-based and did not have laugh tracks. (The first Saturday morning cartoon with a laugh track was Filmation's The Archie Show.)
The show had four segments:
In the second season, The Three Musketeers segments were replaced with reruns of The Hillbilly Bears, a cartoon segment that previously appeared on The Atom Ant Show (1965–1968).
The Banana Splits was syndicated in 1970 to local stations, reformatted as a half-hour show under the title The Banana Splits and Friends Show. The Banana Splits formed a framework for episodes from three of Hanna-Barbera's animated series (The Atom Ant Show, The Secret Squirrel Show, and The Adventures of Gulliver) and the live-action The New Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. All the original Banana Splits episodes were included in this package, with Paul Winchell providing new, spoken introductions for the added components in the series.
Comics[edit]
The Banana Splits' adventures continued in comic books. Gold Key began publishing a comic version in 1969, releasing eight issues through 1971.[11] Drawn by Jack Manning, these stories followed the musicians either trying to find work or on the road between gigs.
The Banana Splits had a crossover with the Suicide Squad in Suicide Squad/Banana Splits #1 on March 29, 2017.[12][13][14]
Other projects[edit]
Made-for-television film[edit]
Hanna-Barbera produced The Banana Splits in Hocus Pocus Park, a televised feature film, for ABC in 1972 that has the group rescuing a girl from an evil witch.
Home media[edit]
The 1st episode "The Littlest Musketeer" was released on the DVDs Saturday Morning Cartoons 1970s Vol. 2 & Saturday Morning Cartoons: 1960s-1980s Collection.
On September 21, 2009, Warner Home Video released the complete first season on DVD in Region 2.[29] The six-disc set consists of 36 edited half-hour episodes of The Banana Splits and Friends Show as aired on Cartoon Network and Boomerang. The series was also released on VHS.