Synopsis of Saturday Morning Show

Magilla Gorilla holds a special distinction for two reasons: First, Magilla, along with Peter Potamus, was one of the few cartoons to begin its run in syndiction and then move to network. Secondly, the show was one of the first to be created in conjunction with a toy company in order to market character toys immediately.

Magilla spent his time languishing in the front display window of Mr. Peebles' pet store, eating bananas and being a drain on the businessman's finances. Mr. Peebles marked Magilla down considerably, but he was only ever purchased for a short time, typically by some thieves who needed the gorilla to break into a bank or by an ad company looking for a mascot for their new product. The customers always ended up returning Magilla, forcing Mr. Peebles to return their money. The only customer who was truly interested in obtaining the trouble-prone simian for good was a little girl named Ogee ("Oh Gee!"), who lamentably never had enough money.

Magilla was voiced by veteran character actor Allan Melvin, best known as Sam the Butcher, Alice's long-time beau on The Brady Bunch.

Accompanying Magilla were segments of Punkin Puss and Mush Mouth. A countrified cat and mouse who could not stop feuding, the title characters were reminiscent of the earlier Hillbilly Bears. Allan Melvin also provided the voice of Punkin Puss.

The last segment was Ricochet Rabbit, a sheriff who kept the peace with the help of his deputy Droopalong Coyote. The lawman got his name from his habit of bouncing off of different objects while chasing bad guys.

Also of note is the fact that Magilla Gorilla and Peter Potamus shared co-stars. In 1965, Ricochet Rabbit traded places with Breezly And Sneezly in an effort to promote the hippo's show, which was trailing in the ratings.

Release History

1964 - 1965 syndicated
1/1/66 - 9/2/67 ABC

TV Sub Categories

animated
comedy

TV Studio

Hanna-Barbera, ABC

Television Cast

Magilla Gorilla Allan Melvin
Mr. Peebles Howard Morris
Ogee Jean Vanderpyl
Punkin Puss Allan Melvin
Mush Mouse Howard Morris
Ricochet Rabbit..Don Messick  
Deputy Droopalong Mel Blanc

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