''Harlem Globetrotters'' is a

Saturday morning cartoon "Saturday-morning cartoon" is a colloquial term for the original animated series programming that was typically scheduled on Saturday and Sunday mornings in the United States on the "Big Three" television networks. The genre's popularity had a br ...

produced by

Hanna-Barbera Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. ( ) was an American animation studio and production company which was active from 1957 to 2001. It was founded on July 7, 1957, by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera following the decision of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to c ...

and

CBS Productions CBS Productions, Inc. was a production arm of the CBS television network (an initialism of Columbia Broadcasting System, along with its parent company CBS Television Studios, Inc.; the radio network was founded in 1927), now a part of Paramount Gl ...

, featuring animated versions of players from the basketball team of the same name. Broadcast from September 12, 1970 to October 16, 1971 on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

Saturday Morning, repeated from September 10, 1972 to May 20, 1973 on

Sunday Morning, and later re-run from February 4 to September 2, 1978 on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

as ''The Go-Go Globetrotters''—a two-hour show that also incorporated the animated shorts of a show of the previous year, '' The CB Bears''. (The

theme song Theme music is a musical composition that is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at so ...

of the new show hybrid-ed alternate versions of the theme songs of both previous shows.) The show team members featured fictionalized versions of historical Globetrotters

Meadowlark Lemon Meadow Lemon III (April 25, 1932 – December 27, 2015),"Meadowlark Lemo ...

, Freddie "Curly" Neal, Hubert "Geese" Ausbie, J.C. "Gip" Gipson,

Bobby Joe Mason Bobby Joe Mason (April 23, 1936 – July 4, 2006) was an American basketball player. He was an All-American college player at Bradley University and gained worldwide fame as a member of the Harlem Globetrotters. Career Mason was a three-sport ...

, and Paul "Pablo" Robertson, all in animated form, alongside their fictional bus driver and manager Granny and their dog mascot Dribbles. The series worked to a formula where the team travels somewhere and typically get involved in a local conflict that leads to one of the Globetrotters proposing a basketball game to settle the issue. To ensure the Globetrotters' defeat, the villains rig the contest; however, before the second half of the contest, the team always finds a way to even the odds, become all but invincible, and win the game.

Voice cast

The voice cast included: *

Scatman Crothers Benjamin Sherman Crothers (May 23, 1910 – November 22, 1986), known professionally as Scatman Crothers, was an American actor and musician. He is known for playing Louie the Garbage Man on the TV show ''Chico and the Man'', and Dick Hallo ...

- George "Meadowlark" Lemon *

Stu Gilliam Stewart Byron "Stu" Gilliam (July 27, 1933
datalounge.com; accessed July 21, 2018. – October 11, 2 ...

- Freddie "Curly" Neal * Johnny Williams - Hubert "Geese" Ausbie * Richard Elkins - J.C. "Gip" Gipson *

Eddie "Rochester" Anderson Edmund Lincoln Anderson (September 18, 1905 – February 28, 1977) was an American comedian and actor. To a generation of early radio and television comedy he was known as "Rochester". Anderson entered show business as a teenager on the vaudevi ...

- Bobby Joe Mason *

Robert DoQui Robert DoQui (April 20, 1934 – February 9, 2008) was an American actor who starred in film and on television. He is best known for his roles as King George in the 1973 film ''Coffy'', starring Pam Grier; as Wade in Robert Altman's 1975 fi ...

- Pablo Robertson * Nancy Wible - "Granny" Guard Leon Hillard was originally planned to be on the series, but was cut out of the cast prior to the start of production.

Production history

A total of 22 episodes of ''Harlem Globetrotters'' were eventually produced: 16 for the 1970–71 season, and six more for the 1971–72 season. ''Harlem Globetrotters'' has a place in history as being the first Saturday morning cartoon to feature a predominately

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

cast.

Filmation Filmation Associates was an American production company that produced animation and live-action programming for television from 1963 until 1989. Located in Reseda, California, the animation studio was founded in 1962. Filmation's founders and pr ...

's ''

The Hardy Boys The Hardy Boys, brothers Frank and Joe Hardy, are fictional characters who appear in several mystery series for children and teens. The series revolves around teenagers who are amateur sleuths, solving cases that stumped their adult counterpa ...

'' was the first to feature an African-American character the previous season (1969–70), and ''

Josie and the Pussycats Josie and the Pussycats (sometimes simply known as The Pussycats) are a fictional girl group A girl group is a music act featuring several female singers who generally harmonize together. The term "girl group" is also used in a narrower sense i ...

'' (1970–71), another Hanna-Barbera series which premiered 30 minutes earlier on the same day and network, was the first to feature an African-American female character. Like many other Saturday morning cartoons of the era, the first season utilized a

laugh track A laugh track (or laughter track) is a separate soundtrack for a recorded comedy show containing the sound of audience laughter. In some productions, the laughter is a live audience response instead; in the United States, where it is most common ...

. By season 2, the full laugh track was replaced by an inferior version created by the studio. After their show's cancellation, the animated Globetrotters made three appearances on Hanna-Barbera's ''

The New Scooby-Doo Movies ''The New Scooby-Doo Movies'' is an American animated mystery comedy television series produced by Hanna-Barbera for CBS. It is the second animated television series in the studio's ''Scooby-Doo'' franchise, and follows the first incarnation, ''Sc ...

'' in 1972 and 1973. Dribbles, who did not appear on the show, was in the theme song sequence; several references were also made to Granny, who also did not appear on the show. Hanna-Barbera produced a second animated series starring the Globetrotters in 1979 called ''

The Super Globetrotters ''The Super Globetrotters'' is a 30-minute Saturday-morning cartoon, Saturday morning animated series produced by Hanna-Barbera, Hanna-Barbera Productions. It premiered on NBC on September 22, 1979 and ran for 13 episodes. It was a Spin-off (media) ...

'', this time featuring the players as superheroes. In spring 1999,

TV Land TV Land is an American pay television channel owned by Paramount Global through its networks division. Originally a spinoff of Nick at Nite consisting exclusively of classic television shows, the channel now airs a combination of recent and cla ...

aired repeats of ''Harlem Globetrotters'' on Saturday mornings as part of its TV Land Super Retrovision Saturdaze lineup. The series has not been rerun since. The series was a co-production of Hanna-Barbera and

(one of the few animated TV series that CBS directly produced). Syndication rights were originally held by

Viacom Enterprises Viacom Productions (formerly Viacom Enterprises) was a television production arm of Viacom International. The division was active from 1974 until 2004, when the company was folded into Paramount Network Television 10 years following Viacom's acq ...

and later

Paramount Domestic Television Paramount Domestic Television (PDT) was the television distribution arm of American television production company Paramount Television, once the TV arm of Paramount Pictures. It was formed in 1982 originally as Paramount Domestic Television and V ...

, formerly owned by CBS as its syndication arm. They are currently held by

CBS Media Ventures CBS Media Ventures, Inc. (formerly CBS Television Distribution, Inc. and CBS Paramount Domestic Television, Inc.) is an American television distribution company owned by CBS Studios, part of CBS Entertainment Group, a division of Paramount Glob ...

Episodes

Season 1 (1970–1971)

Season 2 (1971–1972)

: HG-17. "A Pearl of a Game" (9/11/1971) : HG-18. "Nothing to Moon About" (9/18/1971) : HG-19. "Pardon My Magic" (9/25/1971) : HG-20. "Granny's Royal Ruckus" (10/2/1971) : HG-21. "Soccer to Me" (10/9/1971) : HG-22. "Jungle Jitters" (10/16/1971)

In other media

Soundtrack LP

A soundtrack album, ''The Globetrotters'', was produced by

Jeff Barry Jeff Barry (born Joel Adelberg; April 3, 1938) is an American pop music songwriter, singer, and record producer. Among the most successful songs that he has co-written in his career are " Do Wah Diddy Diddy", " Da Doo Ron Ron", " Then He Kiss ...

and released in 1970 by Kirshner Records (Kirshner #KES-106, distributed by

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also A ...

), which featured tunes heard in episodes of the series (during the basketball game sequences).

Don Kirshner Donald Kirshner (April 17, 1934 – January 17, 2011) was an American music publisher, music consultant, rock music record producer, producer, talent manager, and songwriter. Dubbed "the Man with the Golden Ear" by Time (magazine), ''Time' ...

served as music supervisor for both the series and the record. Two singles were generated from this onetime release, a cover of the

Neil Sedaka Neil Sedaka (; born March 13, 1939) is an American singer-songwriter and pianist. Since his music career began in 1957, he has sold millions of records worldwide and has written or co-written over 500 songs for himself and other artists, collabo ...

tune "Rainy Day Bells" with former

Cadillac The Cadillac Motor Car Division () is a division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM) that designs and builds luxury vehicles. Its major markets are the United States, Canada, and China. Cadillac models are distributed i ...

J.R. Bailey James Ralph Bailey (June 17, 1937 – September 6, 1985) was an American R&B singer and songwriter. A member of The Cadillacs from 1956 to 1972, he also recorded as a solo artist. He worked as a background vocalist for singers such as Aretha Frankl ...

on lead vocals, followed by three non-album singles.

Jimmy Radcliffe James Radcliffe (November 18, 1936 – July 27, 1973) was an American soul singer, composer, arranger, conductor and record producer. Biography James Radcliffe was born in New York City. He released such singles as "My Ship is Coming In", a so ...

produced, with Wally Gold, and provided the vocals on "

Duke Of Earl "Duke of Earl" is a 1962 US number-one song, originally recorded by Gene Chandler. It is the best known of Chandler's songs, and he subsequently dubbed himself "The Duke of Earl". The song was penned by Chandler, Bernice Williams, and Earl Edwar ...

", "Everybody's Got Hot Pants" from the first non-album single and co-wrote and produced "Everybody Needs Love" from the second as well providing a number of songs and recordings for the series. Globetrotter frontman Meadowlark Lemon was the only member of the team to be actually involved with the project, adding occasional background vocals to some tracks.

Track list for ''The Globetrotters''

(Side 1) # The Globetrotter's Theme (Jeff Barry) – 0:41 # Globetrottin' (Barry) – 2:19 # Bouncin' All Over the World (

and

Howard Greenfield Howard Greenfield (March 15, 1936 – March 4, 1986) was an American lyricist and songwriter, who for several years in the 1960s worked out of the famous Brill Building. He is best known for his successful songwriting collaborations, including o ...

) – 3:01 # Sneaky Pete (

Rudy Clark Rudy or Rudi is a masculine given name, sometimes short for Rudolf, Rudolph, Rawad, Rudra, Ruairidh, or variations thereof, a nickname and a surname which may refer to: People Given name or nickname *Rudolf Rudy Andeweg (born 1952), Dutch polit ...

, J.R. Bailey, and K. Williams) – 2:45 # Marathon Mary (Sedaka and Greenfield) – 3:06 # River Queen (Sedaka and Greenfield) – 3:06 # House Party (Clark, Bailey, and Williams) – 3:00 (Side 2) # Gravy (Clark, Bailey, and Williams) – 3:19 # Meadowlark (Sedaka and Greenfield) – 2:22 # Lillia Peabody (Clark, Bailey, and Williams) – 2:56 # Put a Little Meat On Your Bones, Lucinda (Sedaka and Greenfield) – 3:00 # Rainy Day Bells (Sedaka and Greenfield) – 3:02 # Cheer Me Up (Jeff Barry,

Ron Dante Ron Dante (born Carmine John Granito, August 22, 1945) is an American singer, songwriter, session vocalist, and record producer. Dante is best known as the real life lead singer of the fictional cartoon band the Archies; he was also the voice o ...

, and J. Carr) – 2:22

Commercial singles (1970)

* "Cheer Me Up" b/w "Gravy" (Kirshner # 63-5006) * "Rainy Day Bells" b/w "Meadowlark" (Kirshner #63-5008)

Non-album singles (1971)

* "

Duke of Earl "Duke of Earl" is a 1962 US number-one song, originally recorded by Gene Chandler. It is the best known of Chandler's songs, and he subsequently dubbed himself "The Duke of Earl". The song was penned by Chandler, Bernice Williams, and Earl Edwar ...

" b/w "Everybody's Got Hot Pants" (Kirshner #63-5012) * "Everybody Needs Love" (Jimmy Radcliffe and Phil Stern) b/w "ESP" (Kirshner #63-5016) * "

Sweet Georgia Brown "Sweet Georgia Brown" is a jazz standard composed in 1925 by Ben Bernie and Maceo Pinkard, with lyrics by Kenneth Casey. History Reportedly, Ben Bernie came up with the concept for the song's lyrics – although he is not the credited lyricist ...

" b/w "Bye Bye Blues" (Harlem Globetrotters #45-HGT-300 A/B)

Gold Key Comics series

In April 1972,

Gold Key Comics Gold Key Comics was originally an imprint of American company Western Publishing, created for comic books distributed to newsstands. Also known as Whitman Comics, Gold Key operated this way from 1962 to 1984. Currently, Gold Key Comics is owned b ...

launched a comic adaptation of the ''Harlem Globetrotters'' animated series; their first comic book appearance was in issue #8 of Gold Key's ''Hanna-Barbera Fun-In'' published in July 1971. Several stories in early issues were based on episodes of the TV show. The comic book series lasted for four years and 12 issues through January 1975.

References

External links

* *
Harlem Globetrotters according to Wingnut
{{Children's programming on CBS in the 1970s Cultural depictions of the Harlem Globetrotters 1970s American animated television series 1970s American black cartoons 1970 American television series debuts 1972 American television series endings CBS original programming Animation based on real people Television series by Hanna-Barbera Television series by CBS Studios English-language television shows American children's animated comedy television series American children's animated sports television series Basketball television series