''Matty's Funday Funnies'' is a 1959—1961 American animated anthology television series.
Broadcast history
The original ''Matty's Funday Funnies'' was broadcast from 1959 to 1961 by
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) is an American commercial broadcast television network. It is the flagship property of the ABC Entertainment Group division of The Walt Disney Company. The network is headquartered in Burbank, Cali ...
, scheduled during Sunday afternoons (with a 1960—1961 prime time edition during Friday evenings, rescheduled for early Saturday nights for the autumn of 1961). The series premiered on October 11, 1959, was later renamed ''Matty's Funnies'', and was broadcast by the network until December 30, 1961; the "Matty" of the title referred to
Matty Mattel
Matty Mattel was the boy mascot for Mattel Inc. Toymakers. As the "King of Toys," Matty was the host and sponsor of TV's'' Matty's Funday Funnies'' in the 1960s. Matty was part of Mattel's advertising from 1955 to 1970 and then renewed in the 198 ...
, the animated boy mascot character for
Mattel Toymakers, the show's original sponsor.
The show originally compiled the 1950—1959 set of theatrical animated short film series produced by
Famous Studios
Famous Studios (renamed Paramount Cartoon Studios in 1956) was the first animation division of the film studio Paramount Pictures from 1942 to 1967. Famous was founded as a successor company to Fleischer Studios, after Paramount seized contro ...
, the animation studio run by
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...
, featuring characters including
Casper the Friendly Ghost
Casper the Friendly Ghost is the protagonist of the Famous Studios theatrical animated cartoon series of the same name. He is a pleasant, personable and translucent ghost, but often criticized by his three wicked uncles, the Ghostly Trio.
T ...
,
Herman and Katnip
''Herman and Katnip'' are a duo of cartoon characters, Herman the Mouse and Katnip the Cat, that starred in theatrical animated shorts produced by Famous Studios in the 1940s and 1950s. Arnold Stang and Allen Swift were the regular voices of Herma ...
,
Baby Huey
Baby Huey is a gigantic and naïve duckling cartoon character. He was created by Martin Taras for Paramount Pictures' Famous Studios, and became a Paramount cartoon star during the 1950s. Huey first appeared in ''Quack-a-Doodle-Doo'', a ''Novel ...
,
Little Audrey
Little Audrey (full name: Audrey Smith) is a fictional character, appearing in early 20th century folklore prior to starring in a series of Paramount Pictures' Famous Studios cartoons from 1947 to 1958. She is considered a variation of the better- ...
,
Buzzy the Crow
Buzzy the Funny Crow is an animated cartoon character that first appeared in the Famous/Paramount Noveltoons cartoon, "Stupidstitious Cat" (1947). He went on to appear in 13 cartoons from 1947 to 1954, including ''Sock-a-Bye Kitty'', ''As the Cro ...
and various
Noveltoon
''Noveltoons'' is a series of cartoons produced by Paramount Pictures' Famous Studios from 1943 to the end of the studio during 1967. The series was known for bringing to life characters from Harvey Comics, such as Casper the Friendly Ghost, We ...
,
Screen Song,
Kartune and
Modern Madcap shorts, whose
opening titles were reshot under the new ''Harveytoon'' brand because
Harvey Comics
Harvey Comics (also known as Harvey World Famous Comics, Harvey Publications, Harvey Comics Entertainment, Harvey Hits, Harvey Illustrated Humor, and Harvey Picture Magazines) was an American comic book publisher, founded in New York City by Alfr ...
, the comic book publisher which been previously licensing the characters from Paramount for its comics based on the cartoons, had bought out all the rights to the intellectual properties overall, and had since then already re-established the Famous Studios characters as part of its comic book legacy.
Matty (voiced by
Cecil Roy
Cecil H. Roy (October 2, 1900 – January 26, 1995) was an American radio actress who was well known in radio broadcasting of the 1930s and 1940s as The Girl of a Thousand Voices.DeLong, Thomas A. (1996). ''Radio Stars: An Illustrated Biograph ...
) and his companion sibling Sister Belle (voiced by Sylvia Meredeth) would introduce the cartoons and show commercials for
Mattel products. The animation for these title sequences and bumpers, all featuring Matty, Belle and the Famous Studios characters, were animated by Famous Studios veteran Steve Muffatti. Later during the autumn of 1962, the show entered local
syndication
Syndication may refer to:
* Broadcast syndication, where individual stations buy programs outside the network system
* Print syndication, where individual newspapers or magazines license news articles, columns, or comic strips
* Web syndication, ...
as ''Casper and Company'', with new titles omitting Mattel's original sponsorship, along with the Matty Mattel and Sister Belle characters.
''Matty's Funnies with Beany and Cecil''
On January 6, 1962, the program was replaced with a new Mattel-sponsored series titled ''Matty's Funnies with Beany and Cecil'', featuring
Bob Clampett
Robert Emerson Clampett Sr. (May 8, 1913 – May 2, 1984) was an American animator, director, producer and puppeteer. He was best known for his work on the '' Looney Tunes'' animated series from Warner Bros. as well as the television shows '' ...
's ''
Beany and Cecil
''Beany and Cecil'' is a 1962 animated television series created by Bob Clampett for the American Broadcasting Company. The cartoon was based on the television puppet show '' Time for Beany'', which Clampett produced for Paramount Pictures compan ...
''.
A redesigned Matty Mattel and Sister Belle would appear as directors of the cartoons and in many intermissions along with Clampett's characters of Beany Boy, Cecil the Seasick Sea Serpent, Captain Huffenpuff, Dishonest John, Go Go Man Van Gogh, et al.
There were only 26 half-hour shows made with this format, with the last first broadcast episode broadcast on June 30, 1962. The series then continued being broadcast during its regular early Saturday evening time as reruns until December 29, 1962. From 1963 to 1965, the series was repeated on the network's Saturday and Sunday morning schedules (and then ultimately broadcast in syndication) as ''The Beany and Cecil Show''.
References
External links
''Beany and Cecil'' at Toon Tracker
{{Casper the Friendly Ghost
1950s American animated television series
1960s American animated television series
American Broadcasting Company original programming
Famous Studios series and characters
1959 American television series debuts
1962 American television series endings
American children's animated comedy television series
Black-and-white American television shows
English-language television shows
Television series by Famous Studios
Beany and Cecil