''The Hardy Boys'' is an American animated series, produced by

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 ...

and aired Saturday mornings on ABC in 1969. It features 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 ...

, Joe and Frank, along with their friends Chubby Morton, Wanda Kay Breckenridge, and Pete Jones (one of the first black characters to appear on Saturday morning television) touring as a rock band while solving mysteries. The series is also notable for its opening and closing credits, in which the Hardys appeared in

live action Live action (or live-action) is a form of cinematography or videography that uses photography instead of animation. Some works combine live-action with animation to create a live-action animated film. Live-action is used to define film, video ...

. The series debuted at the same time as Hanna-Barbera's similarly themed ''

Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! ''Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!'' is an American animated comedy television series created by Joe Ruby and Ken Spears and produced by Hanna-Barbera for CBS. The series premiered as part of the network's Saturday morning cartoon schedule on Septem ...

'', which aired 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 ...

. The series is noteworthy for including the producers' rotating wheel for the first time, which would make Filmation a household name.

Voices

* Byron Kane – Joe Hardy, Fenton Hardy * Dallas McKennon – Frank Hardy, Chubby Morton, Pete Jones *

Jane Webb Jane Webb Karyl, (August 13, 1925 – March 30, 2010) best known as Jane Webb, was an American film, radio, and voice actress, best known for her work on Filmation's cartoons. Early years Webb's mother was Estelle Sigrid Webb, a Swedish immigran ...

– Wanda Kay Breckenridge, Gertrude Hardy

Production and broadcast

Two 12-minute mysteries, based on the original book stories, made up one 24-minute television show. The 1969–1970 episodes were repeated for a second year in 1970–1971. Two live action songs were inserted in the middle of the mysteries and also used for the main and end titles, performed by a group calling themselves "The Hardy Boys". These songs were sold at stores on records and audio tapes under the album titles ‘’ Here Come The Hardy Boys’’ (Billboard #199) and ‘’

Wheels A wheel is a circular component that is intended to rotate on an axle bearing. The wheel is one of the key components of the wheel and axle which is one of the six simple machines. Wheels, in conjunction with axles, allow heavy objects to b ...

’’. Both albums have since been released on streaming platforms in 2011 & 2021, respectively, by Sony Music. As of March 2021, ownership of the rights to the series is currently unknown. The last known rights holder (for broadcast distribution only) was 20th Century Fox in the 1980s. However, in the 1970s and 1980s most of its episodes were released on 16mm film, which have been uploaded by numerous users to YouTube.

Episodes

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hardy Boys (1969 TV series), The American Broadcasting Company original programming 1960s American animated television series 1970s American animated television series 1969 American television series debuts 1971 American television series endings American children's animated musical television series American children's animated mystery television series American television series with live action and animation Animated musical groups English-language television shows Television shows based on The Hardy Boys Television series by Filmation Television series by Universal Television Television shows directed by Hal Sutherland