''The Magilla Gorilla Show'' is an American animated television series starring

Magilla Gorilla Magilla Gorilla is a fictional gorilla and the star of ''The Magilla Gorilla Show'' by Hanna-Barbera that aired from 1963 to 1965. Character description Magilla Gorilla (voiced by Allan Melvin) is a fun-loving yet trouble-prone anthropomorphic go ...

. The series was produced by

Hanna-Barbera Productions 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 ...

for

Screen Gems Screen Gems is an American brand name used by Sony Pictures' Sony Pictures Entertainment Motion Picture Group, a subsidiary of Japanese multinational conglomerate, Sony Group Corporation. It has served several different purposes for its parent ...

, and was originally sponsored in

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, ...

Ideal Toys Ideal Toy Company was an American toy company founded by Morris Michtom and his wife, Rose. During the post–World War II baby boom era, Ideal became the largest doll-making company in the United States. Their most popular dolls included Bets ...

from 1964 through 1967. The show had other recurring characters, including

Punkin' Puss & Mushmouse ''Punkin' Puss & Mushmouse'' is a cartoon produced by Hanna-Barbera and originally aired as a segment on the 1964-1966 cartoon ''The Magilla Gorilla Show''. Punkin Puss and Mushmouse appears in Jellystone. Plot The show features a hillbilly cat ...

, and

Ricochet Rabbit & Droop-a-Long ''Ricochet Rabbit & Droop-a-Long'' was a segment of Hanna-Barbera's 1964–1966 cartoon ''The Magilla Gorilla Show'', and later appeared on '' The Peter Potamus Show''. Background Taking place in a Wild West setting, Ricochet Rabbit (voiced by ...

. In syndication, the main and supporting characters from the ''

Peter Potamus Peter Potamus is a purple animated hippopotamus that first appeared in the 1964–1966 animated television series ''The Peter Potamus Show'', produced by Hanna-Barbera and first broadcast on September 16, 1964. ''The Peter Potamus Show'' was divi ...

'' show were also added. Prior to the show's launch, the show made an interview on their "upcoming" series in between the middle-and-late December 1963 on first-run syndication entitled ''Here Comes A Star''. Like many of Hanna-Barbera's animal characters, Magilla Gorilla was dressed in human accessories, sporting a bow tie, shorts held up by suspenders, and an undersized

derby hat The bowler hat, also known as a billycock, bob hat, bombín (Spanish) or derby (United States), is a hard felt hat with a rounded crown, originally created by the London hat-makers Thomas and William Bowler in 1849. It has traditionally been worn ...

. After a year on airing its original runs, repeats of all 31 episodes were aired between 1966 and 1967 during ABC-TV's Saturday morning schedule and on Sunday mornings the following season. The show aired on

Boomerang A boomerang () is a thrown tool, typically constructed with aerofoil sections and designed to spin about an axis perpendicular to the direction of its flight. A returning boomerang is designed to return to the thrower, while a non-returning b ...

until July 22, 2012. After an eight-year wait, ''The Magilla Gorilla Show'' returned on Boomerang for four days during November 26 until November 30, 2020 including the opening and closing themes and titles. During the four-day broadcast, neither ''Punkin' Puss & Mushmouse'' nor ''Ricochet Rabbit & Droop-a-long'' were aired.

Segments

Magilla Gorilla

Magilla Gorilla (voiced by

Allan Melvin Allan John Melvin (February 18, 1923 – January 17, 2008) was an American actor and impressionist, who was cast in hundreds of television episodes from the 1950s to the early 1990s, often appearing in recurring roles on various series. Some of th ...

) is an

anthropomorphic Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics t ...

gorilla Gorillas are herbivorous, predominantly ground-dwelling great apes that inhabit the tropical forests of equatorial Africa. The genus ''Gorilla'' is divided into two species: the eastern gorilla and the western gorilla, and either four or fi ...

who spent his time languishing in the front display window of a pet shop run by Melvin Peebles (voiced by

Howard Morris Howard Jerome Morris (September 4, 1919 – May 21, 2005) was an American actor, comedian, and director. He was best known for his role in ''The Andy Griffith Show'' as Ernest T. Bass, and as "Uncle Goopy" in a celebrated comedy sketch on Sid Ca ...

in 1964–1965, and

Don Messick Donald Earle Messick (September 7, 1926 – October 24, 1997) was an American voice actor. He was best known for his performances in Hanna-Barbera cartoons. His best-remembered vocal creations include Scooby-Doo, Bamm-Bamm Rubble and Hoppy in ...

in 1966-1967), eating bananas and being a drain on the businessman's finances. Mr. Peebles marked down Magilla's price considerably, but Magilla was invariably only purchased for a short time...for example, by thieves who needed to break into a bank or by an advertising agency looking for a mascot for their new product. The customers always ended up returning Magilla, forcing Mr. Peebles to refund their money. Magilla often ended each episode with his catchphrase "We'll try again next week." Magilla's only friend was an adorable, admiring little red headed girl named Ogee (voiced by

Jean Vander Pyl Jean Thurston Vander Pyl (October 11, 1919 – April 10, 1999) was an American voice actress. Although her career spanned many decades, she is best known as the voice of Wilma Flintstone for the Hanna-Barbera cartoon ''The Flintstones''. In ...

), who asked, "How much is that Gorilla in the window?" during the show's opening theme song.

Ricochet Rabbit & Droop-a-Long

Ricochet

Rabbit Rabbits, also known as bunnies or bunny rabbits, are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also contains the hares) of the order Lagomorpha (which also contains the pikas). ''Oryctolagus cuniculus'' includes the European rabbit speci ...

(voiced by

) works as the

sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland that is commonly transla ...

of Hoop N' Holler with his slow as molasses deputy Droop-a-Long

Coyote The coyote (''Canis latrans'') is a species of canis, canine native to North America. It is smaller than its close relative, the wolf, and slightly smaller than the closely related eastern wolf and red wolf. It fills much of the same ecologica ...

(voiced by

Mel Blanc Melvin Jerome Blanc (born Blank ; May 30, 1908July 10, 1989) was an American voice actor and radio personality whose career spanned over 60 years. During the Golden Age of Radio, he provided character voices and vocal sound effects for comedy ra ...

). In addition to his super-speed, Ricochet Rabbit uses an arsenal of trick bullets (for example, one with a skull bashing mallet that pops out of the shell) to help him take down criminals. He would introduce himself as "Sheriff Bing! Bing! Binnnng! Ricochet Rabbit!"

Punkin' Puss & Mushmouse

In a send up of the feuding Hatfields and McCoys, an orange

hillbilly Hillbilly is a term (often derogatory) for people who dwell in rural, mountainous areas in the United States, primarily in southern Appalachia and the Ozarks. The term was later used to refer to people from other rural and mountainous areas west ...

cat The cat (''Felis catus'') is a domestic species of small carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species in the family Felidae and is commonly referred to as the domestic cat or house cat to distinguish it from the wild members of ...

named Punkin' Puss (voiced by

) is constantly chasing a hard-to-catch hillbilly

mouse A mouse ( : mice) is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (''Mus musculus' ...

named Mushmouse (voiced by

). Punkin' Puss' weapon of choice is a shotgun.

Syndication

The show made its first premiere on January 15, 1964, on first-run syndication. When ''The Magilla Gorilla Show'' first aired on television, the show was not broadcast on the same day of the week or the same time, in every city's affiliation. For its original run until 1965 in syndication, some of the major markets in cities such as

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...

, and

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

aired ''The Magilla Gorilla Show'' on independent stations, such as

WPIX WPIX (channel 11) is a television station in New York City. Owned by Mission Broadcasting, it is operated under a local marketing agreement (LMA) by Nexstar Media Group, making it a ''de facto'' owned-and-operated station and flagship (broadcas ...

KCOP KCOP-TV (channel 13) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship of MyNetworkTV. It is owned and operated by Fox Television Stations alongside Fox outlet KTTV (channel 11). Both stations ...

KTVU KTVU (channel 2) is a television station licensed to Oakland, California, United States, serving as the San Francisco Bay Area's Fox network outlet. It is owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division alongside San Jose� ...

, WGN,

WTTV WTTV (channel 4), licensed to Bloomington, Indiana, United States, and WTTK (channel 29), licensed to Kokomo, Indiana, are television stations affiliated with CBS and serving the Indianapolis area. They are owned by Nexstar Media Group alongsi ...

, and

KTVT KTVT (channel 11) is a television station licensed to Fort Worth, Texas, United States, broadcasting CBS programming to the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is owned by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside independent outl ...

. Overlands and overseas, the show aired on

CBC Television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV) is a Canadian English-language broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster. The network began operations on September 6, 1952. Its French-l ...

in Canada at the time since its debut; and in Australia, ''The Magilla Gorilla Show'' didn't air in Australia until April 6, 1965, when

Network TEN Network 10 (commonly known as Ten Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network owned by Ten Network Holdings, a division of the Paramount Networks UK & Australia subsidiary of Paramount Global. One of five ...

ran the entire series. During 1965, new episodes and reruns of the earlier episodes then began airing on ''ABC's Saturday Morning schedule'' until its last run on December 30, 1967. In Canada and Australia, the show continued its reruns until 1969. After the reruns were mostly canceled in America, Only a few stations continued their portion to rerun ''The Magilla Gorilla Show''. Chicago's

WFLD WFLD (channel 32) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, airing programming from the Fox network. It is owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division alongside Gary, Indiana–licensed MyNetworkTV ...

once carried ''The Magilla Gorilla Show'' during the early-1980s in their morning schedule, and one of the longest-running stations to air ''The Magilla Gorilla Show'', New York City's WPIX, continued to rerun ''The Magilla Gorilla Show'' for more than a decade until 1984. At the time, no local station in America has aired them since then. Apparently in the United Kingdom,

Yorkshire Television ITV Yorkshire, previously known as Yorkshire Television and commonly referred to as just YTV, is the British television service provided by ITV Broadcasting Limited for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV (TV network), ITV network. Until 19 ...

reran the series in the early 1980's; and in Australia,

Nine Network The Nine Network (stylised 9Network, commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of five main free-to-air television netw ...

reran the show during the mid-1980s. Both channels reran ''The Magilla Gorilla Show'' for a short period of time. Back in America, the show was then returned on cable-only

USA Network USA Network (simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. It was originally launched in 1977 as Madison ...

later on during the decade, and

Cartoon Network Cartoon Network (often abbreviated as CN) is an American cable television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. It is a part of The Cartoon Network, Inc., a division that also has the broadcasting and production activities of Boomerang, Car ...

began running the series when it launched years later on October 1, 1992. Cartoon Network's run lasted until 2004 due to its sister station Boomerang at the time airing the show since Boomerang's early years. Boomerang continued to air ''The Magilla Gorilla Show'' until July 22, 2012. The show made a return on November 26, 2020 for four days until November 30, 2020, on a Boomerang Thanksgiving weekend containing episodes of various classic Hanna-Barbera shows. During the run, both ''Punkin' Puss & Mushmouse'' or ''Ricochet Rabbit & Droop-a-Long'' segments were not aired during the four-day period; which was replaced by another Magilla Gorilla segment to fill the schedule instead, with both opening theme and closing theme/credits intact throughout every segment. Out of the 31 Magilla Gorilla segments in total, only 20 of them were aired.

Cast

– Magilla Gorilla, Punkin' Puss *

– Mr. Peebles (1964–1965), Mushmouse *

– Mr. Peebles (1966–1967), Ricochet Rabbit *

– Droop-a-Long Coyote *

– Ogee

Home media

The episode "Come Blow Your Dough" was released as part of the "A Sample of Boomerang" tape, from Cartoon Network's sister channel, Boomerang.

Warner Home Video Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Inc. (formerly known as Warner Home Video and WCI Home Video and sometimes credited as Warner Home Entertainment) is the home video distribution division of Warner Bros. It was founded in 1978 as WCI Home Video ...

released the Classic Collection of the Magilla Gorilla Show consisting of 31 episodes of ''Magilla Gorilla'', together with the 23 ''

'' and 23 ''

'' shorts in a boxed DVD collection on August 15, 2006. The DVD set does not include the original ''Magilla Gorilla Show'' main/end title sequences and the cartoons are not restored, drawing heavy criticism from fans. A "Diamond Collection" of the complete series was released on June 6, 2017. All 23 Ricochet Rabbit and all 23 Punkin' Puss shorts are included as they were on the previous release. The opening and closing titles are still not included.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Magilla Gorilla Show 1964 American television series debuts 1967 American television series endings 1960s American animated television series 1960s American comedy television series American children's animated comedy television series Animated television series about apes English-language television shows First-run syndicated television programs in the United States Television series by Hanna-Barbera Television series by Screen Gems Television series by Sony Pictures Television Television series by Warner Bros. Television Studios Television shows adapted into comics

Segments

Magilla Gorilla

Ricochet Rabbit & Droop-a-Long

Punkin' Puss & Mushmouse

Syndication

Cast

Home media

See also

References

External links