''Hey, Hey, Hey, It's Fat Albert'' is an

animated Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most ani ...

primetime

television special A television special (often TV special, or rarely television spectacular) is a standalone television show which may also temporarily interrupt episodic programming normally scheduled for a given time slot. Some specials provide a full range of ent ...

which originally aired on November 12, 1969 on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. While NBC did re-air the special twice following its initial airing, it has rarely been seen since. The film is in the collection of the

Paley Center for Media The Paley Center for Media, formerly the Museum of Television & Radio (MT&R) and the Museum of Broadcasting, founded in 1975 by William S. Paley, is an American cultural institution in New York with a branch office in Los Angeles, dedicated to ...

, which has only held a very small number of screenings of the feature. It was created by

Bill Cosby William Henry Cosby Jr. ( ; born July 12, 1937) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and media personality. He made significant contributions to American and African-American culture, and is well known in the United States for his eccentric ...

and animator Ken Mundie. It was based on Cosby's stand-up routines, which were based on his childhood. It would later inspire the long-running 1972 animated series ''

Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids ''Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids'' is an American animated television series created, produced, and hosted (in live action bookends) by comedian Bill Cosby, who also lent his voice to a number of characters, including Fat Albert and himself. Film ...

''. A second special, ''Weird Harold'', aired on May 4, 1973. The special has a very different style from the later series. Due to time and a tight budget, the animators had to draw directly onto cels with

grease pencil The grease pencil, a wax writing tool also known as a wax pencil, china marker, or chinagraph pencil (especially in the United Kingdom), is a writing implement made of hardened colored wax and is useful for marking on hard, glossy non-porous surf ...

s and actual images of

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

were used for backgrounds. The music was provided by Herbie Hancock, who later used some of the music he composed on his album ''

Fat Albert Rotunda ''Fat Albert Rotunda'' is the eighth album by jazz keyboardist Herbie Hancock, released in 1969. It was Hancock's first release for Warner Bros. Records after his departure from Blue Note Records. The music was originally done for the TV specia ...

''. Unlike the later ''Cosby Kids'' series and specials, it has not been released on DVD.

References

External links

Article featuring concept art and a short clip
1969 in American television 1969 television specials 1960s American television specials American animated television films American television series premieres Filmation animated films 1960s animated television specials Works by Bill Cosby {{1960s-animation-film-stub