Friday, October 03, 2008

CALVIN AND THE COLONEL

Friday night hasn't been the same around here since they canceled THE FLINTSTONES, but don't let that worry you for here's a long forgotten ('cept by myself!) series that'll make ya wanna snuggle in front of the tee-vee (or in the case the computer screen) in yer Doctor Dentins TONIGHT just like you did when you were a mere little pooper all revved up over the cartoons you'd be seeing come Saturday morning!

You might remember that I wrote about CALVIN AND THE COLONEL (which is, like I also said, not to be confused with McKEEVER AND THE COLONEL from a good year later) in one of the nineties issues of BLACK TO COMM (I forget which one offhand...probably the o.p. #22 or #23). You probably also figured that CALVIN AND THE COLONEL, for an ABC prime time cartoon from the sixties not produced by Hanna Barbara, would have been a rather successful attempt at least on aesthetic grounds to re-create AMOS 'N' ANDY with white Southern animals in place of Harlem blacks. But even with all of this going for them (after all, you'd figure that the oldsters nostalgic for radio days and the young whippersnappers were pretty much a guaranteed audience!) the show flopped, but despite whatever flaws it may have had (the typical tee-vee animation not being amongst 'em!) I find that the series holds up very well especially compared with the instant douse passing for programming today! (And did I mention that this show was produced by George Gobel's Gomalco who also gave us LEAVE IT TO BEAVER???)

So without further ado, here's an entire episode of CALVIN AND THE COLONEL complete with original commercials guaranteed to recapture those long-gone days of pre-sexualized childhoods and whompings in the tool-shed! And who knows, if ya kids are good I'll letcha stay up an extra half hour!

3 comments:

Bill S. said...

WOW---CALVIN AND THE COLONEL, another one from deep in the archives. I vaguely remember this and might have seen one or two episodes back then. I thought it's a cross between Amos 'n' Andy and Foghorn Leghorn, and then I looked it up and saw that it's Amos 'n' Andy themselves, Gosden and Correll, behind the show and doing the voices. In fact, as I was watching the CALVIN AND THE COLONEL show you posted, Mary Anne asked if you'd posted an Amos 'n' Andy episode! These guys are such pros that they could read the phone book and I'd be rolling on the floor in laughter...especially with that super-aggressive laugh track! Don't think we'll be seeing this in any authorized DVD reissue in my lifetime, but a little internet searching will find the Calvin and the Colonel fan some grey market copies for sale, although not cheaply.
Another great find, Chris.
This and Telecomics within the same week? You're spoiling us!

Bill S.

ps, I noticed that one of the grey market sources for CALVIN also sells WILL THE REAL JERRY LEWIS PLEASE SIT DOWN episodes. Now that one I'll be ordering ASAP...

Anonymous said...

You amuse me, my friend.

solomon said...

As a great fan of Amos and
Andy, I thank you for this. I vaguely remember this cartoon. But I immediately love it.