FANTASIA OBSCURA: Saturday Morning Kids TV Turns Psychedelic With a Witchy Cass Elliot
There are some fantasy, science fiction, and horror films that not every fan has caught. Not every film ever made has been seen by the audience that lives for such fare. Some of these deserve another look, because sometimes not every film should remain obscure.
Sometimes, it’s amazing what happens on behalf of a bowl of cereal…
Pufnstuf (1970)
Distributed by: Universal Pictures
Directed by: Hollingsworth Morse
Hey kids! You ever ask your parents about Saturday morning cartoons?
Years ago, before content on demand, even before dedicated cable networks, audiences younger than 14 had only a few options where the TV was catering to their tastes. And the biggest premiere outlet was Saturday mornings, starting at 8 AM for network feeds (earlier in some local markets if the station put their own shows on), with cartoons and live action shows you could watch in your pajamas over a bowl of cereal. There, there were hours of content that would run for tykes, sponsored by commercials for toys and cereal, hoping to getting you to switch what was in your bowl next week for their product.
And sometimes, theatrical films would inspire tie-in series, such as Fantastic Voyage, Return to the Planet of the Apes, and the first Godzilla series. You almost never saw something from Saturday mornings make its way from on air to a theater screen.
Almost…
If you remember the opening theme of the TV series, you know pretty well the first 20 minutes of the movie. After a cold open where the villain of the piece, Wilhelmina W. Witchiepoo (Billie Hayes), makes a horrible attempt to play on our sympathies in a direct appeal to the audience, we have Jimmy (Jack Wild) deep in song over the soundtrack, just out and enjoying the day before remembering he’s late for band practice. He finally shows up, where the kids tease him for his accent and frame him for busting a drum, which gets him expelled from band by its leader, Miss Flick (Jane Dulo).
Feeling alone and dejected, Jimmy talks to his flute… which then talks back to him, after making a radical transformation:
His flute, who calls itself Freddie (voiced by Don Messick) claims to be a valuable friend. Though admittedly, with most flutes coming in at about 13 ounces and gold going for around $1200 an ounce these days, before we even price out the gems and the whole sudden sentience, well…
Jimmy and Freddie find the boat to Living Island, which offers to take them on a trip; the boat’s a trap set up by Witchiepoo, who wants to possess Freddie for herself; to the rescue comes the mayor of Living Island, H. R. Pufenstuf (voiced by Alvin Melvin); Jimmy is saved, setting up him vs. the witch. In other words, basically the entire TV series in the 93 minute run time for the film.
There are some added features, such as more songs, to the point where the film gets to be in danger of becoming an opera. Also, more complex shots than the series had, with overhead dolly pans and added psychedelic light show scene bridges, which make it even harder for show creators Sid & Marty Krofft to deny that there was a subtle drug reference underlying the show.
And as an addition, there’s not just one witch here, but a whole convention of witches that figures into the plot, where we watch Witchiepoo vie for status among her peers through owning Freddie. We watch her scheme and flail about trying to impress her leader, Boss Witch (Martha Raye), while trying to one-up her major frenemy Witch Hazel (“Mama Cass” Elliot, her first role in her very short career as an actress and her only feature), who gets to do a solo track in the film, “Different”:
Basically, but more, pretty well sums up the film. The TV series on NBC’s Saturday morning lineup was such a hit that worked so well as is, that the Kroffts didn’t feel they needed to make that many big changes save for replacing Pufnstuf’s TV voice actor Lennie Weinrib, who couldn’t commit to the project. While the budget for the film was the same as for all 17 episodes for TV in total, most of it underwritten by Kellogg’s, the show’s sponsor on NBC, there was a conscious effort to keep things as close to the source material as possible.
The end result is something that feels like a condensation of the essence of the series, an effort to give people who go to the movies, but never turn on a TV, their own version to embrace. Fans of the series might quibble with a few changes and shortcuts, but otherwise have something to point to now and again as an expanded property to debate with friends. And if you never experienced the series on TV, this is just enough for you to sit through and get what it was all about, without committing nine hours to that project.
Which is probably why the film got as spotty a distribution as it did, with only a limited theatrical release when Universal dumped it in a few random markets. The studio assumed that no one would go to the movies to see a TV show, missing out on bringing the whole “small-to-big-screen” experience to people years before we’d see Star Trek, The Fugitive, and Mission: Impossible prove them wrong.
And if the only connection you’re ever going to get to this Kroffts property, or any of their projects, is this film, there’s plenty here to take from it. Like the fact that most of their earlier shows are built around the villain driving the plot manically; much like on the series, you can’t stop looking at Hayes grabbing the film the way her character grabs for the flute. Her pantomimes are exaggerations that are larger than life and make her one of the most brilliant physical comedians ever captured on film. It’s her energy that keeps things interesting, and even propels much of the film forward.
Speaking of connections, the film’s production certainly involved both the personal hands-on approach the Kroffts engaged in throughout their careers, and a few odd coincidences. Wild, who met the Kroffts at the Hollywood premier of Oliver!, owed his career to being discovered by talent agent June Collins, who was the mother of musician Phil Collins. Likewise, the Kroffts got the rest of their cast 
through such casual linkages, such as Cass Elliot happening to be Sid’s next-door neighbor.
Getting Raye as the Boss Witch involved a bit more work. Having been turned down by Bette Davis when they asked her to do the role, the Kroffts ended up being the first gig Raye was offered since her blacklisting for having enthusiastically done USO shows in Vietnam, an unpopular move in the late ’60s.
In fact, Raye got along so well with the Kroffts on the production, that she next took the role of Benita Bizarre, the Witchiepoo stand-in as the major villain on their next TV series for NBC, The Bugaloos:
Ironically, according to cast member John McIndoe, who played one of the bugs in the series that assembled performers for a pre-made band that tried to be The Monkees for the really young crowd, one of the finalists for his role who almost got the job instead of him was… Phil Collins.
Y’know, I think I need more milk for this cereal…
NEXT TIME: Come for the Verne-mania, stay for the fire sale…
