The Krofft Supershow Universe

Speaker 1 0:00

They created a very famous marionette burlesque show in the early 1960s called Le Poupé des Paris, and it featured topless celebrity caricatured marionette puppets.

Speaker 2 0:15

Hello, there's a song that we're singing. Come on, get happy. We'll make you happy.

Speaker 3 0:30

Welcome to the Pop Culture Preservation Society, the podcast for people born in the big wheel generation, for whom Saturday morning was the holiest day of the week.

Kristin Nilsen 0:40

We believe our Gen X childhoods gave us unforgettable songs, stories, characters, and images, and if we don't talk about them, they'll disappear, like Marshall Willett Holly on a routine expedition.

Speaker 1 0:51

And today we're celebrating the Saturday morning legacy of two very twisted and profoundly creative puppeteers who left an indelible mark on television in the 1970s Sid and Marty Croft and the Croft Super Show universe. I'm Carolyn, I'm Kristen, and I'm Michelle, and we are your pop culture preservationists

Kristin Nilsen 1:22

today. today's episode is a long time coming, because what may have faded from your memory, because it was brief and fleeting, was truly emblematic of a 70s childhood. It was at once psychedelic and for children. It featured giant puppet-like things, not unlike Grimace or Mayor McCheese. There was a faux glam rock band with the unfortunate initials KKK. There was Gomer Pyle as an alien from outer space, another faux band who could fly because they were bugs, a flute who could talk, another faux band made up of sea monsters, some enormous hats walking around on tiny feet, and an evil madman with a shrinking machine, two lady superheroes, a witch who was way too scary for children, and I only have to say this once to send shivers down the spines of every Gen Xer listening right now. Sleazetacks for me, the world of Sid and Marty Croft is anchored by Croft Super Show, but for others that universe is anchored by HR Puff and stuff, but suffice it to say this world could only happen once in human history, and that was the 1970s

Speaker 1 2:34

My God, seriously, that whole decade, I feel like the entire Croft universe, it's though, that's that's like the mascot of the 1970s right?

Kristin Nilsen 2:46

Literally, right? It it

Speaker 1 2:48

encompasses basically everything of the 70s. Yeah,

Speaker 3 2:52

it really does. I mean, really, what universe had as much impact on our television watching for Gen X, then Croft, besides like Aaron Spelling, I mean, I think that they are equal in their impact on our TV memories, really, because it

Kristin Nilsen 3:09

was so singular, there was nobody else who was making live action TV shows with giant puppet things, it was only them, and even though every show, each show was fleeting, but they would either go into reruns or there would be another show coming, so they were there constantly, and it doesn't translate to another era.

Speaker 3 3:30

No, I was thinking this was not these were not shows that I was like, "Kids, come on, let's sit down and watch HR Puff and stuff. I'm not even sure if they were, if that was ever on VHS or anything, but any of these shows in the Croft universe, I did not gather my kids around to say, 'Look, we need to sit down and relive this memory, because, like you said, it was unique to a specific time, and as we'll talk a little bit later, it might have creeped me out a little bit, like, you know, car crash thing, I can't look away, but gosh, I don't. This is weird. Yeah, like

Kristin Nilsen 4:05

some of those creatures might have been a little disturbing, but you can't look away.

Speaker 4 4:09

Yeah,

Speaker 1 4:10

and I think I'm the only one of the three of us here representing all of you listening who know about all these craft shows, and you certainly can, maybe picture a lot of them in your mind, but you didn't watch them, and I don't know why. I mean, this was all right in my wheelhouse. I mean, I was like five and six, and whatever, but after I did a little Google check of the network lineup for the two years that the Croft Super Show was on, it was up against the Bugs Bunny Road Runner hour, and that was my jam, like I went, and I also wasn't really until live action as much as cartoons then, especially live action that might be scary in any way.

Kristin Nilsen 4:49

This was scary, for sure. Yeah, yeah,

Speaker 1 4:52

like I preferred my terror to be in cartoon form, and you know, anvils, anvils dropping, running off cliffs. Not to be cartoons, but I do think that for those of you that are listening that might be thinking, I don't, I didn't watch, you know, all these shows, I didn't either, but I promise you, stay tuned, stick around, because this is so fun, this conversation, because it just encompasses, like we just said, our childhoods, yeah, so even if you didn't watch it, I didn't watch a lot of these shows, but you're gonna know about a lot of what we're talking about. They are

Kristin Nilsen 5:26

visually rememberable, memorable, that's the word,

Speaker 3 5:32

kind of

Kristin Nilsen 5:33

too. I get, and I, that's a really good point about the cartoons, because I remember struggling with what to call these shows, because we called. We got up on Saturday mornings for cartoons. It was a Saturday morning cartoon, and then we would watch the Croft Super Show cartoons, but I didn't have the word live action, so I remember struggling to like, what's your favorite cartoon, Croft Super Show? Like, does that count? I didn't. I was so confused by what I was supposed to call it, but I watched in my rewatching. It's so funny. These are so, so twisted and weird, and they're basically like the shows you would put on in your backyard. The story lines are the exactly the story lines that you would make up to put on in the backyard, and you would invite all of the parents, and they would clap politely and wait for it to be over, and like, oh, oh, we're there's a lot of running, there's a lot of hiding. Every villain has an accent, every single villain is like, oh no, they've escaped again. Every, when I say every, I mean every, there are no villains that don't speak like that, and also every villain is caught with a net, a net comes down out of the sky,

Speaker 3 6:46

very like, what do I want to call that, like almost silent movie, you know, that early generation of movies, like the cop, with you guys do that great invitation of, like, you know, yeah, listeners, if you're watching, yeah, the Keystone Cops, kind of a thing. When you said

Speaker 1 7:02

a net comes down out of the sky, that is a stretch. Kristen, a net is like dropped from like a stage hand who's like two feet above

Speaker 5 7:11

the villain, and then just drops it,

Kristin Nilsen 7:13

and then they pretend to be caught in it. They just pretend these

Speaker 1 7:17

we believe this stuff. I mean, we talked a lot when we talked to Wesley, you're about Land of the Lost, and how scary, how terrified we all were. Now, when we go back and watch it, we see how almost ridiculously simplistic the all the stuff is. But that also goes back to what I'm saying, and I did, of course, I watched Land of the Lost all the time, but of some of these other ones, you know, I didn't know about Dr. Shrink, or I didn't know about, I about, you know, some of them, but it's because the villains, like you said, if it's Witchy Poo, if it's Dr. Dr. Shrinker, if it's a slea stack, whatever, there's something about it being realistic, like an actual person, different than like the bad guy in Scooby Doo that they drop a net on, like, to me, I maybe I was at that age where that was just too much for little Michelle, yeah, as a person, yeah,

Speaker 3 8:10

my introduction to the Croft world was HR Puff and stuff, and when I looked at the timing of this, it makes perfect sense, so this is 1969 when I was four. Okay, and my sister was born in April, and I'm thinking this is probably when TV becomes more of a babysitter for me, because you know, my mom had just had me before, but now we've got Ronnie, who has to be fed, and all that. So, plunk Carolyn in front of the TV, and do that on a Saturday morning. Maybe Mom is even sleeping in, and dad poured me some alphabets in my back to bed, and so I'm watching HR Puffin stuff in real time, and that's every Saturday, and you guys, I had this epiphany, this is when my fear and disdain for anthropomorphic things came to life because I was watching some old HR Puffin stuff, and we'll talk a little bit later about, you know, plot and all of that, but needless to say, we've referred to this flute. There is a flute that's a good guy. The flute isn't even bad, but the flute has a mouth and eye, and the flute talks, and it's like in Jimmy's, I think it's Jimmy's back pocket, and it has this probably high voice, and it's creepy. It is creepy, so creepy, it is

Kristin Nilsen 9:30

so creepy. And

Speaker 3 9:31

there's a tree that talks, and there are things that should not be talking that are talking, and they're creepy, and I don't like it, and I have this just innate, this just feeling of I don't know, I'm gonna call it like hoosker do hee jeebies. It's just like I saw it, I'm like, oh, remember, oh, I remember, like this feeling was inside

Kristin Nilsen 9:50

Carolyn. This is huge, because listeners, you have to understand that Carolyn is so skitterish. Skitterish is not a big enough word, like when, when you have a. Monkey that is acting like a human, like the whole punchy thing, the whole punch. The monkey, like Carolyn, was not on that train. She does not want to see animals doing human things,

Speaker 3 10:09

animals or things that aren't supposed to be people, so like a flute or a tree, yeah, or a nitro puff and stuff. There's this vulture that's like, you know, witchy poos copilot or whatever, and it's just creepy. No, you are, you are a bird, you don't. And the fact that it's live action, so you, I can kind of get away with it when it's animation, but when there are real people also involved, and they're talking to the flute and the tree. No,

Speaker 1 10:37

what you just said, though, about HR puff and stuff, basically being your babysitter makes so much sense, because my sister was obsessed with HR Puff and stuff. You guys are a month apart, and me and your sister are a month apart. Yeah, and I bet that's why. And then I have very vivid memories of watching HR Puff and stuff with her, but when I say vivid, I mean the type that I'm like was that because I saw a picture of it. It's like it is vivid because I remember that being a big part of our lives. But can I just show you guys, she loves HR preference stuff so much. I was texting with her yesterday, and I was like, did you watch it real time or in reruns? And she says real time, because this picture is out in her house, and I've seen this picture my whole life. So, this is from 1970 So, I was a baby, or whatever. And there, my mom is at Six Flags Over Texas. I was probably there in a stroller too, but look at,

Kristin Nilsen 11:34

oh my god, with HR pop and stuff.

Speaker 1 11:37

Yeah, it's my everybody, listeners, if you're not watching on YouTube, which I'm sure you're not, it's a picture of my mom and my sister, and there's HR Puff and stuff walking around Six Flags, but my sister was like, "Oh, hell yes, I watched it in real time, because this is one of my most cherished memories, is meeting HR Puff and stuff at Six Flags. So, but I bet it was because of that I was born, she was being March, yeah,

Kristin Nilsen 11:59

babysitting your sister,

Speaker 3 12:01

and I was kind of today or last week years old when I realized he was a dragon. Like, ask your sister, did she know he was a dragon? I'm raising

Kristin Nilsen 12:11

my hand. I did not know he was a dragon.

Speaker 3 12:13

It's really one of the first shows that maybe I watched regularly, and it was new every time, and I was kind of unsupervised, like seriously, I think maybe they made me a bowl of cereal, and because my sister had been awake during the night, or whatever, like, went back to sleep, and my dad had worked, and you know, whatever, and I was kind of alone watching this, and the flute thing,

Kristin Nilsen 12:36

as I was watching last night, though, I did see what the appeal was, at least for me, I can understand where Carolyn's difficulty came through. However, for me, I think it was the combination of teens. A lot of the times it was not children, like later on it became shows for children were small children, and for me that would have been like, I'm better than that,

Speaker 5 12:57

right? I watch

Kristin Nilsen 12:58

teenagers, and since

Speaker 1 13:00

she was four, yeah, exactly.

Kristin Nilsen 13:01

Literally, I learned about life by watching teenagers at the beach on Craft Super Show, and so I think it's the teens, plus the big puppet things, plus like pretend technology, like everything had a panel with a bunch of beeping lights on it, there's like an electric beam, there's always some button you can push to get rid of a mean guy, and then killer theme songs, and I think that together made this like just out of this world that's important for this time period. Yes,

Speaker 3 13:34

when you listen to like HR Puff and stuff, that was one of those. As soon as the theme song came on, yeah, I was singing it, and talk about, like, you know, Husker Dune, and all the things. I was like, I remember these words:

Speaker 6 13:48

Once upon a summer time, just a dream from yesterday. A boy in this magic golden flute heard a boat from on the bank. Come and play with me, Jimmy, and I

Speaker 3 14:00

remembered the beginning, you know, the sequence, the opening credit or opening scene, and all of that boat

Kristin Nilsen 14:06

comes

Speaker 3 14:07

in the boat, and then it changes, and there's the storm, and so realistic on that shore, because there are parts of it, or he's really running through a real life field, like outside, but then when he becomes like, you know, he comes ashore after swimming, and it's on like paper mache rocks. Yeah, this like little wading pool.

Kristin Nilsen 14:30

I love the paper mache rocks, you know? Somebody just like picks them up with one hand and moves them to place. Yeah, okay. So, Carolyn, there are a lot of shows, and it's sometimes it's very confusing, because we don't know which shows are standalones, which ones are from Croft Super Show. What, when did we watch them? Can you give us a chronology of what we're even talking about here?

Speaker 3 14:51

Yes, I would be happy to do that, because yes, it's very confusing, and also, yes, the internet is even confused. Okay, so. So I really had to do some, this is some really good investigative journalism that I did here, like I triple checked my sources. Okay, wow, don't believe everything on the internet, and really not believe like that first AI little read

Kristin Nilsen 15:14

yesterday that 10% of AI answers are wrong, which I believe that's they said that's millions and millions of wrong answers every hour,

Speaker 3 15:23

and you guys, you know, people take it as the Bible, and I let me just tell you this little aside. I was so excited about this fun fact I found. I thought I am going to.. I couldn't believe it. I like had to stop, get up, and breathe a little bit. I know. Well, I don't know. Tell you, it wasn't real. It came up in the AI thing. I put, so I thought, wouldn't it be fun if there was a John Sebastian link? And you're like, oh my gosh, so I put in John Sebastian Croft, you know, Croft, or whatever. First thing that comes up, John Sebastian wrote and recorded the theme song to the Croft Super Show again. I was like, exactly, look at your faces. I was up, I was like, I couldn't believe it. I just, my God, are you kidding me? So I write it down, and I'm having all this fun with it. And then usually at the end of an AI thing, and listeners, this was just.. I put it in Google, but now, like, AI is the first answer you get in Google. It's an AI-generated,

Speaker 1 16:21

yeah, Google, yeah,

Speaker 3 16:24

right. But so I clicked on, like, the source or whatever, you can click on that, usually at the end of the fact that they say, and it was like pop culture today in pop culture history or something. And one thing was that John Sebastian had written and recorded the theme song to welcome back Cotter. The second fact was the Crofts Super Show, like, launched that day, or whatever. So, this day in pop culture history, where these two facts right on top of each other, and they're not in paragraph form or anything, you know, it's just bulleted. So, somehow AI took these first two bulleted facts and came up with the fact that John Sebastian wrote, and I almost was going to put that out to the world, but no people, because on PCPs we do the deep dive, we're not just going to throw out whatever we find, and it was

Kristin Nilsen 17:12

wrong. I'll tell you who wrote that later.

Speaker 3 17:14

Okay. Thank you. So that's your little PSA for the day, you know. Don't believe everything you read, but you can believe a lot that we tell you, but believe everything we tell you. Okay, with that said, I'm going to give you a quick chronological timeline that's probably redundant, you know what I mean, of the Croft brothers and their introduction to us on our televisions. 1969 you guys, HR Puff and stuff, that was our beginning, that was our first introduction to them, and for me, obviously, first introduction to a Saturday morning appointment television. All right, then we move along, and we get 1970 and we get the Bugaloos. Then 1971 Lidsville. Sorry, I have a lot of facts here. Okay, 1971 Lidsville, and this was kind of fun. I always thought that the Kraft brothers did the Banana Splits Adventure Hour. No, they didn't. They were not responsible for the, like, creating of it, but they did help with the puppetry. So, if you think that they make

Kristin Nilsen 18:12

sense,

Speaker 3 18:13

the Kraft brothers were that they were a little bit, but that wasn't a show of their creation. Banana

Kristin Nilsen 18:18

Splits was before HR Puff and stuff, right?

Speaker 3 18:21

No, 1971 is when I get the banana splits adventure hour. Well, like I tried to do deep dives, that could have been on AI. I tried to triple and quadruple check, but I'm getting 71 for that. Okay, then 73 to 75 We've got Sigmund and the Sea Monsters on NBC, 1974 to 1976 We've got Land of the Lost on NBC 1974 Far Out Space Nuts 1975 The Lost Saucer. Then 1976 is when we get The Croft Super Show and Captain Cool and The Kongs on ABC.

Kristin Nilsen 19:00

Okay, my

Speaker 3 19:01

favorite network, as everyone remembers. All right, so that has two seasons. So the shows that were part of the Croft Super Show in its inaugural season of 1976 were Electra Woman and Dinah Girl, Wonderbug, Dr. Shrinker, and they also ran some reruns of Lost Saucer. So we had had lost Saucer as an independent standalone show, but then in the first season of Super Show, we get some reruns of that. Then we have a second season, 1979 of the Croft Super Show. We lose Electro Men and Dinah Girl and Dr. Shrinker, we get Bigfoot and Wild Boy, and then later Magic Mongo. Okay, I don't remember any of those now. 1979 things change a little bit because we go now to the Croft Superstar Hour, and this, ladies and gentlemen, is one season long. We get Captain Cool and the Kongs for a little bit, they get replaced by. The Bay City Rollers, and then the show is renamed the Bay City Rollers, and it's also cut to 30 minutes, and we're no longer an hour-long show, and we get these two new live-action segments on this this iteration of the Croft Super Universe, whatever, we get Horror Hotel and lost island, I don't recall those, but they sound creepy. If I watch

Kristin Nilsen 20:24

them, though, here's the thing, like a lot of people listening right now are like, I don't know, horror hotel, I don't know the Lost Island. If you watch them, you'll be like, oh yeah, that

Speaker 3 20:32

one, you'll know it, and it's.. and let's just say we'll talk about those later, but Carolyn would have had some fun moments watching those, because we get a few of, like, oh my gosh, yeah. And then from 1978 to 1985 I thought this was interesting. NBC also ran other repeat Croft shows in an umbrella titled slot called Croft Superstars, so they kind of intermingled those, and so we were probably seeing reruns of shows, and you know, our younger siblings might have been introduced to some of these shows and characters a little bit later on.

Kristin Nilsen 21:09

See, this is this is so important, because if you had asked me, I would have told you that every single one of those shows was on Croft Super Show. Yeah, when they only listed Electrum and Dinah Girl and Wonder Bug and Dr. Shrinker, I'm like, but where's Sigmund? I had no idea it was a standalone show,

Speaker 3 21:26

right? And I said Sigmund, didn't came

Speaker 1 21:30

way earlier, yeah, way earlier. Sigman was like four or five years earlier than the Cross Group show, yeah.

Speaker 3 21:35

I was so interested in the fact that I thought Electra Woman and Dyna Girl was maybe a standalone show that went for 30 minutes, but they were like little 15 minute shows within the Croft Super Show, so you would maybe get a Dr. Shrinker and Electromen and Dinah Girl in the same episode with one of the, you know, Kongs or Captain Cool introducing the episode we were gonna see,

Kristin Nilsen 21:58

exactly.

Speaker 3 21:59

Yeah, this was really it helped, like I felt very jumbled in my craft knowledge, and now I have little file folders. The whole

Kristin Nilsen 22:06

thing was like a fever dream, and now it makes sense, right? Exactly,

Speaker 1 22:10

yeah. Fever dream is the best way, I think, to describe their larger than life, these surreal and psychedelic puppets that were so insane and bizarre and unforgettable, like for real, they still live rent free in all of our brains, right? Yes,

Speaker 1 22:26

I mean, my nightmare monsters all have big yellow football,

Kristin Nilsen 22:32

like a hamburger,

Speaker 1 22:34

even though HR was a nice guy, but what's interesting is that all of these puppets and all of the things you remember, did not just appear out of thin air, even though almost all the ones we remember were the big foam suits, like you said, the grimace, the whatever, with people inside. The Kraft brothers actually started their career in puppetry by building marionettes. Oh my god, before we get there, we have to go back just a bit, because they were born, they were both born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and I think this is so funny. For years it was reported that they were the fifth generation of puppeteers in their family, but they said in 2008 Sid and Marty said in 2008 that this story had been invented by a publicist in the 1940s years. they just kept letting it go, but then anyway, their father, Peter, was actually a clock salesman who moved from Canada to Providence, Rhode Island, and then on to New York City, but here's what's actually true, and I know this to be true because, one, like you said, Carolyn, we're the Pop Culture Preservation Society, we report the facts, but I got this from their official website, Sidon martycroft.com Peter Croft, that's Clock Salesman Dad. He discovered that seven year old Sid, who was born on July 30 in 1929 had puppeteering talent, and he auditioned him in his own production of Snow White, I guess, besides selling clocks, he was a producer, a director. I don't know, I don't know. We don't need to know. Yes, but Peter put all of his efforts into training and promoting Sid, and when Sid was a teenager, he ran away and joined the circus. Of

Kristin Nilsen 24:17

course, he did. Is that not the

Speaker 1 24:20

biggest, like 1936 cliche, and we didn't even know anyone are falling,

Speaker 3 24:25

and then Keystone Cops play promenades.

Speaker 1 24:28

He ran away. He joined the Ringling Brothers Circus sideshow, because, of course, this is like 1936 where he was billed as the world's youngest puppeteer. And then, after a year, that after year, he was doing his marionettes, well, after a year of being in the Ringling Brothers Circus sideshow, he moved on, and he was soon touring the world. He was actually opening for acts like Judy Garland and Liberace, you know, those, those really popular opening puppets with his marionettes. Yes, yes, with puppets during puppet shows.

Kristin Nilsen 25:00

Fingers,

Speaker 1 25:03

anyway. Sid wanted, he had big dreams, guys. He wanted to be more than just an opening act. He wanted a big, fantastic puppet show. And now this is where Marty, who was eight years younger than Sid, comes in. He had been working with puppets off and on with Sid, helping him out at different things for years, but in the meantime, had been gaining a lot of experience in the business world, so they realized that they want what they needed to do for Sid's vision to become a reality was to have a company of their own, and their vision was to take puppets out of the realm of strictly chill children's entertainment. Well, mission accomplished, Kraft Brothers, because, like, we've mentioned in a previous episode, they created a very famous marionette burlesque show in the early 1960s called Le Poupé des Paris.

Kristin Nilsen 25:54

Oh, I forgot about that. That's right, The Dolls of

Speaker 1 25:57

Paris, The Dolls of Paris, and it featured topless celebrity caricatured marionette puppets in a very strange, very risqué musical review. You know, I'm sorry, can we just go back though? That they, these puppets were topless. Yes, and it was, they were like in a burlesque show. Now, I will say they're really beautiful, and in this month's weekly reader weekly, yes, they're like three feet tall, and they're very intricately carved faces. And I remember when we talked about this before, and I showed you all the picture, you were right, it's sort of like that lady or that madam type of puppet, yeah, but they're gorgeous. But anyway, it wasn't a joke. It was really popular because some of the actors who voiced these puppets were people like Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Liberace, Jane Mansfield, Edie Adams, Milton Berle. It became so popular that they were asked to bring it to the 1962 World's Fair in Seattle. Well, then that was so popular that they brought the review to the 1964 World's Fair. You got you guys, World's Fair was such a big deal. 1964

Speaker 3 27:14

World's Fair. I need to ask Lillian if you saw this.

Speaker 1 27:18

Well, did she get well? Listen to this. If she went to the 1968 World's Fair, she might remember this. So, anyway, they brought the Le Poupé de Paris. You guys, I'm not kidding. I'm on day 90, my 90 day streak of Duolingo. I'm learning French this year. So, Kristen, I can't say

Kristin Nilsen 27:36

anything except me. Can you

Speaker 1 27:38

tell me what I can tell you? That I have a key in my pocket, so dropping

Kristin Nilsen 27:43

in my posh, there's a clay in my posh. Okay,

Speaker 1 27:47

but don't, what's in Don's more posh,

Kristin Nilsen 27:52

my posh?

Speaker 1 27:53

Yeah, yeah, my clay don't my posh. Okay, it was so

Kristin Nilsen 28:03

powerful.

Speaker 1 28:05

Don't put keys in your pockets in France. Okay, so they, they went to, they brought that, that act to the World's Fair in New York. Then NBC approached them to design a family-friendly puppet show. They were like, no topless puppets, guys. A big attraction. This is now where Sid's original vision is coming to life, because they're like, we want a big, over the top, family-friendly puppet attraction for the 1968 hemisphere. Carolyn, do you like the play on words? Hemisfair, World's Fair in San Antonio, Antonio.

Speaker 3 28:36

I have been to the hemisphere, the tower, and everything. Yes,

Speaker 1 28:40

yeah. And then this is what will change television history, because that is where HR Puff and stuff was born. They created a friendly, large-headed dragon and named him Luther, and he was so popular he became the Hemisphere's mascot. Oh my gosh, hugely the hugely popular puppet attraction was called Kaleidoscope, and it was in the Coca Cola Pavilion, and it's basically the precursor to all the Croft fantastical TV we know and love, because you know they had all these different puppet characters, and so they basically reinvented their puppetry. They were among the first then to really utilize molded polyurethane foam and liquid latex to make these full-bodied suits, because they needed to be kind of lightweight, and then they could, they could create really like massive bulbous shapes, like Puffin Stuff's biggest giant head, right? Or they used like polyurethane foam just for like the prosthetic, for like Witchy Pooh's chin, so they were able to make big and small, you know, so they ditched the strings.

Kristin Nilsen 29:46

The strings are gone, and now pretty much, and now it's really costumes, it's really foam, and while you're thinking costumes,

Speaker 1 29:52

costumes, and inside of all of these costumes, it was actually really complex, as you know, on the outside is kind of not really. Simplistic, they're pretty amazing, but the inside was what was super complex, because there was all these like systems of moving mechanisms and cables and springs and levers, so that the person who was inside could move, like, you know, open and close the mouth, or that kind of stuff, but because the foam suits restricted the actor's vision a lot and movement, they had to tell him to use highly exaggerated and theatrical body language, like for instance, if Puff and stuff was surprised, he didn't just look up, he would have to shake his entire seven foot body, and it always

Kristin Nilsen 30:39

seemed like the words were kind of disconnected from the I was gonna say the person, but the puppet instead. Yeah, it would just be like arms flailing, yeah, and looking around, but words coming out, but you're like, are they coming out of the person?

Speaker 1 30:51

Yeah, and the mouth just kind of opens that. Well, and so speaking of puff and stuff, let's talk the most memorable puppet characters. I think for sure, we can. We're gonna start with Sigmund, actually, because you know Sigmund was so cute, and I just loved all his seaweed. I love how that looks. It all just.. it's like very.. it was very good, actually. And he was, you know, he was clumsy, he was curious, he was easily frightened. Little sea monster, who was kicked out of his home because he was too nice, but you guys know that the actor inside Sigmund, and listeners, just fast forward if you don't want your world to be shattered, but it was Billy Barty who was also in so many of the Croft World shows and so many other television shows, right? You can imagine that little thing, he always kind of closed one eye, yeah, the

Speaker 3 31:40

circus? He seems like he would have been in a circus. Yes, yeah. Well,

Speaker 1 31:45

he was like Dr. Shanker, sidekick. Yeah,

Speaker 3 31:47

he was a few things.

Speaker 1 31:49

Well, then we have HR Puff and stuff. I did not know that that was only on for 17 episodes, but like I said,

Kristin Nilsen 31:54

what that was seven. We'll talk about that next episode,

Speaker 1 31:57

okay? But also, you know, Puff and stuff born from that's Luther the dragon, and if you look at pictures, and I'll try to put some of those on social media this week, maybe just in stories, but see pictures of Luther the dragon before it kind of then morphed into HR Puff and stuff, it's really kind of remarkable, but like Kristen said earlier at the top of this episode, I don't think any of us can deny the most memorable of their creations were the Slee Stacks. Right, I mean, we're going to talk a little. We've talked, you know, listen, go back to our great, like I said, conversation with Wesley Year, because he'll tell you about, you know, the actual basketball players that weren't in them, because they had to be like six and a half feet tall or seven feet tall. It was just, I mean, I think unlike, and also unlike previous Croft Giant puppets, least Lee Sex didn't talk, no, right? They just communicated through that awful, oh my god, just that chilling, I don't know. It was like a hissing,

Kristin Nilsen 33:02

and their two fingers, their two fingers freaked me out.

Speaker 1 33:06

Yeah, it was nightmare fuel. I tell you, what,

Kristin Nilsen 33:09

there was a lot that was nightmare fuel, and that's to their, to their credit.

Speaker 1 33:13

Yeah, for sure. Well, also, you know, Carolyn gave you a list of all of the children's shows, and the order. I just want to tell you, let's add to their legacy, just for a hot second, because I had no idea about this. We all remember that they were responsible for creating, producing the Donnie Anne Marie Show, The Brady Bunch Variety Hour. We've talked about those in previous episodes, but did you guys know in 1980 there was a primetime variety show that was very short lived and apparently very infamously troubled. It was called Pink Lady. Oh, yes, we talked about some

Speaker 3 33:54

point, and

Speaker 1 33:55

Jeff, did we talk about it in Variety Show? Who

Speaker 3 33:57

was one of the guests on there that had it? Greg Gilligan. Oh,

Speaker 1 34:01

we have talked about it because Kristen knew about Pink Lady, because it's a Japanese pop duo, and they did not remember talking.

Kristin Nilsen 34:11

Why do you give a show to somebody who can't communicate? And it was somebody, it was Judy,

Speaker 1 34:16

it was Pink Lady and comedian Jeff Altman, because it was called Pink Lady and Jeff. Okay, yeah, it's so bizarre. Anyway, also from night, I remember this show, 1980 to 1982 Barbara Mandrell and the Mandrell Sisters, Mandrell show. Yeah, I

Speaker 3 34:34

love that. I totally watched that, even though I didn't really care for it, but I watched it at that time slot. I feel like when it was on, it was just you were always in front of the TV for some

Speaker 1 34:45

reason. Did you watch in 1984 Did you watch Pryor's Place, which was a children's variety and educational show starring Richard Pryor, but it heavily featured cropped puppets. Richard Pryor had a children's children. Did you say it was shortly lived priors place? Well, it only says it's 1984 So, yeah.

Speaker 3 35:05

Oh, okay. Well, listen, this was

Speaker 1 35:07

all I'm getting this information from Sid and martycroft.com So, let's just take that for what it's worth. I think it should be, I think it should be like pretty legit. And then from 1987 to 1989 it was something called the DC Follies, which was a syndicated political satire variety show. Yes, and that was set in a Washington, DC bar, and that did feature life caricature puppets of politic politicians, celebrities that we sit in Marty Crockett

Kristin Nilsen 35:33

was super creepy, and it was, and it was confusing, because it was definitely for adults, and so I was like, I, and I would have been an adult at the time, but I didn't know who it was for, and politics, yeah, right, yeah, yeah,

Speaker 1 35:46

yeah. So, so I mean, they really had their hand as so much, and you know what, you guys, one last thing is that you know we often kind of lovingly give these shows crap about the sets and the, you know, the net dropping from two feet above them, or whatever, but we cannot deny that they were pioneers, you guys. They were the first to really rely on blue screen technology, different than green screen technology, which basically is where they can show they can, you know, like Dr. Shrinker and Land of the Lost, where they can kind of like shrink these, you know, characters down. Go back and watch it. Yes, as you know, technology has come so far since then, but let's not forget the time and the place. This was really kind of groundbreaking. They did that. They also, they created these fantastical worlds using these really massive and highly stylized soundstages. We can look at HR Puff and stuff, like you said, Carolyn, and they're crawling up on this, you know, ridiculous little beach and this rock. But unlike before, this was all created in an enormous soundstage, and that hadn't been, that hadn't been done before, and just the color palettes they were using

Speaker 5 37:04

were truly

Speaker 1 37:05

groundbreaking for the time, especially with HR Puff and stuff in 1969 And then Wesley, your spoke to this, I know I keep referring to this episode, but you guys listening, if you haven't listened to it, and it's from like three and a half years ago, it is such a fun conversation. He was the best guest. He was so fun, but he told us about this, the writing. The Crofts hired Hollywood's top creative minds to elevate the storytelling, so even if right now in 2026 or when we talk to him in 2023 we can go. That was those story lines were really deep. They brought in established comedy writers, they brought in legendary sitcom writers to ensure the human appealed to both children and adults, and they commissioned full orcas orchestras to create these scores, and, like you were talking about, Kristen, earlier, the theme songs, they were catchy, they were professionally produced pop songs, so as much as we look back and think this was all just like a silly fever dream, they really, it was really all quite groundbreaking.

Kristin Nilsen 38:10

It was groundbreaking, and it left a mark, like we can, it almost doesn't matter if it's hokey or not, if we loved it, and if any point, and if it left, if it left a visual reminder of what a decade is like, there, then there were no other people doing it. It's not like people tried to copy them, right? They couldn't, they didn't have the innovation, they didn't have the creativity, they were the only ones. And the music that you spoke of, I, yes, I do think that the puppets were the number one people reason that people were watching, but I think one of the reasons that I love the Croft shows so much is because I have a soft spot in my heart for any show with a fake band in it, or a musical montage, or a sing-along theme song, like "Hello, Partridge Family, right? And the Croft shows gave us not one, but myriad fake bands, so many fake bands, plus amazing theme songs and soundtracks. We could do a whole episode on just the music of the Croft TV shows, but we aren't, so this will be by no means comprehensive, just a taste of what role music played in the Croft universe. So, just about every show had an important kid-friendly soundtrack or theme music, and by kid-friendly, I don't mean Barney Plinkie Plinky nursery rhyme, dumb-down music. This was mainstream pop music, and this is what we were given as children. And I think it's one reason that Gen Xers are into music in very profound ways, right? I mean, even there's this joke going around that Harry Styles gives out perimenopausement remedies at his concerts, and that's not because it's music for old people, it's because there are so many Gen X moms going to Harry Styles concerts with their adult children, they're not taking them to the concert, they're like, "Let's go to Harry Styles. Oh, yeah, yeah, right, that would go with you. Didn't happen that often with previous generations. So I went to a library conference, so anyway, I'm saying, thank you, Croft, Croft Brothers, because I think you were honoring us by giving us grown-up music in our children's shows. So I went to a library conference last year. I know it sounds like apropos of nothing, Kristen, where are you going with this? And we were doing an imaginative exercise, they were leading us in an exercise that we would do with children in our libraries. It was like, I can't remember what it was, was like building something with blocks or something like that. And while we worked silently, independently, the leader of the workshop turned on a song for us to work to, and I had no idea what the song was, but it made my heart hurt. It almost.. I almost wanted to cry. I felt like I wanted to cry. So I asked her afterwards, what is the song that you were playing? And she looked about my age, right around my age, and she smiles at me like, like you're gonna know, you're gonna know this song. And she said it was from HR Puff and stuff, and she also said it's not just me who is affected by this song. I mean, it was clearly making me get into the activity. She uses that song on purpose, not because it's nostalgic, because she's using it with children today. She says it lulls people into an imaginative state. So, I want to know the song. I know I had to go find this song, because I still couldn't recognize it. What I didn't get, who's credued, I didn't go, 'Oh my god, that song. No, it was just something. Just gave you, it just gave me feelings, right? So I had to go find the song, and it was hard, because all of the songs made me want to cry a little bit. They all had a very sunshiny, but kind of melancholy vibe. So it could be this one. So, this is when Jack Wilde, aka Jimmy, on HR Puff and stuff, when he finds Freddy the flute for the first time, and he decides that they are friends, because you know that's what you do when you pick up a flute. Okay, so this is a song called Friend in You.

Speaker 7 42:00

I found a friend in you, one that surely will endure. Loveliness has just one cure, the friend I found in you.

Kristin Nilsen 42:24

Okay, so you get the idea, and Jack Wilde, as you can hear, is he's very excited to find the talking flute, because he was in a band, because they all are, because everybody was in a band on Saturday morning TV. Okay, so I'm not.. I think it was that song, but it could also have been this one, and I want you to listen to this voice and tell me if you recognize who this voice is. I'm going to tell you who it is.

Speaker 4 42:50

When I was smaller and people were taller, I realized that I was different. I had a power that set me apart. apart. I learned to take it, to use it, to make it. It's not so bad to be different, to do your own thing, and do it with heart. Different is hard, different is lonely, different is

Speaker 3 43:39

trouble. I love that message too. That's what we grew up with.

Kristin Nilsen 43:44

That's a whole thing, I know. Is that Helen ready? No, it's not. Who is it, Carolyn? I could tell there was some recognition on your way. I think straightly, is it Mama Cat? Yes, it is a movie

Speaker 3 43:55

that's from the soundtrack film. Yes, HR Puff and stuff. That's a big

Kristin Nilsen 44:01

difference, actually, between the movie soundtrack and the TV soundtrack, and the movie soundtrack is a lot more sophisticated than the TV show, but, and I would have told you, I never saw the movie, I don't recall going to the movie, but when you, again, just like those other shows I talked about at the top, it, when you look at these scenes, you know them, so I don't know if they were chopped up and put into other shows, or..

Speaker 3 44:26

and when I saw the album cover for the film for the soundtrack for the film, I think I might have had the

Kristin Nilsen 44:33

record. Oh my god,

Speaker 3 44:34

I look very familiar, and I've certainly seen clips of Mama Cass from that in her, she played witch hazel,

Kristin Nilsen 44:42

she played witch hazel, yeah, her

Speaker 3 44:43

witchy looking outfit. I swear,

Kristin Nilsen 44:46

even if you didn't go see this movie, you know these songs, they feel familiar, you know the scenes, everything looks so familiar. And part of the reason that you get these vibes is because the music for that movie was written by Charlotte. Charles Fox and Norman Gimbel, best known for all the Sunshine Pop TV theme songs, like Love American Style, Love Boat, Happy Days, Lavern and Shirley, Wonder Woman, Angie, and more. That's just like, yes, they are the ones who did the HR Puffin Stuff soundtrack.

Speaker 3 45:19

They might rival Mike Post,

Kristin Nilsen 45:22

they really do, and when I had never seen them labeled as Sunshine Pop before, but when I did, I was like, well, that explains everything, that's the sunshiny, melancholy feeling of 1969 1970 1971 and we haven't, we have an episode for that, do we have an episode? Absolutely, do. And it will explain everything about this genre of music that you didn't even know existed, but it gives me feelings. So, even though these, these movie songs, they get me right here, right? The TV was full, the TV show was full of music, and no one will ever forget the theme song, like you said, Carolyn, everyone knows this theme song, even if they've never seen this show. I don't know why it doesn't pop up on more best of lists, but we all know HR Puffin Stuff and stuff. He's your friend when things get rough, HR Puff and stuff. He can't do a little because he can't do enough, whatever that means. I don't.. Oh, I

Speaker 3 46:19

think that means if you know if we go down the road of HR puffing stuff, and we're puffing some stuff that you roll up, hand rolled puffing stuff, HR, and also you can't do a little because you can't get enough, like once you start, yeah, there's never going to be any

Speaker 1 46:40

drugs, had nothing to do with right,

Speaker 3 46:43

because you remember they write to the adults and to the children, so it's like people can love the song and hear two different kind of messages, because the episode I watched the other day, they, the, the puppet things, whatever they were, are marching, they're on strike from this candy factory, and it's like basically about war. I mean, some of the picket signs they're holding were like 'no candy, no war, and they're anyway. It was very much a strike, and it seemed very much like they were protesting war. That's very adult. Yes, in

Kristin Nilsen 47:16

the commentary, and I'm sorry, HR puffin stuff can't come from nothing. It's got to mean, like, why HR? Why not JR? JR, originally

Speaker 3 47:26

I read that the cross early on said, well, this was Royal Highness, that's what the HR backwards, I think. They just grabbed that out of the thin air. It didn't make any sense. He was a mayor, he wasn't a king, and I think they probably didn't feel like they could say the true reason back then, but then many, many years later, I've read not necessarily about that title, but that yes, drugs might have influenced some of their, you know, whatever influenced whatever that means, but you can't tell me puff and stuff, and then you can't do a little, because you can't get enough. I mean, come on,

Speaker 1 48:07

you know what's interesting is that they, speaking of all this, so they created HR Puff and Stuff to be a dragon. Yeah, is this coming right on the hill? So, Puff, the Magic Dragon.

Kristin Nilsen 48:17

Yes. When did that come out?

Speaker 1 48:19

I have that record still. That's all the

Speaker 3 48:22

same time has to be, has

Speaker 8 48:24

to be. Yeah,

Kristin Nilsen 48:24

that was Peter, Paul, and Mommy, Peter, Paul, and Mary's album, Peter Paul and Mommy. Okay, so fun fact, Paul Simon actually has a writing credit on the HR Puff and Stuff theme song, because he sued the Croft Brothers, saying that the melody was too much like the 59th street bridge song, and you can hear it, HR, puff and stuff, slow down, you move too fast, it's the same, it's the same. Yeah, now I don't know if you do the next line differently, does are you still stealing? I don't know, yeah, no. Okay, the other theme song that nobody is ever going to forget is the bug loose, the bug loose, they're in the air and everywhere, flying high, flying loose, flying free as a summer breeze. Can't you see them like putting their arms through the air

Speaker 3 49:18

because they were bugs that should have been singing or flying to say

Speaker 1 49:22

Marshall Will and Holly on routine expedition.

Kristin Nilsen 49:25

Oh yeah, let's go there right now. We have it in our opening every single episode, Marshall Will and Holly on a routine expedition on the greatest adventure ever known on the grade. Yes,

Speaker 1 49:38

greatest

Kristin Nilsen 49:39

on the grade. Well, just

Speaker 3 49:40

listen to our Wesley Yuri episode, and you can hear, yes, he

Kristin Nilsen 49:44

sings the whole thing. So the Bugaloos actually, so they were a fake band, they were bugs who were a fake band, and this was in 1970 and they actually released an album. The Bugaloos have an album, and their song for a friend was a minor hit. It on the radio, it was the bugs were on the radio, you guys, and it's about a friend, and I just love this muse. There were so many friends and happy. Yes. Okay, let's listen to "For a Friend" for a second, okay? I'm not sure anybody will will recognize it, but you will get a feel for what the music was like on a Croft TV show,

Speaker 9 50:30

if you need somebody to help you, just let out a song, and we'll be around again and again. so

Kristin Nilsen 51:01

good.

Speaker 3 51:01

Just bring back that kind of music, people. Okay, Kristen, I'm giving you an assignment right now. All right, you're gonna put a Spotify won't say Spotify, you're gonna put a playlist together of these songs, so we can have a go-to place to listen to these happy songs. If you can find a

Kristin Nilsen 51:19

lot of these are not available on Spotify or Apple Muzic, and that's why I'm finding them on YouTube, because they're coming with clips, or somebody has ripped it from a CD, or ripped it from an album. Do you rip things from an album? I don't know what. I don't know why. Yeah, you can't find a lot of these songs. It's really, really sad, and that it is. It's really sad, because I love this music. Okay, so bugaloos. Now that brings us to Sigmund and the Sea Monsters. The internet lies. The internet tells me that there was no band, there was no fake band on Sigmund and the Sea Monsters. That is a lie. Do not trust AI searches people, because there was an episode called Monster Rock Revival, which is about Sigmund entering a contest, a songwriting contest, and he wins the songwriting contest. Yes, of course, yeah, and he wins the songwriting contest.

Speaker 1 52:09

Sorry,

Kristin Nilsen 52:10

but last, the last year, his family of Sea Monsters were a family band, the Ooze family band, and Sigmund was their, their lead singer, and they won it last year. So this year, when he wants to enter it on his own, the Ooze family needs to kidnap him, so that he can be the lead singer for their family band. See, AI, you're wrong, there is a family band. Okay, but just because there wasn't an official Sea Monster band does not mean that there wasn't lots of music in Sigmund and the Sea Monsters. In fact, there is a whole soundtrack. There is an album released in 1973 called Johnny Whitaker and Friends, music from the television series Sigmund and the Sea Monsters.

Speaker 3 52:52

Yes, I see him in my head, like sitting on a rock. Yes, yes, in the show, singing, maybe even playing a guitar. He did

Kristin Nilsen 52:58

fake guitar all the time. They did not give him any guidance on how to pretend to play a guitar, they should have, because it looks super fakie, but they

Speaker 3 53:07

didn't know. No, we didn't know.

Kristin Nilsen 53:08

Johnny and Scott are singing all the time on the show, and the Ooze family, they have their own instruments too. So, Johnny Whitaker, the album's called Johnny Whitaker and Friends. Johnny Whitaker, of course, is the child actor who played Johnny, who finds Sigmund on the beach and hides him in his clubhouse. Most of these songs on Johnny Whitaker and Friends and on the show were written by Bobby Hart, Wes Farrell, and Danny Jansen. These are the same songwriters for the Partridge Family, The monkeys, Bobby Sherman, but also Scooby Doo, Josie, and the Pussycats. Oh, and also keep on singing, don't stop singing, you're gonna be,

Speaker 3 53:52

you're gonna make a letter. Oh my gosh,

Kristin Nilsen 53:59

I know. Okay. Do you want to hear a clip of that,

Speaker 8 54:15

you need got

Speaker 5 54:36

a little bit of that. I'd like to teach the world to say it does. Yes, it does. Okay, I more friends. We all meet friends.

Kristin Nilsen 54:54

I have a question. Okay, Carolyn, I'm calling on you.

Speaker 3 55:00

Okay, this is one of these just popped into my head memories that I don't know if I made up or not, and I don't know if it would be on this album, and I don't know if it was ever on a Sigmund episode, but I have this distinct memory of Johnny Whitaker singing Seasons in the Sun. Is that a thing?

Kristin Nilsen 55:15

Oh, I don't know. Okay, that's

Speaker 3 55:18

up. I feel like it could have been on an episode of the show, but I don't know. Did I dream it? Please

Kristin Nilsen 55:25

look that up, but you were right, Michelle. There is a little bit I'd like to buy the world, totally keep it company, keep it the

Speaker 1 55:35

new seekers, right? Yes,

Kristin Nilsen 55:36

yeah.

Speaker 3 55:37

And that was about friends and everything too. Gosh, no wonder my world is just like in such dissonance, because I, this was my DNA, these songs that was like we are friends and differences are celebrated.

Kristin Nilsen 55:53

Yes, all right, every single song is about friends, every single one. So, but we're not done, we're not there's, and I'm gonna try and keep, I'm gonna try and keep it short, because there's a lot, but we got to get to Captain Captain Cool and the Kongs, so when Croft Super Show was released in 1976 it was hosted by a pretend band called Captain Cool and the Kongs that included Captain Cool, Super Chick, Nashville, Turkey, and Flatbush, and these songs were famously written by Carolyn. Do you know

Speaker 3 56:26

it's not John Sebastian?

Kristin Nilsen 56:27

No, but it's just as good, though.

Speaker 3 56:30

Okay, the Osmonds, yes,

Kristin Nilsen 56:33

yes. This is, but this is like prime Crazy Horse. It's that's what kind of this, not Bubblegum Osmonds, it's Crazy Horse Osmonds, and it has that same sort of Crazy Horse, like when the Osmonds, like, no, we're rock and roll, that's what it sounds like. And Captain Cool, who is the lead singer, and he's sort of like the head of the show, he's like the host of the show, he is like if David Bowie and the Fonz had a baby, yes, and it's very glam rock, and there's lots of glitter, glitter on their faces, glitter on their hair. They're kind of, they're very craft, they're very visually outrageous, and so the, so the songs are a little edgy, they're a little bit edgy. Thank you, Crazy Horse Osmonds. Okay, so here's the Croft Super Show theme, the one that played over the opening credits, and it's basically when you watch the opening credits, it's Captain Cool in the Kongs as this band of like Pied Pipers leading a bunch of kids with balloons along a ditch down a highway,

Speaker 3 57:32

yeah, they're like going down the highway, a lot of things, yeah, there's bands and people like,

Speaker 1 57:38

yeah, it reminds me of the original openings of Sesame Street,

Kristin Nilsen 57:45

it's like children following, they're like, come on, yeah, and then they're like walking on the railroad tracks, and they're behind the chain link fence, it seemed

Speaker 1 57:52

very dangerous, yeah, but also what I loved about it, and again, I probably watched that opening for the first time, you know, a couple days ago, but they, they're following someone who is dressed very differently and looks very out of the norm, very Jesus Christ super no gods belly, very much like this person is okay, like just because they look different doesn't mean just because he's

Kristin Nilsen 58:14

kooky doesn't mean that I have to stay away from him, no difference is good, and they're on there, they're leading the kids toward a gleaming downtown with skyscrapers on their way to what I now know is the world of Sid and Marty Croft amusement park, which is housed in what is now the CNN building in Atlanta. So now I can look, and I'm like, oh, that's it, they're walking on the highway in Atlanta, which is weird.

Speaker 3 58:38

That's scary. It is. It's super

Kristin Nilsen 58:40

scary. Okay, so here is the theme song. See if you can hear any, any Osmonds in there, or any, or any not John Sebastian, not John Sebastian. He did not write

Speaker 7 59:00

to take a trip with us today,

Speaker 1 59:03

so good.

Speaker 7 59:04

Just go for Day is just

Kristin Nilsen 59:52

Craft super show, so by the third season, like Carolyn said, they. Ditch Captain Cool in the Kongs, and replace them with angels singing the Bay City Rollers, and I was both confused by this and ecstatic, because S A T U R D A Y, night, night, it was awesome, it was so awesome, and now the music in the Croft Super Show was less theatrical musical interlude, like it was with the Kongs, with glitter, and it was more American Bandstand, like with performance variety show. It was a variety show, it was definitely a variety show, and it included screaming girls, which the Kongs did not. So now we have an audience of girls who are losing their minds over the Bay City Rollers. My God, watch the watch the clip of a song they performed called My Lisa. If your name was Lisa, you are cooked, because this will, you will just be, you'll be crying, you'll be crying, and you'll be in love with these people, most of whom are dead. So now the show was about half music and half witchy poo. When is the Bay City Rollers as half these half witchy, yes, yes. So you got a Bay City rollers song at the top, then they might appear in the show, then you got like actually in Horror Hotel, they might appear in the skits with the actual shows, and then you got a mini concert at the end with like three songs. It was a lot, and I sent Michelle and Carolyn a clip of a, I think it must, it wasn't a promo, I think it was a prime time special that was promoting this new Bay City, what they started to call the Bay City Rollers show, after a period of time, and it was both nutty and beautiful, they were singing Jailhouse Rock with all the pompadours, and all they were basically like Shauna, yeah, and their special guests singing Jailhouse Rock with them with their own pompadours were Joe Namath, Eric Estrada, and Scott Baio. There is no better time to be alive. There is

Speaker 3 1:01:53

no better

Speaker 1 1:01:56

than they're dressed up like they're dressed like 50s, like Bowser

Kristin Nilsen 1:02:02

and Shawna, and I,

Speaker 1 1:02:03

you guys, I still.. I still will stand by my early 80s addiction to Scott Bayo's album, but good holy hell, what were records.. I mean, we're you guys, he cannot sing,

Kristin Nilsen 1:02:17

no, he cannot, he cannot,

Speaker 1 1:02:19

and I don't mind saying that now, because we all know how I feel about present day Scott Baio, but back then I thought he was a crooner. I mean, he was just.. and when I saw that, it almost stops that whole cliff clip cold. Yes, his voice coming out,

Kristin Nilsen 1:02:34

he's like

Speaker 4 1:02:34

the

Speaker 1 1:02:35

best in Billy Barty coming out with a big pompadour wig on. Oh my god, dancing with his little person in a poodle skirt, and still doing the one eye thing, giant

Kristin Nilsen 1:02:48

pompadour, Billy Barty, like the pompadour is as big as his whole body. We're putting it in

Speaker 1 1:02:52

this month's weekly readout. We

Speaker 3 1:02:53

have to, we have to, and also, you know, as we're talking about this, you can see the evolution again. These Croft Brothers are so smart because you think about the audience in that we're now the ones that have grown up with these shows, we're now of the age where we're going to scream at bands, yes, and but we're also not old enough to not be entranced when we see people from because these live action segments have characters from the shows we grew up with, so when we see a Billy Barty, or we see, I don't know, who else will be on there, Johnny Whitaker, we see Sigmund come on, it's like we're little again, but we're also kind of crooning over these Bay City rollers and Joe Namath, and you know, it's got Bayo, brilliant,

Kristin Nilsen 1:03:38

it's together, you're right, that is so astute, that is so astute, and they got you.

Speaker 3 1:03:44

I'm astute, you guys, Chris, she's such astute.

Speaker 3 1:03:52

Okay, everybody, before we bring this episode to an end, I need to let you know that, as usual, I went down Carolyn's rabbit hole, and I found some very interesting and slightly bizarre facts. You guys, they were some doozies, and we laughed so hard while we were talking about them that we decided to save those for a very special bonus, just for our superstar and bicentennial level patrons over on Patreon. You guys, I'm not even kidding when I say that I haven't laughed this hard since the Dusty Bush conversation. You might remember that Dusty Bush convo, right? I mean, how could you forget it? So, if you'd like to hear us completely lose it over some truly bizarre rabbit hole facts, you need to head over to Patreon and join us at the superstar or bicentennial level. I promise you, it will be worth it. Okay, now before I go down any other rabbit holes, I'm gonna throw it back to Kristen to bring us home.

Kristin Nilsen 1:04:46

You guys, that is a lot. That's a lot of information we just poured on you. That's an awful lot. And we haven't even talked about the shows. We haven't even talked about the shows. This is why you will be joining us again next week, be. Because guess what, we asked you, our listeners and our followers on social media, what was your favorite show from the Croft Super Show universe, and you let us know, and we did math, and we came up with a top 10 list, and so next week you'll have to come back and join us for the top 10 most popular Croft Super Show universe shows as voted by you. Thank you very much.

Speaker 1 1:05:25

That's right. Before we sign off, we want to give a massive shout out to our patrons over on Patreon. By supporting the Pop Culture Preservation Society, they aren't just helping keep the lights on, they're helping us archive the memories that shaped us, their support keeps this time machine running. And today we're giving a special shout out to these patrons, our two newest patrons, Tori, T O R I E, and Karen. Thank you so much. Welcome to our fun, our fun family of patrons. We also want to thank Dana, Mary Beth, Kim, Lisa, Donovan, MP, Magdalena, Mike, Miriam, Linda, Diane, and Richard.

Kristin Nilsen 1:06:10

Thank you, everybody. In the meantime, let's raise our glasses for a toast, courtesy of the cast of Threes Company. Two good times,

Speaker 1 1:06:18

two happy days, I

Kristin Nilsen 1:06:31

Cheers, everyone. Cheers, cheers. The information, opinions, and comments expressed on the Pop Culture Preservation Society podcast belongs solely to Carolyn, the crushologist, and Hello Newman, and are in no way representative of our employers or affiliates, and though we truly believe we are always right, there is always a first time. The PCPS is written, produced, and recorded in Minneapolis, Minnesota, home of the fictional WJM Studios and our beloved Mary Richards. Nanu Nanu, keep on truckin' and may the force be with you.