The Brady Bunch Hour
The series starred the original cast members of The Brady Bunch, with the exception of Eve Plumb, who was replaced by Geri Reischl. The show began as a 60-minute special titled The Brady Bunch Variety Hour on November 28,1976, the shows events are not included or mentioned in the Brady Bunch revival series and TV reunion movies. When the family is chosen to star in a new variety series for ABC, Mike Brady gives up his architectural career, in addition to the Brady clan, next-door-neighbor Jack Merrill frequently finds his way into the act and is a love interest for the Bradys maid, Alice. Each episode features the obligatory variety show song-and-dance numbers and sketches, Robert Reed as Mike Brady Florence Henderson as Carol Brady Ann B. Four cast members were booked and when the show aired on October 8,1976 it was a ratings success, both parties eventually gave their approval of the new series, mainly as a way to keep interest in the original series. The variety hour remains the only Brady project to not have Schwartzs involvement during production, although Robert Reeds dissatisfaction with other Brady Bunch incarnations has become legendary, he quickly signed on to star in the variety show.
We joked that it was the first time any of us could remember him wanting to do something Brady-related, recalled Maureen McCormick. The Brady Bunch Hour was incredibly bad, Barry Williams once wrote, when Williams asked him why, Reed stated, Ive studied voice and dancing. Im terrible at both, and it proved to be true, but when Sid and Marty met with me, they described the whole thing in very positive terms and I thought, What fun. Quipped McCormick, He sang and danced without caring that he was lousy and his inner Dorothy had found her calling. Maureen McCormick was excited at the prospect of singing and working with the Krofft brothers and it didnt work out that way, Knight said, and I learned one of lifes lessons—always get it in writing. Mike Lookinland was uncomfortable dancing and had no desire to do the show, to his surprise, this resulted in an increased salary for each cast member. Ann B. Davis had left Hollywood in 1974 and was working as a volunteer in a house in Denver. Originally, no one thought to include Davis, but at the last minute the crew decided to offer her a guest-starring role, which she retained throughout all nine episodes of the series.
The producers made a deal which allowed her to be on the set only a few days a week so she could commute to Denver, contrary to popular belief, Eve Plumb was originally slated to appear in the variety hour. I wanted to do the show but there was an option for thirteen more shows and possibly five years. Plumb agreed to appear in five of the thirteen planned episodes, in late October 1976, producers scrambled to find a replacement and met with over 1500 hopefuls, eventually settling on Geri Reischl to fill the void. Reischl, who had extensive singing experience, auditioned several times, reischls costars made her feel at home, but because of the recasting, Reischl was dubbed Fake Jan, a moniker which she has openly embraced
Puppeteer
The puppeteer may be visible to or hidden from the audience. Some puppet styles require two or more puppeteers to work together to create a puppet character. The puppeteer might speak in the role of the puppets character, there is much puppetry which does not use the moving mouth. Often, in theatre, a mouth is used only for gestural expression. In traditional glove puppetry often one puppeteer will operate two puppets at an out of a cast of several. Very often, the puppeteer assumes the joint roles of puppet-maker, moose and Mr. Bunny Rabbit Cary Antebi - Sherlock the Squirrel in The Magic Garden Pam Arciero - Grundgetta from Sesame Street. Bob Baker -400 movies, first puppeteer on TV – Los Angeles KHJ in 1939, greg Ballora - Emmett from The Adventures of Timmy the Tooth, Baloney from The Mr. Potato Head Show. Billy Barkhurst - Jennifer Barnhart - Cleo Lion from Between the Lions, Mama Bear from Sesame Street, phil Baron - Bill Barretta - Pepe the King Prawn, Bobo the Bear, and Johnny Fiama from Muppets Tonight.
Rowlf the Dog and The Swedish Chef, marjorie Batchelder McPharlin - American puppeteer and authority on the puppet theater. Trace Beaulieu - Mystery Science Theater 3000s Crow T, fran Brill - Zoe, Prairie Dawn, Little Bird, Roxie Marie from Sesame Street. The Chiodo Brothers - Stephen Chiodo, Edward Chiodo, and Charles Chiodo have used their company Chiodo Bros, productions Inc. to create puppets for specific films which they performed in. They are known for performing the puppet for Dr. Colosso from The Thundermans, forman Brown - Puppeteer and gay novelist. He was a member of the Yale Puppeteers and the force behind Turnabout Theatre. Warrick Brownlow-Pike - Dodge T. Dog, Oucho T. Cactus Lisa Buckley - Ms. Fluffé from Dog City and she built Noodle McNoodle from Noodle and Doodle. Simon Buckley - British TV and film puppeteer Julianne Buescher - Potato Bug from The Mr. Potato Head Show, Potato Head from The Mr. Potato Head Show. Kevin Carlson helped Dina Fraboni James Murray to create The Adventures of Timmy the Tooth where he performed the title character, leslie Carrara-Rudolph - Abby Cadabby from Sesame Street.
Dave Chapman - Dougie Colon from That Puppet Game Show, Otis the Aardvark, Scratch from Nuzzle, Kevin Clash - Elmo from Sesame Street, Clifford from The Jim Henson Hour and Muppets Tonight, Baby Sinclair from Dinosaurs. Lola Cueto - María Dolores Velázquez Rivas, better known as Lola Cueto Mexican painter, mireya Cueto - Mexican puppeteer and dramaturg
The Lost Saucer
The Lost Saucer is an ABC network television series produced by Sid and Marty Krofft. It first aired on September 6,1975, the Lost Saucer was about two friendly time-travelling androids from the year 2369 named Fi and Fum who land their flying saucer on present day Earth. They good-naturedly invite a young boy named Jerry and his babysitter Alice to check out the interior of their craft, as onlookers begin to gather though, the two androids become nervous about attracting attention and abruptly take off with Jerry and Alice. The adventures are set on Earth either in the distant past or in the distant future hundreds of years hence. Accompanying them on their adventures was a known as the Dorse which was a half-dog, half-horse hybrid with the body of a large shaggy dog. There were 16 original episodes produced for the 1975-76 season, the first six episodes were rerun in the first half of The Krofft Supershow s first season. Each episode had a theme, usually a social or environmental one. Fat is Beautiful, for example, depicted a future in which people were grotesquely obese due to over-dependence on push-button conveniences, in Get a Dorse, two scientists kidnap the Dorse to use as a power source because the worlds fuel supplies were finally used up.
* The exact date of this episode is uncertain, the Lost Saucer, The Complete Series is coming soon to DVD from Vivendi Entertainment as a part of The World of Sid & Marty Krofft collection. The Lost Saucer at the Internet Movie Database The Krofft Supershow at the Internet Movie Database The Lost Saucer at TV. com
Lidsville
Lidsville is Sid and Marty Kroffts third television show following H. R. Pufnstuf and The Bugaloos. As did its predecessors, the combined two types of characters, conventional actors in makeup filmed alongside performers in full mascot costumes. Seventeen episodes aired on Saturday mornings for two seasons, 1971–1973, the opening was shot at Six Flags Over Texas. Otherwise, the show was shot at Paramount Pictures film studio in Los Angeles, like predecessors H. R. Pufnstuf and The Bugaloos, Lidsville ran for only one season, with reruns airing the following year. Like most childrens shows of the era, Lidsville contained a laugh track. The show involved a boy named Mark who fell into the hat of Merlo the Magician following his show at Six Flags Over Texas and arrived in Lidsville. The hats on the show are depicted as having the characteristics as the humans who would normally wear them. For example, a hat would act and speak like a cowboy. The characters houses were hat-shaped, the villain of the show was a magician named Horatio J.
HooDoo. Mark helped the good hats resist as he attempted to find a way back home, HooDoo, trying to reclaim control of the androgynous Weenie from Mark, often enlisted the services of four Bad Hats. In his high hat home, HooDoo was besieged by the music of the Hat Band. HooDoo experienced further aggravation at the hands of his aides, HooDoo watched the action going on in downtown Lidsville from his hat home by using his Evil Eye, a device similar to a TV set that resembled an eyeball. He had a hot hatline phone, the show relied on an endless array of puns based on hats. One such pun was Derby Dunes, an area in Lidsville which sand dunes were shaped like derby hats. Mark, a spy against HooDoo on behalf of the good hat people, was captured at Derby Dunes by HooDoos minions the Bad Hats the moment he had fallen into the world of Lidsville. He escapes from his clutches alongside a genie named Weenie, many of the episodes were about Mark trying to get back home, but the evil HooDoo prevented him from leaving.
Weenie, being a nervous bumbler, was, in fact, a genie, unfortunately for Mark, he did not return home at the end. Music was a part of the show, with songs being performed by the characters in several episodes, Mark - A teenage boy who serves as the main protagonist of the series
Quebec
Quebec is the second-most populous province of Canada and the only one to have a predominantly French-speaking population, with French as the sole provincial official language. Quebec is Canadas largest province by area and its second-largest administrative division and it shares maritime borders with Nunavut, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia. Quebec is Canadas second-most populous province, after Ontario, most inhabitants live in urban areas near the Saint Lawrence River between Montreal and Quebec City, the capital. Approximately half of Quebec residents live in the Greater Montreal Area, the Nord-du-Québec region, occupying the northern half of the province, is sparsely populated and inhabited primarily by Aboriginal peoples. Even in central Quebec at comparatively southerly latitudes winters are severe in inland areas, Quebec independence debates have played a large role in the politics of the province. Parti Québécois governments held referendums on sovereignty in 1980 and 1995, in 2006, the House of Commons of Canada passed a symbolic motion recognizing the Québécois as a nation within a united Canada.
These many industries have all contributed to helping Quebec become an economically influential province within Canada, early variations in the spelling of the name included Québecq and Kébec. French explorer Samuel de Champlain chose the name Québec in 1608 for the colonial outpost he would use as the seat for the French colony of New France. The province is sometimes referred to as La belle province, the Province of Quebec was founded in the Royal Proclamation of 1763 after the Treaty of Paris formally transferred the French colony of Canada to Britain after the Seven Years War. The proclamation restricted the province to an area along the banks of the Saint Lawrence River, the Treaty of Versailles ceded territories south of the Great Lakes to the United States. After the Constitutional Act of 1791, the territory was divided between Lower Canada and Upper Canada, with each being granted an elected legislative assembly, in 1840, these become Canada East and Canada West after the British Parliament unified Upper and Lower Canada into the Province of Canada.
This territory was redivided into the Provinces of Quebec and Ontario at Confederation in 1867, each became one of the first four provinces. In 1898, the Canadian Parliament passed the first Quebec Boundary Extension Act that expanded the provincial boundaries northward to include the lands of the aboriginal peoples. This was followed by the addition of the District of Ungava through the Quebec Boundaries Extension Act of 1912 that added the northernmost lands of the Inuit to create the modern Province of Quebec. In 1927, the border between Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador was established by the British Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. Located in the part of Canada, and part of Central Canada. Its topography is very different from one region to another due to the composition of the ground, the climate. The Saint Lawrence Lowland and the Canadian Shield are the two main regions, and are radically different
Donny & Marie (1976 TV series)
Donny & Marie is an American variety show which aired on ABC from January 1976 to January 1979. The show starred brother-and-sister pop duo Donny and Marie Osmond, Donny had first become popular singing in a music group with his brothers, The Osmonds, and Marie was one of the youngest singers to reach #1 on the Billboard Country Music charts. Donny and Marie were the youngest entertainers in TV history to host their own variety show, a year later, The Keane Brothers would break this record. Donny & Marie was a Friday night show that consisted of an ice skating number intro, comedy skits, each episode concluded with a musical finale and a cascade of balloons from the ceiling, matched to the colors of the sets and costumes. Donny and Marie would sing their closing song which was written by Alan Osmond. The show was shown in the UK on Sunday afternoon on BBC1, the shows popularity declined after it was revealed that teen heartthrob Donny was dating fellow Utahn Debbie Glenn, therefore taking him off the market of eligible bachelors.
According to an edition of the VH1 series Behind the Music, the series underwent a format change in the final season, eliminating segments such as the ice skaters and country/rock-n-roll segments in favor of more concert-style disco numbers. The variety show genre as a whole, at the time, was in decline. Donny and Marie joined together again in 1998 to co-host Donny & Marie, Donny & Marie dolls with an accompanying TV Studio play set were released in August 1976. A Donny & Marie wireless toy microphone was released in 1977, Donny & Marie at the Internet Movie Database Donny & Marie at TV. com Osmond. com - Donny & Marie feature
Bay City Rollers
The Bay City Rollers are a Scottish pop band whose popularity was highest in the mid 1970s. For a relatively brief, but fervent period, they were worldwide teen idols, in 1966 bassist Alan Longmuir, his younger brother, drummer Derek Longmuir and their schoolfriend, lead singer Gordon Nobby Clark, founded The Saxons in Edinburgh, Scotland. Soon after, they changed to The Bay City Rollers by throwing a dart at a map of the United States, the Bay City Rollers first manager was Tam Paton, himself a former big band leader. Short-term members from this period included bassist David Paton and keyboardist Billy Lyall, after signing with Bell Records, the bands first hit was Keep On Dancing, a cover of a 1965 hit by The Gentrys, recorded with record producer Jonathan King. Clark was backed on vocals on Keep On Dancing by King, upon this releases success, they made appearances on BBC Ones Top of the Pops. The group won a Radio Luxembourg-sponsored song contest with the tune Mañana, several non-charting singles were released over the following two years.
This period saw the addition of long term member guitarist Eric Faulkner, by the end of 1973, Clark had become disillusioned with the bands musical direction and decided to leave just when his recording of Remember zoomed up the charts to No.6. He was replaced as lead singer by Les McKeown, a couple of months later, in early 1974, what became known as the classic line-up was completed when guitarist John Devine was replaced by Stuart Woody Wood. In late 1973 McKeown recorded lead vocals on Remember, and a lead-in to a series of UK chart hits, the successful Classic Five line up consisted of Alan Longmuir, Derek Longmuir, Stuart Woody Wood, Eric Faulkner and Les McKeown. Beginning with Remember, the Rollers popularity exploded, and they released a string of hits on the UK chart, following in succession were Shang-a-Lang, Summerlove Sensation, and All of Me Loves All of You. By early 1975, they were one of the acts in the UK. That year saw a successful UK tour, which prompted newspaper headlines about the rise of Rollermania, the Rollers were the subject of a 20-week UK television series, Shang-a-Lang.
A cover of the Four Seasons Bye, Baby stayed at No.1 hit, two full-length LPs were produced during this period, Once Upon a Star and Wouldnt You Like It. Faulkner and Wood undertook the majority of the songwriting duties, by this time, Bay City Roller fans had a completely distinctive style of dress, the main elements of which were calf-length tartan trousers and tartan scarves. English singer-songwriter Nick Lowe wrote a paean to the band titled Bay City Rollers We Love You. The track was carefully sculpted to be enough to get Lowe out of a recording contract with United Artists. UA issued the record as by The Tartan Horde, which was the given to Rollers fans in England. Lowe was obliged to record a song called Rollers Show
The Bugaloos
The Bugaloos is an American childrens television series, produced by brothers Sidney Krofft and Martin Krofft, that aired on NBC on Saturday mornings from 1970 to 1972. The show features a group composed of four British-accented teenagers. They wear insect-themed outfits with antennae and wings allow them to fly, though on occasion. They are constantly beset by the machinations of Benita Bizarre. Bizarre, being untalented and ugly herself, is covetous of the Bugaloos musical prowess, among those auditioning in spring 1970 were Elton Johns future manager John Reid, and Phil Collins, who joined the art rock band Genesis that year. Reid and Collins had been two of the three finalists for the role of I. Q. given to Scottish musician John McIndoe, if one of those guys had gotten it instead of me, rock-n-roll history might have changed, McIndoe joked. Whenever I see them, I say, Hey guys, you were lucky you didnt get the part, the show was taped in Los Angeles, California. Seventeen episodes of the series were produced, like its predecessor H. R.
Pufnstuf, The Bugaloos ran for only one season, with reruns airing the following year. Following production of the first, and only, the Kroffts tried shooting for a second season, miscommunication between the Kroffts and the actors resulted in them returning to England that December against the Kroffts wishes. As a result, a second season was ultimately scrapped. Like most childrens shows of the era, The Bugaloos contained a laugh track. Cast members John Philpott and Caroline Ellis discussed its usage while viewing an episode of the show for DVD commentary. Actor / Character Name / Role In the Band Wayne Laryea / Harmony / keyboards John Philpott / Courage / drums Caroline Ellis / Joy / percussion and backup vocals John McIndoe / I. Q. The Grapevine, a bunch of talking grapes who aid Bluebell in giving the Bugaloos the latest bad news — a visual take on the hit Motown song I Heard it Through the Grapevine. A dreadful singer, she is furious at the popularity of The Bugalooss more melodic, upbeat sound, Benita is aided by two bumbling henchmen, the anthropomorphic speakers Woofer and Tweeter, and her chauffeur and chief flunky, the German-accented Funky Rat.
She frequently makes use of an ultrasonic weapon called the Stereo Zapper. Raye appeared the year in the HR Pufnstuf movie as Boss Witch. The Funky Rat costume was used for essentially the same role
The Krofft Superstar Hour
The Krofft Superstar Hour is a Saturday morning childrens variety show, produced by Sid and Marty Krofft. After eight episodes, the show was renamed The Bay City Rollers Show and it aired for one season from September 9,1978 to January 27,1979 on NBC. The show is essentially a reworking of The Krofft Supershow, replacing the fictitious band Kaptain Kool, just as on the previous show, the Rollers would perform comedy skits and musical numbers, and introduce the live action segments. The Bay City Rollers segment featured a character called Mr. Munchy in the main segment, the regular live action segments were Horror Hotel and The Lost Island. The show was cut back to 30 minutes after it was renamed The Bay City Rollers Show, despite the title, Horror Hotel was a comedy. It featured Wilhemina W. Witchiepoo of H. R. Pufnstuf fame running the eponymous hotel and she was assisted by other H. R. Pufnstuf characters, Dr. Blinky, Seymour the Spider, Orson the Vulture, and Stupid Bat. The villainous Horatio J.
HooDoo from Lidsville was a permanent resident in the hotel, the Lost Island featured a number of characters from other Krofft shows on the Lost Island within the Bermuda Triangle. Enik was the King of the Sleestak who lived within the Lost City, the good guys would often turn to the Island Spirit for advice on how to handle whatever plight they end up in
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus is a United States traveling circus company billed as The Greatest Show on Earth. The Ringling brothers had purchased Barnum & Bailey Ltd. following Baileys death in 1906, in 1967, Irvin Feld and his brother Israel, along with Houston Judge Roy Hofheinz bought the circus from the Ringling family. In 1971, the Felds and Hofheinz sold the circus to Mattel, since the death of Irvin Feld in 1984, the circus has been a part of Feld Entertainment, an international entertainment firm headed by Kenneth Feld, with its headquarters in Ellenton, Florida. The show traditionally begins with the singing the national anthem. With weakening attendance and high operating costs, Feld Entertainment announced the circus would close in May 2017 after 146 years. In 1875, Dan Castello and William Cameron Coup persuaded P. T. Barnum to lend his name and financial backing to the circus they had created in Delavan. Barnums Great Traveling Museum, Menagerie and Hippodrome, the moniker Greatest Show on Earth was added later.
Independently of Castello and Coup, James Anthony Bailey had teamed up with James E. Cooper to create the Cooper, Barnum attempted to buy the elephant. They eventually agreed to combine their shows on March 28,1881, in 1882, the combined Barnum & Bailey Circus was successful with acts such as Jumbo, advertised as the worlds largest elephant. Barnum died in 1891 and Bailey purchased the circus from his widow, Bailey continued touring the eastern United States until he took his circus to Europe. That tour started on December 27,1897, and lasted until 1902, in 1884, five of the seven Ringling brothers had started a small circus in Baraboo, Wisconsin. This was about the time that Barnum & Bailey were at the peak of their popularity. Similar to dozens of small circuses that toured the Midwest and the Northeast at the time and their circus rapidly grew and they were soon able to move their circus by train, which allowed them to have the largest traveling amusement enterprise of that time. Baileys European tour gave the Ringling brothers an opportunity to move their show from the Midwest to the eastern seaboard, faced with the new competition, Bailey took his show west of the Rocky Mountains for the first time in 1905.
He died the year, and the circus was sold to the Ringling Brothers. The Ringlings purchased the Barnum & Bailey Greatest Show on Earth in 1907, by that time, Charles Edward Ringling and John Nicholas Ringling were the only remaining brothers of the five who founded the circus. They decided that it was too difficult to run the two circuses independently, and on March 29,1919, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Combined Shows debuted in New York City, the posters declared, The Ringling Bros. Worlds Greatest Shows and the Barnum & Bailey Greatest Show on Earth are now combined into one record-breaking giant of all exhibitions, Charles E. Ringling died in 1926, but the circus flourished through the Roaring Twenties
Pink Lady (TV series)
Pink Lady is an American variety show that aired for five weeks on NBC in 1980, starring the musical duo of the same name. The show is referred to by the title Pink Lady and Jeff. The series ranked #35 on TV Guides 50 Worst TV Shows of All Time list, the series starred Japanese female singing duo Pink Lady, composed of Mitsuyo Nemoto and Keiko Masuda, and American comedian Jeff Altman. The format of the show consisted of musical numbers alternating with sketch comedy, the running gag of the series was the girls lack of understanding of American culture and the English language, in reality, Pink Lady did not speak any English at all. Jeff would attempt to translate and explain the meaning of things, the series featured Pink Lady performing various songs along with interaction with celebrity and musical guests. The group would end the show by jumping into a hot tub together, after the poorly rated series premiere, NBC moved Pink Lady to Friday nights and added Jim Varney as a character actor.
The move and retooling failed to help ratings and the series was canceled five episodes. The show was the brainchild of Fred Silverman, President and CEO of NBC, who wanted to replicate the success he had had at ABC and CBS. At the time, Pink Lady had recently achieved their first and only hit on the U. S. Billboard Hot 100. The Krofft brothers were told that the ladies were fluent in English, unsure of how to stage the show, Sid Krofft developed the concept of making the strangest thing thats ever been on television. The whole show was gonna come out of a little Japanese box, silvermans response was, No, thats just too different. Lets just do Donny & Marie, comedian Jeff Altman had a contract with NBC, and, on that basis, was offered work hosting the show to compensate for the fact that the leads were un-versed in English. According to Evanier, Fisher disliked the show and only participated because he was obligated to. The language barrier proved to be the biggest obstacle and Kei had to hold English conversations through an on-set translator.
The writers struggled because once dialogue had been written for and learned by the ladies, it could not be changed. This was particularly problematic when a guest star would be booked at the last minute, such as Lorne Greene and Kei wanted to sing the songs that had made them famous in their native country, but NBC insisted they perform in English. This resulted in recording English songs phonetically and lip-syncing for the shows tapings, lip-syncing was already a common practice on American variety shows, but it was especially noticeable since the ladies were performing in a language that was foreign to them. Additional problems were caused when the network insisted the writers develop separate identities for Mie, the established Pink Lady act was that they were so much in unison that they performed as one entity, so the two were not comfortable having separate stage personalities
