H.R. Pufnstuf
| H.R. Pufnstuf | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Created by | Sid and Marty Krofft |
| Starring | |
| Voices of | |
| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of episodes | 17 |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Sid and Marty Krofft |
| Running time | 0:25 (per episode) |
| Distributor | CBS Television Distribution |
| Release | |
| Original network | NBC |
| Original release | September 6 – December 27, 1969 |
H.R. Pufnstuf is a children's television series produced by Sid and Marty Krofft in the United States. It was the first Krofft live-action, life-sized-puppet program. The seventeen episodes were originally broadcast from September 6, 1969, to December 27, 1969. The broadcasts were successful enough that NBC kept it on the Saturday morning schedule until August 1972. The show was shot in Paramount Studios and its opening was shot in Big Bear Lake, California. Reruns of the show aired on ABC Saturday morning from September 2, 1972, to September 8, 1973, and on Sunday mornings in some markets from September 16, 1973, to September 8, 1974. It was syndicated by itself from 1974 to 1978 and in a package with six other Krofft series under the banner Krofft Superstars from 1978 to 1985. Reruns of the show were shown on MeTV until 2016.
In 2004 and 2007, H.R. Pufnstuf was ranked #22 and #27 on TV Guide's Top Cult Shows Ever.
The H.R. Pufnstuf character was originally created for the HemisFair '68 world's fair in 1968, where the Kroffts produced a show called Kaleidescope for the Coca-Cola pavilion. The character's name was Luther and he became the symbol of the fair.
H.R. Pufnstuf introduced the Kroffts' most-used plot scenario: their fairy tale of good versus evil, as well as their second plot scenario: the stranger in a strange land.
The show centered on a shipwrecked boy named Jimmy (played by teenage actor Jack Wild). He is 11 years old when he arrives on the island and turns 12 in the episode called "The Birthday Party". Jimmy and his friend, a talking flute named Freddy, take a ride on a mysterious boat, which promised adventures across the sea to the kooky Living Island, home of dancing talking trees and singing frogs.
The boat was actually owned and controlled by a wicked witch named Wilhelmina W. Witchiepoo (played by Billie Hayes) who rode on a broomstick-like vehicle called the Vroom Broom. She used the boat to lure Jimmy and Freddy to her castle on Living Island, where she was going to take Jimmy prisoner and steal Freddy for her own purposes.
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