Everybody Sing Tra La La La La La La.

What was the best thing to happen to Saturday mornings in 1968? Why, "The Banana Splits Adventure Hour!"

For the first time, Hanna-Barbera produced an hour-long show with live hosts. Four actors in animal costumes played Fleegle the dog, Drooper the lion, Bingo, the gorilla, and Snorky the elephant. This foursome performed comedy sketches, sang upbeat rock songs, and also featured the Sour Grapes Bunch and the Dilly Sisters. The Dillies showed up to sing "Mexican Hat Dance" and Ta-Ra-Ra Boom-De-Ay," a song that was very popular with me, my siblings, and other neighborhood kids. There were also catchphrases like "Hold the bus!" and "That's an ooch!" (or even double ooch!).

Of course, they also hosted cartoons and a live action show. So without further ado, my thoughts on each one.

"Danger Island," This was HB's first live action series, and boy, oh boy, was it ever exciting, It was reminiscent of the live action serials shown on "The Mickey Mouse Club." Just as those were totally Disney, this one was totally Hanna-Barbera, with the music, the suspense, the villains, and the hostile natives like the Skeleton Men. But no, I didn't run through the house yelling "Uh oh! Chongo!" That would have been embarrassing.

"The Arabian Knights." This was about as cool as "Shazzan." Prince Turhan, his cousin Princess Nida, and four others strove to foil the plots of Bakaar and his right hand man Vangore. Fariik used magic saying "Rozan Kobar!" most often. Raseem used his strength. Bez could become any animal merely by saying,"Size of a (fill in the blank)". Nida was able to disguise herself as both men and women, and even disguise her voice to sound elderly or male. And then there was my favorite team player, Zazoom the donkey. One pull of his tail, and he went into tornado mode with devastating results. Also worthy of note is the fact that Prince Turhan was voiced by Jay North. Yes, the same Jay North who began his acting career playing Dennis The Menace. "Hiya, Mr. Wilson!" was replaced by "Greetings, Bakaar!" Sorry, couldn't resist.

Anyway, if Bill and Joe were still alive, I'd walk up to them, and congratulate on a job well done with Prince Turhan and company.

"The Three Musketeers." Aramis, Athos, Porthos, and D'Artagnan return to fight for their king and queen and Lady Constance, and take on villains who threaten the kingdom. But wait! Who's that I see riding close behind? Oh no! It's Tooly! Get rid of the kid! Enough said.

Incidentally, I never saw H-B's more faithful adaptation of "The Three Musketeers."

"The Micro Ventures." Professor Carter and his kids Mike and Jill would shrink themselves with their Micro Reducer, so that they could observe insects, arachnids, and other tiny creatures close up. These were H-B's first educational shorts, as Professor Carter related scientific facts about pond life, desert animals, backyard-dwelling insects, and even ant colonies. I really learned a lot from seeing these. Too bad only four shorts were produced. But I guess that was enough for H-B.

Then several years later, the Splits were animated for the first and last time in "The Banana Splits In Hocus Pocus Park." This film began and ended in live action. It had the quartet setting out to rescue Susie from an evil witch. They and Susie became cartoon characters after going through a billboard. I've seen this on "The ABC Saturday Superstar Movie," where it first aired, and also on HBO and YouTube. Check it out sometime..

Anyone else feel like singing "The Tra La La Song?" I sure do after writing all this.

Trivia Question 86: In "The Banana Splits In Hocus Pocus Park," what did the witch use to lure Susie?

Trivia Answer: A balloon, which Susie chased after.