The Banana Splits

All Music Guide:

To a preteen generation for whom the concept of "free love" equaled unlimited hugs from mom and the notion of "getting high" meant nothing more than a breakfast cereal-induced sugar coma, the Banana Splits marked the apotheosis of such staples of late-'60s culture as psychedelia, pop art, and, of course, music. Like the Archies and Josie & the Pussycats, the band was essentially nothing more than a marketing front for a collective of faceless studio musicians; unlike their peers, however, in their own unique way the Banana Splits represented the acid culture's subtle encroachment into mainstream children's entertainment. By employing the kinds of camera techniques, surreal set designs, and hallucinatory images more commonly associated with the era's underground filmmaking, their television series brought the lessons of the Summer of Love to Saturday mornings; not unlike the similarly subversive (and, not coincidentally, similarly structured) Pee-Wee's Playhouse two decades later, The Banana Splits freed children's minds as it captured their imaginations, and its lasting influence has proven remarkable.

The Banana Splits were the brainchild of Joseph Barbera, one half of the famed Hanna-Barbera animation team behind such characters as the Flintstones, the Jetsons, Yogi Bear, and Scooby Doo. In 1967 Barbera was approached by Lee Rich of the Leo Burnett Agency, a Chicago-based advertising firm, to create a program designed as a showcase for Kellogg's, the Battle Creek, MI, breakfast cereal magnate. Rich proposed that Barbera produce an hourlong Saturday morning children's show; Barbera countered that the show should break new ground, and suggested that instead of animated characters, its hosts might be costumed performers resembling giant puppets. Some time later, Barbera outlined his finished proposal to the Burnett staff and Kellogg's representatives, as well as Grant Tinker, an NBC television executive who later became the network's president; to bring his ideas to life, Barbera introduced an actor dressed in a Yogi Bear costume, a move that proved instrumental in selling the series on the spot.

Essentially, the Banana Splits concept was like the Monkees once removed; clearly modeled on the exuberance and slapstick comedy of the Beatles' film A Hard Day's Night, the show also borrowed heavily from the bright, psychedelic image the Fab Four sported on the cover of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Like both the Beatles and the Monkees, the Splits were a four-piece pop band, and like the Monkees (and the Beatles in Help!), they even lived together in the same mod digs. Unlike their human predecessors, however, the Banana Splits were bizarre, anthropomorphic animals: rhythm guitarist Drooper was a lion, lead guitarist Fleegle was a dog, keyboardist Snorky was an elephant, and drummer Bingo was a monkey. The episodes consisted of skits, cartoons, a live-action cliffhanger serial called Danger Island (directed by Richard Donner, who went on to helm the Superman and Lethal Weapon films), and of course, musical performances. In total, some 23 bubblegum tunes were produced for the show; one was even written by soul crooner Barry White. In 1968, Decca issued an LP, We're the Banana Splits, collecting a dozen of the program's performances; the series' theme, "The Tra-La-La Song," even reached the Billboard Top 100 singles chart. In addition, Kellogg's issued an eight-song double EP pack, available only through the company for two cereal box tops and 50 cents.

The Banana Splits was a ratings blockbuster during the 1968-1969 television season, drawing an incredible 65 percent share of the Saturday morning audience. The second season, however, proved disastrous: while the Hanna-Barbera production staff filmed all new episodes, they did so without changing the backgrounds or any of the set designs, prompting young viewers to mistakenly believe that the new segments were actually reruns. Consequently, ratings plummeted, and The Banana Splits was unceremoniously axed in 1970. The show went largely forgotten for much of the decade, but in the 1980s a resurgence began; first punk satirists the Dickies covered "The Tra-La-La Song," and then no less a figure than R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe declared the Banana Splits a bigger influence on his work than even the Beatles. In the 1990s, the revival exploded: the acclaimed singer Liz Phair recorded her own rendition of "The Tra-La-La Song" for a tribute collection of Saturday morning themes, and more importantly, the original Banana Splits episodes went into heavy rotation on cable's Cartoon Network, Rovi

Wikipedia:

The Banana Splits are four comedic animal characters who featured in a late 1960s children's variety show made for television. The costumed hosts of the show were Fleegle (guitar, vocals), Bingo (drums, vocals), Drooper (bass, vocals) and Snorky (keyboards, effects).

The Banana Splits Adventure Hour was an hour-long, packaged television program that featured both live action and animated segments. The series was produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions, and ran for 31 episodes on NBC Saturday mornings, from September 7, 1968 to September 5, 1970.

The series costumes and sets were designed by Sid and Marty Krofft and the series' sponsor was Kellogg's Cereals. The show was Hanna-Barbera’s initial foray into mixing live action with animation.

Television series

In 1967, William Hanna and Joseph Barbera approached the Krofft Brothers to design costumes for a television show which would feature animated and live-action segments, with the whole show hosted by a bubblegum rock group of anthropomorphic characters. The format of the show was loosely based on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In. The Banana Splits Adventure Hour premiered on NBC on September 7, 1968.

The Kroffts give credit to the success of the series for opening the door for their own entry into television. NBC picked up the Krofft series H.R. Pufnstuf, which was launched during an hour-long special hosted by The Banana Splits on August 30, 1969.

The show's live-action segment Danger Island, a cliffhanger serial, as well as the short-lived Micro Ventures, an animated series consisting of only four episodes, ran alongside with the animated segments Arabian Knights and The Three Musketeers. Actor Jan Michael Vincent (billed as Michael Vincent) appeared in the live-action component Danger Island; all the live-action material filmed for the series' first season (including the Banana Splits and Danger Island segments) was directed by Richard Donner.

Each show represented a meeting of the "Banana Splits Club", and the wraparounds featured the adventures of the club members, who doubled as a musical quartet, meant to be reminiscent of The Beatles and mostly their NBC counterpart, The Monkees. The main characters were Fleegle, a beagle; Bingo, a gorilla; Drooper, a lion, and Snorky (called "Snork" in the theme song lyrics), an elephant. Fleegle would assume the role as leader of the Banana Splits and preside at club meetings. The characters were played by actors in fleecy costumes similar to later Sid and Marty Krofft characters such as H.R. Pufnstuf. They all spoke in English (Drooper with a Southern drawl ala Michael Nesmith, Fleegle with a pronounced lisp), except for Snorky who "spoke" in honking noises.

The Splits' segments, including songs-of-the-week and comedy skits, served as wraparounds for a number of individual segments. In the second season, The Three Musketeers segments were replaced with repeats of The Hillbilly Bears, a cartoon segment that previously appeared on The Atom Ant Show (1965–1968).

For the first season, some of the live-action segments (specifically those used during the musical segments) were shot at Six Flags Over Texas, an amusement park located in Arlington, Texas. For the second season, filming took place at the Coney Island amusement park, located in eastern Cincinnati, Ohio. In many episodes, the Banana Splits would be seen riding on the Runaway Mine Train roller coasters, Log Flumes, Bumper Cars, Merry-Go-Rounds, and many other rides at Six Flags and Coney Island.

Famous too were the "Banana Buggies" mentioned in the theme song. These were seen driven by each live-action character in the opening and closing segments and occasionally in the wraparound and music video segments as well. The buggies were customized Amphicat six-wheel drive all-terrain vehicles each decorated to resemble the character who drove them. Plastic 1/25 scale model kits were issued by Aurora Plastics Corporation under catalog number 832 beginning in 1969; these were never reissued by Aurora, but have since been reissued as high-end, resin-based kits.

The amusement park scenes in the original series were not filmed at Kings Island, which opened in nearby Mason, Ohio in 1972, some three years after filming for The Banana Splits Adventure Hour wrapped in 1969. But some of the rides seen in the series were relocated to Kings Island (following a flood which led to the closing of Coney Island; the park later reopened on a smaller scale) and the live-action scenes in the 1972 production The Banana Splits In Hocus Pocus Park were indeed filmed at Kings Island in Cincinnati.

The Banana Splits Adventure Hour was one of the first two Hanna-Barbera productions in 1968 in which William Hanna and Joseph Barbera received executive producer credits; the other being The New Adventures of Huckleberry Finn where Edward Rosen served as producer on both series.  They would not, however, assume the title full-time for another five years. 

The series was syndicated on Cartoon Network during the mid 1990s, usually airing in early morning hours.

Season 1

During the first season, the Banana Splits segments often concerned the group's confrontations with a rival club: The Sour Grapes Gang. The Sour Grapes were not seen on camera, but would send notes (usually a challenge or some other kind of threat) delivered by one of the "Sour Grapes messenger girls", who would dance into the Splits' clubhouse wearing purple minidresses, matched with pink leotards, tights and black go-go boots. They would normally intimidate or frighten the Splits until they gave the note to Fleegle. They would then dance out and take a bow before leaving. Five young actresses appeared as the messenger girls: Debra Thibodeaux, Colette Chenault, Julie Graham, Kathy O'Dare, and Shirley Hillstrom; only one would appear at a time, always called "Charlie" in the context of the show, except for the performance of the song "Doin' The Banana Split" (the segment first appeared in show #5, originally telecast October 5, 1968) which featured all five girls dancing with The Banana Splits. Their dance instructor was Byron Gilliam. Both Julie Graham and Kathy O'Dare would later appear in the 1970s TV series Happy Days.

The Splits were also occasionally visited by the Mariachi-tuned Dilly Sisters (an actual musical act from Mexico), who would appear at their door playing guitars and singing "The Mexican Hat Dance" or "Ta-ra-ra Boom-de-ay". In other recurring features during the first season, Drooper and Bingo offered advice to viewers in the "Dear Drooper" segment, while Fleegle served as the reporter for Banana Splits News. Other running gags included Fleegle repeatedly hitting himself by accident with his oversized gavel. The show introduced some catch phrases: the line, "That's An Ooch", would be said every time a member was hit or injured (sometimes, it would be a double or triple-ooch depending on the extent of the injury). Other memorable sayings included "Hold the bus!" and "Uh-oh, Chongo!" (the latter from the serialized Danger Island segment).

Season 2

In the second season, all new live-action segments were produced with the Banana Splits characters, while the animated segments and Danger Island serial were repeats. (Arabian Knights and Danger Island were reprised from Season 1, while The Three Musketeers would be replaced with repeats of The Hillbilly Bears, previously seen on The Atom Ant Show.) For the new season, the set was slightly modified, and the Splits' recurring routines were all new: Fleegle attempted (quite unsuccessfully) to perform magic tricks as alter ego The Great Fleegali, while Super Drooper fought crime and Coach Bingo kept the rest of the group active in sports competitions. Other new elements included School Time, Nursery Rhymes and a Gag Wall segment (reminiscent of Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In), as well as Fan Club meetings where the Banana Splits would read viewer mail. Goofy Gopher (voiced by Paul Winchell) would pop out from a flower pot to deliver the occasional one-liner, joining Cuckoo, who popped out of the Cuckoo Clock, and Banana Vac (an electric talking moose head) as secondary characters. The characters' costume designs also received an overhaul (introduced in the next-to-last Season 1 episode, The Great Banana Splits Buggy Race), with Snorky, who was originally covered in hair, now clean-shaven and sporting a yellow and blue striped vest.

Syndication and cable

In syndication, the show was re-edited into a half-hour format and retitled The Banana Splits And Friends Show. That package consisted of 125 half-hours, including 36 Banana Splits Adventure Hour cutdowns edited from the eighteen original first season shows, thirteen additional episodes produced for the 1969–1970 season which were not included in the syndicated package and reconstructed versions of the 36 syndicated edits which presently air on Boomerang. Four other Hanna-Barbera series (originally unrelated to The Banana Splits, apart from having been produced by the same studio) were folded into the syndicated series as well: Atom Ant (26 half-hours, also featuring Precious Pupp and the aforementioned Hillbilly Bears), Secret Squirrel (26 half-hours, also featuring Squiddly Diddly and Winsome Witch), The Adventures of Gulliver (17 half-hours), as well as The New Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (20 half-hours, originally seen in prime time and here introduced as The Adventures Of Huck Finn) which combined live action with animation. The four other shows occasionally are repeated on the Boomerang cable network in their original, non-Banana Splits configurations. (The syndicated Atom Ant, Secret Squirel and Gulliver episodes had a rotation of eight repeating clips edited into them, with Paul Winchell redubbing Fleegle's voice to introduce various cartoon segments. A total of a minute and a half of this footage was repurposed in this manner; the clips originated from Season 2 shows, as did the syndicated series' opening and closing titles. It was the only Season 2 material included in the syndicated package.)

Although fewer episodes were produced during the second season (13 compared to 18 in the first season), NBC repeated five Season 1 episodes (re-edited to feature the final five chapters of Danger Island) to maintain continuity of story line immediately following the first run of the 13 Season 2 episodes.

After the cancellation of the original series, the characters were revived in the TV special The Banana Splits in Hocus Pocus Park, which first aired as an hour-long installment of The ABC Saturday Superstar Movie on Saturday, November 25, 1972. Unlike the television show, The Splits spent most of the film in animated form.

In addition to the original 31 episodes of The Banana Splits Adventure Hour, NBC also aired two "preview" shows. Meet The Banana Splits was a half-hour special consisting of segments from the early episodes; it aired Friday, September 6, 1968, one day before the show's official premiere. Another "fall preview" show, called The Banana Splits And Friends (not to be confused with the later half-hour syndicated package The Banana Splits And Friends Show) aired in The Banana Splits Adventure Hour's regular timeslot on Saturday, August 30, 1969. The latter show served as a "fall preview" for NBC-TV's 1969–1970 Saturday morning lineup, and was produced by Don Sandburg (who was best known to Chicago-area TV viewers as "Sandy the Tramp" from WGN-TV's Bozo's Circus) for NBC-TV. The special featured appearances by Jack Wild (Jimmy of H.R. Pufnstuf), Judy The Chimp (of Jambo), and a costumed Pink Panther. Although the special aired before the start of the second season, it was the last original Banana Splits show to be filmed, after regular shooting for the series had been completed.

Joe Barbera wrote in his autobiography, My Life in 'Toons, that the original name for the series was to be "The Banana Bunch", but Hanna-Barbera was forced to change it after the author of a children's book by that name refused permission to use the title. Kellogg's had printed up 1.25 million cereal boxes with references to "The Banana Bunch" on them but wound up trashing the stock and starting over.

Internet Cartoons

In the early 2000s Cartoon Network produced a five-part Banana Splits series for its Web Premiere Toons site. The series took the form of a semi-interactive adventure (under the title of SPLITS VISION). The first episode started off with a live-action segment (with new SPLITS costumes and used a new Snorky based on the classic hair-covered first season), which then led into the other four segments using flash-animated versions of the characters.

2008 revival

In August 2008, Warner Bros announced a multi-platform release featuring new comedy shorts and music videos that debuted on Cartoon Network starting September 2, 2008. The relaunch includes a live show and a new website, as well as a CD and a DVD featuring 13 new songs to be released by Universal Records. In addition, a kids-themed area called Banana Splitsville was placed at Myrtle Beach, South Carolina's Hard Rock Park (now Freestyle Music Park) rock-and-roll theme park.

Comics

The Banana Splits' adventures continued in comic books. Gold Key began publishing a comic version in 1969, releasing eight issues through 1971. Drawn by Jack Manning, these followed the musicians trying to find work or on the road between gigs.

Music

The Banana Splits' bubblegum pop rock and roll was provided by studio professionals, including Joey Levine ("I Enjoy Being a Boy", "It's a Good Day for a Parade"); Al Kooper ("You're the Lovin' End"); Barry White ("Doin' the Banana Split"); Gene Pitney ("Two Ton Tessie") and Jimmy Radcliffe provided his songs ("I'm Gonna Find A Cave", "Soul", "Don't Go Away Go-Go Girl", "Adam Had 'Em" and "The Show Must Go On") but did not contribute vocals to Splits recordings. The music director was music publisher Aaron Schroeder while production duties were mainly handled by David Mook. When a heavier R&B vocal was needed, the music producers usually turned to singer Ricky Lancelotti (billed in the show credits under his stage name Rick Lancelot). Lancelotti went on to become one of Frank Zappa's many lead vocalists in late 1972.

In 1968, The Banana Splits released an album on Decca Records titled We're the Banana Splits. The show’s theme song, titled "The Tra La La Song (One Banana, Two Banana)", released as a single, peaked at number 97 on Billboard's Top 100 in February 1969. The version included on the We're The Banana Splits album is the same recording heard at the beginning of the show, while the single version is an entirely different arrangement and recording of the song, featuring an additional verse. The song was written by Nelson Brock Winkless, Jr., however, owing to contractual arrangements, on all record releases (as well as the TV show's closing credits), credit given to Ritchie Adams and Steve Kincannon ( Formerly of Cream and the Allman Brothers ). Winkless is credited as co-writer, along with Hoyt Curtin, of "The Beautiful Calliope" (also called "My Beautiful Calliopesaxaviatrumparimbaclaribassotrombaphone"), which was featured several times in the television series and also issued on record.

Covers

A cover of the show’s theme song performed by Liz Phair, surprisingly appropriate because Liz Phair and three cast members of the Banana Splits attended New Trier High School, with Material Issue, is included on the 1995 tribute album Saturday Morning: Cartoons' Greatest Hits, produced by Ralph Sall for MCA Records. Another rendition was performed by rock & roll comic C.C. Banana on the 2005 cartoon tribute album "Complete Balanced Breakfast." A cover of "Don't Go Away Go-Go Girl" by pop-punk band Mr. T Experience was issued on the 1993 tribute album Banana Pad Riot and their Big Black Bugs Bleed Blue Blood and Our Bodies Our Selves CD releases. The 1988 landmark release "Sub Pop 200" included a version of "I'm Gonna Find A Cave" retitled "Gonna Find A Cave" by the band Girl Trouble. "Sub Pop 200" featured recordings from many soon to be notable bands, Nirvana, Green River, Mudhoney, Soundgarden and others from Seattle's Grunge music explosion that followed.

The Dickies also cover the theme song, and their recording appears as a bonus on the CD reissue of their 1979 album The Incredible Shrinking Dickies. The track is titled "Banana Splits" and it reached Number 7 in the UK charts. The Dickies still perform this song live at almost every concert. This cover was also featured in the movie soundtrack of Kick-Ass during ten-year-old Hit-Girl's brutally violent fight scene.

Chicago-based musician Ralph Covert, who records children's music under the group name Ralph's World, covered the theme song under the title "The Banana Splits (The Tra La La Song)" on his 2001 album At the Bottom of the Sea.

Cast

Although Snorky's voice often has been mistakenly credited to Don Messick, the character never actually spoke. Messick did perform Drooper's voice in some portions of The Banana Splits In Hocus Pocus Park, with Allan Melvin voicing the character in other scenes.

Jeffrey, Terence and Dan Winkless are brothers, the sons of N. B. Winkless Jr., jingle writer, copywriter, creative exec and vice president at Leo Burnett Company whose client was the show's sponsor, Kellogg's. Winkless composed some of the memorable Kellogg's cereal jingles, including the "Snap, Crackle, Pop Fugue" and "The best to you each morning", and also co-wrote (with Hoyt Curtin) "The Beautiful Calliopa", a song used on the series. The actors' names were changed in the show's credits to avoid the appearance of nepotism. Fleegle's voice is an imitation of actor/comedian Ed Wynn. 

James Dove, the original Snorky, was previously a voice-over artist. He was hired as a result of his small stature, and has claimed that he was later fired as a result of not being able to keep up the same energy as the Winkless "kids".  Dove died on July 27th, 2010 after a 28 year battle with Parkinson's disease. 

Dan Winkless currently lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  Terence H. Winkless produces, writes, and directs television and film.  Jeffrey Winkless died of cancer at age 65 on June 26, 2006. 

DVD release

On September 21, 2009, Warner Home Video released the complete first season on DVD in Region 2. The 6-disc set consists of 36 edited half-hour episodes of The Banana Splits And Friends Show as aired on Boomerang.