Lidsville was Sid and Marty Krofft's third television show following H.R. Pufnstuf (1969) and The Bugaloos (1970). As did its predecessors, the series combined two types of characters. Conventional actors in makeup were filmed alongside performers in full mascot costumes, whose voices were dubbed in post-production. Seventeen episodes aired on Saturday mornings for two seasons, 1971–1973. The opening was shot at Six Flags Over Texas.
Production
Lidsville resembles a later British series, Hattytown Tales, produced by Hattyland Enterprises & FilmFair Ltd. in 1980, which used an almost identical concept but different characters and was produced in claymation.
Like predecessors H.R. Pufnstuf and The Bugaloos, Lidsville ran for only one season (1971-1972), with reruns airing the following year (1972-1973). Also like H.R. Pufnstuf, Lidsville's title and subject matter were often interpreted as references to drug use: the word "lid" is slang for a hat or cap (as in "flip your lid"), but "lid" is also early-1970s slang for an ounce of marijuana.
The complete series was released on DVD in the United States in January 2005. Extra features in the set included interviews with Charles Nelson Reilly, Butch Patrick and Billie Hayes. They also provided commentary on some of the episodes.
Plot
The show involved a teenage boy named Mark (Butch Patrick) who fell into the hat of Merlo the Magician (Charles Nelson Reilly) and arrived in Lidsville, a land of living hats. The hats on the show are depicted as having the same roles as the humans who would normally wear them. For example, a cowboy hat would act and speak like a cowboy. The characters' houses were also hat-shaped.
The villain of the show was a magician named Horatio J. HooDoo (also played by Charles Nelson Reilly in a magician's costume and make-up). Among other notable characters were Raunchy Rabbit (Sharon Baird in mascot, but voiced by Walker Edmiston), Weenie the Genie (Billie Hayes who also reprised her H.R. Pufnstuf role, Witchiepoo, in one episode), and Rah-Rah the football helmet (portrayed by Jerry Maren, voiced by Lennie Weinrib).
The vain, short-tempered, but somewhat naive HooDoo flew around in his Hatamaran, blasting the good citizens of Lidsville with bolts of magic (referred to as "zapping") and keeping them in fear, demanding that they pay him their Hat Checks. 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 consisting of Mr. Big, Captain Hooknose, Bella the Vampire's Cowl, and Boris the Executioner's Hood. In his high hat home, HooDoo was besieged by the taunting music of the Hat Band, as well as all of his talking knicknacks (the parrot, Mr. Skull, the mounted alligator head, the sawed-in-half lady, to list only a few). HooDoo also experienced further aggravation at the hands of his aides, the dim Raunchy Rabbit and his two-faced card guard, Jack of Clubs (a walking deck of playing cards). 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, but resembling an eyeball. He also had a hot hatline phone. The show relied on an endless array of puns based on hats.
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, but many of the tricks and spells didn't work right anymore after being a slave to HooDoo for so long. In the show's final episode, scenes from some of the past episodes were featured, as HooDoo's mother had paid a visit to find out what has been going on in Lidsville. Unfortunately for Mark, he did not return home at the end.
Music was also a part of the show, with songs being performed by the characters in several episodes.
Cast
Voice cast
- Walker Edmiston - Admiral Scuttlebutt, Bella the Vampire's Cowl, Big Chief Sitting Duck, Boris the Executioner's Hood, Hiram the Farmer's Hat, Hoo Doo's Parrot, Raunchy Rabbit, Jack of Clubs
- Joan Gerber - Madame Ring-a-Ding, Mother Wheels, Nursie, Sawed-in-Half Lady, Twirly
- Lennie Weinrib - Colonel Poom, Captain Hooknose, Mr. Big, Mr. Chow, Pierre LeSewer, Rah-Rah the Football Helmet, Scorchy the Fireman's Hat, Tex, Tonsilini
Other media
The show was parodied by HBO late night comedy program Mr. Show.
Gold Key Comics published five issues of a LIDSVILLE comic book. The books were a mix of new stories as well as re-workings of some of the television episodes. Although the comics were faithful to the TV series, there were some major differences: Weenie the Genie was made less of a bumbler. In the comic, it was strictly stated that he could not work ANY magic unless Mark first rubbed the ring. Boris the Executioner's hood made NO appearances in the comics at all outside of cover photos, although the rest of the Bad Hats appeared regularly. HooDoo's flunky, Jack of Clubs, was only regulated to cameo appearances and never drawn the same way each issue.He was also depicted as a single card, rather than a deck. Mommy HooDoo, who appeared in the show as a plump, matronly woman, was depicted in the comics as an emaciated hag with steel wool hair. Lidsville's population was expanded on a bit, as new characters were introduced. Most notably a bird named Hooty Hatowl, a Town Crier hat, Toulouse the artistic painter's beret,The Cap people, An armoured Knight named Sir Rip Van Helmet, and the Red-Hooded Hatpeckers.
LIDSVILLE was also part of the ICE CAPADES during the early 1970s.
External links
Audio
Video
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Sid and Marty Krofft |
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| Krofft Supershow Segments |
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| Krofft Puppets appeared in |
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Les Poupées de Paris (1961) · Circus (1966) · Funny World (1966) · Kaleidescope (1968) · Fol-de-Rol (1968) · Comedy Kings (1988)
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