The Banana Splits Adventure Hour
 The Banana Splits Adventure Hour (also broadcast in syndication
as The Banana Splits & Friends Show) featured a wild bunch of
nameless guys in costumes of scruffy, unidentifiable creatures,
who ran around Saturday morning TV way too fast to not be doing
some serious adrenalin-releasing substances . . .
But they weren't just flipping like a pancake and popping like
a cork - they were a musical group too, just like The Beatles or
The Monkees (well, ok - maybe not just like!).
Their songs were Tin Pan Alley's Fab Four retreads. The classic
I Enjoy Being A Boy included the I Am A Walrus-style verse "I
live in a purple plum mansion/In the midst of a strawberry
stream/And mellifluous bells ring out softly/from a hill of
vanilla fudge cream". (!)
 William Hanna and Joseph Barbera hired some of the best voices
in the business: Paul Winchell (aka Dick Dastardly) supplied
Fleegle's drawl, while Daws Butler (Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound)
was the voice of Bingo.
Snorky only ever honked but was officially
voiced by Don Messick (something Messick has since denied). Allan
Melvin voiced Drooper, the guitar-playing lion who answered the
mail.
To watch The Banana Splits is to realise just how weird
American TV can be.
The phrase "Hold the bus" was the
sign for the Splits to behave as if they had been driven mad by a
mailbox which wouldn't give Fleegle the mail, a bin which wouldn't
accept Drooper's trash, and the odious Sour Grape girls.
It was all too much for America's
TV Guide who huffed:
"This is a fine program for the one-and-under set, for two
and older you might be better off with straight commercials".
 Featured segments included The Three
Musketeers, Arabian Knights,
Micro Ventures, Adventures Of Gulliver, The New
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Danger Island (famous for the
cry of "Oh oh Chongo", and because Richard Donner -
director of Lethal Weapon - got his start on it).
Fleegle (a dog), Drooper (a lion), Bingo (a gorilla) and Snorky
(an elephant) were all instantly recognisable characters.
Unfortunately, anyone could wear those furry outfits - A painful
truth soon discovered by Dan Owen, Terence Henry, Jeffrey Brock
and jay Larremore (the guys in the suits on the show).
When the
Splits staged their very own national US concert tour, local
actors were hired to save fees and expenses.
One banana, two banana, three banana, four
Four bananas make a bunch and so do many more.
Over hill and highway the banana buggies go
Coming on to bring you the Banana Splits show
Making up a mess of fun Making up a mess of fun
Lots of fun for everyone
Tra la la, la la la la, Tra la la, la la la la
Tra la la, la la la la, Tra la la, la la la la
Four banana, three banana, two bananas, one
All bananas playing in the bright warm sun
Flipping like a pancake, popping like a cork,
Fleagle, Bingo, Drooper and Snork
Making up a mess of fun, Making up a mess of fun
Lots of fun for everyone
Tra la la, la la la la, Tra la la, la la la la
Tra la la, la la la la, Tra la la, la la la la
Two Banana, four banana, one banana, three
Swinging like a bunch of monkeys hanging from a tree
Hey there everybody won't you come along and see
How much like Banana Splits everyone can be
Making up a mess of fun, Making up a mess of fun
Lots of fun for everyone
Tra la la, la la la la, Tra la la, la la la la
Tra la la, la la la la, Tra la la, la la la la
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