| The Great Grape Ape Show | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre | Comedy |
| Created by | William Hanna Joseph Barbera |
| Voices of | Bob Holt Marty Ingels |
| Theme music composer | Hoyt Curtin |
| Composer | Hoyt Curtin |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 16 (31 segments) |
| Production | |
| Executive producers | William Hanna Joseph Barbera |
| Running time | 20 minutes (10 minutes per segment) |
| Production company | Hanna-Barbera Productions |
| Original release | |
| Network | ABC |
| Release | September 6 (1975-09-06) – December 13, 1975 (1975-12-13) |
The Great Grape Ape Show is an Americananimated television series produced byHanna-Barbera Productions and broadcast onABC from September 6 to December 13, 1975, for 16 episodes.[1] ABC continued to air it in reruns until 1978.
The title character is The Great Grape Ape (voiced byBob Holt), who is a 40 ft (12 m) tall purplegorilla with the mind of a child. His catch phrase is saying his name twice ("Grape Ape, Grape Ape") after anything anyone says, usually as a form of agreement or acknowledgement of what was said. He travels the countryside with his canine pal Beegle Beagle (voiced byMarty Ingels), whom he calls "Beegly Beagly".[2]
Grape Ape's immense size tends to initially shock and frighten those unfamiliar with him, and his presence alone has often terrified people and animals, causing them to run off screaming invariably: "YEOW! A gorill-ill-ill-ill-la!". The only exception to this was the character Rosie O'Lady (voiced byJanet Waldo), who appeared in Episode 11, "The Indian Grape Call". When asked by Beagle why she did not yell in fear like everyone else did upon seeing Grape Ape, she simply said, "You've seen one 40-foot purple ape, you've seen them all". In "Ali Beagle and the Forty Grapes", a wooden city limits sign reacted to Grape Ape's presence (after "overhearing" that no one else had) by progressively displaying the "YEOW!" phrase, with Beegle reading aloud as the sign changed, unfolding additional segments for the several "ill[a]" syllables (after which it folded itself up and hopped away in fear).
Grape Ape and his friend Beegle Beagle usually ride around in a small yellow van driven by Beegle Beagle with Grape Ape sitting on the roof which can somehow support his weight. A recurring bit of business would be for him to "rev up" the tiny vehicle like a child with a friction toy, then hop aboard as the van would start on its way. Also, Grape Ape's steps would often bounce Beegle into the air, where his legs would keep walking without breaking stride.
Given his size, Grape Ape's sneezes were equivalent to a hurricane and when he cried which was sometimes when he was homesick for his family, his tears could cause flooding in areas. When he does wrong, he also famously says, "I'm sorry!", which is done so often Beegle Beagle knows when it is coming and sometimes says it along with him, though often in a playful way.
The Great Grape Ape Show was broadcast in these following formats onABC:[3]
The show was originally broadcast as a segment ofTom & Jerry/Grape Ape Show during the 1975–76 season; for the 1976–77 season, the show becameTom and Jerry/Grape Ape/Mumbly Show, and in 1977–78,The Great Grape Ape Show became its own half-hour show on Sunday mornings. Thirty-two 10-minute installments ofGrape Ape were made; two were aired per 30-minute episode.
Grape Ape also appeared as a member of "The Yogi Yahooeys" team onScooby's All-Star Laff-A-Lympics from 1977 to 1979 and would often team up withYakky Doodle in sporting competitions. In Britain, the BBC ranThe Great Grape Ape with the cartoon seriesBailey's Comets during 1977–78.The Tom & Jerry Show also appeared elsewhere in the BBC schedules, whereas the other part of the U.S. Saturday fare,Mumbly was shown by ITV.
Like many animated series created by Hanna-Barbera in the 1970s, the show containeda laugh track created by the studio.
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| No. | Title | Original release date | Prod. code |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1a | "That Was No Idol, That Was My Ape" | September 6, 1975 (1975-09-06) | 79-2 |
Grape Ape and Beegle Beagle travel to an island where the idol worshipped by the natives resembles Grape Ape. | |||
| 1b | "The All-American Ape" | September 6, 1975 (1975-09-06) | 79-1 |
Grape Ape joins a football team. | |||
| 2a | "Movie Madness" | September 13, 1975 (1975-09-13) | 79-3 |
| 2b | "Trouble at Bad Rock" | September 13, 1975 (1975-09-13) | 79-4 |
| 3a | "Flying Saucery" | September 20, 1975 (1975-09-20) | 79-5 |
| 3b | "There's No Feud Like an Old Feud" | September 20, 1975 (1975-09-20) | 79-6 |
| 4a | "The Grape Race" | September 27, 1975 (1975-09-27) | 79-7 |
| 4b | "The Big Parade" | September 27, 1975 (1975-09-27) | 79-8 |
| 5a | "A Knight to Remember" | October 4, 1975 (1975-10-04) | 79-9 |
| 5b | "S.P.L.A.T." | October 4, 1975 (1975-10-04) | 79-10 |
| 6a | "G.I. Ape" | October 11, 1975 (1975-10-11) | 79-11 |
| 6b | "The Purple Avenger" | October 11, 1975 (1975-10-11) | 79-12 |
| 7a | "Grapefinger" | October 18, 1975 (1975-10-18) | 79-13 |
| 7b | "Return to Balaboomba" | October 18, 1975 (1975-10-18) | 79-21 |
| 8a | "Amazon Ape" | October 25, 1975 (1975-10-25) | 79-15 |
| 8b | "Grape Marks the Spot" | October 25, 1975 (1975-10-25) | 79-16 |
| 9a | "The Invisible Ape" | November 1, 1975 (1975-11-01) | 79-18 |
| 9b | "Public Grape No. 1" | November 1, 1975 (1975-11-01) | 79-19 |
| 10a | "The Incredible Shrinking Grape" | November 8, 1975 (1975-11-08) | 79-17 |
| 10b | "What's a Nice Prince Like You Doing in a Duck Like That?" | November 8, 1975 (1975-11-08) | 79-22 |
| 11a | "Who's New at the Zoo" | November 15, 1975 (1975-11-15) | 79-14 |
| 11b | "The Indian Grape Call" | November 15, 1975 (1975-11-15) | 79-24 |
| 12a | "A Grape Is Born" | November 22, 1975 (1975-11-22) | 79-23 |
| 12b | "The First Grape in Space" | November 22, 1975 (1975-11-22) | 79-25 |
| 13 | "S.P.L.A.T.'s Back" | November 27, 1975 (1975-11-27) | 79-20 79-26 |
Part 1: The Chicken has been training birds to steal goods. Grape Ape and Beegle Beagle are assigned to the case. They trace the villain to a bird sanctuary, but only meet a human birdkeeper. After the Chicken kidnaps the Chief, Beegle and Grape Ape disguise themselves as a bird and tree, respectively. The Chicken orders his newest "recruit" to chop down the tree and take care of the Chief. Part 2: Beegle, disguised as Big Bad Bird, pretends to follow the Chicken's orders. The Chicken heads out to sea, along with his birds, while Grape Ape secretly follows them underwater. Eventually, Beegle reveals that the birds were merely controlled by a whistle. As for the Chicken, he turns out to be the birdkeeper in disguise. | |||
| 14a | "To Sleep or Not to Sleep" | November 29, 1975 (1975-11-29) | 79-27 |
| 14b | "Olympic Grape" | November 29, 1975 (1975-11-29) | 79-28 |
| 15a | "Ali Beagle and the 40 Grapes" | December 6, 1975 (1975-12-06) | 79-29 |
| 15b | "Grape Five-O" | December 6, 1975 (1975-12-06) | 79-31 |
| 16a | "The Purple Avenger Strikes Again" | December 13, 1975 (1975-12-13) | 79-30 |
| 16b | "The Grape Connection" | December 13, 1975 (1975-12-13) | 79-32 |
* Telecast at Noon (EST), Thursday afternoon, November 27, 1975, as part of ABC'sThanksgiving Funshine Festival.
The episodes "That Was No Idol, That Was My Ape" and "The All-American Ape" are available on the DVDSaturday Morning Cartoons 1970's Vol. 2.[4]
Norbert Fersen adapted the TV show into a comic strip in the 1970s, under its French-translated nameMomo et Ursul.[5]