| The Magilla Gorilla Show | |
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| Genre | |
| Created by | |
| Written by |
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| Directed by |
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| Voices of | |
| Theme music composer | Hoyt Curtin |
| Composer | Hoyt Curtin |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of episodes | 31 |
| Production | |
| Executive producers |
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| Producers |
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| Production company | Hanna-Barbera Productions |
| Original release | |
| Network | Syndicated |
| Release | January 15, 1964 (1964-01-15) – December 30, 1967 (1967-12-30) |
The Magilla Gorilla Show is an American animated television series starringMagilla Gorilla. The series was produced byHanna-Barbera Productions forScreen Gems, and was originally sponsored insyndication byIdeal Toys from 1964 through 1967.[1] The show had other recurring characters, includingRicochet Rabbit & Droop-a-Long andPunkin' Puss & Mushmouse. In syndication, the main and supporting characters fromThe Peter Potamus Show were also added. Like many of Hanna-Barbera's animal characters, Magilla Gorilla was dressed in human accessories, sporting abow tie, shorts held up bysuspenders, and an undersizedderby hat.[2]
Prior to the show's launch, a half-hour documentary featuring the Hanna-Barbera studio and promoting the upcoming new series aired in December 1963 as a first-run syndication TV special entitledHere Comes A Star.[3] After a year on airing its original runs, repeats of all 31 episodes were aired between 1966 and 1967 during ABC-TV's Saturday morning schedule and on Sunday mornings the following season.[4]
The show aired onBoomerang until July 22, 2012. After an eight-year wait,The Magilla Gorilla Show returned on Boomerang for four days during November 26 until November 30, 2020 including the opening and closing themes and titles. During the four-day broadcast, neitherPunkin' Puss & Mushmouse norRicochet Rabbit & Droop-a-long were aired.
Magilla Gorilla (voiced byAllan Melvin[2]) is ananthropomorphicwestern lowland gorilla who spent his time languishing in the front display window of a pet shop run by Melvin Peebles (voiced byHoward Morris in 1964–1965, andDon Messick in 1966-1967), eating bananas and being a drain on the businessman's finances. Mr. Peebles marked down Magilla's price considerably, but Magilla was invariably only purchased for a short time...for example, by thieves who needed to break into a bank or by an advertising agency looking for a mascot for their new product. The customers always ended up returning Magilla, forcing Mr. Peebles to refund their money. Magilla often ended each episode with his catchphrase "We'll try again next week." Magilla's only friend was an adorable, admiring little red headed girl named Ogee (voiced byJean Vander Pyl), who asked, "How much is that Gorilla in the window?" during the show's opening theme song.[5]
RicochetRabbit (voiced byDon Messick) works as thesheriff of Hoop N' Holler with his slow as molasses deputy Droop-a-LongCoyote (voiced byMel Blanc). In addition to his super-speed, Ricochet Rabbit uses an arsenal of trick bullets (for example, one with a skull bashing mallet that pops out of the shell) to help him take down criminals. He would introduce himself as "Sheriff Ping! Ping! Pinnnng! Ricochet Rabbit!"
In a send up of thefeuding Hatfields and McCoys, an orangehillbillycat named Punkin' Puss (voiced byAllan Melvin) is constantly chasing a hard-to-catch hillbillymouse named Mushmouse (voiced byHoward Morris). Punkin' Puss' weapon of choice is a shotgun.
The show made its first premiere on January 15, 1964, on first-run syndication. WhenThe Magilla Gorilla Show first aired on television, the show was not broadcast on the same day of the week or the same time, in every city's affiliation. For its original run until 1965 in syndication, some of the major markets in cities such asNew York City,Los Angeles,San Francisco,Chicago,Indianapolis, andDallas airedThe Magilla Gorilla Show on independent stations, such asWPIX,KCOP,KTVU,WGN,WTTV, andKTVT. Overlands and overseas, the show aired onCBC Television in Canada at the time since its debut; and in Australia,The Magilla Gorilla Show didn't air in Australia until April 6, 1965, whenNetwork TEN ran the entire series. Beginning in 1966, new episodes and reruns of the earlier episodes then began airing onABC's Saturday Morning schedule until its last run on December 30, 1967. In Canada and Australia, the show continued its reruns until 1969. After the reruns were mostly canceled in America, Only a few stations continued their portion to rerunThe Magilla Gorilla Show. Chicago'sWFLD once carriedThe Magilla Gorilla Show during the early-1980s in their morning schedule, and one of the longest-running stations to airThe Magilla Gorilla Show, New York City's WPIX, continued to rerunThe Magilla Gorilla Show for more than a decade until 1984. At the time, no local station in America has aired them since then. Apparently in the United Kingdom,Yorkshire Television reran the series in the early 1980's; and in Australia,Nine Network reran the show during the mid-1980s. Both channels reranThe Magilla Gorilla Show for a short period of time. Back in America, the show was then returned on cable-onlyUSA Network later on during the decade, andCartoon Network began running the series when it launched years later on October 1, 1992. Cartoon Network's run lasted until 2004 due to its sister station Boomerang at the time airing the show since Boomerang's early years. Boomerang continued to airThe Magilla Gorilla Show until July 22, 2012. The show made a return on November 26, 2020 for four days until November 30, 2020, on a Boomerang Thanksgiving weekend containing episodes of various classic Hanna-Barbera shows. During the run, bothPunkin' Puss & Mushmouse orRicochet Rabbit & Droop-a-Long segments were not aired during the four-day period; which was replaced by another Magilla Gorilla segment to fill the schedule instead, with both opening theme and closing theme/credits intact throughout every segment. Out of the 31 Magilla Gorilla segments in total, only 20 of them were aired. In 2024 it was announced thatThe Magilla Gorilla Show would be begin airing soon onMeTV Toons.
The episode "Come Blow Your Dough" was released as part of the "A Sample of Boomerang" tape, from Cartoon Network's sister channel, Boomerang.
Warner Home Video released the Classic Collection of the Magilla Gorilla Show consisting of 31 episodes ofMagilla Gorilla, together with the 23Ricochet Rabbit & Droop-a-Long and 23Punkin' Puss & Mushmouse shorts in a boxed DVD collection on August 15, 2006.[6] The DVD set does not include the originalMagilla Gorilla Show main/end title sequences and the cartoons are not restored, drawing heavy criticism from fans.
A "Diamond Collection"[7] of the complete series was released on June 6, 2017. All 23 Ricochet Rabbit and all 23 Punkin' Puss shorts are included as they were on the previous release. The opening and closing titles are still not included.
On February 6, 2025, Warner Archive announced that they would be releasing a complete series blu-ray box set of the show on March 25, 2025.[8] This set fully restores the series and adds the opening and closing titles back.
| DVD name | Ep # | Release date | Additional information |
|---|---|---|---|
| Classic Collection | 31 | August 15, 2006 |
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| Diamond Collection | 23 | June 6, 2017 |
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