''Calvin and the Colonel'' is an American

animated sitcom An animated sitcom is a subgenre of the sitcom that is animated instead of live action and is generally made or created for adult audiences in most cases. ''SpongeBob SquarePants'', ''The Simpsons'', ''South Park'', and ''Family Guy'' are four of ...

about Colonel Montgomery J. Klaxon, a shrewd fox, and Calvin T. Burnside, a dumb bear. Their lawyer was Oliver Wendell Clutch, who was a weasel (literally). The colonel lived with his wife Maggie Belle and her sister Susan Culpepper, who did not trust the colonel at all. Colonel Klaxon was in the real estate business, but always tried

get-rich-quick scheme A get-rich-quick scheme is a plan to obtain high rates of return for a small investment. The term "get rich quick" has been used to describe shady investments since at least the early 20th century. Most schemes create an impression that parti ...

s with Calvin's unwitting help.

Series overview

The series was an animated remake of ''

Amos 'n' Andy ''Amos 'n' Andy'' is an American radio sitcom about black characters, initially set in Chicago and later in the Harlem section of New York City. While the show had a brief life on 1950s television with black actors, the 1928 to 1960 radio sho ...

'' r, more or less, "Andy and The Kingfish"and featured the voices of Freeman Gosden and Charles CorrellTerrace, Vincent (2011). ''Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2010''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . P. 154. from the radio series (in fact, several of the original radio scripts by Joe Connelly & Bob Mosher were adapted for this series). Using animals avoided the touchy racial issues which had led to the downfall of ''Amos 'n' Andy''. Because of low ratings, the show was cancelled after two months, but returned two months later on Saturday evenings to complete the first season contract (and to fulfill

Lever Brothers Lever Brothers was a British manufacturing company founded in 1885 by two brothers: William Hesketh Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme (1851–1925), and James Darcy Lever (1854–1916). They invested in and successfully promoted a new soap-making p ...

' agreement to sponsor the program; they originally sponsored ''The Amos 'n' Andy Show'' on radio during the 1940s). For a year afterward reruns were seen on Saturday mornings, and eventually syndicated through the 1960s. It was also adapted as a

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

Dell Comics Dell Comics was the comic book publishing arm of Dell Publishing, which got its start in pulp magazines. It published comics from 1929 to 1974. At its peak, it was the most prominent and successful American company in the medium.Evanier, Mark" ...

, and as such the first of two issues was the final installment in the company's extremely prolific (more than 1,300 issues published) ''

Four Color ''Four Color'', also known as ''Four Color Comics'' and ''Dell Four Color'', was an American comic book anthology series published by Dell Comics between 1939 and 1962. The title is a reference to the four basic colors used when printing comic ...

'' anthology series. Despite its low ratings in America, the series gained popularity in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

during its initial run, with reruns airing on Channel 7 up to the late 1980s. A brief sequence from the show was seen on a television set in a 1966 episode of ''

The Munsters ''The Munsters'' is an American sitcom depicting the home life of a family of benign monsters. The series starred Fred Gwynne as Frankenstein's monsterEpisodes referring to the fact that Herman is Frankenstein's monster include #55, "Just Anoth ...

'' ("A Visit From Johann"), which was also produced by Connelly and Mosher. Much like other animated sitcom programs of the time (''

The Flintstones ''The Flintstones'' is an American animated sitcom produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions. The series takes place in a romanticized Stone Age setting and follows the activities of the titular family, the Flintstones, and their next-door neighb ...

'', ''

Top Cat ''Top Cat'' is an American animated sitcom produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and originally broadcast in prime time on the ABC network. It aired in a weekly evening time slot from September 27, 1961, to April 18, 1962, for a single season of ...

'' and ''

The Jetsons ''The Jetsons'' is an American animated sitcom produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions. It originally aired in prime time from September 23, 1962, to March 17, 1963, on ABC, then later aired in reruns via syndication, with new episodes produced ...

''), the series had a

laugh track A laugh track (or laughter track) is a separate soundtrack for a recorded comedy show containing the sound of audience laughter. In some productions, the laughter is a live audience response instead; in the United States, where it is most common ...

in the episodes (This was the same laugh track used in ''The Munsters'', because the laugh track was supported by Kayro Productions which produced both of these shows).

Credits

*Created by Freeman Gosden, Charles Correll *Voices: Freeman Gosden, Charles Correll, Beatrice Kay, Virginia Gregg, Paul Frees *Music: George Bruns *Animation Producers reston Studios Bob Ganon, Sam Nicholson, Gerald Ray *Art Director: Norm Gottfredson *Animation Directors: Chuck McKimson, John Walker *Supervising Animators: Tom McDonald, John Sparey, Bob Bemiller *Production Coordinator: Dave Hoffman *Editing: Norm Vizents *Sound: Phil Kaye *Recording Director: Cliff Howell *Production Executive: Al Amatuzio *Produced by Joe Connelly and Bob Mosher

Episodes

References

External links

TOON TRACKER "Calvin and the Colonel" via the Wayback Machine

at

Don Markstein's Toonopedia Don Markstein's Toonopedia (subtitled A Vast Repository of Toonological Knowledge) is an online encyclopedia of print cartoons, comic strips and animation, initiated February 13, 2001. Donald D. Markstein, the sole writer and editor of Toonopedi ...

Archived
from the original on April 14, 2012.
BCDb: Calvin And The Colonel
* {{IMDb title, 0054527, Calvin and the Colonel 1960s American animated television series 1960s American sitcoms 1961 American television series debuts 1962 American television series endings American animated sitcoms American children's animated comedy television series American Broadcasting Company original programming Television duos Animated television series about foxes Animated television series about bears Television series by Universal Television Television remakes Amos 'n' Andy