''The Funny Company'' is an American

animated cartoon Animation is a filmmaking technique whereby still images are manipulated to create moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Animati ...

produced in 1963 and seen in syndication. Ken Snyder and Charles Koren produced 260 six-minute-long episodes (they later would create the cult favorite

Roger Ramjet ''Roger Ramjet'' is a 1965–69 American animated television series, starring Roger Ramjet and the American Eagle Squadron. The show was known for its simple animation, frenetic pace, and frequent references to pop culture which appealed to adult ...

). The

Mattel Mattel, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational corporation, multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment company headquartered in El Segundo, California. Founded in Los Angeles by Harold Matson and the husband-and-wife duo of Ruth Handler, ...

Corporation provided financial backing. Snyder conceived the program in response to then-

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains j ...

(FCC) chairman Newton N. Minow's call for more educational children's programs.

Plot

The Funny Company group resembled a club not unlike a

Junior Achievement JA (Junior Achievement) Worldwide is a global non-profit youth organization. It was founded in 1919 by Horace A. Moses, Theodore Vail, and Winthrop M. Crane. JA works with local businesses, schools, and organizations to deliver experiential ...

organization, that had a noseless

smiley A smiley, sometimes called a smiley face, is a basic ideogram representing a Smile, smiling face. Since the 1950s, it has become part of popular culture worldwide, used either as a standalone ideogram or as a form of communication, such as em ...

face used as the club logo; and most of the time, the stories would revolve around the Company being hired for different jobs to make a little money (yard work, house cleaning, babysitting, etc.) or doing something for charity (such as putting on shows). As time went on, the Company decided to make Shrinkin' Violette a movie star and were on their way to Hollywood. Members included leader Buzzer Bell (rarely seen without his Funny Company cap), inventor Jasper N (for National) Parks, club secretary Polly Plum, rotund Merry Twitter (the giggly

Betty Boop Betty Boop is a cartoon character designed by Grim Natwick at the request of Max Fleischer. She originally appeared in the '' Talkartoon'' and ''Betty Boop'' film series, which were produced by Fleischer Studios and released by Paramount Pic ...

-soundalike club treasurer), club mascot Terry Dactyl (an actual pterodactyl, who was frozen many years ago in

prehistoric times Prehistory, also called pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the first known use of stone tools by hominins million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use o ...

), shy Shrinkin' Violette (who could literally become smaller if she became embarrassed), and two Native American adults--

Super Chief The ''Super Chief'' was one of the List of named passenger trains, named train, passenger trains and the flagship of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. The then-modern streamliner was touted in its heyday as "The Train of the Stars" b ...

(named after the Santa Fe Railroad's crack passenger train) whose voice was an air horn of a single-chime railroad locomotive, and his translator Broken Feather. Another adult lending a hand was Professor Todd Goodheart with his supercomputer, the Weisenheimer. The "Villainous Meanie" of the show, Belly Laguna (who was modelled after Hungarian-American actor

Bela Lugosi Blaskó Béla Ferenc Dezső (; October 20, 1882 – August 16, 1956), better known by the stage name Bela Lugosi ( ; ), was a Hungarian–American actor. He was best remembered for portraying Count Dracula in the horror film classic Dracula (19 ...

, in his famous ''

Dracula ''Dracula'' is an 1897 Gothic fiction, Gothic horror fiction, horror novel by Irish author Bram Stoker. The narrative is Epistolary novel, related through letters, diary entries, and newspaper articles. It has no single protagonist and opens ...

'' role) always tried to thwart the Funny Company's plans (for his own profit), but without any success. Another, less frequently seen adversary was a German-accented

mad scientist The mad scientist (also mad doctor or mad professor) is a stock character of a scientist who is perceived as "mad, bad and dangerous to know" or "insanity, insane" owing to a combination of unusual or unsettling personality traits and the unabas ...

type, Professor Ludwig Von Upp with his assistant Hans Von Henchman. Each segment included a two-minute live-action short educational film, reinforcing the topic being discussed. Initially produced in black and white, the series switched after one season to full color, the closing credits ended with the message, "Keep Smiling!"

Syndication

The series was originally syndicated to local stations around the country, normally as part of a locally-produced children's show. The show first aired on both ABC and

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

affiliate (now only NBC)

KOMU-TV KOMU-TV (channel 8) is a television station licensed to Columbia, Missouri, United States, serving the Columbia–Jefferson City market as an affiliate of NBC and The CW Plus. The station's studios and transmitter are located on US 63 southea ...

Channel 8 in

Jefferson City, Missouri Jefferson City, informally Jeff City, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital of the U.S. state of Missouri. It had a population of 43,228 at the 2020 United States census, ranking as the List of cities in Missouri, 16th most popu ...

on September 21, 1963, and was later carried on

WOR-TV WWOR-TV (channel 9) is a television station licensed to Secaucus, New Jersey, United States, serving the New York metropolitan area as the flagship of the MyNetworkTV programming service. It is owned and operated by Fox Television Stations alo ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

three days later. Formerly throughout its history, ''The Funny Company'' was broadcast on TBN's Smile of a Child TV network (now Smile) early on Monday mornings and late Friday nights until the show was pulled off the air in June 2016. This series was also known as a Chicago television original, especially on

WGN-TV WGN-TV (channel 9) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, serving as the local outlet for The CW. It is owned and operated by the network's majority owner, Nexstar Media Group, and is sister station, sister to the company ...

's ''

Garfield Goose and Friends ''Garfield Goose and Friends'' is a children's television show produced by WGN-TV in Chicago, Illinois, United States, from 1955 to 1976. The show was known as ''Garfield Goose and Friend'' from 1952 to 1955 when it aired on WLS-TV, WBKB and WBB ...

'' and in the 1980s on

WPWR-TV WPWR-TV (channel 50), branded as Fox Chicago Plus, is a television station licensed to Gary, Indiana, United States. It is one of two commercial television stations in the Chicago market to be licensed in Indiana (alongside WJYS hannel 62in Ha ...

. The series sold internationally and ran for several years in Ireland and Australia.

Voice cast

* Dick Beals—Buzzer Bell, Jasper N. Parks * Robie Lester—Polly Plum *Nancy Wible—Merry Twitter, Shrinkin' Violette *Ken Snyder—Terry Dactyl, Additional voices (also producer) *Tom Thomas—Broken Feather, Additional voices * Hal Smith—Dr. Todd Goodheart, Dr. Ludwig Von Upp, Belly Laguna, Weisenheimer, Hans Von Henchman, Additional voices

Credits

*Executive Producer: Kenneth C.T. Snyder *Producer: Sam Nicholson *Co-Producer: Leo Salkin *Written and Created by Kenneth C.T. Snyder *Musical Direction: Jack Fascinato *Animators: Bob Bemiller, Brad Case, John Sparey, John Walker *Layout: Norm Gottfredson *Backgrounds: Rosemary O'Connor *Animation Checking: Maggi (Alcumbrac) Raymond *Picture and Sound Editor: Norm Vizents *Production Coordinator: Dave Hoffman

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Funny Company 1960s American animated television series 1960s American children's comedy television series 1963 American animated television series debuts American children's animated comedy television series American children's animated education television series American children's animated fantasy television series American English-language television shows First-run syndicated animated television series Mattel