Anybody remember Tennessee Tuxedo?

[Spongebrain2.0]

Anybody remember TT, it was great. Was it a Jay Ward cartoon, the animation style and the fact that it began on R&B, makes me think it is, but his name is on none of the cartoons or the show itself?

[ZumbidoMetal]

It was not done by Jay Ward, but Total TV/Leonardo Productions. Though I believe it was animated by Gamma Studios who I believe had also done the Ward stuff. For years The Ward and Total TV/Leonardo stuff have been mixed together in syndication and are so similar it's easy to be confused hell a few years ago Boomerang even claimed Tennesse Tuxedo was a Ward cartoon in a Press Release :D .

[absolutpaul]

Tennesee Tuxedo was produced by Total Television, but the animation studio they used in Mexico was the same one Ward used for Rocky and Bullwinkle.

[Frizfrelengfan]

I remember Tennessee Tuxedo very well. Tennessee Tuxedo was a penguin who had a walrus sidekick named Chumley. Every episode also featured a man named Mr. Whoopee (?) who used a three-dimensional blackboard to explain how things worked. It was funny and educational. The voice of Tennessee was provided by Don Adams ("Get Smart," "Inspector Gadget"). Not classic animation, but one of the better made-for-TV ones.

[J. J. Hunsecker]

I remember Tennessee Tuxedo very well. Tennessee Tuxedo was a penguin who had a walrus sidekick named Chumley. Every episode also featured a man named Mr. Whoopee (?) who used a three-dimensional blackboard to explain how things worked. It was funny and educational. The voice of Tennessee was provided by Don Adams ("Get Smart," "Inspector Gadget"). Not classic animation, but one of the better made-for-TV ones."Phineas J. Whoopee, you're the greatest!"

[Frank]

How much money did it cost to make a Tennessee Tuxedo cartoon? It looked pretty cheap!

[nakak]

Television cartoon's budget back then was about $10,000.

Theatrical cartoon's budget was about...$300,000 I think...

and yes, I remember "Tennessee Tuxedo".

When KBSI aired "Underdog" back in 1999 they aired "Tennessee" as part of the segment.

[J Lee]

"Tennesse Tuxedo" has the surprising distinction of being the grandfather of every "educational" made-for-TV cartoon that has since aired not only on the major networks, but on PBS and cable channels.

In 1961, then FCC Chaiman Newton B. Minnow lambasted the broadcast networks for creating a "vast wasteland" of television. Basically, Minnow was mad about the supposed "dumbing down" of TV from the 1950s era of live broadcasts, which is many ways were closer to theatrical productions, to the filmed shows that began to dominate around 1958 or so. And, yes, among the fodder he targeted were the prime-time and weekend network cartoons, like "The Flintstones" and even "The Bugs Bunny Show."

So as a response to that diatribe, CBS commissioned Total Television -- which already had the "King Leonardo Show" running on NBC -- to create a Saturday morning cartoon show for the fall of 1963 that would also include some sort of educational factor that would balance out the otherwise-mindless nature of the stuff being churned out for television. "Tennessee Tuxedo" was the result, creating the penguin and walrus duo who were always in need of Phineas J. Whoopee's help in soliving their problem, and whose demonstrations allowed CBS to fulfill the educations content of the show. Fortunately, there was enough entertainment value in the shows, and the education segements were handled well enough not to weigh down the entire concept with heavy-handed instruction and/or moralizing, something that later cartoons with educational themes would fail to manage ("Captain Planet" anyone?)

...of course, then to get back at the Minnow, CBS allowed Sherwood Schwartz to go off and name the doomed charter boat on "Gilliagan's Island" after the FCC Chairman, but that's a story for another day...

[B Mode]

Anybody remember TT, it was great. Was it a Jay Ward cartoon, the animation style and the fact that it began on R&B, makes me think it is, but his name is on none of the cartoons or the show itself?

SpongeBrain, in case you didn't know already, TT & Chumley are apart of the Underdog show on the Boomerang channel, however this month they have removed it from the programming in March. We hope this is simply a variety move, and it will re-join the scheduling next month.

[angilbas]

I watched TT from the beginning in September 1963. He and Chumley lived under the not-always-watchful eyes of zookeeper Stanley Livingston; TT's signature line was, "We'd better get back before Stanley misses us." In some segments, TT, Chumley and Stanley were put in settings far from the zoo IIRC ... the one that comes to mind has Stanley as commander of an Old West fort, with TT and Chumley as his subordinates.


-Tony

[Steve Carras]

I sure do recall it, and like "angilbas" above, I save it from the 1963 beginning. It was the second Leonardo-TTV program produced (UNDERDOG in 1964 being their coup de grace),, borrowing the TOOTER TURTLE segmernt from their first (1960--63) sh0ow (KING LEONARDO AND HIS SHORT SUBJECTS (OF BONGO CONGO)), and adding the 1 minute long adventures of a teller of tall tales,COMMANDER McBRAGG. Mr.MacBragg, btw, was voiced by radio-based comic actor Kenny Delmar, whose Senator Claghorn character back on radio's FRED ALLEN'/ALLEN'S ALLEY in 1946 inspired Wqarner Bros.own lodumouth rooster Foghorn Leghorn,Kenny Delmar did other voices for TTv and in fstc even RERPRISED the Claghorn voice for THE HUTNER< a original (1960) KIONG LEONARDO support segment.

As mentioned, Don Adams )Maxwell Smart of GET SDMART, title character in INSPECTOR GADGET),played The Tux-ter, and veterna funnyguy Larry Storch, the pre-Alaskey/S&T Mysterias Cool Cat, and Merlin the Magic mouse in most shorts, did the voice of Mr.Whoope--character actor of the 1963 classic comedy album by comic Vaighn Meader, FIRST FAMILY, Bradley Bolke, also in numberous Rankin/Bass shows, was the voice of Chumley. Mort Marshall, Delo States, and Kenny Delmar were among other voices. All of them seemed a connection with Vaughn Meador of FIRST FAMILY,given the record credits (Norma MacmIllan of GUMBY,one of her few westcoast jobs-she played little mermaid Goo, and of TTV's own UNDERDOG-as Sweet Polly Puredbrad--and Mort Marshall and some other TTV-ers can be found strewn throughout the FIRST FAMILY record album credits!!).

Varioous supporting characters included Yak,a yak(!) and Baldy, an Eagle soudning like sourpuss actor Ned Sparks (caricatured often in number Warner shorts) both voiced according to reference sources either by Mort Marshall or by Kenny Delmar, and zookeeper/curator Stanley Livignstone (get it? explorers Stanley and Livingstone?), said to be voiced (by mot accounts) by Delo States.

The music and sound FX for these often seemed borrowed part-time from Paramo8unt/Famous/Harvey Comics CASPERS, with Winston Sharples's music and soudn Fx man Maurice Manne's sound FX. Other times they seemed borrowed from other L-TTV shows (cf.HUNTER and KING AND ODIE which also had the same musiic/effects mix).

[Steve Carras]

I watched TT from the beginning in September 1963. He and Chumley lived under the not-always-watchful eyes of zookeeper Stanley Livingston; TT's signature line was, "We'd better get back before Stanley misses us." In some segments, TT, Chumley and Stanley were put in settings far from the zoo IIRC ... the one that comes to mind has Stanley as commander of an Old West fort, with TT and Chumley as his subordinates.


-TonyThose were funny.Those were actually nightmares of Tennesee (comnparable to the FLINSTONES, LT & MM, and GILLIGAN).Others were medieval times, robots, pirates, outer space, an encountrer with a witch,and maybe some toehrs that I forgot.THe epsidoe referred to above is TELL TALE TELEGRAPH.

[Cdawg]

Tennessee Tuxedo shows up in a bonus short on "The Underdog Chronicles" DVD released by Sony/Wonder & Classic Media - along with Commander McBragg, the Go Go Gophers, the Hunter & Tooter Turtle in case anyone is interested. There may be more TT episodes out, but this is the only one I know of. I remember the theme songs of these characters. They brought a really nice mix to the Underdog shows.


-Cdawg

[Jon Cooke]

Awhile back Boomerang was running the syndicated version of Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales that mixed Total TV cartoons (Tennessee, Tooter the Turtle) with Jay Ward cartoons (Aesop & Son, Mr. Peabody, Fractured Fairy Tales). The shows even included old Rocky & Bullwinkle bumpers! No wonder people get Total TV and Ward cartoons confused. :sweat:


-Jon