The Banana Splits

The Banana Splits was a Saturday morning variety show on NBC, produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions. It centered on a fictional rock band of four costumed animal characters, each wearing a red helmet with a yellow crest. The band members were Fleegle (guitar and vocals), Bingo (drums and vocals), Drooper (bass and vocals), and Snorky (keyboards and effects). The series aired 31 episodes from September 7, 1968, to September 5, 1970, and continued in syndication until 1982.

The show featured the Banana Splits as live-action costumed hosts who introduced both live-action and animated segments. The costumes were built by Sid and Marty Krofft, based on designs from Hanna-Barbera artists. Kellogg's Cereals was the sponsor. A horror-comedy film adaptation, *The Banana Splits Movie*, premiered at San Diego Comic-Con on July 18, 2019, and was released worldwide on August 13, 2019.

In 1967, William Hanna and Joseph Barbera asked Sid and Marty Krofft to create costumes for a show that would mix animated and live-action segments, hosted by a bubblegum rock group of anthropomorphic animals. The show’s fast-paced blackout gags were loosely inspired by *Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In*, so Hanna and Barbera hired that show’s head writers, Phil Hahn and Jack Hanrahan. The Banana Splits later appeared as guests on *Laugh-In* on November 18, 1968.

*The Banana Splits Adventure Hour* debuted on NBC on September 7, 1968. In his autobiography, Barbera noted the show was originally to be called *The Banana Bunch*, but permission from the author of a children’s book with that title could not be obtained. The Krofft brothers credited the series’ success for enabling their own show, *H.R. Pufnstuf*, which NBC picked up and launched on August 30, 1969, during an hour-long special hosted by the Banana Splits.

The show’s live-action segment *Danger Island* was a cliffhanger serial, and the short-lived animated series *Micro Ventures* (only four episodes) ran alongside the animated segments *Arabian Knights* and *The Three Musketeers*. Actors Jan-Michael Vincent (billed as Michael Vincent) and Ronne Troup appeared in *Danger Island*. All first-season live-action material—including the Banana Splits and *Danger Island* segments—was directed by Richard Donner. According to AllMusic’s Jason Ankeny, the show’s ratings dropped sharply in its second season because the production staff failed to change backgrounds or set designs, leading young viewers to think they were watching reruns.

Each episode represented a meeting of the Banana Splits Club, with wraparounds showing the club members’ adventures. The musical quartet was meant to evoke The Monkees. The Splits’ segments—songs of the week and comedy skits—framed a number of individual segments. In the first season, some live-action musical segments were filmed at Six Flags Over Texas in Arlington, Texas. For the second season, filming moved to Coney Island amusement park in Cincinnati, Ohio. In many episodes, the Banana Splits rode the parks’ rides.

The Banana Buggies, mentioned in the theme song, were customized vehicles driven by each character. These were modified Amphicat six-wheel drive all-terrain vehicles, each decorated to match its driver. Aurora Plastics Corporation released 1/25 scale plastic model kits (catalog number 832) starting in 1969. Aurora never reissued them, but high-end resin kits have since been produced.

*The Banana Splits* was one of the first two Hanna-Barbera series in 1968 to give Hanna and Barbera executive producer credits (the other was *The New Adventures of Huckleberry Finn*); Edward Rosen produced both. It was also among the first Saturday morning shows to use a laugh track, but only during live-action comedy segments. In its first year, the cartoons were adventure-based and had no laugh tracks (the first Saturday-morning cartoon with a laugh track was Filmation’s *The Archie Show*).

The four main characters were Fleegle (a beagle with a lisp, the self-proclaimed leader), Bingo (a nasal-voiced orangutan in white sunglasses and a yellow vest), Drooper (a lion with a Southern accent, long tail, and yellowish-orange sunglasses), and Snorky (an elephant who communicated through honking noises, originally with shaggy fur and redesigned for the second season). On-screen performers in the original series included Jeff Winkless (Fleegle), Terence H. Winkless (Bingo), Anne W. Withrow (Drooper), and James Dove (Snorky). Voice actors included Paul Winchell (Fleegle), Daws Butler (Bingo), and Allan Melvin (Drooper). Later performers and voice actors appeared in the 2019 film and in *Jellystone!*. An unseen announcer, voiced by Allan Melvin, introduced the Banana Splits and certain acts.