The Banana Splits

Did You Know?

• The show's format of fast-paced blackout gags was loosely based on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, and the Banana Splits appeared as guests on Laugh-In on November 18, 1968.
• The Banana Buggies mentioned in the theme song were customized Amphicat six-wheel drive all-terrain vehicles, and plastic model kits were issued by Aurora Plastics Corporation beginning in 1969.

Characters

The Banana Splits are four costumed animal characters: Fleegle, a beagle with a lisp who is the self-proclaimed leader; Bingo, a nasal-voiced orangutan wearing white sunglasses and a yellow vest; Drooper, a Southern-accented lion with a long tail and yellowish-orange sunglasses; and Snorky, an elephant wearing pink sunglasses who communicates through honking noises. Snorky was originally covered in shaggy fur but was redesigned for the second season to more resemble a regular elephant. The on-screen performers in the original series were 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 and the Announcer). Other recurring characters include the Banana Vac, a blue moose-like head with light bulbs on his head; a Cuckoo Clock with a blue and yellow bird head; Gopher Goofy, a gopher who lived in a flower pot; Mildred the Robot, an invention of Fleegle's performed by Robby the Robot; and the Sour Grapes Bunch, a group of silent human girl characters all named Charley who were the Splits' rivals.

Segments

The show featured four segments. Arabian Knights followed Prince Turhan and his allies freeing Persia from the evil Bakaar the Black Sultan. The Three Musketeers, based on the novel, had Athos, Porthos, Aramis, and D'Artagnan fighting enemies of the French crown. Micro Ventures was a four-episode segment about Professor Carter and his children using a shrinking machine to explore the world from an insect's perspective. Danger Island, the only live-action segment, depicted an archaeologist and his companions avoiding pirates on an unnamed island chain. In the second season, The Three Musketeers segments were replaced with reruns of The Hillbilly Bears, a cartoon segment that had previously appeared on The Atom Ant Show.

Music

The show's theme song, 'The Tra La La Song (One Banana, Two Banana)', was credited to Ritchie Adams and Mark Barkan but was actually written by Nelson B. Winkless Jr. The song, a single attributed to the Banana Splits, peaked at #96 on Billboard's Top 100 in February 1969. The Banana Splits' bubblegum pop rock and roll was provided by studio professionals including Joey Levine, Al Kooper, Barry White, Gene Pitney, and Jimmy Radcliffe. Music director Aaron Schroeder oversaw production, with David Mook handling production duties. In 1968, the Banana Splits released an album on Decca Records titled We're the Banana Splits. The Dickies covered the theme song in 1978, reaching #7 on the UK charts. Liz Phair with Material Issue also covered the song for the 1995 album Saturday Morning: Cartoons' Greatest Hits.

Other projects

Hanna-Barbera produced The Banana Splits in Hocus Pocus Park, a televised feature film for ABC in 1972. Several educational filmstrips were released between 1978 and 1982, including titles such as The Banana Splits: Healthy and Happy and Learning About Holidays with The Banana Splits. In August 2008, Warner Bros. Consumer Products announced a multi-platform revival that debuted on Cartoon Network on September 2, 2008, featuring new comedy shorts and music videos. A child-themed area called Banana Splitsville was installed at Myrtle Beach, South Carolina's Hard Rock Park. In 2016, Warner Bros. teamed with Christian Jacobs' production company to create a pilot for another revival, but the idea was shelved despite a completed pilot. An R-rated slasher film adaptation, The Banana Splits Movie, was released worldwide on August 13, 2019. The Banana Splits appear in the series Jellystone!, which debuted on HBO Max on July 29, 2021, with Fleegle voiced by Paul F. Tompkins, Bingo by Jim Conroy, and Drooper by show creator C. H. Greenblatt.