Flashback Friday – HR Pufnstuf

Tags

70s, Freddy the Flute, HR Pufnstuf, Jack Wild, Jimmy, Sid & Marty Krofft, TV

HR Pufnstuf, who’s your friend when things get rough.. HR Pufnstuf, can’t do a little coz he can’t do enough…….

Was there a girl my age in the early 70’s who didn’t have a bit of a crush on Jack Wild who played the Artful Dodger in Oliver and went on to play Jimmy in HR Pufnstuf. He was so adorable with his funny accent, turned up nose and cute boyish voice. Sigh… This, along with last week’s flash back friday, Milton the Monster, was one of my all time favorites. The story line, the colour, the music, the canned laughter. It all added up to a huge hit that is still loved by so many today.

It had the imagination of Enid Blyton’s Magic Faraway Tree characters with the bizarre craziness of the Banana Splits, all set to a brilliant soundtrack with lots of laughs. There was always a moral to the story.. good always triumphed over evil and as wonderful as Living Island was, Jimmy just wanted to go home to his family.

To give you a brief summary of the storyline….

Once upon a summertime
Just a dream from yesterday
A boy and his magic golden flute
Heard a boat from off the bay
“Come and play with me, Jimmy
Come and play with me.
And I will take you on a trip
Far across the sea.”But the boat belonged to a kooky old witch
Who had in mind the flute to snitch
From her broom broom in the sky
She watched her plans materialize
She waved her wand
The beautiful boat was gone
The skies grew dark
The sea grew rough
And the boat sailed on and on and on and on and on and on.But Pufnstuf was watching too
And knew exactly what to do
He saw the witch’s boat attack
And as the boy was fighting back
He called his rescue racer crew
As often they’d rehearsed
And off to save the boy they flew
But who would get there first?But now the boy had washed ashore
Puf arrived to save the day
Which made the witch so mad and sore
She shook her first and screamed away.

H.R. Pufnstuf
Who’s your friend when things get rough?
H.R. Pufnstuf
Can’t do a little cause he can’t do enough.

I think that probably explains it all. Sid and Marty Krofft had an absolute winner on their hands. The jokes went over the heads of little kids, so it kept adults and kids alike happy. I can still hear Jimmy singing The Mechanical Boy in one episode, as clearly as I did when I was just a love struck young girl, sharing my affections between Milton the Monster, Jimmy and Keith Partridge. I’m not sure if I was more in love with Jimmy or Puf… but in reality, when I see the show now… Freddy the flute had the brains of the whole shebang.. though that Mickey Mouse type voice would have caused me to choke the music right out of him eventually lol. The theme song, of course, was my favorite part of it.. I hope you love it too..

Jack Wild struggled as so many child actors do, to make the transition to adult actor, although he did a lot of theatre eventually. Sadly, he died in 2006 from oral cancer. His career had suffered badly due to alcoholism although he did eventually give up drinking. Such a sad end to an amazing actor.

Happy Puf’n’stuff… Livvy 🙂