HR Pufnstuf Theme Song
Here’s the HR Pufnstuf theme song (opening and ending credits) one of my favorite shows.
HR Pufnstuf is a children’s television series produced by Sid and Marty Krofft in the United States. It was the first Krofft live-action, life-sized-puppet program (not including their previous work with the Hanna-Barbera program The Banana Splits Adventure Hour). The seventeen episodes were originally broadcast Saturday mornings from September 6, 1969, to December 27, 1969. In 2004 and 2007, H.R. Pufnstuf was ranked #22 and #27 respectively on TV Guide’s Top Cult Shows Ever.
The Plot
H.R. Pufnstuf introduced the Kroffts’ most-used plot scenario of a fairy tale of good versus evil, as well as their second plot scenario of the stranger in a strange land. The show centers on a shipwrecked boy named Jimmy, played by teenage actor Jack Wild (was a cute as punch child star but was an alcoholic, a diabetic, and a washed-up actor by the time he was 21. He spent close to two decades in a drunken haze and had three heart attacks. He was diagnosed with mouth cancer and had to have part of his tongue and both vocal cords removed. Holy hell.)
Jimmy is 11 years old when he arrives on the island and turns 12 in the episode called “The Birthday Party”. Jimmy and a talking flute named Freddy take a ride on a mysterious boat. But the boat belongs to a wicked witch named Wilhelmina W. Witchiepoo (played by Billie Hayes) who rides on a broomstick-vehicle called the Vroom Broom. She uses the boat to lure Jimmy and Freddy to her castle on Living Island, where she is going to take Jimmy prisoner and steal Freddy for her own purposes.
Fortunately Jimmy is rescued by the island’s mayor, a six foot dragon named H.R. Pufnstuf. After Jimmy is rescued by Pufnstuf and his two deputies, Kling and Klang, his adventures begin as well as his attempts to get back home.
Fun fact: The show was shot at Paramount Studios and its opening was shot at Big Bear Lake, California.
