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55-463: Lidsville is an American television show created by brothers Sid and Marty Krofft . It was their third series, following H.R. Pufnstuf (1969) and The Bugaloos (1970). As did its predecessors, Lidsville combined two types of characters: conventional actors in makeup taped alongside performers in full mascot costumes, whose voices were dubbed in post-production. Seventeen episodes aired on Saturday mornings on ABC during 1971–1973. The show

110-422: A cowboy hat would act and speak like a cowboy. The characters' houses were also hat-shaped. The villain of the show was magician Horatio J. HooDoo (also portrayed by Reilly). The vain, short-tempered, but somewhat naive HooDoo flew around in his Hatamaran, blasting the good citizens of Lidsville with bolts of magic (referred to as "zapping") and keeping them in fear, demanding that they pay him their Hat Tax. Mark

165-532: A laugh track . The show involved a teenage boy named Mark (portrayed by Butch Patrick ) who fell into the top hat of Merlo the Magician (portrayed by Charles Nelson Reilly ) (HooDoo's alter ego ), following Merlo's show at Six Flags Over Texas . Inside the hat, he arrived in Lidsville, a land of living hats that are depicted as having the same characteristics as the humans who would normally wear them. For example,

220-402: A "pin-up" on the back cover". In June 2001, DIC Entertainment announced they would purchase Golden Books Family Entertainment for US$ 170   million (equivalent to $ 293 million in 2023) and take it out of bankruptcy. However, DIC would pass off the purchase due to high costs and instead Golden Books Family Entertainment was eventually acquired jointly by Classic Media , owner of

275-520: A 2005 interview with USA Today , Marty Krofft said, "No drugs involved. You can't do drugs when you're making shows. Maybe after, but not during. We're bizarre, that's all." Referring to the alleged LSD use, Marty said in another interview, "That was our look, those were the colours, everything we did had vivid colours, but there was no acid involved. That scared me. I'm no goody two-shoes, but you can't create this stuff stoned." The Kroffts favoured quirky superhero stories, often with children portraying

330-731: A large number of prime-time music and variety programs. These shows also tended to employ a reliable formula featuring a celebrity host or team of hosts, weekly celebrity guest performers, flashy and colourful sets, and frequent interludes of scripted banter and gag-driven, "corny," good-natured sketch comedy. The Kroffts are often acknowledged for the vision and creativity of their projects. In addition to their colourful and hyper-kinetic programs, they often created children's shows with complex stories, unusual protagonists, and uniquely modern sensibilities, or with darker or more action-themed tones than most children's shows. Their "camp" popularity stems largely from their shows' low-budget production values,

385-407: A nervous bumbler, was in fact a genie, but many of the tricks and spells did not work correctly after having been HooDoo's captive for so long. In the show's final episode, scenes from some of the past episodes were featured as HooDoo's mother (portrayed by an uncredited Muriel Landers ) had paid a visit to find out what has been going on in Lidsville while making sure that her son is still bad. As

440-436: A number of licensed properties and several original titles, including a number of publications that were spun off from Dell's Four Color series, or were published as stand-alone titles. Gold Key maintained decent sales numbers throughout the 1960s, due to its offering of many titles based upon popular TV series of the day, as well as numerous titles based on both Walt Disney Studios and Warner Bros. animated properties. It

495-478: A number of selected issues of their comics under the title Top Comics . They were packaged in plastic bags containing five comics each and were sold at gas stations and various eateries. Like Dell, Gold Key was one of the few major American comic book publishers never to display the Comics Code Authority seal on its covers, trading instead on the reputation of its child-friendly stories. Gold Key featured

550-419: A trademark registration for a logo identical to the original Gold Key logo. Later that year the trademark registration was purchased by the newly-formed Gold Key Entertainment LLC. Gold Key Entertainment LLC consists of comic book enthusiasts Lance Linderman, Adam Brooks, Mike Dynes, and Arnold Guerrero. Linderman describes trading a copy of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 to Willis for the rights to Gold Key, in

605-746: The Jesse Marsh drawn Tarzan ; and some of the Russ Manning -produced Tarzan series. They started several revivals of characters under Jim Shooter , including Doctor Solar , Magnus , Turok , and Mighty Samson . The Checker Book Publishing Group, in conjunction with Paramount Pictures , began reprinting the Gold Key Star Trek series in 2004. Hermes Press reprinted the three series based on Irwin Allen 's science-fiction TV series, as well as Gold Key's Dark Shadows , My Favorite Martian , and

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660-605: The King Features Syndicate characters ( Popeye , Flash Gordon , The Phantom , etc.), to Charlton Comics in 1966, numerous, but not all, Hanna-Barbera characters also to Charlton Comics in 1970, and Star Trek to Marvel Comics in 1979. The stable of writers and artists built up by Western Publishing during the Dell Comics era mostly continued into the Gold Key era. In the mid-1960s, a number of artists were recruited by

715-668: The 1940s, Sid created a one-man puppet show regularly performed at burlesque shows as a teenager. A night club promoter from the Catskills was convinced by Sid to create a show he named from the name, Sydney Snitkovsk. Sid added an extra F due to its short length to "The Unusual Artistry of Sid Krofft", that began to be performed throughout the world. His father joined him on tour in Paris while Marty stayed in New York, where he began using his older brother's puppets to earn money by staging performances. By

770-562: The 1950s, the Krofft brothers were working together, and in 1957, they developed Les Poupées de Paris , a puppet show with more mature themes. One of their early exposures to a television audience was the premiere episode of The Dean Martin Show in 1965. After designing the characters and sets for Hanna-Barbera 's The Banana Splits (NBC, 1968–1970), the Kroffts' producing career began in 1969 with

825-456: The 1970s, the entire comics industry experienced a downswing and Gold Key was among the hardest hit. Its editorial policies had not kept pace with the changing times, and suffered an erosion of its base of sales among children, who instead of buying comic books, could now watch cartoons and other entertainment on television for free. It is also alleged by Carmine Infantino that in the mid to late 1960s, DC Comics attempted to pressure Gold Key from

880-523: The 1990s to launch Valiant Comics ' fictional universe. Dark Horse Comics (and later, Dynamite Entertainment ) have published reprints, including several in hardcover collections, of such original Gold Key titles as Magnus, Robot Fighter ; Doctor Solar ; Mighty Samson ; M.A.R.S. Patrol ; Turok: Son of Stone ; The Occult Files of Doctor Spektor ; Dagar the Invincible ; Boris Karloff's Tales of Mystery ; Space Family Robinson ; Flash Gordon ;

935-406: The Gold Key imprint at that time as the comics could no longer be found on the newsstands, but in department, variety, and grocery stores. Our new management assumed that comics could be treated like coloring books or puzzles. That proved an ill-fated decision. The following years were characterized by delays and erratic distribution. Eventually, arrangements were made to distribute these releases to

990-508: The Invincible , and Tragg and the Sky Gods . Also in the 1970s, writer Bob Gregory started drawing stories, mostly for Daisy and Donald . Artist/writer Frank Miller had his first published comic book artwork in The Twilight Zone for Gold Key in 1978. Diana Gabaldon began her career writing for Gold Key, initially sending a query that stated, "I’ve been reading your comics for

1045-422: The Krofft brothers also provided audio commentary on some of the episodes. Gold Key Comics published five issues of a Lidsville comic book. The books were a mix of new stories as well as re-workings of some of the television episodes. On January 31, 2011, it was announced that DreamWorks Animation was adapting Lidsville to make a 3-D animated musical. The feature would be directed by Conrad Vernon , and

1100-588: The Kroffts participated in the first Krofft Kon, a convention held in Orinda, California , where they were joined by some of the actors from their television series. Marty Krofft died from kidney failure in Los Angeles, California , on November 25, 2023, at the age of 86. [[Category: Canadian people of Greek descent][ Canadian people of Hungarian descent American people of Greek descent American people of Hungarian descent Gold Key Comics Gold Key Comics

1155-691: The Lost , Electra Woman and Dyna Girl , H.R. Pufnstuf and Sigmund and the Sea Monsters . A new original series, Mutt & Stuff , aired on Nickelodeon from 2015 to 2017. In 2018, the Kroffts received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Daytime Emmys . In 2020, the Kroffts were honoured with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for their contributions to television. In May 2022,

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1210-535: The Phantom. Bongo Comics published a parody of Gold Key in Radioactive Man #106 (volume 2 #6, Nov. 2002) with script/layout by Batton Lash and finished art by Mike DeCarlo that Tony Isabella dubbed "a nigh-flawless facsimile of the Gold Key comics published by Western in the early 1960s...from the painting with tasteful come-on copy on the front cover to the same painting, sans logo or other type, presented as

1265-461: The Whitman logo, as well as that of Marvel Comics, with its diamond (before the direct market even arrived). Former DC Comics executive Paul Levitz stated, "[The] Western program was enormous — even well into the 1970s, they were taking very large numbers of DC titles for distribution (I recall 50,000+ copies offhand)." In 1979, Western ceased to be an independent company when Mattel Inc. purchased

1320-456: The action going on in downtown Lidsville from his hat home by using his Evil Eye, a device similar to a TV set that resembled an eyeball. He also had a hot chatline phone. The show relied on an endless array of puns based on hats. One such pun was "Derby Dunes", an area in Lidsville which sand dunes were shaped like derby hats. Many of the episodes were about Mark trying to get back home, but the evil HooDoo prevented him from leaving. Weenie, being

1375-436: The catalog of United Productions of America , and book publisher Random House in a bankruptcy auction for the lower $ 84.4   million (equivalent to $ 145.2 million in 2023) on August 16, 2001. In turn, Random House, and Classic Media gained ownership of Golden Books' entertainment catalog (including the family entertainment catalog of Broadway Video which includes the pre-1974 library of Rankin/Bass Productions and

1430-430: The comics business through sheer volume of output. Among the original titles launched by Gold Key in the 1970s were Baby Snoots and Wacky Witch . By 1977, many of the company's series had been cancelled and the surviving titles featured more reprinted material, although Gold Key was able to obtain the rights to publish a comic book series based upon Buck Rogers in the 25th Century between 1979 and 1981. It also lost

1485-418: The comics for which he wrote were The Flintstones , Uncle Scrooge , Daffy Duck , Bugs Bunny , The Three Stooges , and Woody Woodpecker . Leo Dorfman , creator of Ghosts for DC Comics , also produced supernatural stories for Gold Key's similarly themed Twilight Zone , Ripley's Believe it or Not , Boris Karloff Tales of Mystery , and Grimm's Ghost Stories . One of Gold Key's editors at

1540-495: The company. The new management stopped selling returnable comics at newsstands, preferring the nonreturnable bagged comics sold at toy stores. In a 1993 interview, Del Connell, the managing editor at Western's West Coast office in the late 1970s, recalled, ...the Western comics line was killed by distribution. Perhaps you know that by early 1980 our comics were only being distributed in bagged sets of three. The Whitman label replaced

1595-545: The distributor for a refund, but the bagged comics were not. To discourage unscrupulous dealers from opening the plastic bags and returning the nonreturnable issues, Western published the newsstand versions under the Gold Key Comics label, and put the Whitman Comics logo on the bagged versions, although otherwise the issues were identical. Western, at one point, also distributed bagged comics from its rival DC Comics under

1650-648: The emerging collector market, containing classic stories of the Disney characters by Carl Barks and Floyd Gottfredson ( Best of Walt Disney's Comics ). In the late 1970s, somewhat higher-grade reprints of various licensed characters were also aimed at new venues ( Dynabrites ), plus Starstream , a four-issue series adapting classic science fiction stories by authors such as Isaac Asimov and John W. Campbell . Golden Press released trade paperback reprint collections such as Walt Disney Christmas Parade , Bugs Bunny Comics-Go-Round , and Star Trek: The Enterprise Logs . In

1705-467: The fifth generation of puppeteers in their family but revealed in 2008 that this story had been invented by a publicist in the 1940s. Their father Peter was a clock salesman who moved from Canada to Providence, Rhode Island , and then to New York City . Sid Krofft became a popular puppeteer who worked in vaudeville and was a featured player with the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus . In

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1760-409: The heroes or part of a hero team. Particularly visionary and popular Krofft productions have included The Bugaloos (1970), Lidsville (1971), Sigmund and the Sea Monsters (1973–1975), Land of the Lost (1974–1976), The Lost Saucer (1975), Electra Woman and Dyna Girl (1976), and Wonderbug (1976–1978). In 1976, a developer asked the Kroffts to develop an indoor amusement park for

1815-485: The landmark children's television series H.R. Pufnstuf . The series introduced the team's trademark style of large-scale, colourful design, puppetry, and special effects. Featuring a boy who has been lured into an alternate fantasy world and can never escape, the team also established a storytelling formula to which they would often return. Some people suggested that the Krofft brothers were influenced by marijuana and LSD , although they have always denied these claims. In

1870-481: The last 25 years, and they’ve been getting worse and worse. I’m not sure if I could do better myself, but I’d like to try." Editor Del Connell provided a script sample and bought her second submission. According to former Western Publishing writer Mark Evanier , during the mid-1960s, comedy writer Jerry Belson , whose writing partner at the time was Garry Marshall , also did scripts for Gold Key while writing for leading TV sitcoms like The Dick Van Dyke Show . Among

1925-437: The late 1970s, the distribution of comic books on spinners and racks at newsstands, drug stores, and supermarkets continued, but Western Publishing also sold packages of three comics in a plastic bag to toy and department stores, gas stations, airports, and bus/train stations, "as well as other outlets that weren't conducive to conventional comic racks". The newsstand comics were returnable; the dealer could return unsold copies to

1980-426: The library of Total Television ), as well as production, licensing, and merchandising rights for Golden Books' characters and the Gold Key Comics catalogs, while Random House gained Golden Books' book publishing properties. Random House had previously acquired Dell Publishing through a series of mergers since 1976, effectively reuniting the remnants Gold Key Comics and Dell Comics . On July 23, 2012, Classic Media

2035-436: The music would be composed by Alan Menken , known for composing multiple musical scores for Walt Disney Animation Studios films. Menken stated that, "The songs will be an homage to '60s psychedelic concept-album rock." In January 2013, he posted on Twitter that " Lidsville is underway... Finally." The lyrics would be written by Glenn Slater , a frequent Menken collaborator. In June 2016, Sid Krofft said in an interview about

2090-504: The nascent national network of comic-book stores. Western also prepared a prospectus in the early 1980s for a deluxe Carl Barks reprint project aimed at the collector market that was never published. In December 1983, a struggling Mattel sold Western Publishing to real-estate investor Richard A. Bernstein. Bernstein closed Western's comic-book publishing division in 1984. Three of Gold Key's original characters, Magnus, Robot Fighter , Doctor Solar , and Turok, Son of Stone , were used in

2145-549: The new Omni International complex downtown Atlanta . The park, The World of Sid and Marty Krofft, closed after six months due to poor attendance. The Omni International building that contained it was renamed the CNN Center when the site was converted to the CNN headquarters. The Kroffts' children's programs have developed a wide and enduring following, especially among adults who watched the shows as children. They were also responsible for

2200-573: The newly formed Disney Studio Program and thereafter divided their output between the Disney Program and Western. Writer/artist Russ Manning and editor Chase Craig launched the Magnus, Robot Fighter science-fiction series in 1963. Jack Sparling co-created the superhero Tiger Girl with Jerry Siegel in 1968, drew the toyline tie-in Microbots one-shot , and illustrated comic book adaptations of

2255-409: The often surrealistic feel of many of the programs, and the uniquely "70s" style of music and design. The Kroffts have occasionally departed from their formula while making new programs, such as on Pryor's Place (1984) and the political puppet satire show D.C. Follies (1987). They have attempted to update some of their classic series for a younger generation, including new versions of Land of

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2310-434: The panel, with its ink and artwork evenly edged, but not bordered by a "container" line. Within a year, they had reverted to using inked panel borders and oval balloons. They experimented with new formats, including Whitman Comic Book , a black-and-white, 136-page, hardcover series consisting of reprints, and Golden Picture Story Book , a tabloid -sized, 52-page, hardcover containing new material. In 1967, Gold Key reprinted

2365-588: The preexisting Space Family Robinson , but decided their business relationship with CBS and Irwin Allen was more important than any monetary reward resulting from such a suit; as a result, the Gold Key series adopted the branding Space Family Robinson Lost in Space with issue #15 (Jan. 1966), though its narrative had no connection to the TV series. Editor Chase Craig stated that Gold Key would launch titles with Hanna-Barbera characters with direct adaptations of episodes of

2420-440: The program because "[t]he studio had approval rights and the people there could get pointlessly picky about the material ... but they rarely bothered looking at any issue after the first few. Therefore, it simplified the procedure to do the first and maybe the second issue as an adaptation. They couldn't very well complain that a plot taken from the show was inappropriate". Over the years, Gold Key lost several properties, including

2475-484: The project: "It was going to be like Hair or Tommy , a full-blown musical. But they went in a strange direction and it just didn't work." Sid and Marty Krofft The Krofft brothers, Sid and Marty, were both born in Montreal, Quebec , Canada, on July 30, 1929, and April 9, 1937 respectively. They are of Greek and Hungarian descent, with their original surname being Yolas. For years, they claimed to have been

2530-513: The rights to publish Star Trek -based comic books to Marvel Comics just prior to the revival of the franchise via Star Trek: The Motion Picture , with the final Gold Key-published Star Trek title being issued in March, 1979. In this period, Gold Key experimented with digests with some success. In a similar manner, to explore new markets in the mid-1970s, it produced a four-volume series, with somewhat better production values and printing aimed at

2585-408: The services of four Bad Hats. In his high hat home, HooDoo was constantly besieged by the taunting music of his Hat Band, as well as all of his talking knickknacks ( Parrot , Mr. Skull , mounted alligator head, the sawed-in-half lady , etc.). HooDoo also experienced further aggravation at the hands of his aides, the dimwitted Raunchy Rabbit and his two-faced card guard Jack of Clubs. HooDoo watched

2640-627: The show only ran one season of original episodes, Mark never returned home—his fate remained unresolved. Music was also a part of the show, with songs being performed by the characters in several episodes. A three-disc complete series set was released on DVD in the United States in January 2005 by Rhino Entertainment . The set contained all seventeen episodes in digitally remastered, uncut and original broadcast form, plus interviews with Charles Nelson Reilly , Butch Patrick , and Billie Hayes . They and

2695-638: The television series Family Affair and Adam-12 . Dan Spiegle worked on Space Family Robinson , The Green Hornet , The Invaders , Korak, Son of Tarzan , Brothers of the Spear , and many of Gold Key's mystery/occult titles. Among the other creators at Gold Key were writers Donald F. Glut , Len Wein , Bob Ogle , John David Warner , Steve Skeates , and Mark Evanier ; and artists Cliff Voorhees , Joe Messerli , Carol Lay , Jesse Santos , and Mike Royer . Glut created and wrote several series including The Occult Files of Dr. Spektor , Dagar

2750-444: The time told Mark Evanier, "Leo writes stories and then he decides whether he's going to sell them to DC [for Ghosts ] or to us. He tells us that if they come out good, they go to us and if they don't, they go to DC. I assume he tells DC the opposite." Editor Frank Tedeschi , who left in 1973 for a job in book publishing, helped bring in such new comics professionals as Walt Simonson , Gerry Boudreau, and John David Warner. During

2805-551: Was acquired by DreamWorks Animation for $ 155   million (equivalent to $ 206 million in 2023) and renamed DreamWorks Classics . On July 1, 2013, Random House merged with the Penguin Group , forming a new company called Penguin Random House . In April 2016, the acquisition of DreamWorks Animation (owner of DreamWorks Classics) by NBCUniversal was announced. In 2021, comics creator and hacker Robert Willis obtained

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2860-429: Was also the first company to publish comic books based upon the then current NBC TV series Star Trek . While some titles, such as Star Trek and The Twilight Zone , were published for many years, many other licensed titles were characterized by short runs, sometimes publishing no more than one or two issues. Gold Key considered suing over the similarly themed television series Lost in Space for its resemblance to

2915-525: Was an imprint of American company Western Publishing , created for comic books distributed to newsstands. Also known as Whitman Comics , Gold Key operated from 1962 to 1984. Gold Key Comics was created in 1962, when its parent, Western Publishing Company , switched to in-house publishing rather than packaging content for branding and distribution by its business partner, Dell Comics . Hoping to make their comics more like traditional children's books, they initially eliminated panel line-borders, using just

2970-481: Was rebroadcast on NBC Saturday mornings the following season. The opening was shot at Six Flags Over Texas . Otherwise, the show was shot at Paramount Pictures film studio in Los Angeles. Like predecessors H.R. Pufnstuf and The Bugaloos , Lidsville ran for only one season (1971–1972), with reruns airing the following year (1972–1973). Like most children's television shows of its era, Lidsville contained

3025-527: Was seen as a suspected spy against HooDoo on behalf of the good hat people and was captured at Derby Dunes by HooDoo's minions the Bad Hats the moment he had fallen into the world of Lidsville. He escapes from his clutches alongside a genie named Weenie ( Billie Hayes ). Mark helped the good hats resist as he attempted to find a way back home. HooDoo, trying to reclaim control of Weenie the Genie from Mark, often enlisted

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