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<\/p>\nIn the wake of the popular and successful \u201cDisneyland\u201d anthology shows discussed last week, there was the inevitable flow of \u201ccopycats\u201d who attempted to expand animation made for television into self-hosted half hour packages. This would gradually free even the major networks from providing live kid-show hosts to entertain and emcee between episodes of series too short in running length to fill out a half-hour by themselves, such as the original runs of \u201cGumby\u201d and \u201cRuff \u2018n\u2019 Reddy.\u201d The cartoon stars would generally, in the same manner as the Disney characters, express full awareness of their animated existence upon the new medium of television \u2013 and play it to full advantage. In at least one instance, an approach more akin to Disney\u2019s would be tried by a rival network to provide live-action hosting for a package of old theatrical cartoons, with the characters exchanging banter and interplay with the host through a TV screen on the set. <\/p>\n
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<\/a>When CBS acquired the Terrytoons\u2019 library of titles, they tried several formats to present the cartoons, far too numerous to remain within the confines of a single show. The \u201cBarker Bill\u201d show, a syndicated affair, expressed no real effort whatsoever, lifting a one-shot character from the short \u201cHappy Circus Days\u201d for a brief piece of introductory animation, then merely stringing cartoons together to fill out the running time, with reshot titles featuring the Barker\u2019s face. \u201cMighty Mouse Playhouse\u201d, \u201cThe Heckle and Jeckle Show\u201d, and \u2018Farmer Al Falfa and his Terrytoons Pals\u201d all relied merely upon a short series of bumpers in which the hosting characters would speak directly to the children of the audience. Mighty: \u201cHold on to your seats, as we blast off to visit all of your favorite cartoon stars\u201d. Heckle and Jeckle: \u201cTally ho and away we go\u201d \u201cInto another fun-filled cartoon show.\u201d And so on. However, some additional effort went into planning the prime-time \u201cCBS Cartoon Theater\u201d, an effort (before the premiere of the \u201cHeckle and Jeckle Show\u201d) to showcase the works of what CBS considered to be Terry\u2019s principal supporting players \u2013 Heckle and Jeckle, Gandy Goose and Sourpuss, Dinky Duck, and Little Roquefort. Hosting duties were supplied by an up-and-coming comedian who would soon rise to stardom and well-known prominence \u2013 Dick Van Dyke, who would provide spoken introductions to the shorts from a sort of \u201cstudio central\u201d office with a large TV set in its center. The principal characters would appear in new animations on the TV screen, frequently razzing or playing tricks upon Van Dyke and generally up to mischief. Animation seems to have been supplied by usual suspects from the original studio, with the hand of Jim Tyer evidently visible, and in all likelihood some input by Connie Rasinski. Original voices also continue to be provided by Tommy Morrison and Roy Hallee. Surviving installments of the show have been in short supply online, but a sample broadcast from the show\u2019s 1956 premiere is included here (in original black and white, as CBS had not yet gone to color). Notably, the instrumental music serving as the show\u2019s theme is the same little jingle which appeared as a theme for Dinky Duck\u2019s last theatrical release, It\u2019s a Living<\/em>. <\/p>\n