The Magilla Gorilla Show is an American animated television series starring Magilla Gorilla. The series was produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions for Screen Gems, and was originally sponsored in syndication by Ideal Toys from 1964 through 1967. The show had other recurring characters, including Punkin' Puss & Mushmouse, and Ricochet Rabbit & Droop-a-Long. In syndication, the main and supporting characters from the Peter Potamus show were also added. Prior to the show's launch, the show made an interview on their "upcoming" series in between the middle-and-late December 1963 on first-run syndication entitled Here Comes A Star. Like many of Hanna-Barbera's animal characters, Magilla Gorilla was dressed in human accessories, sporting a bow tie, shorts held up by suspenders, and an undersized derby hat. After a year on airing its original runs, repeats of all 31 episodes were aired between 1966 and 1967 during ABC-TV's Saturday morning schedule and on Sunday mornings the following season.
The show aired on Boomerang until July 22, 2012. After an eight-year wait, The Magilla Gorilla Show returned on Boomerang for four days during November 26 until November 30, 2020 including the opening and closing themes and titles. During the four-day broadcast, neither Punkin' Puss & Mushmouse nor Ricochet Rabbit & Droop-a-long were aired.
Segments
Magilla Gorilla
Magilla Gorilla (voiced by Allan Melvin) is an anthropomorphic gorilla who spent his time languishing in the front display window of a pet shop run by Melvin Peebles (voiced by Howard Morris in 1964–1965, and Don Messick in 1966-1967), eating bananas and being a drain on the businessman's finances. Mr. Peebles marked down Magilla's price considerably, but Magilla was invariably only purchased for a short time...for example, by thieves who needed to break into a bank or by an advertising agency looking for a mascot for their new product. The customers always ended up returning Magilla, forcing Mr. Peebles to refund their money. Magilla often ended each episode with his catchphrase "We'll try again next week." Magilla's only friend was an adorable, admiring little red headed girl named Ogee (voiced by Jean Vander Pyl), who asked, "How much is that Gorilla in the window?" during the show's opening theme song.
Ricochet Rabbit & Droop-a-Long
Ricochet Rabbit (voiced by Don Messick) works as the sheriff of Hoop N' Holler with his slow as molasses deputy Droop-a-Long Coyote (voiced by Mel Blanc). In addition to his super-speed, Ricochet Rabbit uses an arsenal of trick bullets (for example, one with a skull bashing mallet that pops out of the shell) to help him take down criminals. He would introduce himself as "Sheriff Bing! Bing! Binnnng! Ricochet Rabbit!"
Punkin' Puss & Mushmouse
In a send up of the feuding Hatfields and McCoys, an orange hillbilly cat named Punkin' Puss (voiced by Allan Melvin) is constantly chasing a hard-to-catch hillbilly mouse named Mushmouse (voiced by Howard Morris). Punkin' Puss' weapon of choice is a shotgun.