I remember "H. R. Pufnstuf" playing on Sunday mornings when I was kid. Being around 1974, it was in syndication. I always thought it was kind of weird and wasn't one of my favorites, but when you're a kid and it's Sunday morning, pickings are slim. Now, when it came to Sid & Marty's Krofft's later offering "Land of the Lost", I was completely in. Dinosaurs, Sleestaks and Pakuni monkey men; what more could you ask for?
A few years ago, I discovered (via another garage sale find) that Six Flags once had a Krofft Puppet Theater and mascots dressed as Pufnstuf characters. It didn't last long as the Kroffts attempted to open their own theme park, The World of Sid & Marty Krofft, in 1976.
But I found this odd remnant of their association with Six Flags at an estate sale a few months ago.
It's a vinyl pillow and reminds me of something you'd win at a carnival, which it may well be. Surprisingly, it was still about 3/4 full of air. The plug had long ago melted into the pillow and couldn't be opened, so it's feasible the air inside used to originally inflate it was exhaled sometime in the early 1970's.
This map was another find and details the location of the puppet theater at our local Six Flags (Over Mid-America) in 1971.
This postcard was another find.
The pillow was $5 and I hesitated spending it, but thought there might be some collectible value in it. I put it on eBay and let me just say, there are some rabid H. R. Pufnstuf fans out there. The pillow ended up selling for over $400, which seems crazy, but then, I've never seen another. It seems like something your little brother would end up sitting on and popping about 10 minutes after you got it home.
Amazingly, Sid (93) and Marty (87) are still kicking around and have a
channel on Youtube on which they discuss some of the old shows and are still making plans for new ones.
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four HUNDRED? sweet merciful jehosephat!
ReplyDeletei liked Puffnstuff well enough, but i'm with you: Sleestak and Land of the Lost all the way.
Wow - was that your highest profit margin ever??
ReplyDeleteThis was probably close to it. I've probably made more breaking up lots of things like postcards, but for a single item, this is probably it.
DeleteCoincidentally enough, Sid & Marty designed the costumes for Hanna-Barbera's The Banana Splits, who filmed many segments of their show at Six Flags Over Texas. The success of that program led to the Kroft's Pufnstuf debuting the following season--which brought about the SF gig. Just think, If someone in their employ had received their own series, the cycle could have continued unabated!
ReplyDeleteI wonder when (and how long) the Banana Splits were at King's Island as seen on The Brady Bunch.
Delete400 wow congrats!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Bob. Feeds the habit. Now I have money to buy more stuff!
DeleteNice score! I think I would have paid the five bucks, too. The combo of good-shape Pufnstuf plus the Six Flags tie-in has to be pretty unique at this point a half-century later. I think Land of the Lost was my favorite too, though I also liked the silliness of The Lost Saucer and Far-Out Space Nuts. Oh, and I definitely had a crush on that one Bugaloo.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Chris. There was a brief period in the late 70's when a local channel was running some of the early Krofft stuff like Bugaloos and Lidsville, but I just couldn't get into it. I did enjoy other Krofft work like Electra Woman and Dynagirl, Wonderbug and Bigfoot and Wildboy.
DeleteTOTALLY forgot abut Bigfoot and Wildboy. I forget how much stuff they cranked out, seemingly endless. I didn't watch that one much, but was remotely aware of it.
DeleteWhat a treasure! Pufnstuf stuff is really hard to find, especially , vintage toys.
ReplyDeleteIt's the first I've ever seen. Thanks for dropping in, Toycoon!
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