The Funny Company


The Funny Company is an American animated cartoon produced in 1963 and seen in syndication. Ken Snyder and Charles Koren produced 260 six-minute-long episodes. The Mattel Corporation provided financial backing. Snyder conceived the program in response to then-Federal Communications Commission chairman Newton N. Minow's call for more educational children's programs.

Synopsis

The Funny Company group resembled a club not unlike a Junior Achievement organization, and most of the time, the stories would revolve around the Company being hired for various jobs to make a little money or doing something for charity. As time went on, the Company decided to make Shrinkin' Violette a movie star and were on their way to Hollywood.
Members included leader Buzzer Bell, inventor Jasper N Parks, club secretary Polly Plum, rotund Merry Twitter, club mascot Terry Dactyl, shy Shrinkin' Violette, and two Native American adults--Super Chief whose voice was an air horn of a single-chime railroad locomotive, and his translator Broken Feather. Another adult lending a hand was Professor Todd Goodheart with his supercomputer, the Weisenheimer.
The "Villainous Meanie" of the show, Belly Laguna always tried to thwart the Funny Company's plans, but never with any success. Another, less frequently seen adversary was a German-accented mad scientist type, Professor Ludwig Von Upp with his assistant Hans Von Henchman.
Each segment included a two-minute live-action short educational film, reinforcing the topic being discussed. Initially produced in black and white, the series switched after one season to full color.

Syndication

The series originally was syndicated to local stations all over the country—usually with the segments as part of a locally produced children's show. The show first aired on both ABC and NBC affiliate KOMU-TV Channel 8 in Jefferson City, Missouri on September 21st, 1963, and was later carried on WOR-TV New York City 3 days later.
Formerly throughout its history, The Funny Company aired on TBN's owned Smile of a Child TV network until June 2016. This series was also best known as a Chicago Television tradition. especially on WGN-TV's Garfield Goose And Friends and in the 1980s on WPWR-TV.
The series sold internationally and ran for several years in Ireland.

Voice cast