Monday, July 14, 2008

Searching for the Original Fat Albert
Back in the fall of 1969, NBC aired a fun cartoon featuring a mix of live action and animation with a jazzy score by Herbie Hancock. "Hey Hey Hey, It's Fat Albert" had all the kids talking the next day. Besides looking similar to the '71 album cover above, I only remember it being a take off on Bill Cosby's Go Cart skit from the album: "Wonderfulness".. The concept went on to inspire the successful long running series on CBS three years later.

Forner Disney Animator Floyd Norman wrote an entertaining article for Jim Hill Media recalling his involvement with this special piece of (hopefully not) lost history. Unfortunately, it doesn't appear to be available on video anywhere - nor any signs that it ever was. ? I'm not giving up yet. There must be a copy of it somewhere.



2 comments:

Ricardo Cantoral said...

Hello Cartoon Steve ! Nice Artwork ! I just wanted to reply your post over at John K.'s blog so I wouldn't de-rail the topic:

"Lets run 'em on Uncle Jed's corn squeezin's instead of Achmed's overpriced gas."

Ethanol is a very bad idea. The price of corn will skyrocket, and possibly other things. Ethanol actually produces more pollution then fosil fuel. Also, it's basically the same price as gasonline at $4 gallon or more.

Anonymous said...

I used to frequent the Museum of Television & Radio in NYC (late '70's) although I didn't get a chance to view it, the Fat Albert Special was in their index back then
http://www.paleycenter.org/
Good Luck!
Chrisbo