The Great Grape Ape Show

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The Great Grape Ape Show
The Great Grape Ape Show card.JPG
Genre Animation
Comedy
Created byWilliam Hanna Joseph Barbera
Voices of Bob Holt
Marty Ingels
Theme music composer Hoyt Curtin
ComposerHoyt Curtin
Country of origin United States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes16 (32 segments)
Production
Executive producers William Hanna
Joseph Barbera
Running time20 minutes (10 minutes per segment)
Production company Hanna-Barbera Productions
Release
Original network ABC
Original releaseSeptember 6 (1975-09-06) –
December 13, 1975 (1975-12-13)

The Great Grape Ape Show is an American animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and broadcast on ABC from September 6 to December 13, 1975. [1] ABC continued to air it in reruns until 1978.

Contents

Premise

The title character is The Great Grape Ape (voiced by Bob Holt), who is a 40-foot purple gorilla with the mind of a child. His catch phrase is saying his name twice ("Grape Ape, Grape Ape") after anything anyone says, usually as a form of agreement or acknowledgement of what was said. He travels the countryside with his canine pal Beegle Beagle (voiced by Marty Ingels), whom he calls "Beegly Beagly". [2]

Grape Ape's immense size tends to initially shock and frighten those unfamiliar with him, and his presence alone has often terrified people and animals, causing them to run off screaming invariably: "YEOW! A gorill-ill-ill-ill-la!". The only exception to this was the character Rosie O'Lady (voiced by Janet Waldo), who appeared in Episode 11, "The Indian Grape Call". When asked by Beagle why she did not yell in fear like everyone else did upon seeing Grape Ape, she simply said, "You've seen one 40-foot purple ape, you've seen them all". In "Ali Beagle and the Forty Grapes", a wooden city limits sign reacted to Grape Ape's presence (after "overhearing" that no one else had) by progressively displaying the "YEOW!" phrase, with Beegle reading aloud as the sign changed, unfolding additional segments for the several "ill[a]" syllables (after which it folded itself up and hopped away in fear).

Grape Ape and his friend Beegle Beagle usually ride around in a small yellow van driven by Beegle Beagle with Grape Ape sitting on the roof which can somehow support his weight. A recurring bit of business would be for him to "rev up" the tiny vehicle like a child with a friction toy, then hop aboard as the van would start on its way. Also, Grape Ape's steps would often bounce Beegle into the air, where his legs would keep walking without breaking stride.

Given his size, Grape Ape's sneezes were equivalent to a hurricane and when he cried which was sometimes when he was homesick for his family, his tears could cause flooding in areas. When he does wrong, he also famously says, "I'm sorry!", which is done so often Beegle Beagle knows when it is coming and sometimes says it along with him, though often in a playful way.

Cast

Additional

Broadcast history

The Great Grape Ape Show was broadcast in these following formats on ABC: [3]

The show was originally broadcast as a segment of Tom and Jerry/Grape Ape Show during the 1975–76 season; for the 1976–77 season, the show became Tom and Jerry/Grape Ape/Mumbly Show , and in 1977–78, The Great Grape Ape Show became its own half-hour show on Sunday mornings. Thirty-two 10-minute installments of Grape Ape were made; two were aired per 30-minute episode.

Grape Ape also appeared as a member of "The Yogi Yahooeys" team on Scooby's All-Star Laff-A-Lympics / Scooby's All-Stars from 1977 to 1979 and would often team up with Yakky Doodle in sporting competitions. In Britain, the BBC ran The Great Grape Ape with the cartoon series Bailey's Comets during 1977–78. The Tom & Jerry Show also appeared elsewhere in the BBC schedules, whereas the other part of the U.S. Saturday fare, Mumbly was shown by ITV.

Like many animated series created by Hanna-Barbera in the 1970s, the show contained a laugh track created by the studio.

Episodes

No.TitleOriginal air dateProd.
code
1a"That Was No Idol, That Was My Ape"September 6, 1975 (1975-09-06)79-2
1b"The All-American Ape"September 6, 1975 (1975-09-06)79-1
2a"Movie Madness"September 13, 1975 (1975-09-13)79-3
2b"Trouble at Bad Rock"September 13, 1975 (1975-09-13)79-4
3a"Flying Saucery"September 20, 1975 (1975-09-20)79-5
3b"There's No Feud Like an Old Feud"September 20, 1975 (1975-09-20)79-6
4a"The Grape Race"September 27, 1975 (1975-09-27)79-7
4b"The Big Parade"September 27, 1975 (1975-09-27)79-8
5a"A Knight to Remember"October 4, 1975 (1975-10-04)79-9
5b"S.P.L.A.T."October 4, 1975 (1975-10-04)79-10
6a"G.I. Ape"October 11, 1975 (1975-10-11)79-11
6b"The Purple Avenger"October 11, 1975 (1975-10-11)79-12
7a"Grapefinger"October 18, 1975 (1975-10-18)79-13
7b"Return to Balaboomba"October 18, 1975 (1975-10-18)79-21
8a"Amazon Ape"October 25, 1975 (1975-10-25)79-15
8b"Grape Marks the Spot"October 25, 1975 (1975-10-25)79-16
9a"The Invisible Ape"November 1, 1975 (1975-11-01)79-18
9b"Public Grape No. 1"November 1, 1975 (1975-11-01)79-19
10a"The Incredible Shrinking Grape"November 8, 1975 (1975-11-08)79-17
10b"What's a Nice Prince Like You Doing in a Duck Like That?"November 8, 1975 (1975-11-08)79-22
11a"Who's New at the Zoo"November 15, 1975 (1975-11-15)79-14
11b"The Indian Grape Call"November 15, 1975 (1975-11-15)79-24
12a"A Grape Is Born"November 22, 1975 (1975-11-22)79-23
12b"The First Grape in Space"November 22, 1975 (1975-11-22)79-25
13"S.P.L.A.T.'s Back"November 27, 1975 (1975-11-27)79-20
79-26

Part 1: The Chicken has been training birds to steal goods. Grape Ape and Beegle Beagle are assigned to the case. They trace the villain to a bird sanctuary, but only meet a human birdkeeper. After the Chicken kidnaps the Chief, Beegle and Grape Ape disguise themselves as a bird and tree, respectively. The Chicken orders his newest "recruit" to chop down the tree and take care of the Chief.

Part 2: Beegle, disguised as Big Bad Bird, pretends to follow the Chicken's orders. The Chicken heads out to sea, along with his birds, while Grape Ape secretly follows them underwater. Eventually, Beegle reveals that the birds were merely controlled by a whistle. As for the Chicken, he turns out to be the birdkeeper in disguise.
14a"To Sleep or Not to Sleep"November 29, 1975 (1975-11-29)79-27
14b"Olympic Grape"November 29, 1975 (1975-11-29)79-28
15a"Ali Beagle and the 40 Grapes"December 6, 1975 (1975-12-06)79-29
15b"Grape Five-O"December 6, 1975 (1975-12-06)79-31
16a"The Purple Avenger Strikes Again"December 13, 1975 (1975-12-13)79-30
16b"The Grape Connection"December 13, 1975 (1975-12-13)79-32

* Telecast at Noon (EST), Thursday afternoon, November 27, 1975, as part of ABC's Thanksgiving Funshine Festival.

Home media

The episodes "That Was No Idol, That Was My Ape" and "The All-American Ape" are available on the DVD Saturday Morning Cartoons 1970's Vol. 2. [4]

Media adaptations

Norbert Fersen adapted the TV show into a comic strip in the 1970s, under its French translated name Momo et Ursul. [5]

Other appearances

In other languages

See also

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References

  1. ↑ Woolery, George W. (1983). Children's Televisio : The First Thirty-Five Years, 1946-1981. Scarecrow Press. p. 127. ISBN   0-8108-1557-5 . Retrieved 14 March 2020.
  2. ↑ Sennett, Ted (1989). The Art of Hanna-Barbera: Fifty Years of Creativity. Studio. p. 172. ISBN   978-0670829781 . Retrieved 2 June 2020.
  3. ↑ Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. pp. 858–860. ISBN   978-1476665993.
  4. ↑ "Saturday Morning Cartoons: 1970's - Volume 2 DVD Review - IGN". IGN. 3 November 2009. Retrieved 2 September 2019.
  5. ↑ "Norbert Fersen".
  6. ↑ "Great Grape Ape Annual Gallery".
  7. ↑ "Jellystone! I Official Trailer I HBO Max Family". YouTube . June 24, 2021. Retrieved June 24, 2021.
  8. ↑ "Specials Video - Scooby-Doo, Where Are You Now! | Stream Free".
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