Flashback Friday: Sid and Marty Krofft

My Flashback Friday actually resembles a flashback well-suited to the 70's time period it originates from: the Saturday morning programming from the magic minds of Sid and Marty Krofft called the Krofft Supershow.  I was a mega-fan of much of the Krofft's programming (as evidenced by the numerous times I've mentioned them in this blog). The Kroffts first captured my wide-eyed short attention span with the Day-Glo sets they designed for the Banana Splits. Then came the Krofft Supershow with their own bizarre baby: HR Pufnstuf, a world complete with eye-popping color, puppetry, special effects and Witchiepoo herself. 

While I didn't actually own the lunchbox pictured at the top of the page, the only lunchbox that would eventually replace my Disney school bus one was this one:

...because, of course, it represented my favorite Krofft show: Lidsville.  I'm not sure if it was the epically surreal combination of giant hats and Charles Nelson Reilly that captured me, but I was sold hook, line and Horatio HooDoo. 

The chef's hat character was an Asian chap by the name of Mr. Chow and one of the bad guys was Boris, a talking executioner's hood.  Political correctness was lost in the halcyon haze of these shows.  Speaking of lost...

Any conversation about Sid and Marty Krofft would be moot without mention of Land of the Lost, recounting a family's over-the-top tumble with dinos, Sleestaks, and of course, caveboy Chaka.  By the time Dr. Shrinker and Electra Woman and DynaGirl showed up with their giant wrist corsage/Electracoms, the Bicentennial was upon us and I was moving on. 

 

 What I did not realize or remember from that time is that there was an actual theme park in Atlanta dedicated to this trippy universe called The World of Sid and Marty Krofft. It was a multi-tiered amusement park with various psychedelic attractions including a giant carousel and a huge pinball-themed ride where one could sit in a giant steel pinballs and be ricocheted through hallucinogenic backdrops. I would tour this facility many moons later when I lived in Atlanta, but as something entirely different: CNN Center.

 

I miss getting lost in The Land of the Lost and dreaming my way through Lidsville.  I remember fondly the days we turned Sigmund The Sea Monster into a backyard game that we would play on lazy summer days. Trippy the programs on the Krofft Supershow may have been, but truly they make for a colorful, happy flashback. The kind I want to experience. Thank you Sid and Marty Krofft, for the terrific childhood memories.