Television TV

The Tomfoolery Show

This was an American cartoon show for pre-teen children, originally shown on the US's NBC television network but produced in England by Halas & Batchelor Animation Ltd. It ran from September 1970 until September '71, but was subsequently repeated in the UK at least twice during the later '70s.

Billed as a collection of 'riddles, jokes and silly things', the series relied upon the gentle, surreal humour of Edward Lear, Lewis Carroll and Ogden Nash, and featured several of their characters and nonsense poems. The cartoon cast included the Yonghi Bonghi Bo (whose head was ever so much larger than his body), the Enthusiastic Elephant, the Scrooby Snake, the Fastidious Fish (who walked about on a pair of stilts with shoes on the end of them, and his tail in a goldfish bowl), the Umbracious Umbrella Maker (whose face was always hidden beneath the umbrella he always carried, which had his eyes stuck on the front of it), Goops, The Purple Cow, and others. Voices were provided by Peter Hawkins, Bernard Spear, and the Maury Laws Singers.

Several tributes to Tom Foolery are to be found on the internet, including a 10-minute selection of some of the best excerpts from the show on YouTube


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Do You Remember The Tomfoolery Show?

Do You Remember The Tomfoolery Show?