Don Markstein's Toonopedia: Lariat Sam (original) (raw)
| … Mighty Mouse and Heckle & Jeckle. Sources differ on exactly when the replacement took place. They range from December, 1961 to December, 1962, with the only specific date cited being September 10, 1962. In any case, Sam ran his entire course during the early 1960s. Just as Tom was assisted by his talking pet, Mighty Manfred the Wonder Dog, Sam had an animal sidekick, Tippy Toes the Wonder Horse, who wore a derby hat and liked to recite poetry. Their regular villain was Badlands Meeny, who may or may not have been "rotten to the core" like Tom's main bad guy, Crabby Appleton, but was certainly rotten enough, at least where it showed. Not that the fact was all that visible to Sam, a cheerful, optimistic guy who tended to see the good in everyone he encountered, even Badlands. Still, he'd defeat the bad guy as needed, using his great skill with the lariat to do so. Another similarity to Tom's series was that Sam's was produced in the form of five-minute serial chapters. Tom's serials were each five chapters long, broadcast Monday through Friday to make a complete story each week. Sam's were completed in only three chapters. There were 13 such stories, or 39 episodes, which were run and rerun on Captain Kangaroo over the course of three years. After that, they were syndicated separately. All three characters' voices were done by Dayton Allen, whose other credits include Deputy Dawg, Luno the Flying Horse and Sidney the Elephant's friend, Cleo the Giraffe. The 39 episodes were directed by Bob Kuwahara, creator of Hashimoto-San. Lariat Sam wasn't made into a comic book, as even such minor earlier Terrytoons stars as Little Roquefort and The Terry Bears had been. But he did get into coloring books and other merchandising, at least in a small way. But by the end of the '60s, he'd completely passed from the scene, with few if any traces remaining.— DDMBACK to Don Markstein's Toonopedia™ Home PageToday in Toons: Every day's an anniversary! | Purchase Toon-related Merchandise Online |
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