Hotel Balderdash

Format

The show started out with a nearly two-hour format, starting at 6:45 in the morning and finishing at 8:40, in time for a 20-minute news broadcast. It eventually settled into an hour format - 7:00 am to 8:00 am, when ABC debuted its new morning program AM America, to go against NBC's Today Show. So popular was Hotel Balderdash, that a local newspaper wrote an article wondering what KTVX would do with their "proven winner", to air AM America. The station knew they had a winner with Balderdash, and decided to divide the two hours of AM America, airing the first hour at 6:00 am and the second hour at 8:00 am. AM America would eventually have a name change to Good Morning, America.

Hosts

The show starred Larry "Cannonball" John, Randy "Harvey" Lovoi and Charlie "Raymond" LeSueur. John and LeSueur had been given the idea for the show from popular kid's show host Bill "Wallace" Thompson of Wallace and Ladmo fame in Phoenix, Arizona. John had known Thompson from the time the young actor had been a co-host on a popular talent show in Phoenix called Lew King's Rangers. Thompson said that he had the idea for a show set in hotel and have the guests as the characters. He suggested the name Balderdash for the show.

Dynamics

The show had the popular dynamic of being set in a hotel with the manager, Cannonball, the bellhop, Harvey, and the owner's nephew, the spoiled brat Raymond. Monday through Friday, Raymond would continually try to get Harvey in trouble with Cannonball, only to be caught by Cannonball at the end of the show and punished for his mischief. The live audience of children and parents would go wild trying to warn Cannonball that Harvey was a victim of circumstance and that it was really Raymond causing the trouble.

Supporting Characters

The other characters on the show where mainly played by LeSueur, who also created most of the routines for the program. Everything the characters did on the show was ad-lib, with just the basic ideas that the threesome would go over in a meeting held before taping. Five shows would be taped in a three-hour period each Monday night for airplay Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and the following Monday morning. These "bits" would be played between cartoons giving the "Balderdash Gang", as they became known, approximately 25 minutes of air time per show; therefore, with the quick taping it was truly 'live on tape.'

Theme Song

The show originally used the popular jazz tune Mississippi Mud as their theme song, but, when LeSueur left the show in 1976, John and Lovoi quickly adjusted and recorded two popular albums of original songs. The Hotel Balderdash theme song that is fondly remembered was on the first album - which is why there is no mention of Raymond in the song. The show's popularity continued to soar with Harvey and Cannonball, even having a "Hotel Balderdash Day" declared in Utah. So strong was the popularity of the two characters that the show continued to entertain, though by now, without LeSueur's "double entendre" characters, it focused more on being strictly a children's show. LeSueur returned to the show at various times and finally returned on more or less a permanent basis in 1979.

Cancellation

By the time the show ended in the early 1980s, LeSueur was the only original member of the cast left on the program. By this time, the show was owned by a corporation. In a corporate move, Lovoi left the show and was replaced by Steve Farnworth as the lovable bellhop. For ten years Lovoi had nurtured the character of Harvey as a lovable, tall, lean, dark haired presence. Harvey now became a short, stocky, blond character. The chemistry had been destroyed. Eventually, John left and the show was cancelled without any fanfare. By this time, ABC had put pressure on KTVX to place the two halves of Good Morning America together or lose their ABC affiliation. They relegated Hotel Balderdash" to a 30-minute time slot at 6:30 am with no cartoons. Today, not much of the show is left, as the station would use the same video tapes each week to tape the show.

Fame

At its height of popularity the characters of Harvey, Cannonball, and Raymond would draw huge crowds at any personal appearances. At Christmas time, when they made their regular appearances at the Sears stores, Santa Claus would have to close up shop until they left because everyone wanted to see the Balderdash Gang. A story relating to their immense popularity is the year when the storyline had Raymond kidnapping Santa Claus on a Thursday morning installment. The Friday and Monday shows had already been taped and Santa was to be saved on the Monday show. KTVX was inundated Thursday with phone calls from angry parents whose kids were terribly upset at the kidnapping. The Threesome were called back Thursday night for an emergency taping session to make sure that Santa was saved by Cannonball and Harvey on Friday. Santa was saved and the kids - and parents - were happy.

Revamp

In 2010, Larry John and Randy Lovoi produced a new pilot for Hotel Balderdash [1]. Although Charlie LeSueur had agreed to appear he backed out at the last minute due to creative differences. Since then he has been in contact and has agreed to appear if the new show goes to series.