The Perils of Penelope Pitstop is an American animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions that premiered on CBS on September 13, 1969. The show ran for one season with a total of 17 half-hour episodes, the last first-run episode airing on January 17, 1970. Repeats aired on CBS until September 4, 1971. It is a spin-off of the Wacky Races cartoon, reprising the characters of Penelope Pitstop and the Anthill Mob. Rebroadcasts of the show air on the Cartoon Network-owned channel Boomerang.
Joe Ruby and Ken Spears were the head writers for the series, and Ruby, Spears, and Warner Bros. Cartoons veteran Michael Maltese wrote the stories for the individual episodes. Deciding to feature the characters in a different setting, studio heads decided to set the characters into an active adventure format strongly reminiscent of the 1910s.
Plot
The show features the most successful characters of Wacky Races, namely Penelope Pitstop and the members of Ant Hill Mob, who take on the role of heroes.
In each episode, Penelope's guardian, Sylvester Sneekly, attempts to take Penelope's inheritance for himself by attacking her in the guise of the masked villain The Hooded Claw. Aided by his pair of near identical henchmen who always speak in unison, the Bully Brothers, he concocted needlessly Goldbergian plots to kill Penelope. Even though the Ant Hill Mob rescue Penelope, she often needed to save the Mob from the unintended effects of their attempts to rescue her. While Penelope was curiously helpless whenever The Hooded Claw grabbed her, once he left her tied up for his fiendish plans to take effect, she usually became resourceful and ingenious, sometimes coming up with spontaneous and creative methodologies to escape her peril.
Characters
Penelope Pitstop is the title character and the main protagonist of the spin-off. She is the heiress who inherits the Pitstops' vast fortune but is unaware that her guardian, Sylvester Sneekly, who disguises himself as the Hooded Claw, has plans to kill her for her fortune. She is often rescued by the Ant Hill Mob from her perils and she also rescues them when they fail to rescue her.
Ant Hill Mob is a group of dwarf mobsters led by Clyde. They ride their black car named Chugga Boom to rescue Penelope from the Hooded Claw's frequent perils and his traps, which are designed to kill her.
Sylvester Sneekly/The Hooded Claw is the guardian of Penelope Pitstop and the main antagonist of the spin-off who has motives to kill Penelope because of her vast fortune. Described by the show's narrator as the "villain of villains" in his disguise as the Hooded Claw, he manages to capture or kidnap Penelope, who is unaware of her guardian's secret identity, and he has two henchmen on his side, the Bully Brothers. In most episodes, he usually makes deadly traps for Penelope to get her killed and thereby get her inheritance. However he always fails to kill Penelope when the Ant Hill Mob rescues her or Penelope outsmarts him when she manages to free herself from his traps. His catchphrase when his plans are foiled he angrily yells "Blast!"
Creative Executive Producers: Lee Mendelson, Bill Melendez
Story: Joe Ruby, Ken Spears, Mike Maltese, Abe Levitow, Dorothy Jones, Chuck Jones, Ralph Wright
Stroyboard: Bob Richardson
Story Direction: Alex Lovy, Earl Klein, Bill Perez, Howard Swift, Hawley Pratt
Voices: Janet Waldo, Mel Blanc, Don Messick, Paul Winchell, Gary Owens, Paul Lynde
Animation Director: Charles A. Nichols
Production Design: Iwao Takamoto
Production Supervisor: Victor O. Schipek
Art Director: Victor Haboush
Layout: Ray Aragon, Evert Brown, Corny Cole, Bernard Gruver, Jack Huber, Willie Ito, Ed Levitt, Takashi Masunaga, Maurice Noble, Lance Nolley, Erni Nordli, Joel Seibel, Bob Singer, Terry Slade, Grace Stanzell, Jan Strejan, Dick Ung
Animation: Hal Ambro, Ed Barge, Bob Bemiller, Bob Bransford, Bob Carlson, Brad Case, Steve Clark, Herman Cohen, Art Davis, Phil Duncan, John Freeman, John Gibbs, George Goepper, Ken Harris, Jerry Hathcock, Sam Jaimes, Volus Jones, Ruth Kissane, Abe Levitow, Bill Littlejohn, Dick Lundy, Don Lusk, Fred Madison, Bob Matz, Ed Parks, Ray Patterson, Spencer Peel, Bob Richardson, Phil Roman, Grant Simmons, Frank Smith, Hank Smith. Irven Spence, Dick Thompson, Harvey Toombs, Ben Washam, Don Williams, Rudy Zamora
Background Stylists: Bob Inman, Dick Kelsey, Phil Norman, Walt Peregoy, Don Peters, Gloria Wood
Backgrounds: Fernando Arce, Ellie Bonnard, Cathy Clark, Dave High, Richard H. Thomas, Thelma Witmer
Film Editors: Ted Baker, Earl Bennett, Bob Gillis, Sam Horta, David Horton, Wayne Hughes, Chuck McCann, Steve Melendez, Allan Potter, George Probert, Joe Sandusky, Joe Siracusa, Rick Steward
Recording:
Voices: Radio Recorders, Sid Nicholas
Music: United Recorders, Arte Becker
Mix: Producers' Sound Service, Don Minkler, Bill Mumford
Camera: John Aardal, Wally Bulloch, John Burton Jr., Jim Dixon, George Epperson, Charles Flekal, Larry Hogan, Roy Hutchcroft, Duane Keegan, Ray Lee, Ralph Migliori, Dan Miller, Cliff Shirpser, Jack Stevens, Nick Vasu, Dennis Weaver
Production Managers: Paul Carlson, Earl Jonas
In Charge of Production: Lee Gunther
Executive Producer: Henry G. Saperstein
A Hanna-Barbera Production
This picture made under the jurisdiction of IATSE-IA, Affiliated with A.F.L.-C.I.O.-C.L.C.
On May 10, 2005 (2005-05-10), Warner Home Video released the complete series on DVD in Region 1 territories. The series is also available at iTunes Store for Apple mobile device owners to download their favorite episodes or the complete series after purchases.
