Lidsville - Complete Series [DVD]

"Lidsville" is my favorite of Sid and Marty Krofft's classic, live-action Saturday morning shows from the early 1970's. And it is one trippy tale. Fascinated after watching a magic act, Mark ("The Munsters'" Butch Patrick) falls down a giant magician's hat and lands in loopy Lidsville, inhabited by talking hats! Mark is befriended by the Good Hats, including British Col. Poom, Miss Ring-A-Ding (a party hat), Nursy, the chinese Mr. Chow, Tonsolini (an Opera Singing Hat), Mother Wheels (a motorcycle/helmet), Rah-Rah (a football helmet), etc. and Weenie (Billie Hayes), a rather inept but kind-hearted Genie. The versatile Hayes, best known as Witchiepoo on "H.R. Pufnstuff", comments that she was offered the role of Weenie The Genie (a male role) after Billy Barty became ill, although Barty denied that the role was created specifically for him. There are also the Bad Hats, who are the flunkies of the evil magician Horatio Hoo-Doo (Charles Nelson Reilly). Hoo-Doo is furious at the Good Hats for not acknowledging him as their Lord and Master, and not paying him taxes. He also hates "that brat Mark" for continually helping the Good Hats plan revolts against him. He flies in the skies over Lidsville in his Hattermerand, zapping the Good Hats. But, no matter how nasty Hoo-Doo is, he is continually out-witted by Mark, Weenie The Genie, and the Good Hats. Director Tony Charmoli presides over the fantasy/insanity. The episodes usually end with a moral, a song or two (by Les Szvaris and Charles Fox), and Hoo-Doo exclaiming, "I want my Mommy Hoo-Doo!" The rather horrible Mommy Hoo-Doo, who fears her son Horatio is not "rotten" enough, does appear in the final episode. The Good Hats were, probably, supposed to be the original focus, but there is no question that Charles Nelson Reilly is the star of the show. Reilly, with his larger-than-life performance persona, is deliriously, delightfully over the top (hat pun intended) as Hoo-Doo. Sid Krofft remarks in a commentary that Reilly had more energy than anybody else at the ABC televison network. The best episode, "Have I Got A Girl For Hoo-Doo", is actually a semi-cross-over with "H.R. Pufnstuff." A lovelorn Hoo-Doo writes a letter to a lonely hearts club seeking a girlfriend-- and gets Witchiepoo (Billie Hayes plays both Witchiepoo and Weenie The Genie in this episode). Their initial mutual dislike (Hoo-Doo: You're about as sexy as a plucked vulture." Witchiepoo: "You're too ugly to be good-looking") disappears when they discover they enjoy zapping together and causing chaos for the Good Hats. The Good Hats soon realize they must break up this terrible twosome, so Mark cross-dresses as Lovey-Dovey, a Mae West type female! "I hope I don't catch it from Women's Lib," Mark says afterwards. Billie Hayes and Butch Patrick offer a great, giggly commentary on this episode. Everything about "Lidsville" is extraordinary; particularly when you consider that the 17 episodes were filmed over an 11 week period. The show itself had a four year network run, on both ABC and NBC. The work hours must have been long and arduous. Charles Nelson Reilly always complained about how hot and miserable he was in Hoo-Doo's make-up and costume. Conditions must have been doubly hot and miserable for Sharon Baird, Joy Campbell, Jerry Maren, Angelo Rositto, Van Snowden, Felix Silla, Buddy Douglas and the Hermine Midgets; the actors inside the Good and Bad Hat costumes. The Good and Bad Hat characters are also superbly voiced by Lennie Weinrib, Joan Gerber, and Walker Edmiston. Sid and Marty Kroft had an extraordinary influence on the generation that grew up watching their shows. Look inside the oversized magician's hat that Hoo-Doo and his flunkies live in and you'll see where Paul Rebuns got his ideas for "Pee-Wee's Playhouse", more than a decade later. The three DVD "Lidsville" set is loaded with extras; including interviews and selected episode commentary from Sid and Marty Krofft, Butch Patrick, Billie Hayes, and the, sadly, late Charles Nelson Reilly; and excerpts from Butch Patrick's personal scrapbook. Watching "Lidsville" again, after more than twenty years had passed, I frequently thought to myself, "Who the hell thought THIS up?" The extraordinary Krofft brand of creativity and imagination has completely vanished from television today; which perhaps increases appreciation and affection for "Lidsville." Butch Patrick admits he was too young (at ages 17 and 18) to appreciate "Lidsville" at the time, but he seems fond of it now. Even the constantly complaining Charles Nelson Reilly admitted in an audio commentary that "Lidsville" is clever, colorful, and inventive. "Lidsville," like the Kroffts' other shows, should never be discounted as merely a "children's show." Between the visual imagery and verbal puns and humor that go way over children's heads, there is an abundance of adult appeal."If you bump into a bonnetwith eyes and ears and nose upon itNope, you haven't gone bats-- that's Lidsville!"

Lidsville is a little-known treasure from the early 1970s! The title song has stuck with me for over 36 years and I still LOVE it! This is a little, wacky show with the talents of Billie Hayes (Witchiepoo), Butch Patrick(Eddie Munster) and the ever-flambouyant, late Charles Nelson Reilly. A teenager named Mark (Butch Patrick), sneaks back into an area where a magician was performing his show at an amusement park. Mark falls into the magician's hat. When he hits bottom, he is in the zany land of Lidsville, surrounded by the good "Hat People". These "Hat People", in the shapes of a helmet, chef's hat, safari hat, party hat, etc., befriend him and join forces against HooDoo, the mad magician who lives in the "Top Hat" on the hill with his bumbling henchmen. HooDoo flies his real top hat that converts into a "Hattamaran"! HooDoo constantly abuses/over-taxes the good Hat People and foils Mark's (Butch Patrick) attepts to get back into his own world. Aided by HooDoo's bumbling former Genie, "Weenie the Genie" (Billie Hayes), who lives in a ring on Mark's finger, Mark makes attempts at getting skyward on a magic carpet and even in HooDoo's Hattamaran! There is plenty of word-play for adult enjoyment (the "Weather Bureau" is a chest of drawers-- a bureau-- whose drawers HooDoo can "zap" and create select weather conditions). I always sang the song to my children as they grew and, one fateful day in an electronics store, I found Lidsville! I bought it, brough it home and my kids love it, too! Silly, now, but they still love it. Mostly, Mom loves this silly little show that brings back wonderful memories of a 10 year old eager for Saturday mornings and the wonderful Lidsville to air! I only lament that the show lasted only one season. Okay, the set was wobbly and soooo obviously fake, but folks, this is a must-have for you and the youngsters in your life. I have two: one for myself to keep and one for my kids (since the 'bad' thing could happen to the disc). It's a nutty show that will make you smile, marvel in the creativity that only Sid and Marty Kroft could create! Enjoy!

It was great to see these old Lidsville episodes again - it brought back so many memories of my childhood in the 70's... (and it also proves to everyone that this unique show really *did* exist...! :-).My kids love the show (5 & 7), and often beg to watch another of the 17 episodes included in this set. It's a great show about people working together to solve problems, and accepting a wide range of diversity with all the different "hat personalities"...Hoo-Doo is a "perfectly evil" character, and sometimes I feel a bit uncomfortable laughing at his blatant pleasure at being evil, and I cringe at the harsh language to his cronies, the "bad hats" (I guess it's a kinder gentler kids' TV world these days... no one is "stupid" any more... :).Butch Patrick is a good role model, and of course "Weenie the Genie" is fantastic (though it still freaks me out whenever they call her "him"... :-). (In fact, I think I heard Charles Nelson-Reilly slip up once and call him/her a her/him...! :-)I highly recommend this set to anyone who watched the show, and for anyone who wants to expand the imagination and creativity of their kids. Go "Ra Ra"! :-D

This is a great show for kids. I grew up with it and have fond memories of it. However, the shows appear not to have been remastered in the slightest. Picture quality is not close to the original. Moreover, it appears that edited versions of the show which were cut for syndication were used on this set -- each show runs about 22 minutes, even though the typical 1/2 hour TV show from the early 70s ran about 25 minutes. It's a shame that such a great show is getting such poor treatment from Rhino.