While out by the sea one day, Jimmy, a teenager, and Freddie, his talking flute, were lured to a boat. The boat was sent by Witchiepoo, an evil witch who wanted Freddie. Once Jimmy and Freddie had taken off in the boat, Witchiepoo changed it into an evil ship. Jimmy and Freddie were rescued by H. R. Pufnstuf, a talking dragon who is the mayor of Living Island. On Living Island, everything on the island is actually living, including trees, flowers, books and candles (hence the name, Living Island).

Throughout the series, Jimmy tried to return home and Witchiepoo tried to get Freddie - neither of them ever suceeded.

Technically, Pufnstuff did not start in the 1970s. It originally aired in 1969 and was into reruns by the time the decade arrived. Since it continued to air on Saturdays until September 73 (and continued on Sunday mornings for an additional year) and was the show that started the whole slew of Krofft shows on Saturday morning and ushered in a whole new era of live action Saturday morning shows in the 70s, I felt it had to be included on this site. Although there was only one season of new episodes, the show spawned a feature length film, Pufnstuf, in 1970.

Pufnstuf and Witchiepoo, along with various other secondary characters, were brought back from time to time for appearances on other Saturday morning Krofft shows (including the Krofft Superstar Hour/Bay City Rollers Show), live events, and prime time series, like the Krofft produced Brady Bunch Hour and even CHiPs.

(November 2010) HR Pufnstuf is being re-released on DVD on Jaunary 18, 2011. The set will be available in two formats, the standard one and a collector's edition which includes a Pufnstuf bobblehead. So far, the bonus features announced include downloadable vintage coloring book sheets and an episode of Horror Hotel, which was one of the segments on the Krofft Superstar Hour and The Bay City Rollers Show and featured Witchiepoo and other Pufnstuf characters.

Pre-order the DVDs from Amazon:

(May 2009) For those that haven't picked up the, now out-of-print, box set, all 17 episodes of the series are now available for purchase from iTunes.

The Pufnstuf movie is also available from iTunes. For those that would prefer a hard copy version of the movie, it was also released on DVD this month. While there are no extras included, the DVD contains the wide screen version of the film.

(May 2008) Once again, a three hour block of Krofft shows are airing on cable in California. Currently, Pufnstuff is airing as part of the block. More information is available here.

Paul Lynde Halloween Special was released on DVD on October 2, 2007. The 1976 special features an appearance by Billie Hayes as Witchiepoo, along with Margaret Hamilton as the Wicked Witch of the West. Other guests include Betty White, Tim Conway, Florence Henderson, and the rock group KISS.

Order it from Amazon:

Lennie Weinrib, who provided the voice of H.R. Pufnstuf and was a writer on the series, passed away on June 28th. Besides voicing Pufnstuf, Weinrib was also the main writer on the series. Weinrib provided many of the voices for other Krofft series, including Lidsville and Sigmund and the Sea Monsters. Other Saturday morning live action work included voicing the character of Knock-Knock, the woodpecker, on the Skatebirds, as well as guest spots on the Ghost Busters and the Kids from C.A.P.E.R.

Krofft writer Mark Evanier's wrote a great obit on Weinrib here and linked to another good one here, which lists many of his animation credits.

(click on images for larger versions)

The show is currently airing on cable in California. More information is available here.

In 2009, all 17 episodes of the series were made available for download from iTunes.

The Pufnstuf film has also been made available at iTunes.and was also released on DVD for the first time.

In 2004, Rhino Home Video released a box set of the entire series on DVD with several extras, including commentary and interviews with the Kroffts, Jack Wild, and Billie Hayes. Rhino has also released other episodes on VHS and DVD, as well as the H. R. Pufnstuf: Live at the Hollywood Bowl special. The movie has also been released on video. Buy these videos through Amazon:

For more info on how to find other Saturday morning shows, check out this page.




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