Hey, Hey, Hey, It's Fat Albert (partially lost NBC animated special; 1969): Difference between revisions

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The only footage of the special that has publicly resurfaced is a blurry red-tinted clip from animator Leo Sullivan's collection. It seems it comes from near the end of the special, where Fat Albert arrives at a football game that his friends are playing against rivals, and so he is using his huge weight to dogpile the opponents.
The only footage of the special that has publicly resurfaced is a blurry red-tinted clip from animator Leo Sullivan's collection. It seems it comes from near the end of the special, where Fat Albert arrives at a football game that his friends are playing against rivals, and so he is using his huge weight to dogpile the opponents.


'''UPDATE 03 May '17:''' YouTuber Pokemario99 uploaded a short clip of the special from the Paley Center for Media website.
'''UPDATE 03 May '17:''' YouTuber [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCro6dNH8EsYW3ZnZVYHG6VA Pokemario99] uploaded a short clip of the special from the Paley Center for Media website.


'''UPDATE 15 Jun '17:''' LMW User [http://lostmediawiki.com/User:CHICHI7 CHICHI7] uploaded another short clip of the special from the 2016 documentary ''Floyd Norman: An Animated Life''.
'''UPDATE 15 Jun '17:''' LMW User [http://lostmediawiki.com/User:CHICHI7 CHICHI7] uploaded another short clip of the special from the 2016 documentary ''Floyd Norman: An Animated Life''.

Revision as of 01:56, 9 July 2017

Heyheyhey.jpg

A newspaper ad, showing The Cosby Kids in their original designs.

Status: Rare


Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids is an animated TV series which aired from September 9, 1972, to August 10, 1985. It has 114 episodes counting specials.

Before the series premiered, there was a primetime special called Hey, Hey, Hey, It's Fat Albert, which was shown on November 12, 1969, and aired on NBC. It was rebroadcasted twice, but presumably never saw a home release.

Plot

It follows The Cosby Kids performing stand-up sketches from Bill Cosby's routines, much like in the actual show.

The plot would have centered on Fat Albert being made fun of by his friends because of his weight, and so he distances himself from them. The other kids would then dispute an (American) football game against rivals, and Fat Albert would then arrive, using his weight to help his friends to win the game.

Production

Mundie and and a team of animators worked 18-hour days for six months to meet NBC's deadline. The animators drew directly onto cels with grease pencils, coloring each cel themselves. The cels were then photographed.

Live footage from Philadelphia was inserted as background. Said Filmation's Lou Scheimer: "It did not work. It was a strange-looking thing. And it did not have any of the values that we wanted to do ultimately in the show." While the series became popular, the special has not been released since.

Crew

Producer: Harry J. Gittes

Executive Producers: Roy Silver, Bruce Campbell

Director: Ken Mundie

Animators: Bob Bachman, Dick Drew, Lil Evans, Bill Hajee, Amby Paliwoda, Len Rogers, Leo Sullivan, Stan Green

Writers: Ed. Wienberger, Jack Mendelson, Bill Cosby

Composer: Herbie Hancock

Availability

The Paley Center for Media holds a copy of the special in their collection, and it is available for viewing at their locations in New York and Los Angeles.[1]

The only footage of the special that has publicly resurfaced is a blurry red-tinted clip from animator Leo Sullivan's collection. It seems it comes from near the end of the special, where Fat Albert arrives at a football game that his friends are playing against rivals, and so he is using his huge weight to dogpile the opponents.

UPDATE 03 May '17: YouTuber Pokemario99 uploaded a short clip of the special from the Paley Center for Media website.

UPDATE 15 Jun '17: LMW User CHICHI7 uploaded another short clip of the special from the 2016 documentary Floyd Norman: An Animated Life.

Gallery

Videos

15 seconds of footage. (Courtesy of CHICHI7).

Rare (bad quality) footage of the special. (Courtesy of Terrin Johnson).

More footage of the special from the Paley Center for Media website. (Courtesy of Pokemario99.)

External links