Festival of Family Classics - "Jack O'Lantern" (Complete Broadcast, 10/11/1993) 📺 🎃

Here's the complete broadcast of a repeat of the Festival of Family Classics (no, not that Family Classics) episode "Jack O'Lantern," as presented here over WPWR Channel 50.

Originally aired as part of this 1972-73 syndicated series on October 29th 1972 (S01E06), and produced by Rankin/Bass, this tells the story of a leprechaun who, for the winter, turned into a pumpkin seed as a form of hibernation, but awakes around Halloween as Mr. Jack O'Lantern and uses his pumpkin shell to scare away Zelda the Witch and Archibald the Warlock.

Some of the voices in this installment may sound familiar, as the likes of Bernard Cowan, Peg Dixon and Paul Soles also provided voices for the 1967-70 Spider-Man animated series. Also scored by Maury Laws whose name was practically synonymous with Rankin/Bass. Character design was by Paul Coker, Jr., who would later become one of MAD magazine's stable of artists among their "usual gang of idiots."

Unlike in past years where this would have been off a crummy, many-times-used and washed-out looking 16mm film print, the slightly-better quality here suggests it came off a 1" Type C tape (to which a 35mm print had been transferred by the then-syndicator) as was standard in the industry by this time, if not a 3/4" Umatic tape which some TV stations used to broadcast old shows in this period.

Includes:

Ending credits for "The Halloween Tree" (with voiceover promo for Roseanne, Star Trek: The Next Generation, and the coming show by Carol Gallagher - who has a rapid-fire delivery on that station ID - hoo-boy!)

Station ID / promo for Yogi Bear

Episode preview, followed by Festival of Family Classics opening titles (voiceover by Bernard Cowan) and Act I

Commercials for:

Fisher-Price 3-in-1 Tournament Table (for playing pool a.k.a. billiards a.k.a. 'snooker', table tennis a.k.a. 'ping pong', and hockey)

Twix candy bars (with professor doing convoluted explanation in class)

Peter Francis Geraci for Bankruptcy ((Info)) ((Tapes)) (Question - ((do)) ((the)) ((parentheses)) ((mean)) ((anything)) ((?))

American Airlines Maintenance Academy

Act II

Commercials for:

Nerf Master Blaster

Nerf Bow & Arrow

Starburst Fruit Chews - "The Juice Is Loose" (not for another 8 months or so, actually)

Promo for Garfield & Friends (with the voice of Lorenzo Music as everybody's favorite fat cat) (ending voiceover by Carol Gallagher)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Auto Mutations - by Playmates

Fuddrucker's - "World's Greatest Hamburgers"

Cookie Crisp cereal (featuring the Keystone cop type character and dog - the former wizard mascot having retired by this time)

Act III

Commercials for:

Barbie Lamborghini "Power Wheels" - from Mattel

The Bots Master (promo)

AA All Risk Insurance

Lisa Frank - "You Gotta Have It!" (posted separately here:    • Lisa Frank - "You Gotta Have It!" (Co...  )

Minnesota Fabrics - Columbus Day Sale (for October 11th and 12th)

Act IV, followed by ending credits and Rankin/Bass ending bumper

Station ID / promo for Sonic the Hedgehog (voiceover by ??)

This aired on local Chicago TV on Monday, October 11th 1993 from 1:30pm to 2:00pm.

About The Museum of Classic Chicago Television:

The MCCTv (FuzzyMemoriesTV) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit whose primary mission is the preservation and display of off-air, early home videotape recordings (70s to early 80s, mostly) recorded off of TV (in Chicago or other cities now too); things which would likely be lost if not sought out and preserved digitally. If you have any old 1970s videotapes recorded off of TV please email: [email protected] Even though (mostly) short clips are displayed here, we preserve the entire broadcasts in our archives - the complete programs with breaks (or however much is present on the tape), for historical preservation. For information on how to help in our mission, to donate or lend tapes to be converted to digital, please e-mail [email protected] Thank you for your help!