Andy's Gang

I was very young when "Andy's Gang" was on TV, but it was a great favorite of mine. I always liked Gunga Ram and his elephant, "Teela," but I always especially remember Froggy saying, "I'll be good, I will, I will!" However, Froggy was very seldom "good." I thought it was really great when Froggy appeared, or vanished, in a flash of light or smoke or whatever-it-was. It is only now that we can see that Froggy was the precursor to Bart Simpson, and that Froggy was subliminally brainwashing us Baby Boomers into rebelling against our parents and the whole Establishment, which came to full fruition in the Vietnam era with all those street demonstrations we remember so well. Oh, come on! Don't believe this? Get some tapes of this show (they have been made and sold) and see if I'm not right! (Also, check out "Froggy the Gremlin" on eBay--those rubber Froggy dolls are selling for hundreds of dollars!) A wonderful nostalgic memory!

Two of my favorite characters on the show were a frog and a cat! Someone off camera would say the words, "Pluck you magic twanger, Froggie," and Froggie the Gremlin would appear in a cloud of smoke. He wasn't a real frog, but a rubber frog about 10" high! The other character was a black cat named "Midnight." Andy would say something to the cat and its only response was "Nice"! I've never run into anyone who remembers the magic words, "Pluck you magic twanger, Froggie!" If there's anyone out there who knows what I'm talking about, please say something!

I was born in 1971....so ANDYS GANG is not something I remember from childhood. I am a very nostalgic person who treasures most old '70s & '80s things. I read a great book called BAD TV (written by Craig Nelson) and he gives a review of ANDYS GANG as being one of the most bizarre childrens shows ever created. In the list of reasons WHY the show was strange was Midnight the cat who could somehow be maneuvered into dancin a mean hula and purring "Niiiice" and Froggy The Gremlin who they described as being "evil". I would love to get my hands on a copy of this...but do they even have tapes of shows from that far back???

froggy would appear and say, HI-DEE, HI-DE, HI-DEE! billie gilbert would appear as the prof. and give voice lessons.. something would happen ( maybe froggy would spray sneezing powder? ) and he would sneeze uncontrollably and leave.. also remember the magic twanger.. from my dim memory, i thought it was froggy's way of triggering a practical joke.. the scenes of the kids in the audience struck me as strange.. i remember that they always were doing the same exact movements, as if the same film was used every episode.. why not, what do kids know? there was a song andy sang with the audience.. only remember the ending-- good ol' andy's gang!

First of all, this is one "Spinoff" that seems to get more write ups and remembrance than the original. ANDY's GANG was the filmed continuance of the old Radio-TV Series hosted by Smilin' Ed McConnell. It had been known as The Buster Brown Show for some time dating to its earliest days on Radio.

The name was not because it featured old Comic Strip Character, BUSTER BROWN by cartoonist Richard Fenton Outcault, for it did not. But rather, the name came from the Sponsor, The Brown Shoe Company of St. Louis, Missouri. They were manufacturers of The Buster Brown Shoes, the company using the Buster Brown name under license from the copyright owner of the Comic Strip Characters, Buster Brown and his Dog, Tige.

The term "spinoff" is really not appropriate for describing ANDY's GANG as it was essentially the very same series.Let's elaborate on that premise.

Smilin' Ed McConnell had proved himself to be a giant in, not only the Radio Broadcast Business, but also as a Force on Madison Avenue. It has been written elsewhere that from 1942 on, after sponsoring McConnell created and hosted kiddie show, Brown Shoe Company grew at a phenomenal rate. At one point they even designated all of their advertising budget to Smilin' Ed's Show and related items, like comic book give aways of Buster Brown Comic Books, featuring Ed, Midnight, Squeaky and of course, Froggy the Gremlin.

When Smilin' Ed passed away in 1955, what was Brown Shoe to do? Well, for a few seasons anyway, they kept the show going. The answer was simple. They simply cast Andy Devine as new M.C., and inter-cut footage of Andy doing the same old business that Smilin' Ed had done before. The updating was very successful, mainly because so much of the 'Old Show' footage was done in the same way, editing the human M.C.'s on stage action with the audience, or the 'animal' characters (you know Midnight, Squeaky, Froggy).

They even changed the name on the big thick story book from "Smilin' Ed's Stories" to "Andy's Stories". Hence, Andy Devine was shown as leading into the On Going Stories, like Gunga the Elephant Boy*, by 'reading' the intro.

The series continued in reruns on local stations for some time after the deal with Brown Shoe Co., Buster Brown and company had expired.

In retrospect, the replacement of Ed McConnell with Andy Devine, and the celluloid surgery performed has to go down as one of the slickest maneuvers in Broadcast History. And to think that it was an adjunct to one of the greatest advertising/selling giants in History, in our own, nearly forgotten, Smilin' Ed McConnell.

* BUSTER BROWN by R.F. Outcault was a popular comic strip, beginning in 1902 and lasting to 1921. By the time of the show's hey day, Buster Brown was known as a Shoe Brand, the Comic Strip having passed into obscurity.

** The on going story of Gunga Ram (Nino Marcel) and his friend Rama(Vito Scotti) has been called a "Serial", which it wasn't in the usual sense, in that it had chapters with cliff hanging endings. The same Characters were featured in the Movie SABAKA (1954) along with Boris Karloff, Victor Jory and Reginald Denney. It also had the same Writer, Producer and Director in Frank Ferrin.