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American animated television series

Beany and Cecil is an American animated television series created by Bob Clampett for the American Broadcasting Company. The cartoon was based on the television puppet show Time for Beany, which Clampett produced for Paramount Pictures company and its Paramount Television Network beginning 1949. The series was broadcast first as part of the series Matty's Funnies during 1962, later renamed Beany and Cecil. A short lived revival, The New Adventures of Beany and Cecil, was produced in 1988. Although a children's show, it incorporated satirical references to current events and personalities that adults found entertaining, and the show also attracted adult viewers. Some of the plots and remarks were recognizable as lampoons of current political issues. Along with The Jetsons and The Flintstones, it was one of the first three color television series by the ABC television network (the initial season, though, was originally shown in black and white, as ABC was unable to broadcast color programs until September 1962).

Beany and Cecil was created by animator Bob Clampett after he quit Warner Bros., where he had been directing short cartoon movies. Clampett is said to have originated the idea for Cecil when he was a boy after seeing the top half of the dinosaur swimming from the water at the end of the 1925 movie The Lost World. Clampett originally created the idea as a television series named Time for Beany, which was broadcast from February 28, 1949, to 1955. Time for Beany, a puppet show, featured the talents of veteran voice actors Stan Freberg as Cecil and Dishonest John, and Daws Butler as Beany and Uncle Captain. Clampett revived the series in theatrical animated form, though Freberg and Butler did not reprise their roles. On 11 October 1959, the animated series was introduced as Matty's Funday Funnies, named for "Matty Mattel" the animated spokesperson for its primary sponsor Mattel Toys company. However, the series at that time featured old Paramount theatrical cartoons. The new Beany and Cecil cartoon series took over Matty's Funnies (sans "Funday") in January 1962 and was broadcast prime time Saturdays during the remainder of the 1961 62 television season, by the ABC Television Network. The newer cartoons replaced the Famous Studios cartoons of Casper the Friendly Ghost and Little Audrey among other parts of Matty's Funday Funnies. The program was later retitled The Beany and Cecil Show. After 1962, the 26 shows (including 78 cartoons) were repeated during Saturday mornings for the next two years and on Sunday mornings for three more. The cartoon featured characters Beany, a boy, and Cecil the Sea Sick Sea Serpent embarking on a series of adventures, often to discover ancient civilizations and artifacts. These escapades were rife with cartoon slapstick and puns. Before the animated series, but concurrent with the puppet show, Clampett created a comic book series of Beany and Cecil adventures for Dell Comics. The artwork for this series of comics, published from 1951 to 1954, was drawn by Jack Bradbury. In 1988, the show was revived as The New Adventures of Beany and Cecil by DiC Entertainment. Only eight episodes were made, and only five episodes broadcast. This version of the show was produced and directed by John Kricfalusi, who would later create The Ren and Stimpy Show, and made use of voices from Billy West, who also did voices for the characters Ren (for season 3 and later) and Stimpy.

Beany Boy – a young, cupid faced boy with a propeller beanie cap that allows him to fly (the "Beanycopter", complete with helmet and propeller, became a popularly marketed novelty). Beany is a good hearted lad. In most episodes, Beany would be kidnapped by a villain or get caught in a rough situation, crying "Help, Cecil! Help!" to which Cecil would reply "I'm a comin', Beany boy!" as he raced to the rescue. This has become something of a catchphrase. Beany was originally voiced by Jim MacGeorge for the 1960s series and by Mark Hildreth for the 1980s series. Cecil (or "Cecil the Seasick Sea Serpent") – a large green sea serpent with a slight lisp. He is fiercely loyal to Beany, but he is not very clever. Cecil's trusting good nature invariably results in him being taken advantage of by the bad people, and he often suffers a great amount of physical abuse (getting smashed flat, losing his head, having his skin burned off, being shattered to pieces), examples of cartoon physics. The end of Cecil's tail was never seen in most episodes; it always extended off screen or was hidden behind an obstacle. This is likely a joking reference to the original Cecil, a hand puppet whose tail was likewise hidden (because it didn't exist). His neck often showed folds and creases like that of a sock puppet as well, another reference to the original Cecil. Cecil's tail did appear in "Beany and the Jackstalk" when his entire body became wound into the tension spring of a giant cuckoo clock. Cecil also has a superhero alter ego known as Super Cecil. In this guise, he wears a modified Superman shirt (complete with cape). It was Cecil who yodels "A Bob Clam pett car tooooooo OOOOOOOOON!" at the end of the opening song of each episode. Cecil was voiced originally by Irv Shoemaker for the 1960s cartoon and by Billy West for the 1980s cartoon. Captain Horatio Huffenpuff – also called "Uncle Captain", he is Beany's kindly uncle and the captain of the ship Leakin' Lena, which takes the pals from one destination to the other. The Captain is always willing to instruct Beany and Cecil on their latest assignment, but is rather cowardly and refuses to put himself in any personal jeopardy, locking himself below the deck or under a box labeled "Capt. Huffenpuff's Hiding Box" for most of the episodes. Uncle Captain was voiced by Jim MacGeorge for both series. Crowy – the navigator of the ship Leakin' Lena. He is a crow, and unsurprisingly spends most of his time in the ship's crow's nest. He speaks with a squawky voice and tends to faint whenever the ship encounters some sort of hazard. Crowy was voiced by Jim MacGeorge (though Don Messick did so in one episode). Dishonest John (or "D. J.") – a mobster villain and the main antagonist of the show. He is dressed formally like a Simon Legree character, and he is constantly scheming to foil Beany and Cecil's adventures. His catchphrase is his sinister laugh, "Nya ah ãhh! ", and he occasionally refers to Cecil as a "tall toad", "worm" or "big salami" (referring to his big, limbless body). Whenever Dishonest John's schemes are revealed to the heroes, Cecil tends to respond with an aghast "What the heck! D. J., you dirty guy!". When Dishonest John receives his inevitable defeat, it is usually just as painful as the abuse Cecil has endured during the rest of the episode. Dishonest John also has a supervillain alter ego known as The Bilious Beetle. In this guise, he can fly by his power and has a painful stinger. "D. J." also appeared disguised on occasion as the mechanical robotic octopus "Billy The Squid" usually in haphazard attempts to simulate sea storms to scare away the crew of the Leakin' Lena when on a treasure hunt. Dishonest John carried a business card that read: "Dirty deeds done dirt cheap. Special rates for Sundays and holidays". This was the inspiration for the AC/DC song "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap". In the 1980s series, one episode revealed that DJ is a member of a club called the Brotherhood of B. L. E. C. H. (short for Bad Guys, Losers, Evildoers, Crooks, and Horrible People). DJ was originally voiced by Irv Shoemaker for the 1960s series and by Maurice LaMarche for the 1980s series.

Cecil often sang the Ames Brothers' song "Rag Mop" throughout the series. One episode ("Beanyland") featured Tchaikovsky's well known celesta piece, Dance of the Sugarplum Fairy, from The Nutcracker. Other famed pieces of The Nutcracker were used in the series as musical interludes such as the Chinese Dance and Dance of the Reed Flutes. Many other well known classical music pieces were featured in the show as well, including The William Tell Overture (in the episodes "Beanyland" and "The Phantom of the Horse Opera"), Ride of the Valkyries and Flight of the Bumblebee. Some of the background music was also recycled from Leave It to Beaver, as well as some early Walter Lantz cartoons and incidental music from The Alvin Show. "The Can Can" was used in the episode Harecules Hare & The Golden Fleecing as the music for the Guided Muscle. The tune of "When The Saints Come Marching In" was used in several episodes, by the Singing Dinosaur, So What & The Seven What Knots & the Boo Birds.

The AC/DC song "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap" is titled after the business cards of character Dishonest John, which read "Dirty deeds done dirt cheap. Holidays, Sundays and special rates". Bob Dylan painted Beany in his 2017 Beaten Path painting Hamburger Stand, Long Beach, based on a home movie of Beany's Drive in Restaurant in 1952. Marvel Comics has a minor character code named Warstar who is two separate aliens named "B'nee" and "C'cil". The puppet origins and the form of Cecil inspired the famous science fiction author Larry Niven to invent an important extraterrestrial race called Pierson's Puppeteer as part of his Known Space series of novels and short stories (as originally stated in the story "The Soft Weapon". Beany and Cecil was also an inspiration for Joel Hodgson to create the show Mystery Science Theater 3000.

The entire series was released on VHS and Betamax as thirteen volumes (each containing two episodes) by RCA Columbia Pictures Home Video in 1984, with the final releases issued by their "Magic Window" children's subsidiary imprint. Image Entertainment released "Bob Clampett's Beany and Cecil the Special Edition" DVD in 2000, with 12 cartoon shorts and various show bumpers remastered from their original 35mm camera negatives. Bonus features included four complete episodes of Time for Beany, audio tracks of original story sessions, backstage footage, lost animated works from Bob Clampett's studio, and a still gallery. After a considerable delay, Volume 2 was released by Hen's Tooth Entertainment during 2009, containing 11 cartoon shorts, plus two more Time for Beany episodes, archival audio interviews with Bob Clampett, video interviews with celebrity fans of the series as well as animator Bill Melendez, original bumpers from Matty's Funday Funnies and other special features. To date, the entire cartoon collection has not been released on DVD or Blu Ray disc, nor has it been made available for digital download.