In the early days of animated comedy, one of the most beloved characters was Koko The Clown, created by the Fleischer Brothers, Max and Dave. In the early Koko films, the live-action hand of Max Fleischer was shown bringing Koko to life as he interacted with the world around him in the most imaginative animated films of the era.
The Koko films were a staple of early television, and in 1962, someone got the idea to do new ones. Hal Seeger’s studio was called upon to do the job. Max Fleischer agreed to participate in early episodes, but reportedly he was aghast when he saw the results: typical formulaic animated hijinks, with extremely limited animation. (The production quality was roughly identical to Paramount cartoons of the time.)
In Koko’s world according to Hal Seeger, Koko had a pretty girlfriend named Kokette and a mean-spirited arch-rival named Mean Moe. Koko also had a dog named Koko-nut.
These cartoons introduced a relatively new voice actor to the world of animation. Larry Storch did most of the male voices and went on to a career that seemed equally split between live-action comedies (including “F Troop”) and other cartoons (including several years of being a primary voice actor for Warner Bros. cartoons in the late 1960’s). Norma MacMillan did Kokette and most of the other female voices.
One hundred five-minute films were produced in this series, which was shopped around to local stations for use in their own cartoon anthology programs. In New York, they aired on WATV, Channel 13, on the Uncle Fred show.
All Hal Seeger Productions Material © by Hal Seeger Productions.