In the fall of 1964, primetime television was invaded by
two clans of monsters who were definitely more funny than scary, “The
Munsters” and “The Addams Family”. Ever quick to capitalize
on the hot trend, Hal Seeger Productions sold The Milton The Monster
Show to ABC for the 1965-1966 season. It would be Seeger’s only
network television series. Seeger had already made himself known to ABC program
executives as the producer of the title sequence for the network's "Porky Pig
Show" and were confident that Seeger and his animators could deliver a quality
product to its network.Milton and his friends definitely fell into the more funny than scary category, thanks to some clever scripts by the team of Jack Mercer and Kin Platt, as well as Woody Kling. Milton himself was a giant Frankenstein-type, but since too much tenderness was added to the recipe by Milton’s creators, Professor Weirdo and Count Kook, it resulted in Milton being a good-hearted monster. The late Bob McFadden did the voice for Milton as a good ol’ Southern boy, not unlike Gomer Pyle. Milton’s other friends included Heebie (who looks like the Grim Reaper) and Jeebie (a hairy guy with one eye and one fang tooth), as well as Abercrombie The Zombie. Many animators who would become Seeger mainstays took turns with Milton, including Bill Ackerman, Shamus Culhane, and Ray Seti.
When meek, unassuming Hiram The Fly puts on a pair of super glasses, he becomes the assertive superhero Fearless Fly in the most prolific supporting series from this show. Usually he hangs around the Sugar Bowl with his fly friends Flory and Horsey. Fearless adversaries include Dr. Goo Fee and (crossing over from their Milton roles) Professor Weirdo and Count Kook. "Fearless Fly Meets The Monsters" also features Heebie and Jeebie, plus a Milton prototype named George, created in much the same manner - too much tenderness!
In the other supporting series, Stuffy Durma is a hobo who inherits ten million dollars, hires an advisor named Bradley Brinkley to handle his affairs, and opens his mansion to hobo friends like Ashcan Annie and Stu Mulligan. All of the cartoons in this subseries were animated by New York cartooning legend Jim Tyer and feature his unique style of animation. Stuffy Durma was originally a pig, as featured in Stanhall Comics titles (co-published by Hal Seeger).
The other supporting series which each had no more than a half dozen cartoons produced included:
The Milton The Monster Show premiered on ABC on October 9, 1965 and aired for two years on the network's Saturday and Sunday schedules. It also aired in syndication through ABC Films, Worldvision and latterly Paramount Television. Shout! Factory released The Milton The Monster Show: The Complete Series on DVD on March 20, 2007. This 4-disc set features all 26 episodes of the show beautifully restored, plus bonus features like footage of Hal Seeger introducing Milton and Fearless Fly at the Toy Fair in New York, plus some Seeger rarities like the live-action "Flukey Luke" pilot and the "Wilbur The Wanted" pilot film.
All Hal Seeger Productions Material © by Hal Seeger Productions. A tip of Milton's lid to Stephen Worth for providing the black-and-white gang shot that now adorns the top of this page!