Andy's Gang 1955 Andy Devine with commercials

Andy's Gang with Andy Devine 1955
Episode: The Leopard Hill -Updated with commercials
It's hard to believe if your not a baby boomer that one of our favorite Saturday Morning kid shows was Andy's Gang with the legendary character actor Andy Devine. He is best known to us kids as Jingles the sidekick to Guy Madison on Wild Bill Hickok, a memorable 1950's western.
This is a Analog film transfer of a 16mm film print and when played on a big screen its going to be soft focused. I hope to restore the shows in 2K imagery, and then these celluloid prints will be extra sharp, so stay tuned.
The show was the successor to the radio and television program Smilin' Ed McConnell and His Buster Brown Gang (later shortened to Smilin' Ed's Gang). Devine took over the television program when McConnell died suddenly of a heart attack in 1954. Devine inherited a number of characters from the earlier show and the sponsor, Buster Brown shoes.
The show also featured "Gunga, the East India Boy," a serial set in India. Led by the Maharajah, Gunga Ram and his pal Rama set out on adventures around the village of Bakore in filmed segments.
A popular segment was the visit from the green puppet(I still have mine) Froggy the Gremlin, who would appear in a puff of smoke ("Hiya, kids! Hiya, hiya, hiya!") when Andy yelled the catchphrase "Plunk your magic twanger, Froggy!"
Yes, parents hated Froggy who always interrupting the story and causing trouble, but us kids loved him.
#TVDAYS #IraGallen #Boomers #AndysGang #Froggy #Andydevine #SpaceX #ElonMusk

[@damien4859]

Thank you so much for “Andy’s Gang!” You brought tears to the eyes of this 72 year old. And yes, I sang right along with the theme and remembered every word. To see Midnight and Froggie again… Thank you, thank you.

[@kennethdegruchy5503]

Me too and I'm 70.

[@doogalloonni]

Believe it or not, I saw this very episode- Blew my mind to see it after about 70 years.

[@americanspirit8932]

The same here I remember this broadcast I used to watch every Saturday morning, we knew it was silly but yet us kids really enjoyed it.

[@Oldbmwr100rs]

I felt the same finding an episode of Captain Kangaroo from around 1968 that I clearly remember. The show was never run in repeats, and it was weird watching something from when I was 4 or 5 at the time.

[@garygermain1446]

Yes same here I am 75 years old and I remember this watching this when I was a kid

[@notmyworld44]

Oh yes! I was a regular viewer about 75 years ago. Don't you wish we could go back?

[@jeffreybennett323]

Thanks for saving television history. These programs should never be forgotten. They are a part of history, and should live forever

[@HowRJ]

I remember watching this show every week.......Froggy was my favorite......

[@carolc3102]

Me too…..and I swear Froggy 's bit is what I thought of at the last State of the Union. So we’re all in agreement? So we won’t cut social programs ? Hey….wait….

[@americanspirit8932]

Andy's gang, was my favorite Saturday morning TV, broadcast. I really enjoyed all the various characters, I never forgot Andy Devine's voice. Kids at the time like myself always look forward to Andy's gang, and listening to his stories. Kids today have no idea what they are missing with broadcast shows like this. Thank you for posting, these clips. Today is April 5th, 2023

[@Downecker]

I'm 74 and sure remember and loved this show. I liked him in WILD BILL HICKOCK !

[@douglasszot8294]

He was also in "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance."

[@geneobrien8907]

The actor who plays Rama the Indian character and Professor Pasti Fasuli, is Vito Scotti, he was Nazorine the baker who delivered the wedding cake in The Godfather.

[@chuggachuggawoowoo]

Vito Scotti is my favorite character actor.

[@geneobrien8907]

@@chuggachuggawoowoo He definitely creates memorable characters! And he really made the most out of his screen time in the GF! Two tests to prove how good he was in the GF: 1) imagine Coppola is telling you what the scene is about, now do your own version of the scene. 2) Try to duplicate the scene exactly as Vito Scotti played it. You'll realize pretty damn quickly how good Scotti really is. And if someone doesn't think that's a fair test because you're not an actor, ask someone who is and get them to do it. Whomever it is that takes up the challenge, I can guarantee that they'll fail.

[@davidqualls7986]

I wrote Mr. Scotti and fan letter and he answered me with a lovely letter and an autographed photo! I still have both, a very nice man

[@markwilliamson2795]

Fantastic save !...1955 I was 2 years old...

[@bill-nd8sr]

I remember Andy's gang being a young little kid growing up in the 50s❤

[@vynderma]

At 5, this is how I learned about India. I just found this yesterday. I’m in India this month visiting my wife’s family. I was stunned to recognize both palaces. I’m there in Mysore and was at the palace earlier this week. The other palace is outside the city, and yes - there are leopards there, but it’s rare to see one. I’m flabbergasted at this coincidence.

[@aryanprivilege9651]

People don’t speak backwards but still worship the remains of all thought technology language faith and beauty, The horses and wheel we brought and stories Hakenkreuz Stek Semmelhaack lords of mobility and machines. Magic science they won’t ever understand, life and death.

[@random22026]

There are no coincidences in this world. Loved reading your 2023 take on the locations featured in the Andy's Gang short. 🙏🏻☸

[@AutomaticSelector]

I actually have vague memories of seeing Andy's Gang when I was a kid. I'm 64 now, so it must have been reruns I saw.

[@robertohlrich369]

Love the “Gang”, after 75 yrs!

[@JohnSmith-oj6ir]

Andy's Gang made Peewee's Playhouse look like Masterpiece Theater.

[@fruchu1215]

How come that this old kid's show is more educational than kid's show nowadays?

[@johnmckenzie8522]

This is a classic TV's show in history Andy is a good time to be with the kid in the past i hope there are more of the classic TV's programming in 1950 though 1960

[@rogerb5615]

The Milky Way Machine's sounds are borrowed from the film "The Man In The White Suit", a 1951 British picture starring Alec Guinness and Joan Greenwood. The tale of an eccentric inventor who thinks he's perfected a permanent, stain-proof cloth. The sound effects in his chemistry lab are hilarious - and the Milky Way ad agency stole 'em!

[@nusratjamia7953]

Enjoy your videos very much ❤ Congratulations.

[@danielvahnke3369]

He was amazing as a regular on the Jack Benny radio shows.

[@user-br2ul8pn8z]

I only know Andy Devine from "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad. Mad World" and then I find this on tiktok.

[@Dragonrider1227]

I mostly know Andy Devine from Disney’s Robin Hood so this is interesting to see

[@larrywilliams6069]

did he say," Froggy the Gremlin"?

[@AutomaticSelector]

Pepe's granddad.

[@doritadevitt4279]

Like the old Milky Way ad better than the new ones.

[@steventaylor6212]

This is great stuff!

[@phineasbluster2872]

I'm pretty sure that the Rocky & Bullmoose show's actors devised & voiced that Milkyway commercial.

[@GaryH-pw9cm]

Just thinking about Buster Brown shoes make my feet hurt.

[@notmyworld44]

Amazing how much Andy Devine looked like Andy Griffith! They could have been related. I wonder if they were!

[@random22026]

29:21 We played with this--or something incredibly similar--as children. 33:18 That's the intro theme to the Sherlock Holmes films, starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce. Brilliant! Can't believe that the remaining Boomers, who grew up with these programmes, aren't donating the funds necessary for conservation. (smh, honestly)

[@Snoopydad]

I think the Milky Way commercial was an early work of Jim Henson.

[@rutgersmo273]

Now that I think about it, Andy's laughing is kind of scary.... but Midnight's "NICE" 0:41/34:18 was worth it! MO

[@vincemacek681]

That wasn't Jim Henson doing the Milky Way commercial, was it?

[@arqivist2077]

No, it was Stan Freberg. Word has it that he had once made a guest appearance on Jim Henson's first TV show, Sam And Friends, however.

[@robertbeacham4314]

Vito Scotti!

[@juliancage]

Friar Tuck

[@TheBigMclargehuge]

If you were to edit out all the things the mainstream media tells us we should be offended by we'd get a 2-second video of a guy saying hi kids. Soon enough kid is going to be considered racist or something.

[@steventaylor6212]

As kids we saw all sorts of stuff on TV that would never get past censorship these days.

[@AutomaticSelector]

Today, PETA would shut the show down for what they did to that poor hamster and cat.

[@jamesmiller4184]

@@AutomaticSelector I always hated what was done to Midnight, the cat. They had him rigged up in levers that would make him move in weird ways which the kids thought was really funny. Froggie was a sadistic amphibian that was driven by the Devil himself. I wonder what nuts were responsible for producing this madcap twisted thing? Buster Brown Shoes sponsored it.

[@georgedabrowski6900]

@@jamesmiller4184 Cat was either stuffed or sedated. No self-respecting cat would have put up any of that for 2 seconds. Bravo Vito and-a Froggy..!!! 🐸

[@jamesmiller4184]

@@georgedabrowski6900 Maybe so. That said as I had, I did like the crazy show. It was unique. I think the kids shown were never actually present. Vito was OK but too easily manipulated by the wicked amphibian. So long ago; I viewed it first-run in Orinda CA when only six or seven. RIP poor Midnight . . .

[@keithpodhradsky1314]

Which episode had Andy turning into a Zulu?

[@elainejordan2276]

Ok

[@tphvictims5101]

Nowadays boys wear dresses and girls wear big bushy mustaches.

[@jimchick]

😂

[@ShannonFreng]

This story seems rather too sophisticated for children.

[@roncaruso931]

Wierd show. That frog was creepy. I think this was filmed with no audience. They edited the kid audience in the film.

[@Dragonrider1227]

That would explain how they did some of the gags with the frog

[@doritadevitt4279]

The ads in this was before kids new how these Mattel guns would kill if they were real. We were innocent back then playing with guns and bows and arrows. We're alot more aware now.

[@Mindswamp]

Andy's Gang, possibly the worst children's program ever.