Virtue In His Heart, Fire In Every Part of The Mighty Hercules – 1960’s TV Series
Fred Grandinetti takes us back to the 1960’s to share his views on the original animated Hercules series.
Most often, critics of animated cartoon series produced exclusively for television, tend to write about the negative aspects, often forgetting the sheer enjoyment they brought to scores of youth. One series which brought delight to many children, who now recall it with fondness as adults, was “The Mighty Hercules”. Comments from adults on the web site TV Party range from “Give me three minutes of The Mighty Hercules over the steroid bloated, effeminate Disney clown any day” and “My sister and I used to love that cartoon and would play-act it all the time.” The early 1960’s were certainly big years for the production of made for television cartoon series. The box office success of the Italian Hercules film series, starring various beefy actors as the strong man, paved the way for an animated colour cartoon series featuring the hero from Ancient Greece.
“The Mighty Hercules” was a series of over 100, five minute cartoons. The series was produced and directed by Joseph Oriolo for Adventure Cartoons for Television and Trans-Lux. A few years earlier, Oriolo and Trans-Lux revived the classic cartoon feline, Felix the Cat, in a made for television cartoon series. The episodes were written by former DC Comics writer/editors, George Kashdan and Jack E. Miller. The series executive producer was Roger Carlin, while Arthur P. Brooks and “Big” Sid Ginsberg were billed as production coordinators for Trans-Lux. Animators and animation directors on the series included, Frank X.Endres, George Germanetti, George H. Rufle, Grim Natwick, John Gentilella, Doug Crane, Anthony Tarricone and Earl James. Many of these animators worked on theatrical cartoons for Paramount Pictures. George Peed designed the characters with a memorable theme song sung by Johnny Nash;
” Hercules, hero of song and story!
Hercules, winner of ancient glory!
Fighting for the right, fighting with his might;
With the strength of ten, ordinary men!
Hercules, people are safe when near him!
Hercules, only the evil fear him!
Softness in his eyes, iron in his thighs;
Virtue in his heart, fire in every part of
The Mighty Hercules! ”
A typical plot would have one of Hercules enemies, mainly the evil wizard Daedlius, hatch a plan to defeat the strongman, kidnap one of his friends or create havoc in the Learien Valley of Ancient Greece. Hercules would swoop down from his home of Mount Olympus, and try to stop the villain’s plans. In order for Hercules to become strong while on earth, he puts on his magic ring, raises it to the sky and the thunder of Zeus hits it. At full strength, Hercules defeats the menace and with a hearty cry of “Olympia” runs off with criminal in hand or leaps back to Mount Olympus. Besides, Daedalius, Hercules also battled the sea witch, Wilmaene, Otis the Chameleon and the evil Mask, whom while wearing the mask of Vulcan, could not be harmed. Hercules friends were Newton, who was half-boy and half-horse, Tewt, a little mute centaur who played a flute to communicate, young King Dorian and the beautiful maiden, Helena. Helena was pretty much Hercules’ love interest.
Yes, I will admit the same stock footage of Hercules putting on his ring and raising it to the sky was used time and time, again but that didn’t bother me. It was something, as a child, I looked forward to because you knew this meant excitement! The same footage of Hercules running, jumping, leaping back and forth from Mount Olympus was also recycled. However, these were cartoons made for television not lush theatrical animation for the big screen.
What helped keep my attention in the cartoons was the musical scoring for each episode. Winston Sharples Sr. and Jr. provided much of the music but scores heard in Universal Studios’ feature films (Most notably, “The Creature From The Black Lagoon” series) were also featured. The music which accompanied Hercules putting on his ring was taken from the Tony Curtis film, “The Black Shield of Falworth”, a film from Universal Pictures, according to the Toontrackers web site. The musical scoring, whether for a gentle scene or an exciting one was worth tuning in.
In the pilot cartoon, we learn how Hercules’ father, King Zeus, fashions the ring his son will wear on earth. The character design of Hercules in this film was different than the cartoons to follow. It took a few cartoons for the producers to settle on a permanent voice for both Hercules and Newton. Among the talents performing Hercules voice in the early cartoons was David Hartman, who would gain greater fame as the host of the network news series, “Good Morning America”. Newton was originally voiced by Jack Mercer, who was best known for providing the voices for Popeye and Felix the Cat. Jimmy Tapp and Gerry Bascombe took on the vocals for Hercules and Newton in a rather odd way. In one episode, Daedalius transforms into the image of Hercules with Hartman and Mercer providing the vocals through out the cartoon. At the very end, you suddenly hear Newton, in Bascombe’s voice say, “What would you do without me Herc, what would you do without me?” with Tapp’s Hercules replying, “Sometimes I wonder Newton.” Did the Greek Gods play havoc on our heroes’ vocal chords in this particular episode?
“The Mighty Hercules” began playing in syndication in 1963. It was very popular and often played as part of a station’s “Cartoon Carnival” or adult-hosted children’s programs during the 1960’s and 1970’s.
There were, of course, Hercules’ colouring and sticker fun books, two issues of a comic book, a board game, slide puzzle, magic slate, record album and Hercules ring. Collectibles from this cartoon series are very expensive and you would need some of King Dorian’s gold to purchase them on the collector’s market.
I recently have been rediscovering the cartoons on a cable channel and while the animation is less than stellar it still provides this adult with the excitement they brought me as a youth. Sometimes, in today’s unpredictable world, that’s more than enough? “Olympia!”