From THE GOLDEN MAGAZINE (October, 1969)

Recently, in the bottom of a box of random crap I got from a relative, there was a coverless copy of a kids' magazine called THE GOLDEN MAGAZINE, from October of 1969.  Even though it's several years before my time, interestingly, there's an ad AND an article about the new Saturday morning cartoon season, which was just beginning.  You will note some big names that were just being launched, in the scans below...

Note that in the ad above, H.R. Pufnstuf is revealed to be a "dragon." I certainly never got that out of the show...I don't know what I thought he was.  I was a Krofft fan overall, but that show always weirded me out as a kid.

Also note a couple of things that never stood the test of time, like "Here Comes the Grump" and "Jambo." Live-action on a Saturday morning...!

THE SPHINX ACTIVITY CORNER

Kids! You can color along at home!

Here is the article about the October 1969 Saturday Morning Cartoon scene:

The use of mostly "production art" to illustrate these shows is interesting. That would never fly today; there's too much money at stake (I mean, they cut off the star character's FACE on the Scooby-Doo picture!!!).  Here are some observations:

*Smokey the Bear had a cartoon show? What was it, a 30-second PSA stretched out to 30 minutes?

*HOT WHEELS - The only thing I ever remember reading about this show is that it was pulled because it was discovered to be "a 30-minute toy commercial." What did they expect?

SKY HAWKS - Yawwwwn. That sounds about as boring as JAMBO.

SCOOBY-DOO - Hard to imagine a time that this was DEBUTING and wasn't a staple...notice that the description mentions that the gang are all "high-school students."  I certainly never remember that being referenced....how in the world would THAT have worked, with them driving all over Creation in a van all day to solve mysteries????

Overall, ABC's schedule looked dreadful, but I would've had a hard time choosing between CBS and NBC.  I guess I would have flipped back and forth for the likes of Underdog, the Pink Panther, Looney Tunes, Hanna-Barbera goodness, and Superman...or I could have done an Elvis and just had multiple TV's going!