Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Memory vs. Reality

As enthralling as it has been for me to reconnect with scattered bits of my childhood through YouTube, I have to say that some things live more nobly in the imagination than when resurrected by the internets. The Kids from CAPER, Bugaloos, Land of the Lost, Monster Squad (I'm showing that I'm older than all of you) are prime examples. It's a bit disheartening to see the impact players from your Saturday morning life reduced to ridiculous embarrassments, but HR Puffinstuff hasn't completely disappointed. The kid, Jack Wild, had a fine, young voice and incidentally, has remained active as a character actor in TV and minor films. I went looking for this song tonight, having not heard it in over 30 years but flawlessly remembered the lyrics. And enjoyed hearing it again, without reservation.

3 comments:

Mike said...

Sad footnote, he died last year of mouth and throat cancer from years of heavy smoking and drinking. Worked mostly in kids' productions during his life, but never had any.

"Life goes away and leaves you with nothing mister but boring stories of glory days."

Joe said...

It's sad that HR Puffinstuff of all people (?) would succumb to his weaknesses that way. I never saw him as a drinker. I guess it's hard once you get typecasted so early in your career.

Jay said...

H.R. Pufnstuf,
Who's your friend when things get rough?
H.R. Pufnstuf
Can't do a little cause he can't do enough.

Not much gray area there ...