The Magnificent Six and a Half (serial)
Encyclopedia
The Magnificent Six and a Half was a British film series for the Children's Film Foundation
. Based on Hal Roach
's popular Our Gang
series of shorts, "Six and a Half" followed a group of seven children on their fun misadventures. Created by Harry Booth
and Roy Simpson, the series ran in theaters from 1968 to 1972, with three series and eighteen half-hour episodes in all. Following the first two series, Booth and Simpson decided to bring their children's series to television, eventually creating a very similar series called Here Come the Double Deckers!. The final "Six and a Half" series was produced by a different company and featured an entirely new group of children in the cast.
as the group's leader, "Steve", Brinsley Forde
as prankster "Toby", Suzanne Togni as tomboy "Liz", Ian Ellis as rather large "Dumbo", Michael Audreson
as the clever "Whizz", Lionel Hawkes as the always hungry "Stodger", and Kim Tallmadge as tag-a-long "Peewee" (the "Half" in the serial's title). In the first episode, "Ghosts and Ghoulies", the rest of the gang meet Whizz and his little sister Peewee for the first time. Whizz and Peewee are allowed to join the gang if they spend the night in a haunted house. Produced by Century Films with Roy Simpson and directed by Harry Booth, the series debuted in February of 1968.
Episode List:
Cast:
taking over for the part of "Steve". Brinsley Forde was absent from a few of the episodes (A Good Deed In Time and The Astronughts), though his name still appeared in the closing credits. This would be the last series to feature the original characters. The series premiered in August 1969.
Episodes
Cast
Episodes
Cast
, who wound up turning down the series. Eventually, American studio 20th Century Fox
agreed to produce the series, which eventually became known as Here Come the Double Deckers!. The series had a very similar format to its predecessor, following the adventures of seven children (with very similar personalities to the "Six and a Half" group) who used a double decker bus as their clubhouse. However, unlike "Six and a Half", the television series was produced on a much higher budget, and often contained musical numbers.
20th Century Fox wanted a completely different cast for the television series, rather than the same cast from the "Six and a Half" series, but nevertheless, both Brinsley Forde
and Michael Audreson
starred in the series. "The Double Deckers" made its American premeire on September 12, 1970, and its United Kingdom
premeire on January 8, 1971. It became the first British series to premeire on American network television. The series lasted a total of seventeen episodes.
to television as part of CBS Children's Film Festival
. Three of the shorts were shown as part of this series in 1969, and three more in 1973. Among the films shown were "Ghosts and Ghoulies", "When Knights Were Bold" and "Peewee's Pianola".
Clips from the serial were also featured on the television program Screen Test
.
The first two series were syndicated to television in West Germany beginning on November 8, 1970. In Germany, the series was known as "Sechs Wilde und ein Krümel".
Cineplex-Odeon Home Video and MCA
edited together several of the shorts from the first series into a feature film, "The Adventures of the Magnificent Six and 1/2". They released the feature on VHS
in Canada in 1989. Among the shorts featured were "Ghosts and Ghoulies", "When Knights Were Bold", "Billy the Kid", and "Peewee's Pianola".
In 2002, eight of the shorts were released as bonus features on a series of four DVD
s, known as "Saturday Morning Pictures". These DVDs were dedicated to the Children's Film Foundation
, and each release consisted of two CFF feature films and two "Six and a Half" shorts (two of the DVDs also featured promotional trailers for the Children's Film Foundation, one of which featured a clip from "Kontiki Kids". These releases were also offered on VHS, although the "Six and a Half" shorts were not included. Volume 1 featured "Ghosts and Ghoulies" and "Kontiki Kids", Volume 2 featured "Bob a Job" and "Peewee's Pianola", Volume 3 featured "The Astronaughts" and "A Good Deed in Time", and Volume 4 featured "It's Not Cricket" and "Peewee Had A Little Ape".
Children's Film Foundation
The Children's Film Foundation was a non-profit-making organisation which made films for children in the United Kingdom, typically running for about 55 minutes. It was founded in 1951. For 30 years it was subsidised by the Eady Levy - a tax on box office receipts, but this was abolished in 1985...
. Based on Hal Roach
Hal Roach
Harold Eugene "Hal" Roach, Sr. was an American film and television producer and director, and from the 1910s to the 1990s.- Early life and career :Hal Roach was born in Elmira, New York...
's popular Our Gang
Our Gang
Our Gang, also known as The Little Rascals or Hal Roach's Rascals, was a series of American comedy short films about a group of poor neighborhood children and the adventures they had together. Created by comedy producer Hal Roach, the series is noted for showing children behaving in a relatively...
series of shorts, "Six and a Half" followed a group of seven children on their fun misadventures. Created by Harry Booth
Harry Booth
Harry Booth, born in London, England is a film director, film producer, screenwriter and editor. He began his film career in 1941.-Director:*Ben Hall TV episode *Going Dutch aka Op de Hollandse toer...
and Roy Simpson, the series ran in theaters from 1968 to 1972, with three series and eighteen half-hour episodes in all. Following the first two series, Booth and Simpson decided to bring their children's series to television, eventually creating a very similar series called Here Come the Double Deckers!. The final "Six and a Half" series was produced by a different company and featured an entirely new group of children in the cast.
Series One (1968)
The first series of "The Magnificent Six and a Half" starred Len JonesLen Jones
Len Jones was a British actor and voice actor of the 1960s and 70s.In his youth, Jones featured in television series such as Z-Cars , Adam Adamant Lives! , Dixon of Dock Green , Softly, Softly and The Adventures of Black Beauty...
as the group's leader, "Steve", Brinsley Forde
Brinsley Forde
Brinsley Allan Forde is best known as the founding member of the reggae band, Aswad and as a child actor in the children's television series, Here Come the Double Deckers ....
as prankster "Toby", Suzanne Togni as tomboy "Liz", Ian Ellis as rather large "Dumbo", Michael Audreson
Michael Audreson
Michael Audreson is a British actor.Born 1 August 1956 in England) he was a British child actor who appeared in many films and T.V. shows as a child in the 1960s. He appeared in 12 children's films called The Magnificent Six and a Half before playing the bespectacled "Brains" in Here Come the...
as the clever "Whizz", Lionel Hawkes as the always hungry "Stodger", and Kim Tallmadge as tag-a-long "Peewee" (the "Half" in the serial's title). In the first episode, "Ghosts and Ghoulies", the rest of the gang meet Whizz and his little sister Peewee for the first time. Whizz and Peewee are allowed to join the gang if they spend the night in a haunted house. Produced by Century Films with Roy Simpson and directed by Harry Booth, the series debuted in February of 1968.
Episode List:
- Ghosts and Ghoulies (The gang initiate new members Whizz and Peewee by having them spend the night in a haunted house.)
- When Knights Were Bold (The kids find a suit of armor, and convince Dumbo to try it on. Dumbo winds up getting trapped in the suit with a mouse.)
- Billy the Kid (The gang are involved with a goat which turns out to be a missing regimental mascot. They return it to the army barracks, but the goat eats the reward money.)
- Kontiki Kids (The gang build a raft to ferry them across a canal. The raft is confiscated by a workman on the canal lock but sinks when it is launched.)
- Bob-a-Job (The Magnificent Six-and-a-Half gang help in the collections for a youth club.)
- Peewee's Pianola (The kids find a pianolaPlayer pianoA player piano is a self-playing piano, containing a pneumatic or electro-mechanical mechanism that operates the piano action via pre-programmed music perforated paper, or in rare instances, metallic rolls. The rise of the player piano grew with the rise of the mass-produced piano for the home in...
, and try to bring it home. But when it runs away, with Peewee trapped inside of it, nothing but chaos insues.)
Cast:
- Len JonesLen JonesLen Jones was a British actor and voice actor of the 1960s and 70s.In his youth, Jones featured in television series such as Z-Cars , Adam Adamant Lives! , Dixon of Dock Green , Softly, Softly and The Adventures of Black Beauty...
as "Steve" - Ian Ellis as "Dumbo"
- Brinsley FordeBrinsley FordeBrinsley Allan Forde is best known as the founding member of the reggae band, Aswad and as a child actor in the children's television series, Here Come the Double Deckers ....
as "Toby" - Suzanne Togni as "Liz"
- Lionel Hawkes as "Stodger"
- Kim Tallmadge as "Peewee"
- Michael AudresonMichael AudresonMichael Audreson is a British actor.Born 1 August 1956 in England) he was a British child actor who appeared in many films and T.V. shows as a child in the 1960s. He appeared in 12 children's films called The Magnificent Six and a Half before playing the bespectacled "Brains" in Here Come the...
as "Whizz"
Series Two (1969)
The second series was very similar to the first series, with the only noticeable difference being a small change in the cast. Len Jones was unavailable at the time, resulting in Robin DaviesRobin Davies
Robin Davies was a Welsh television and film actor.-Early life:Robert Richard Davies was born in Tywyn, Wales and was educated at Gladstone Park School. He trained to be an actor at the Ada Foster Stage School....
taking over for the part of "Steve". Brinsley Forde was absent from a few of the episodes (A Good Deed In Time and The Astronughts), though his name still appeared in the closing credits. This would be the last series to feature the original characters. The series premiered in August 1969.
Episodes
- Peewee Had A Little Ape (Toby tries on a dummy ape skin and is mistaken for a real ape which has escaped from a circus. Peewee sorts out the confusion by befriending the real ape.)
- A Good Deed In Time (When the Gang decide to be helpful, something is bound to go wrong. They borrow a ladder unknowingly from a decorator, who attempts to climb out of the window, not realising that his ladder has gone!)
- The Magician (At Peewee's birthday party Marvo the Magician loses Stodger in his special cabinet and then disappears himself. But Stodger materialises wherever there is any food.)
- A Lad In The Lamp (An unscrupulous ice-cream vendor steals an old lamp from the gang, but Whizz has fixed a walkie-talkie inside the lamp andthe vendor gets more than he bargained for.)
- It's Not Cricket (The gang's cricket ball is confiscated by an angry man who throws it on to a passing lorry. Peewee retrieves it and gives it back to the man, leaving him to explain the chaos is has caused to a policeman.)
- The Astronughts (Whizz converts an old boiler into a spaceship. However a scrap metal dealer has already bought it and hauls it away by crane with the Gang inside. Naturally enough, they believe they are in outer space, and Dumbo takes a space walk.)
Cast
- Robin DaviesRobin DaviesRobin Davies was a Welsh television and film actor.-Early life:Robert Richard Davies was born in Tywyn, Wales and was educated at Gladstone Park School. He trained to be an actor at the Ada Foster Stage School....
as "Steve" - Ian Ellis as "Dumbo"
- Brinsley FordeBrinsley FordeBrinsley Allan Forde is best known as the founding member of the reggae band, Aswad and as a child actor in the children's television series, Here Come the Double Deckers ....
as "Toby" - Michael AudresonMichael AudresonMichael Audreson is a British actor.Born 1 August 1956 in England) he was a British child actor who appeared in many films and T.V. shows as a child in the 1960s. He appeared in 12 children's films called The Magnificent Six and a Half before playing the bespectacled "Brains" in Here Come the...
as "Whizz" - Lionel Hawkes as "Stodger"
- Suzanne Togni as "Liz"
- Kim Tallmadge as "Peewee"
Series Three (1972)
The final series was produced by a different company, Lion Pacesetter, and directed by Peter Graham Scot. A completely different cast was brought in, as well as a mostly new set of characters (the one acception being the character "Liz"). Despite being different characters from the previous two series, the new group of kids had individual personalities very similar to those of their predecessors. The cast consisted of Paul Griffiths as the group's leader, "Andy", Jody Lynn Schaller as "Genie", the group's resident genius, Kay Skinner as chubby "Podge", James C. Baxter as "Larry", Robert Richardson as "Sam", Jane Coster as "Liz" (a character used in the two previous series), and Steven Wallen as tag-a-long "Scruff".Episodes
- That's All We Need (The kids decide to erect an old hut as headquarters for an "Adventure Playground" on some local wasteland, not realizing that a demolition gang is moving in to clear the derelict houses surrounding it. The children inadvertently help themselves to the demolition gang's tools, sections of prefabricated huts and various useful materials. Adventure and chaos follow and ends with Andy and the gang the happy possessors of a shining new hut.)
- Up The Creek (The gang are given an unseaworthy boat which they convert into a super-fast craft. The unscrupulous boatyard owner who gave it to them bullies them into exchanging it, but chaos results and the joke is on him.)
- Up For The Cup (The gang, as supporters of their local football team, are upset when they are denied entrance to the championship game because the tickets are sold out. Observing the game from a tree situated over a private garden inadvertently sets off a chain of rather frantic and, ultimately, disastrous results.)
- The Ski Wheelers (When old Mr Brown gives the gang some skis, they resolve the problem of the lack of snow by fixing the skis to roller skates. Havoc results, but it's the two nasty louts who steal the skis who are arrested by the police.)
- Time Flies (The gang goes on a map reading exercise. Lost near a tower haunted by the ghost of a drowned seafarer, the compass direction that the ghost gives them leads them through havoc-ful lanes, restaurants, and a deep freeze plant.)
- Five Survive (The gang genuinely believe they have helped a farmer -even though he has been bad-tempered with them and does not deserve help- by rounding up what they suppose to be his stray cows.)
Cast
- Paul Griffiths as "Andy"
- Jody Lynn Schaller as "Genie
- Kay Skinner as "Podge"
- James C. Baxter as "Larry"
- Robert Richardson as "Sam"
- Jane Coster as "Liz"
- Steven Wallen as "Scruff"
Here Come the Double Deckers!
Around 1969, Magnificent Six and a Half creators Harry Booth and Roy Simpson decided to bring their series to television. The two pitched the idea to the British Brodcating CorporationBBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
, who wound up turning down the series. Eventually, American studio 20th Century Fox
20th Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...
agreed to produce the series, which eventually became known as Here Come the Double Deckers!. The series had a very similar format to its predecessor, following the adventures of seven children (with very similar personalities to the "Six and a Half" group) who used a double decker bus as their clubhouse. However, unlike "Six and a Half", the television series was produced on a much higher budget, and often contained musical numbers.
20th Century Fox wanted a completely different cast for the television series, rather than the same cast from the "Six and a Half" series, but nevertheless, both Brinsley Forde
Brinsley Forde
Brinsley Allan Forde is best known as the founding member of the reggae band, Aswad and as a child actor in the children's television series, Here Come the Double Deckers ....
and Michael Audreson
Michael Audreson
Michael Audreson is a British actor.Born 1 August 1956 in England) he was a British child actor who appeared in many films and T.V. shows as a child in the 1960s. He appeared in 12 children's films called The Magnificent Six and a Half before playing the bespectacled "Brains" in Here Come the...
starred in the series. "The Double Deckers" made its American premeire on September 12, 1970, and its United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
premeire on January 8, 1971. It became the first British series to premeire on American network television. The series lasted a total of seventeen episodes.
Later Showings
Six of the shorts were syndicatedSyndication
Syndication may mean:* Broadcast syndication, where individual stations buy programs outside of the network system* Print syndication, where individual newspapers or magazines license news articles, columns, or comic strips...
to television as part of CBS Children's Film Festival
CBS Children's Film Festival
CBS Children's Film Festival is a television series of live action films from several countries that were made for children...
. Three of the shorts were shown as part of this series in 1969, and three more in 1973. Among the films shown were "Ghosts and Ghoulies", "When Knights Were Bold" and "Peewee's Pianola".
Clips from the serial were also featured on the television program Screen Test
Screen Test
Screen Test was a UK children's quiz show about films, broadcast from 18 November 1970 to 20 December 1984 on BBC1. It was first hosted by Michael Rodd, who was succeeded by Brian Trueman and Mark Curry.-Background:...
.
The first two series were syndicated to television in West Germany beginning on November 8, 1970. In Germany, the series was known as "Sechs Wilde und ein Krümel".
Cineplex-Odeon Home Video and MCA
MCA
- Archaeology :* Medieval Climatic Anomaly, an extreme and persistent drought in California and Patagonia during Medieval TimeChodu- Aviation :* Minimum crossing altitude, a minimum obstacle crossing altitude for fixes on published airways...
edited together several of the shorts from the first series into a feature film, "The Adventures of the Magnificent Six and 1/2". They released the feature on VHS
VHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
in Canada in 1989. Among the shorts featured were "Ghosts and Ghoulies", "When Knights Were Bold", "Billy the Kid", and "Peewee's Pianola".
In 2002, eight of the shorts were released as bonus features on a series of four DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
s, known as "Saturday Morning Pictures". These DVDs were dedicated to the Children's Film Foundation
Children's Film Foundation
The Children's Film Foundation was a non-profit-making organisation which made films for children in the United Kingdom, typically running for about 55 minutes. It was founded in 1951. For 30 years it was subsidised by the Eady Levy - a tax on box office receipts, but this was abolished in 1985...
, and each release consisted of two CFF feature films and two "Six and a Half" shorts (two of the DVDs also featured promotional trailers for the Children's Film Foundation, one of which featured a clip from "Kontiki Kids". These releases were also offered on VHS, although the "Six and a Half" shorts were not included. Volume 1 featured "Ghosts and Ghoulies" and "Kontiki Kids", Volume 2 featured "Bob a Job" and "Peewee's Pianola", Volume 3 featured "The Astronaughts" and "A Good Deed in Time", and Volume 4 featured "It's Not Cricket" and "Peewee Had A Little Ape".