# The Banana Splits
**The Banana Splits** was an American children's television series produced by Hanna-Barbera for NBC, broadcast from 7 September 1968 to 5 September 1970 as 31 episodes of about 50 minutes each, in which four costumed animal musicians hosted a package of cartoons, a live-action serial, comedy skits, and songs[1](https://www.memorabletv.com/tv/banana-splits-adventure-hour-nbc-1968-1970/). Because the program was sponsored by [Kellogg's](https://www.edgepedia.org/kelloggs), its original broadcast title was *Kellogg's of Battle Creek Presents the Banana Splits Adventure Hour*[1](https://www.memorabletv.com/tv/banana-splits-adventure-hour-nbc-1968-1970/). The four characters were Fleegle the beagle, Bingo the gorilla, Drooper the lion, and Snorky the elephant[2](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2008-sep-02-et-bananasplits2-story.html) • [1](https://www.memorabletv.com/tv/banana-splits-adventure-hour-nbc-1968-1970/).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Broadcast | NBC, 7 September 1968 to 5 September 1970; 31 episodes of about 50 minutes[1](https://www.memorabletv.com/tv/banana-splits-adventure-hour-nbc-1968-1970/) |
| Sponsored title | *Kellogg's of Battle Creek Presents the Banana Splits Adventure Hour*[1](https://www.memorabletv.com/tv/banana-splits-adventure-hour-nbc-1968-1970/) |
| Sponsorship cost | An estimated $5 million in sponsorship, reportedly the most ever for a daytime hour show[3](https://doi.org/10.18680/hss.2024.0012) |
| Characters | Fleegle (beagle), Bingo (gorilla), Drooper (lion), Snorky (elephant)[2](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2008-sep-02-et-bananasplits2-story.html) • [1](https://www.memorabletv.com/tv/banana-splits-adventure-hour-nbc-1968-1970/) |
| Voices | Paul Winchell (Fleegle), Daws Butler (Bingo), Don Messick (Snorky), Allan Melvin (Drooper)[4](https://www.paleycenter.org/collection/item?item=T%3A39199&p=77&q=jay) |
| Theme song | "The Tra La La Song (One Banana, Two Banana)" by Ritchie Adams and Mark Barkan; peaked at #96 on the Billboard Hot 100[5](https://hanna-barberawiki.com/wiki/The_Banana_Splits_Adventure_Hour) • [3](https://doi.org/10.18680/hss.2024.0012) |
| Afterlife | Syndicated as *The Banana Splits and Friends Show* (1971–1982); reimagined as the 2019 horror film *The Banana Splits Movie*[3](https://doi.org/10.18680/hss.2024.0012) • [5](https://hanna-barberawiki.com/wiki/The_Banana_Splits_Adventure_Hour) |
## Origins and production
The series originated in late 1967 and early 1968, when the [Leo Burnett](https://www.edgepedia.org/leo-burnett) advertising agency convinced Kellogg's to sponsor an entire hour of Saturday morning programming for the 1968 season[3](https://doi.org/10.18680/hss.2024.0012). Kellogg's had already sponsored Hanna-Barbera's first three syndicated half-hour series, *The Huckleberry Hound Show*, *The Quick Draw McGraw Show*, and *The Yogi Bear Show*, so the cereal maker and the studio had an established working relationship[3](https://doi.org/10.18680/hss.2024.0012).
The sponsorship carried a price and a purpose. For Kellogg's, backing the hour for an estimated $5 million, reportedly the most ever for a daytime hour show, served a dual function: it was a way to wield influence over program content and a public-relations move to improve the company's image after criticism of advertising placed in violent superhero cartoons[3](https://doi.org/10.18680/hss.2024.0012). The show itself was also a response to the 1967–68 Saturday-morning season's violent action-adventure cartoons and the media-violence concerns that followed; NBC took the financial gamble partly because the network languished in last place after failures such as *Super President* and *Birdman and the Galaxy Trio*[3](https://doi.org/10.18680/hss.2024.0012).
**From drawings to costumes.** [Joseph Barbera](https://www.edgepedia.org/joseph-barbera)'s idea was to put real performers into cartoonish-looking costumes, transforming preliminary drawings by [Hanna-Barbera](https://www.edgepedia.org/hanna-barbera) character designer Iwao Takamoto[3](https://doi.org/10.18680/hss.2024.0012). [Sid and Marty Krofft](https://www.edgepedia.org/sid-and-marty-krofft) turned those drawings into three-dimensional, full-bodied costumes at their San Fernando Valley workshop, known as "The Factory", where they managed a puppet, marionette, and costume operation[3](https://doi.org/10.18680/hss.2024.0012). Richard Donner, before his *Superman* films, directed both the *Danger Island* serial and the Banana Splits segments[6](https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/the-musical-stylings-of-hanna-barberas-the-banana-splits/). William Hanna and Joseph Barbera served as executive producers[4](https://www.paleycenter.org/collection/item?item=T%3A39199&p=77&q=jay).
## Format and segments
The Adventure Hour was a show-within-a-show package. It combined animated cartoons (*Arabian Nights*, *The Three Musketeers*, and *Micro Venture*) with one live-action serial, *Danger Island*, bridged by comedy skits and songs performed by the costumed band[6](https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/the-musical-stylings-of-hanna-barberas-the-banana-splits/). This structure made it a forerunner to *The Krofft Supershow* (1978), which used the same device of various shows within the show[6](https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/the-musical-stylings-of-hanna-barberas-the-banana-splits/).
Two changes marked the second season: reruns of *The Hillbilly Bears*, from *The Atom Ant/Secret Squirrel Show* (NBC, 1965–1968), replaced *The Three Musketeers*, and new live-action segments of the Banana Splits were filmed at the [Coney Island](https://www.edgepedia.org/coney-island) amusement park in [Cincinnati](https://www.edgepedia.org/cincinnati), Ohio[3](https://doi.org/10.18680/hss.2024.0012).
## Cast and characters
The four performers inside the costumes were voiced by established character actors. [Paul Winchell](https://www.edgepedia.org/paul-winchell) voiced Fleegle, Daws Butler voiced Bingo, Don Messick voiced Snorky, and [Allan Melvin](https://www.edgepedia.org/allan-melvin) voiced Drooper[4](https://www.paleycenter.org/collection/item?item=T%3A39199&p=77&q=jay). The Los Angeles Times later described the band as Fleegle the beagle, Bingo the orangutan/ape, Drooper the lion, and Snorky the elephant[2](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2008-sep-02-et-bananasplits2-story.html); most reference sources, including Memorable TV, call Bingo a gorilla[1](https://www.memorabletv.com/tv/banana-splits-adventure-hour-nbc-1968-1970/), and the two descriptions differ only in how the ape character is classified.
One credit deserves qualification. Although [Don Messick](https://www.edgepedia.org/don-messick) holds an official voice credit for Snorky, retrospective accounts note that the elephant character only ever honked[4](https://www.paleycenter.org/collection/item?item=T%3A39199&p=77&q=jay) • [5](https://hanna-barberawiki.com/wiki/The_Banana_Splits_Adventure_Hour).
## Music and the theme song
The opening theme, "The Tra La La Song (One Banana, Two Banana)", was written by Ritchie Adams and Mark Barkan; episode scores were composed by Ted Nichols and David Mook[5](https://hanna-barberawiki.com/wiki/The_Banana_Splits_Adventure_Hour). The single peaked at #96 on the Billboard Hot 100, which ended plans for several costumed touring companies to perform the band's music across the country[3](https://doi.org/10.18680/hss.2024.0012).
The song outlived its chart performance. It was covered in the late 1970s by the first-wave Los Angeles pop-punk band the Dickies, whose 1979 version reached No. 7 on the UK Singles Chart, and in the 1990s by [Liz Phair](https://www.edgepedia.org/liz-phair), whose version with Material Issue appeared on the 1995 compilation *Saturday Morning: Cartoons' Greatest Hits*, which peaked at No. 67 on the Billboard 200[2](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2008-sep-02-et-bananasplits2-story.html) • [5](https://hanna-barberawiki.com/wiki/The_Banana_Splits_Adventure_Hour).
## Sponsorship, format, and the Krofft split
The program's numbers frame its place in Saturday morning. An estimated $5 million sponsorship, reportedly the most ever for a daytime hour show, bought Kellogg's both content influence and image repair[3](https://doi.org/10.18680/hss.2024.0012). The format, a costumed ensemble hosting a package of segments with skits and songs as connective tissue, became a template: it was a direct forerunner to *The Krofft Supershow* in 1978[6](https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/the-musical-stylings-of-hanna-barberas-the-banana-splits/).
The Kroffts' engagement had a second consequence. Having done the characters, costumes, and sets for the series, Sid and Marty Krofft went on to create *H.R. Pufnstuf* and became a Saturday-morning rival to Hanna-Barbera and [Filmation](https://www.edgepedia.org/filmation)[6](https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/the-musical-stylings-of-hanna-barberas-the-banana-splits/). The Los Angeles Times likewise describes the original series as realized in part by Sid and Marty Krofft, pre-*Pufnstuf*[2](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2008-sep-02-et-bananasplits2-story.html).
## Legacy and later revivals
**Syndication.** After NBC cancellation, the series had a lengthy life in off-network syndication under the name *The Banana Splits and Friends Show* from 1971 to 1982, in a shortened half-hour form and without Kellogg's sponsorship[3](https://doi.org/10.18680/hss.2024.0012).
**Theme parks.** Taft Broadcasting purchased Hanna-Barbera in 1966 and Coney Island in 1969, and featured the characters at its $30 million [Kings Island](https://www.edgepedia.org/kings-island) park, opened in May 1972; Hanna-Barbera filmed *The Banana Splits in Hocus Pocus Park* (1972) there[3](https://doi.org/10.18680/hss.2024.0012).
**Revivals.** In 2008, [Cartoon Network](https://www.edgepedia.org/cartoon-network) and its sister channel [Boomerang](https://www.edgepedia.org/boomerang) revived the characters in as many as 130 interstitial comedy shorts and music videos[2](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2008-sep-02-et-bananasplits2-story.html). In 2019 the series was reimagined as the comedy slasher horror film *The Banana Splits Movie*, which portrayed the band as a group of animatronics who go on a killing spree after their TV series is canceled[5](https://hanna-barberawiki.com/wiki/The_Banana_Splits_Adventure_Hour). The characters also appear in animated form in the reboot series *Jellystone!*, established as a gang of criminals and enemies of El Kabong[5](https://hanna-barberawiki.com/wiki/The_Banana_Splits_Adventure_Hour).
## Dating note
Broadcast databases give the premiere as 7 September 1968, with the run ending 5 September 1970[1](https://www.memorabletv.com/tv/banana-splits-adventure-hour-nbc-1968-1970/). The Paley Center for Media's collection record, however, dates an NBC broadcast of the program to November 30, 1967 (running time 45:08, color) while listing the series run as 1968–1970[4](https://www.paleycenter.org/collection/item?item=T%3A39199&p=77&q=jay); the scholarly account dates development to late 1967–early 1968[3](https://doi.org/10.18680/hss.2024.0012).
## References
1. [Banana Splits Adventure Hour, The (NBC 1968-1970), Memorable TV](https://www.memorabletv.com/tv/banana-splits-adventure-hour-nbc-1968-1970/)
2. ['Banana Splits' tests 21st century appeal, Los Angeles Times (2008)](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2008-sep-02-et-bananasplits2-story.html)
3. [Full-bodied puppetry and bubblegum pop: US Saturday morning television and Kellogg's Presents the Banana Splits Adventure Hour (2024, peer-reviewed)](https://doi.org/10.18680/hss.2024.0012)
4. [The Banana Splits Adventure Hour (TV), Paley Center for Media collection record](https://www.paleycenter.org/collection/item?item=T%3A39199&p=77&q=jay)
5. [The Banana Splits Adventure Hour, Hanna-Barbera Wiki](https://hanna-barberawiki.com/wiki/The_Banana_Splits_Adventure_Hour)
6. [The Musical Stylings of Hanna-Barbera's 'The Banana Splits', Cartoon Research (Jerry Beck)](https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/the-musical-stylings-of-hanna-barberas-the-banana-splits/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › Scripted television and comedy series › Adapted and franchise screen series › Television series based on films*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 19, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 19, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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