The Nutty Squirrels Present is a 1960 animated television series that was inspired by characters from The Nutty Squirrels hit 1959 novelty record. The series was produced by Transfilm-Wylde Animation, and aired for one season (1960âÂÂ1961) on first-run syndication in the United States with over 150 six-minute episodes, being formatted originally into 30 half-hour shows.
The original cartoons themselves were purchased from overseas countries in such locales as Eastern Europe by the Russian-born Fima Noveck, the President of Flamingo Telefilm Sales. After the original cartoons arrived in the United States, they would receive a new soundtrack, including English language and music, that would appeal to American children.
In his 2019 autobiography, Mr. Know-It-All, John Waters wrote, "I should have told my mother about the Nutty Squirrels. They did jazz and they weren't junkies. This sped-up vocal group who imitated the Chipmunks actually beat them to television with an animated show called The Nutty Squirrels Present, and they looked down on the pop sound of Alvin and his gang. The Nutty Squirrels actually had a big jazz hit with "Uh Oh, Part One and Two," but if you go back and listen to the rest of their discography, you'll be blown away by some of their other riffs. These cats were smoking! If my mom had heard jazz like this at the wrong speed, she might have loved it."
Australia
Known in Australia simply as The Nutty Squirrels, the series was first transmitted on Australian television during early 1966, on the ABC. It first featured as part of a series called Cartoon Time, which ran on Saturday afternoons at 5pm. This 40-minute program also consisted of other cartoons, including King Leonardo and His Short Subjects and Felix the Cat.
The Nutty Squirrels cartoon series then made frequent appearances over the years, appearing off and on in 1970 and also during 1972. At the time in Australia, these transmissions were in black and white.
From 1976, the Nutty Squirrels series was again shown, this time in its original color format.
The main transmission of the Nutty Squirrels cartoon series in Australia came in the form of a package of at least 80 x 6 minute episodes. From December 1977, the Nutty Squirrels series was permanently adapted to the 5:30pm weekday timeslot, running Monday through to Friday. During this run, the Nutty Squirrels series ran right through to March 1979.
Through the ABC's facilities in Sydney, the cartoon was relayed and broadcast to all the other Australian state capital cities, plus all the Australian regional areas covered by the ABC.
After broadcast on the ABC, the Nutty Squirrels series, was for a short time, resyndicated to some of Australia's regional commercial television stations. These were mainly in NSW, with the broadcasts occurring during 1981 and 1982.
Japan
In Japan, the show was dubbed into Japanese and broadcast on NET (now TV Asahi) from September 21, 1963 to October 25, 1964, the show was retitled "ãÂÂãÂÂãÂÂã£ã¼ãÂȋÂÂãªã¼ã ã©ã³ãÂÂ" Nutty Dreamland" and was sponsored by Megmilk Snow Brand.