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    Wexner Center Lands Holy Grail of Puppet Films

    No less a Hollywood icon than Bette Davis could have been part of the Pufnstuf universe. Producer Sid Krofft had a part for her, but Davis politely declined.

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    “She said, ‘You want me to play a witch? Go f*&% yourself!’ and hung up!” Krofft says, laughing at the memory.

    Krofft and his brother Marty were Athens, Greece-born puppeteers who carved out legendary careers as producers on a string of TV shows including Land of the Lost, Sigmund and the Sea Monsters, and various variety hours such as Donny and Marie and The Brady Bunch. But in 1969, they were rookies hoping their show about a boy, a dragon, a witch and a magic flute would find an audience.

    H.R. Pufnstuf found a large one on the small screen, so the Kroffts started thinking bigger.

    “We said, ‘My God we’ve got all the props, we’ve got the actors!’” Krofft remembers.

    The Pufnstuf film premiered in 1970, and Krofft admits, “It wasn’t a smash hit, but (the studio) certainly made their money back and more.”

    And now, 52 years later, Dave Filipi brings it to the Wexner Center for two long-awaited screenings this Saturday.

    Filipi, the Wex’s Film/Video Director, says the Center’s successful collaboration with the Jim Henson Foundation got him thinking about featuring similar programs, and the work of Sid and Marty Krofft immediately came to mind.

    “It is next to impossible to legally license television programs for theatrical presentation, but, thankfully, the Kroffts made a theatrical version of Pufnstuf,” Filipi says. “Universal holds the rights and I thought it would be an easy booking. But their film material had physical issues, and we weren’t able to show the film. I would check in a number of times over the next 10 years with the same response. It became something of a Holy Grail for me.”

    But finally, a digital master of the film was created for home video use, which cleared the way for a DCP (Digital Cinema Package) and theatrical use. 

    Jack Wild (The Artful Dodger in Oliver!) stars as Jimmy, who’s whisked away to “Living Island” by the evil Witchiepoo (Billie Hayes) so she can steal Freddy, his magic flute. But Jimmy is befriended by H.R. Pufnstuf, the dragon mayor of the island who enlists a host of other trippy puppet characters to defend Jimmy, sing songs and enjoy fantastic and comical adventures.

    And though Bette passed on playing one of the two new witches Krofft added for the film, he was able to cast both Martha Raye and Mama Cass.

    “Mama Cass was my neighbor, she always came up here for dinner,” Krofft says. “It was my idea to put her in a bathtub full of fruit, and she loved it!”

    The brothers’ road to TV got a big boost when their costume work on The Banana Splits got the attention of legendary TV exec Fred Silverman, then the head of NBC children’s programming.

    Krofft remembers, “Silverman said, ‘You guys are insane, why don’t you come up with your own show?'”

    So Sid and Marty revisited characters they created at the 1968 San Antonio World’s Fair, and Pufnstuf came to life.

    “I was crapping in my pants,” Krofft remembers. “I thought it was just too psychedelic, and it was too different, and it was weird.”

    Pufnstuf – Image courtesy Universal Pictures

    Krofft freely admits the world of Living Island was heavily inspired by his favorite filmBut watching Pufnstuf, you immediately realize how influential Sid and Marty’s work was for future creatives such as Paul Reubens and Tim Burton.

    “Paul will tell you, that’s where he swiped Pee Wee’s Playhouse from,” Krofft says. “But guess what? I totally swiped it from The Wizard of Oz!”

    These days, the feisty 93-year-old revels in telling stories and chatting with guests every week on his Instagram series, “Sundays with Sid.” And he’s tickled that audiences in Columbus will finally get a chance to catch Pufnstuf on the big screen.

    “What a treat…to see something that’s so weird, and so much fun!” Krofft says.

    Filipi more than agrees.

    “These stories don’t always have a happy ending, but this one did,” Filipi says. “I’m really looking forward to sharing it with all the middle-aged kids who remember it from their childhood (and hopefully a few actual children as well).”

    The Wexner Center will present Pufnstuf at 4:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. this Saturday, Aug 13. Tickets and info at wexarts.org.

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    George Wolf
    George Wolf
    George Wolf is a member of the Columbus Film Critics Assoc. and a freelance contributor for Columbus Underground covering film. George can also be heard on Columbus radio stations Rewind 103.5, Sunny 95, QFM96 and Mix 107.9.
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