Dedication: Today, they are now primarily remembered for their highly imaginative and innovative live action Saturday morning kid shows during the 70's and late 60's although their careers began far before that. Their shows were my Saturday mornings. I remember them above and among all the other cartoons I watched as a child. Although I could barely drag myself out of bed for school during the week, I found it no problem to get up before some stations even began broadcasting on Saturdays to get ready for cartoons. Krofft shows were the highlight of the morning.

I most fondly remember Lidsville, Sigmund and the Seamonsters, The Krofft Supershow Hour (featuring an array of rotating shows), and Land of the Lost. I have very few memories of H.R. Pufnstuf, the Krofft's signature show and character, although I'm sure I caught an occasional episode. The Bugaloos remained a mystery to me until just a few years ago. Still, I saw most of them during my childhood, and my love for these shows is obviously why I have this page dedicated to them.

I was fortunate enough to have been able to go to the World of Sid & Marty Krofft amusement park during the one year it was open (1976). Unfortunately, the Crystal Carousel was broken when I was there (not an uncommon problem apparently) but I do vividly remember riding the escalator (it was, at that time, the highest in the world at nine stories) and being in a pinball ride where a giant coin rotated with H.R. Pufnstuf's face engraved on it. Now that building is the CNN Center, and I ended up living mere blocks from it for about four years. Given my love for the Krofft shows, that was sheer Krofftian Karmic Kircular Klosure.

Brief History: Sid and Marty Krofft are two of four brothers. Sid, born seven years earlier (1930 & 1937) than Marty took up the family business, puppetry and entertainment and peformed solo for many years. Marty, during his pre-teen years, picked up puppetry independently and also began performing. In 1959, the teamed up officially for the first time and began headlining for Judy Garland. Soon afterwards in 1960, they started an adult marionette show, Les Poupees de Paris, which ran successfully for several years all over the globe and at the New York World's Fair. During this tour the were offered work at Six Flags Over Georgia and developed a new marionette show for the amusement park. Successful in the Atlanta park, their show spread to all the Six Flags. Soon, they began working in television with the Dean Martin show and later were approached by Hanna-Barbera to develop the costumes for the Banana Split characters. An NBC executive, where the show was going to air, suggested the Kroffts develop their own show. And so H.R. Pufnstuf was created and aired on September 6, 1969. Other live-action puppet/costume shows were soon created and continued on both NBC and ABC until the late 1970's, including their most successful show Land of the Lost which lasted three years (1974-1977).

The Kroffts would go on to help develop and launch other television shows, such as The Donny and Marie Show as well as the Barbara Mandrell and the Mandrell Sisters Show (both staple viewing at my house). Later in the 80's they developed an evening political satire puppet show, DC Follies and also a new Saturday morning kid show, Pryor's Place, featuring comedian Richard Pryor. Since then the brothers have been at work on various media projects. You can still sometimes catch Krofft reruns on TV Land or Nickelodeon (or rent/buy VHS/DVD collections of their shows).

A Sleestak, one of the evil lizard-men who menaced the Marshalls in prehistoric times