My Favorite Rankin-Bass SatAM Cartoons

We all know Rankin-Bass as the animation company resposnible for the holiday specials RUDOLPH THE RED-NOSED REINDEER, FROSTY THE SNOWMAN and SANTA CLAUS IS COMING TO TOWN, among others. But they also produced some of the most fun Satuday morning cartoons on ABC. Here are my two favorites:

JACKSON 5IVE

Yes, that's how the logo for this two-season animated series was spelled. This cartoon featured the five brothers (Michael, Marlon, Jermaine, Tito and Jackie, in case you've forgotten) in wacky cartoon situations with a couple of their tunes thrown into the episode. Young Michael Jackson had the standard cartoon pets--in this case, a pair of mice named Ray & Charles and a pink snake named Rosey (who I think was male). And the group also rode around in Tito's old yellow jalopy, even though they were depicted as international stars in the cartoon (to make them more down-to-earth, maybe?).

Stories included the Jacksons making bad investments (a defective race horse, a run-down farm), Michael having his wishes granted by his "Hairy Godfather", the five of them falling in love with the same flight attendant named Jacqueline), Ray & Charles getting their own movie, the brothers breaking up over a misunderstanding--you know, those sort of things.

The real Jackson Five voiced their cartoon counterparts, according to the closing credits. Rankin-Bass co-produced with Motown.

KID POWER

Does anyone remember a comic strip named WEE PALS? Created by African American cartoonist Morrie Turner, it starred a divese group of kids living in an integrated neighborhood, and jokes were based on learning tolerance for those who were different. This strip was the basis of the Saturday morning cartoon KID POWER, starring eleven of the kids from the strip forming the Rainbow Power Club, learning valuable lessons in this preachy but still funny "prosocial values" cartoon.

Stories included Connie, the little blonde feminist, decidng to be "Honest Connie" and getting into trouble by being too honest; Nipper, the black kid in the Confederate soldier hat, and Wellington, the long-haired white kid, getting pets and neglecting them at first, causing the animals to run away; a flashback episode where Connie and Sybil, the smart black girl, earn their way into the predominantly male Rainbow Club; and my personal favorite, the one where a grouchy old man boards up the Rainbow Club's clubhouse, claiming it's on his property, and the kids get even by literally trashing his yard--then feel guilty and clean it up. In the end, Oliver, the chubby bespectacled white kid, learns the clubhouse is not even on his land and informs the old man with a letter. Reason beats emotion.

Fun Fact: Rocky, the Native American kid, was voiced by Jay Silverheels, Jr., son of Jay Silverheels, who played Tonto in the TV version of the kiddie Western THE LONE RANGER.

Rankin-Bass did a few other Saturday Morning cartoons (KING KONG, THE SMOKEY BEAR SHOW, THE OSMONDS), but these two were my favorites. As some of the first animated series with non-stereotyped black characters, they made kidvid history--and made kidvid funky!