Who were they?
I know who did their voices, but who was in those suits? Anyone know?
Hello, kettle? This is the pot. YOU'RE BLACK!
found the answer you're looking for:
The Actors in the costumes were:
Fleegle - Jeffrey Brock
Drooper - Daniel Owen
Bingo - Terence Henry
Snorky - Robert Towers
Thanks.
"I intend to live forever or die trying"
Addenda to above:
Fleegle - Jeffrey Brock (real name: Jeffrey Winkless)
Drooper - Daniel Owen (real name: Dan Winkless)
Bingo - Terrence Henry (real name: Terry Winkless)
Snorky - Robert Towers, James Dove (reportedly, James Dove appeared mostly in the music performance segments and was replaced by Robert Towers early on)
Additional Addenda to above:
Jeffrey, Terry and Dan are brothers, and are the sons of N. B. Winkless Jr., a jingle writer for the show's sponsor, Kellogg's. Winkless composed some of the memorable Kellogg's cereal jingles, including "the best to you each morning," and also co-wrote "The Beautiful Calliopa," a song used on the series. The actors' names were changed in the show's credits to avoid the appearance of nepotism.
Ain't it great? Surprise all; your talent, desire and hard work in life can easily be outweighed by WHO YOU F'ING KNOW or ARE BORN TO.
This whole planet needs a good scraping off of the first thirty meters of the surface and replanting with new species.
And with that happy note, good night.
The question remains, however, of who the BAND was! I've looked around over the years, and only get partial and unsatisfying answers (see wikipedia, for example). Does anybody know who was playing all that wonderful bubblegum pop, and if they did anything as a real band? (I'm shocked by how much pseudo-psych band The Smoke sounds like The B-Splits!)
shareI'm told Ritchie Adams and Mark Barkan, who co-wrote several of the songs, are the singers on "The Tra La La Song," "Wait Til Tomorrow" and "We're The Banana Splits." Al Kooper of Blood, Sweat and Tears also was involved (and co-wrote a few tunes as well), but I don't know to what extent. This is one area in need of research at the "Doin' The Banana Split!" website. (By the way, "We're The Banana Splits" was originally written as "The Banana Bunch," but the lyrics were re-written after the title of the show was changed. I believe that song was originally intended to be the show's theme song, but not 100% certain about that. This happened before the show went on the air; I don't know if the song was ever recorded with the original lyrics. And I don't know what they were.)
shareThanks for the input, Mark! That certainly gets us a little closer to the bottom of the truth, but I agree somebody needs to do a little more research into this part of the Splits. It's remarkable to me that we know who was in the suits, who wrote the music, who did the voices, who the members of the Sour Grapes were...but nobody's put the same kind of effort into learning about the BAND!
shareAl Kooper? Al Kooper, of organ-riff-on-Dylan's-Like A Rolling Stone fame? Wrote songs for the Banana Splits?!
Wow, man oh man, this show messed with my mind when I was a child, and now it's messing with my head all over again.
Stay away from the brown acid. Clearly.
Just a painted face on a trip down suicide row