Interview: Don Sandburg (Season 2 Producer)
Doin' The Banana Split!
"The Banana Splits Adventure Hour" Episode Guide
Interview: Dan Winkless (Drooper)
Interview: Terry Winkless (Bingo)
Interview: Kim Kahana (Chongo)
Interview: Don Sandburg (Season 2 Producer)
Discography
FAQ
Links
By Mark Yurkiw
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| Don Sandburg's name is familiar to viewers of WGN-TV in Chicago, where he was the longtime writer-producer of "Bozo's Circus" as well as appearing on camera as the mute clown Sandy. After leaving Chicago, Sandburg worked for Hanna-Barbera and produced the second season of "The Banana Splits" for the 1969-1970 season. | ||||||
| Besides creating one of the most beloved characters in Chicago television, Sandburg had strong convictions on how to entertain children without talking down to them. When I first approached him about being interviewed for this website, he cordially agreed, but told me up front that working on the "Splits" was certainly not the high point of his career. "My feelings are a little bit like that 'bad review' you posted on your website," he told me (in reference to the 1969 TV Guide review of "The Banana Splits" by critic Cleveland Amory). Nonetheless, he spoke candidly on several subjects and I found his remarks fascinating. | ||||||
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| The road from Chicago to Hollywood is a long one. In the late 1960s, what factors led you to the decision to leave Chicago for Hollywood, and can you describe the events that happened along the way on your journey from WGN to Hanna-Barbera? | ||||||||||||||
| It wasn't just the prospect of more money that prompted my move from Chicago to Hollywood. My producer-writer’s salary at WGN, combined with the AFTRA talent fees, allowed my family to live in reasonable comfort. The main reason was my wish to do more with my career. I had become restless, and "Bozo’s Circus" just wasn't enough. Moreover, after seven and a half years and three million words of clown sketches, I was mentally stagnant and exhausted from trying to come up with new material each day. Little did I know then that WGN would use some 2200 scripts of mine over and over for the next thirty-two years. In any event, it was time to rejuvenate myself and pursue new challenges. I had attempted to interest WGN in some new shows I had developed, but with no success. That left only one avenue for me…. to try my luck elsewhere….and to me, that meant Los Angeles, which offered bigger challenges and more elaborate production facilities. Also, my brother, who lived in Santa Barbara, had been urging me for sometime to move to Southern California so we could be closer together. And that was the kicker. I gave my notice to WGN president Ward Quaal. His subordinates offered me a substantial increase in pay and other tempting amenities if I would stay on. But my mind was made up. My wife and I sold much of what we owned, including my treasured sailboat. We bought a new station wagon to haul our clothes, kitchen gear, snow skis and my typewriter, and headed west. Our little family of three didn't stop until we got our feet wet in the Pacific Ocean. Finding a job didn't prove to be easy. My credentials with "Bozo’s Circus" and WGN meant little to the broadcasting brass and producers in Los Angeles. It wasn't until I called Fred Silverman for help that the phone begin to ring. He was, at that time, the daytime program director for CBS, and, as such, had influence with all the producers of children's TV programming. (Editor's note: Fred Silverman had been a WGN television executive in Chicago in the early 1960s.) Before I knew it, thanks to Fred, I had a job with Hanna-Barbera, ostensibly producing the second season of "Banana Splits." I say ostensibly, because as I later discovered Joe Barbera and Bill Hanna usually reserved the producer’s credits for themselves. You might say I was the ‘line’ producer, the one who did the work. | ||||||||||||||
| Did you enjoy working for Hanna-Barbera, and working with Joseph Barbera in particular? | ||||||||||||||
| The atmosphere at Hanna-Barbera was a refreshing change from that at WGN. It was exciting to be a part of the world of animation. Although I knew little about the industry, I wasn't too concerned, because I had been hired to work on the live-action portions of "Banana Splits." That is, until there was a contractual disagreement between H-B and NBC, which delayed the start of the “Splits” production. To earn my salary in the meantime, Joe assigned me as associate producer and writer on an animated series entitled "Catanooga Cats," to be aired on ABC. Luckily, another producer at Hanna-Barbera named Lew Marshall took me under his wing and taught me the fundamentals of the art after regular working hours, enough to see me through my job and apparently satisfy Joe with my efforts. NBC and H-B settled their difference just about the time the "Cats" storyboards were finished, and it was time for me get started on "Banana Splits." I saw little of Bill Hanna during my time at H-B, because he was mostly concerned with the animation personnel and operations of the studio, whereas Joe was the creative force behind their television products, and I reported directly to him. Joe was normally easy to get along with, but he was a taskmaster. It wasn't unusual to spend the weekend at his home in Encino going over ideas. It didn't matter if it were Father’s Day or the Fourth of July. And Joe was a stickler for detail. When you presented your material to him, you had better be sure of your spelling and that all the ‘I’s were dotted and the ‘T’s crossed. | ||||||||||||||
| Did you ever meet Sid and Marty Krofft, and what were your impressions of them? | ||||||||||||||
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| There are surface similarities between the characters and situations of "Bozo's Circus" and "The Banana Splits." But as writer and producer, can you describe the differences between the experiences of working on the two shows? | ||||||||||||||
| The fact that there were similarities between the characters and situations was probably partly due to my tastes. I had been involved in "Bozo’s Circus" and others before that for so long, that I carried with me to Hollywood some preconceived ideas on how a children’s show should be cast and the type of situations that would be involved. There were two outside writers on the payroll named Jack Hanrahan and Phil Hahn that submitted ideas for the show, but I had control of the direction of their material. The differences between "Bozo's Circus" and "Banana Splits" were mainly in the their methods of production. "Bozo" was live five times a week, so consequently, the writing, preproduction, set up and rehearsals had to move at a rapid pace. Also, because "Bozo’s Circus" was telecast before an audience, the performers were able to react to their response much as an actor does on the live stage. Of course, the fact that the show was aired live before an audience, with no stopping to correct mistakes made by cast or crew, meant that shows didn’t always come out as planned. The production of the "Banana Splits" involved a much longer and more tedious method. The sketches were scripted word for word and the dialogue was then recorded as "voice-overs" in a studio. This is very much like the process used in animation, and this was the way Joe and Bill were accustomed to doing things. The visual action was then filmed on a sound stage, with the cast in animal costumes lip synching the prerecorded dialogue. | ||||||||||||||
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| Can you describe the project of re-editing the shows for syndication? When the show played in reruns, episodes of four other Hanna-Barbera cartoon series ("Atom Ant," "Secret Squirrel," "Huckleberry Finn," "The Adventures Of Gulliver") were combined with "Banana Splits" episodes (with Paul Winchell dubbing cartoon intros onto short film clips). Did you have a hand in that, and if so, how were these series selected? | ||||||||||||||
| My last assignment at Hanna-Barbera was the editing of the first year’s hour shows into half-hour shows. These shorter programs were to be dubbed in other languages for syndication and distribution in foreign countries. This project required some difficult cutting, particularly in the case of "Danger Island," which was shot as an ongoing serial. The rest of what you mention was after my time at H-B. | ||||||||||||||
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| You mentioned to me that as a writer, you did not believe in talking down to your audience. To what extent do you believe you were successful? | ||||||||||||||
| Joe and I didn’t always see eye to eye as to how much a child could absorb or comprehend. Joe seemed to believe that the way to catch and hold a young audience was to throw a bunch of balloons, confetti, noise and repetitive music at them and let it go at that, but I was convinced that this kind of approach would restrict our viewing audience to the very young set, and I wanted to include the older kids. Although we both believed strongly in incorporating a lot of visual stuff with plenty of action and colorful imaginative props, I believed that we should never underestimate a child’s intelligence and never talk down to them. I felt that even young tots were smarter than adults gave them credit for, and we should cater to their growing minds. Children under five years old do not necessarily have to understand all the dialogue to enjoy a program as long as there is ample visual material to keep them glued to the TV set. On "Bozo’s Circus," it had always been my aim that the performers often talk over the kids’ level of comprehension, to make them come up to our adult level, and possibly learn something. | ||||||||||||||
| What other projects did you work on at Hanna-Barbera and after you left there? | ||||||||||||||
| When my part of the second season of the "Splits" was finished, Joe invited my wife and I to his home for cocktails. He praised me for a job well done, and assured me that this was only the beginning of a long and prosperous relationship. He had plans for future live-action shows in which I would play an important role. The next day, one of Joe’s subordinates fired me. When I approached Joe to verify this decision, he denied any knowledge of my dismissal. Despite that, I was back to H-B several times, once to write a couple of "Yogi Bear" scripts, and on another occasion to act as Joe Barbera’s liaison with Dick Clark at a time when they were considering a joint venture. The project never materialized. | ||||||||||||||
| Have you stayed in contact with any of your colleagues from WGN over the years? | ||||||||||||||
| I have family in the Northwest Chicago area: a son named Doug; daughter in law, Annie; two grown granddaughters, Fallon and Vail; and a four-year-old grandson, Elliot. When I visit them, this gives me an opportunity to look up my old WGN buddies and cohorts. We get together for lunch and rehash the same anecdotes we have been telling each other for forty years. | ||||||||||||||
| How did Sandy's return come about in 1991? | ||||||||||||||
| I was invited back to take part as Sandy the Clown in both Bozo’s 25th anniversary show, which I wrote, and 30th anniversary show. On another occasion, I returned for several weeks to fill in for my old and dear friend, Roy “Cooky” Brown, who was ill and in the hospital. I might add that back in 1978, I became the managing director of a two thousand-seat "Theater for the Performing Arts" in St. Croix in the Virgin Islands. I produced a monthly stage show for children in which I resurrected Sandy, this time with a "voice." The show included circus acts from my old days with WGN. This continued for three years, until my departure from the island back to the mainland U.S. | ||||||||||||||
| Did you ever think when you started "Bozo's Circus" that the show would last for 40 years? | ||||||||||||||
| "Bozo’s Circus" would last 40 years? Are you kidding? Of course not! No television program can last that long. | ||||||||||||||
Interview by Mark Yurkiw Web Design by Mike Rutherford |
