Huck Meets The Wee Folk

Here's a treat just for St. Patrick's Day: "The Magic Shillelah," the first episode of The New Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, made its debut in Living Color on NBC, right before Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color. Leprechauns are on the loose, looking for their lost shillalah. This "wee folk" episode was not the first produced—it was actually the 14th episode produced. So why would Hanna-Barbera choose this installment to kick off their expensive new series? For one thing the setting is often very lavish and colorful, at least compared to several other episodes, each of which has its own style of art direction. Then features song and dance, including a dance with LuAnn Haslam as Becky Thatcher performing an Irish jig. Finally, this episode and no other features a "name" voce artist: Dennis Day, well known from The Jack Benny Program, as leprechaun Buck O'Grogan. Whatever reason this episode was selected to serve as the premiere, it's a St. Patrick's day delight. (Interestingly, NBC reran this episode on March 16th, 1969.) You can see it on the The New Adventures of Huckleberry Finn DVD.