"No one buys gorillas anymore," laments Mr. Peebles in the initial installment ("Big Game") of this Hanna-Barbera animation. The shop owner has looked after Magilla (Allan Melvin, The Brady Bunch) since he was a baby. Customers take the snappily-dressed simian home, he messes everything up--they bring him back. Looks like Peebles (actor/director Howard Morris, The Atom Ant Show) is stuck with the big lug. Granted, little Ogee (Jean Vander Pyl, The Flintstones), who makes her debut in the seventh episode ("Come Blow Your Dough"), would love a pet gorilla, but the redheaded tot is always short of cash.
Magilla first bounded onto the boob tube in 1964. Breaking from the usual pattern, the series premiered in syndication before moving to network TV two year later. Although the gorilla appears in the title cartoon of each episode, the other segments are dedicated to Ricochet Rabbit and Droop-a-long and Punkin' Puss and Mushmouse. Ricochet (Don Messick, Scooby-Doo) is "the fastest sheriff in the west," Droop-a-long coyote (Mel Blanc, Bugs Bunny) is his foot-dragging deputy, and Punkin' (Melvin) and Mushmouse (Morris) are a hillbilly Tom and Jerry, locked in a rambunctious Hatfield and McCoy-type feud.
Throughout the show, the gorilla is drafted by the army ("Private Magilla"), cast in a movie ("Groovey Movie"), and abducted by aliens ("Planet Zero"). After moving to ABC, the secondary toons would eventually be replaced by Breezly and Sneezly and Peter Potamus and His Magic Flying Balloon, featuring much of the same voice talent. In both cases, the suspender-sporting primate was the top star of the show. As the theme song, introduced in episode 14 ("Motorcycle Magilla"), would have it, "A gorilla like Magilla is nice at any price!"
Cast and Characters Voices
Allan Melvin as Magilla Gorilla
Howard Morris as Mr. Peebles
Jean Vander Pyl as Ogee
Recurring Characters
Magilla Gorilla
Mr. Peebles
Ogee
Punkin' Puss & Mushmouse
Ricochet Rabbit & Droop-a-Long
Broadcast History First Telecast:January 14, 1964 Last Telecast: 1967 Number of Episodes: Number of Seasons: Original Network:
dates here
Theme Song and Opening Credits
Theme by Hoyt Curtin
We've got a gorilla for sale
Magilla Gorilla for sale.
Won't you buy him,
Take him home and try him,
Gorilla for sale.
Don't you want a little gorilla you can call your own,
A gorilla who'll be with ya when you're all alone?
Spoken: How much is that gorilla in the window?
Take our advice,
At any price,
A gorilla like Magilla is mighty nice.
Gorilla, Magilla Gorilla for sale.
Cartoons 
"No one buys gorillas anymore," laments Mr. Peebles in the initial installment ("Big Game") of this Hanna-Barbera animation. The shop owner has looked after Magilla (Allan Melvin, The Brady Bunch) since he was a baby. Customers take the snappily-dressed simian home, he messes everything up--they bring him back. Looks like Peebles (actor/director Howard Morris, The Atom Ant Show) is stuck with the big lug. Granted, little Ogee (Jean Vander Pyl, The Flintstones), who makes her debut in the seventh episode ("Come Blow Your Dough"), would love a pet gorilla, but the redheaded tot is always short of cash.
Magilla first bounded onto the boob tube in 1964. Breaking from the usual pattern, the series premiered in syndication before moving to network TV two year later. Although the gorilla appears in the title cartoon of each episode, the other segments are dedicated to Ricochet Rabbit and Droop-a-long and Punkin' Puss and Mushmouse. Ricochet (Don Messick, Scooby-Doo) is "the fastest sheriff in the west," Droop-a-long coyote (Mel Blanc, Bugs Bunny) is his foot-dragging deputy, and Punkin' (Melvin) and Mushmouse (Morris) are a hillbilly Tom and Jerry, locked in a rambunctious Hatfield and McCoy-type feud.
