Long Live The Grump.

As a child I would recall watching this bizarre animated show featuring this dope wizard and his dragon. Eventually I was able to find the show online. It’s actually called “Here Comes The Grump” a short lived animated series that ran from 1969-1970.

The show was created by long time animation duo DePatie-Freleng most know for creating “The Pink Panther Show” amount other characters in their stable of animated universe. Rip Taylor does the voice of The Grump himself who has put a spell on the kingdom ruled by Princess Dawn. The princess, her pig dog, and “boy from the real world” Terry Dexter go from one wacky place to another in search of the crystal key that will break the gloom spell over her kingdom. Of course since he is grumpy, The Grump and his dragon Dingo follow them in a sort of “Coyote/Road Runner esque chase. It is cool seeing all the different places the cat and mouse game leads our characters, like the land of glass and the place where you have to laugh at everyone’s jokes.

While it is a great show I can definitely see why it didn’t have the staying power. Once you see the first few episodes, pretty much the same beats occur in each following one. The Grump gets sneezed on by is dragon and will yell “woah dragon!” in his raspy chain smoker voice. Apparently The Grump was inspired by Yosemite Sam and you can definitely see the similarities. I think The Grump is a much more trippy looking character rocking the all pink and purple fit. If you are a fan of the work of early seventies, late sixties morning cartoons I would definitely check out “The Grump”.