Beany and Cecil was an animated cartoon series that ran from 1962 to 1967. The original series title in 1961 was "Matty's Funnies" (for "Matty Mattel" the animated spokesperson for its primary sponsor Mattel Toys) which was later retitled "The Beany and Cecil Show", which aired during prime time on Saturdays, on ABC Television. The newer cartoons replaced the Famous Studios cartoons of Casper the Friendly Ghost and Little Audrey among others packaged under the previous title Matty's Funday Funnies. Beany and Cecil was created by Bob Clampett. Clampett created Cecil as a boy after seeing the top half of the dinosaur swimming from the water at the end of The Lost World. Clampett originally created the series as a puppet show called Time for Beany, which ran from 1949 to 1954. Time for Beany featured the talents of veteran voice actors Stan Freberg and Daws Butler. Clampett revived the series in the 1960s in animated form, though Freberg and Butler did not reprise their roles.
Prior to the animated series, but concurrent with the puppet show, Clampett created a comic-book series of Beany and Cecil adventures for Dell comics. These remain one of a few rare instances of a classic animator's drawings in the context of sequential comic art.
Beany and Cecil, the animated version, ran in prime time during the 1962 TV season, and the 26 shows (including 78 cartoons) were then repeated on Saturday mornings for the next five years. The cartoon featured Beany, a boy, and Cecil the Sea-Sick Sea Serpent embarking on a series of adventures, often to discover ancient civilizations and artifacts. These escapades were rife with cartoon slapstick and countless puns.
The show was revived in 1988 by DiC. Only eight episodes were ever made, and only five episodes ever aired. This incarnation of the show was produced and directed by John Kricfalusi, who would later create Ren and Stimpy.
