Davey and Goliath
Encyclopedia
Davey and Goliath is a 1960s stop-motion animated children's Christian
television series. The programs, produced by the Lutheran Church in America
(now a part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
), were produced by Art Clokey
after the success of his Gumby
series.
Each 15-minute episode features the adventures of Davey Hansen and his "talking" dog Goliath
(although only Davey and the viewer can hear him speak) as they learn the love of God through everyday occurrences. Many of the episodes also feature Davey's parents John and Elaine, his sister Sally, as well as Davey's friends; Jimmy, Teddy, and Nathanial in earlier episodes; Jonathan, Jimmy, Nicky (who looked a lot like Teddy) and Cisco on later ones (all were members of the "Jickets" club).
The introductory music is based on the popular Christian hymn "A Mighty Fortress is Our God
", written by Martin Luther
around 1529 (in German, "Ein feste Burg").
The show was aimed at a younger audience, and generally dealt with issues such as respect for authority, sharing, and prejudice. Eventually these themes included more serious issues such as racism, death, religious intolerance, and vandalism. In general, the characters found themselves in situations which had to be overcome by placing their faith
in God
. Davey's friends, Nathanial (in the 1960s episodes) and Jonathan Reed
on the 70s episodes, were African-American, and some of the first African-American characters to appear as a friend of a television show's lead character. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6693668/. While Our Gang
in the 1930s and 1940s had African American children as friends of lead characters, that was a film series prior to television.
The Davey and Goliath series lasted until 1965 originally, but several holiday 30 minute special episodes were created in the late 1960s. The series resumed with some new characters in 1971 and continued until 1973. In 1975, a final 30-minute summer episode was created. In 2004 Art Clokey's son, Joe, produced a new episode, "Davey and Goliath's Snowboard Christmas."
Critics cite the show as tastefully prompting the spiritual curiosity of children, without coming off as preachy.
, president of the United Lutheran Church in America
(ULCA), put aside $1 million to fund production of a future television program for children. Soon after, the ULCA contracted with Clokey Productions, Inc., headed by Gumby
creators Art and Ruth Clokey, to create a new children’s show: Davey and Goliath. Scripts were written by children’s book author Nancy Moore in consultation with the church, who also later penned several episodes of the CBS Radio Mystery Theater
in the 1970s and early 1980s.
The Lutheran Church and Art Clokey teamed up to make the first Davey and Goliath episode in 1960 called "Lost In A Cave". On this particular episode, the figures were entirely clay and the scenery was also mostly clay. The early voices included Hal Smith
(who did a number of voices including Davey's Father), Dick Beals
(who was Davey's voice), and Ginny Tyler
(who did the voice of Sally and Davey's mother). These three did many other voices as well.
After making "Lost in a Cave" in 1960, Clokey made "The Wild Goat", "Stranded On An Island", and "The Winner" in 1961. On these episodes the clay figures now had clothing. Also, more model buildings and trees were added and these three episodes looked somewhat more realistic. In 1961, the series of these four episodes began airing free on local television stations nationwide ranging from ABC
, NBC
, and CBS
affiliates to independent stations. Many of these stations ran these episodes leading into network Saturday morning lineups. Other stations ran them in religious Sunday morning lineups in between various evangelists. By 1964 the show was airing in over 90% of the television markets.
In 1962, about eight more 15-minute episodes were made, including: "All Alone", "Polka Dot Tie", "On The Line", and "The Pilgrim Boy" among others. By then the clay figures had established looks and consistent sizes. The scenery became slightly more realistic. On endings "The End" would now be in regular print, rather than the "Davey & Goliath logo" type print. All the episodes made up to this point were known as series one. The background music used on this show originated from sources such as The Capitol Hi-Q Production Music Library
, which could be heard on shows like Ozzie & Harriet, The Donna Reed Show
, Dennis The Menace, and other 1950s sitcoms. A few of these background tracks could also be heard on 1960s Hanna-Barbera
cartoons.
From 1962 to 1963, another 13 episodes were made including "The Waterfall", "The Bell Ringer", "The Silver Mine", "Ten Little Indians", "The Dog Show" and others. The only big change was that voices of Sally and Davey's mother were done by Nancy Wible who did other female voices as well. Also, Davey's personality became slightly tougher and, within a couple of episodes, rebellious. Overall, though, Davey's character remained good-natured. These episodes were added to distribution shortly after they were made. Chronological order, however, was unclear. In addition, Norma MacMillan
(who did various voices on cartoons like Sweet Polly Purebred on Underdog and others) would join the cast to do children's and female voices as well.
From 1963 to 1964, another series of 13 episodes, including "Happy Landing", "The Big Apple", "Bully Up A Tree", "Good Neighbor", "Rags & Buttons" and others were made. Davey was slightly bigger but the scope of the show itself had no big changes. At the end of 1964, production on Davey and Goliath wound down. In some episodes including "Good Neighbor", in addition to "The End" placard, a billboard showed that the show was produced in association with the United Lutheran Church in America (ULCA).
In 1965, a 30-minute Christmas special called "Christmas Lost & Found" was made. The focus of this episode was more religious in nature and distanced itself from "Santa Claus" and "Rudolph". The Christmas songs used were religious. This would also be the last episode featuring Dick Beals as the voice of Davey.
In the late 1960s several more 30-minute specials were made including "Happy Easter" from 1967, "The New Years Promise" from 1967, and "Halloween Who Did It?" from 1968. By now Davey was closer to junior high school age. He was now voiced by Norma McMillan. "Happy Easter" confronted death of a loved one as Davey's beloved grandmother dies suddenly (off camera) within hours of a fun filled visit.
After these four specials, the ULCA and Clokey Productions began funding another series of episodes in 1971. At this point, only Norma McMillan and Hal Smith did voices. In these episodes, Davey was Junior High School age and occasionally became very rebellious. His antics included pouring paint in a water well, hanging from a dinosaur's head in a museum, telling a handicapped child to shoot himself for being so "dumb", cheating on tests in school, among other things. This Davey had a totally different personality from the Davey portrayed in the 1960s. Norma McMillan continued to do the voice of Davey. At this time racism, gangs, conservation, crime, and other issues became topics within the series. That year episodes like "Blind Man's Bluff", "Finders Keepers", "Who's George", "Who Me", "Help", "The Stopped Clock" and others were distributed. The openings were also changed, featuring updated music. Background music was also different from the 60s series with some overlap. Midway through this series, Davey's African-American friend Jonathan Reed was introduced. Johnathan came from a nearby city, and both characters went to school together.
In 1972 another 30-minute special, "School Who Needs It?", was aired. Also that year the final regular series of episodes came out. Jonathan appeared in most of the episodes. These episodes included "What's His Name", "Zillion Dollar Combo", "The Watchdogs", "Chicken" and others. In 1973, the series wound down once again, but in 1975 a 30-minute summer camp special called "To The Rescue" was made. This special marked the end of the production of the series in its first incarnation.
After an almost 30-year hiatus, Davey and Goliath were next seen as part of a Mountain Dew
commercial in 2001, with the royalties from the commercial used to fund the production of the 2004 Christmas special Davey & Goliath's Snowboard Christmas. This holiday special addressed both religious and ethnic diversity. Because most of the original voice cast were no longer alive (Hal Smith having died in 1994, and Norma McMillan in 2001), new voice actors played the roles. This episode took advantage of advances in animation technology using updated graphics and scenery as well. This special was 45 minutes long and aired for an hour including commercials. (Until that point, commercials had never aired during any episode.) Hallmark Channel
aired this special in 2004 and 2005.
, WABC-TV
, and WPIX
. WPIX aired only one episode per week, while WOR-TV and WABC-TV ran two episodes back-to-back in a 30 minute time slot. For a short while, WABC-TV and WOR-TV aired the show in the same time slot but aired different episodes, though all three stations ran all the episodes available. WOR-TV dropped the show in 1985. WABC-TV dropped it in 1987 while continuing to air holiday specials until the mid-1990s. WPIX dropped it in 1990. Also, in the 1970s the show aired in the Los Angeles on KCOP-TV
. In most cases, the shows were run in chronological groups. An order is known in terms of the year each was episode was made, but actual chronological order in which they were made is unknown.
In the 1980s, commercial stations began gradually dropping the series. Religious stations picked it up in many markets and ran it in their blocks of Christian children's programs. By 1990 only a handful of commercial stations still aired the series, including WKBW-TV
, which aired it as part of its Commander Tom Show
/Rocketship 7
compilation programming. When the series began airing on religious stations, some episodes were gradually dropped. They included "Polka Dot Tie" (which addresses racism in an indirect way), "On The Line" (due to the scary nature of the episode), "Ten Little Indians" (due to what was interpreted as racism in the word "Indians"), "Man Of The House" (which was controversial due to the children being left home alone at what may be perceived as too young an age), and "The Gang" (due to the violence on this episode). Commercial stations, however, continued running these episodes throughout the 1980s until they dropped the series altogether.
In the early 1990s, those five episodes were officially pulled from syndication and not available to stations regardless of their format (whether religious or secular commercial stations, though very few commercial stations ran it anyway). In the 1990s the show aired strictly on religious stations including from Baptist-based services like FamilyNet
to ecumenical religious networks like VISN/ACTS
(now Hallmark Channel
, which no longer airs the series), Pentecostal-based services like Trinity Broadcasting Network
, Roman Catholic tele-ministries like CatholicTV
Network, EWTN (which had also aired the series in the mid-1980s but no longer airs it), a few local diocesan cable Catholic channels, and religious independent stations.
"Man Of The House" and "On The Line" have recently been revived and ran on Trinity Broadcasting on beginning in 2006. In the last few years, however, several of the later episodes have been withdrawn due to some behaviors demonstrated on these episodes are considered by some to be "politically incorrect". These episodes are "The Watchdogs" (due to its topic of violent crime), "What's His Name" (due to the nature of threats that Davey makes to take revenge on someone), "Louder Please" (due to Davey's attitude toward handicapped people), and "Help" (because a character came extremely close to a death causing injury), and "Down On The Farm" (one very brief scene has a naked Davey skinny-dipping, and was thought to be too casual a reference to childhood nudity). Additionally "Cousin Barney" and "Pilgrim Boy" were withdrawn from television due to negative references to American Indians.
The show continued to air on CatholicTV
Network until late in 2009, Trinity Broadcasting until the Summer of 2010, Tri-State Christian Television
also until 2010 and may still air on a few local Christian television stations. For example, on TBN
only the 15-minute episodes have been appearing until Christmas of 2008 (the holiday specials have not aired on TBN except for Easter of 2007 when "Happy Easter" aired). It also airs Saturday mornings on WVCY-TV
Milwaukee to fill E/I
requirements. As of the fall of 2010, Davey and Goliath was not airing nationally, but in July 2011, the series returned to TBN
's Saturday schedule at 12:30 p.m. EST (9:30 a.m. PST).
In 2004 and 2005, when Hallmark aired a Christmas special and the 1967 "Happy Easter" episode, they aired the program with several commercial breaks. Until then no station, commercial or noncommercial, had run commercials during an airing of an episode.
Hallmark aired the entire series commercial free until 2001. Since then, Hallmark only aired a few of the holiday specials, as well as the Snowboard Christmas special made in 2004.
In 2008, iTunes began offering episodes as free downloads. By December more than 20 episodes had been made available.
ing expertise to two friends: Sam, a Jewish boy, and Yasmeen, a Muslim
girl.
Of course Davey leads them in trouble, and they get caught in an avalanche and end up in a cave. Goliath goes for help while Davey and his new friends find out that they really aren't all that different. In the course of the show the three children learn of each other's holiday celebrations, Jewish Hanukkah
, Christian Christmas
, and Muslim Eid
.
tapes. Mail order services also made a few episodes available.
In the mid-1990s, other episodes were distributed on VHS tapes. In 2000, various episodes were released on DVDs showcasing a particular theme. In 2004 and 2005, most episodes were released on various DVD compilations. At the end of July 2006, it was announced that a new compilation would be released titled Davey & Goliath: The Lost Episodes which was intended to include the episodes "Cousin Barney", "Polka Dot Tie", "Pilgrim Boy", "10 Little Indians", "Down On The Farm", "The Gang", "Louder Please", "Help", "The Watchdogs", and "What's His Name." The producers changed the names of two of these episodes in the release ("The Gang" to "The Jickets" and "10 Little Indians" now "Ten Pin Alley"), making them more politically correct. This compilation was originally scheduled for release on September 19, 2006 by Starlite Video and then postponed several times. In April 2009, Celebrity Video Distribution (CVD) released the collection. "Polka Dot Tie", "The Gang", "Help", "Louder Please", and "Watchdogs" were unedited. "Down On The Farm" was edited by about 5 seconds when Davey and his friend were seen jumping into the lake with no clothes on. "Pilgrim Boy" and "Cousin Barney" had the scenes making negative references to American Indians edited out adding up to over a minute each. "10 Little Indians" had its title changed to "Ten Pin Alley" and all the brief scenes where the word Indian was used and brief scenes with an Indian boy picking up the bowling pins were deleted and the episode is missing about a minute of footage. "Whatshisname" was edited by one minute with a scene where Davey threatens to pour molasses on another boy and then cover him with feathers.
" (the modern form of which was written by Johann Sebastian Bach
for the hymn written earlier by Martin Luther
) - over the Lutheran Church logo with the credits being displayed. The 1970s episodes had various instrumental pieces accompanying end credits. However, the thirty-minute holiday episodes' end credits remain intact. The reason for this is unknown.
In the fall of 2005, TBN
began running the episodes with the end credits included. Also, end credits now appear on the post 2005 DVD releases from Starlight Home Entertainment.
, created by Matt Groening
, who was raised Lutheran, has spoofed the series several times.
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
television series. The programs, produced by the Lutheran Church in America
Lutheran Church in America
The Lutheran Church in America was a U.S. and Canadian Lutheran church body that existed from 1962 to 1987. It was headquartered in New York City and its publishing house was Fortress Press....
(now a part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is a mainline Protestant denomination headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. The ELCA officially came into existence on January 1, 1988, by the merging of three churches. As of December 31, 2009, it had 4,543,037 baptized members, with 2,527,941 of them...
), were produced by Art Clokey
Art Clokey
Arthur "Art" Clokey was a pioneer in the popularization of stop motion clay animation, beginning in 1955 with a film experiment called Gumbasia, influenced by his professor, Slavko Vorkapich, at the University of Southern California.After the Gumbasia project, Art Clokey and his wife Ruth came up...
after the success of his Gumby
Gumby
Gumby is a green clay humanoid character created and modeled by Art Clokey, who also created Davey and Goliath. Gumby has been the subject of a 233-episode series of American television as well as a feature-length film and other media...
series.
Each 15-minute episode features the adventures of Davey Hansen and his "talking" dog Goliath
Goliath (fictional dog)
Goliath was the dog companion of Davey in the Lutheran stop motion cartoon, Davey and Goliath, 1960-1975.Goliath served as the boy, Davey Hansen's, conscience. While Goliath could not speak, Davey and the audience could hear his thoughts...
(although only Davey and the viewer can hear him speak) as they learn the love of God through everyday occurrences. Many of the episodes also feature Davey's parents John and Elaine, his sister Sally, as well as Davey's friends; Jimmy, Teddy, and Nathanial in earlier episodes; Jonathan, Jimmy, Nicky (who looked a lot like Teddy) and Cisco on later ones (all were members of the "Jickets" club).
The introductory music is based on the popular Christian hymn "A Mighty Fortress is Our God
A Mighty Fortress is Our God
"A Mighty Fortress Is Our God" is the best known of Martin Luther's hymns. Luther wrote the words and composed the melody sometime between 1527 and 1529. It has been translated into English at least seventy times and also into many other languages...
", written by Martin Luther
Martin Luther
Martin Luther was a German priest, professor of theology and iconic figure of the Protestant Reformation. He strongly disputed the claim that freedom from God's punishment for sin could be purchased with money. He confronted indulgence salesman Johann Tetzel with his Ninety-Five Theses in 1517...
around 1529 (in German, "Ein feste Burg").
The show was aimed at a younger audience, and generally dealt with issues such as respect for authority, sharing, and prejudice. Eventually these themes included more serious issues such as racism, death, religious intolerance, and vandalism. In general, the characters found themselves in situations which had to be overcome by placing their faith
Faith in Christianity
Faith, in Christianity, has been most commonly defined by the biblical formulation in the Letter to the Hebrews as "'the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen". Most of the definitions in the history of Christian theology have followed this biblical formulation...
in God
God in Christianity
In Christianity, God is the eternal being that created and preserves the universe. God is believed by most Christians to be immanent , while others believe the plan of redemption show he will be immanent later...
. Davey's friends, Nathanial (in the 1960s episodes) and Jonathan Reed
Jonathan Reed
Jonathan Reed was Davey Hansen's close friend in the Lutheran stop action animation cartoon Davey and Goliath.As an African-American he was perhaps the first African-American character to appear in a television cartoon, and one of the first African-American characters to appear as a friend of a...
on the 70s episodes, were African-American, and some of the first African-American characters to appear as a friend of a television show's lead character. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6693668/. While Our Gang
Our Gang
Our Gang, also known as The Little Rascals or Hal Roach's Rascals, was a series of American comedy short films about a group of poor neighborhood children and the adventures they had together. Created by comedy producer Hal Roach, the series is noted for showing children behaving in a relatively...
in the 1930s and 1940s had African American children as friends of lead characters, that was a film series prior to television.
The Davey and Goliath series lasted until 1965 originally, but several holiday 30 minute special episodes were created in the late 1960s. The series resumed with some new characters in 1971 and continued until 1973. In 1975, a final 30-minute summer episode was created. In 2004 Art Clokey's son, Joe, produced a new episode, "Davey and Goliath's Snowboard Christmas."
Critics cite the show as tastefully prompting the spiritual curiosity of children, without coming off as preachy.
History
In 1958 Franklin Clark FryFranklin Clark Fry
Franklin Clark Fry was a leading American Lutheran clergyman, known for his work on behalf of interdenominational unity.-Early years:...
, president of the United Lutheran Church in America
United Lutheran Church in America
The United Lutheran Church in America was established in 1918 with the merger of three independent German-language synods: the General Synod , the General Council and the United Synod of the South . The Slovak Zion Synod joined the United Lutheran Church in America in 1920...
(ULCA), put aside $1 million to fund production of a future television program for children. Soon after, the ULCA contracted with Clokey Productions, Inc., headed by Gumby
Gumby
Gumby is a green clay humanoid character created and modeled by Art Clokey, who also created Davey and Goliath. Gumby has been the subject of a 233-episode series of American television as well as a feature-length film and other media...
creators Art and Ruth Clokey, to create a new children’s show: Davey and Goliath. Scripts were written by children’s book author Nancy Moore in consultation with the church, who also later penned several episodes of the CBS Radio Mystery Theater
CBS Radio Mystery Theater
CBS Radio Mystery Theater was a radio drama series created by Himan Brown that was broadcast on CBS affiliates from 1974 to 1982....
in the 1970s and early 1980s.
The Lutheran Church and Art Clokey teamed up to make the first Davey and Goliath episode in 1960 called "Lost In A Cave". On this particular episode, the figures were entirely clay and the scenery was also mostly clay. The early voices included Hal Smith
Hal Smith (actor)
Harold John "Hal" Smith was an American character actor and voice actor. Smith is best known as Otis Campbell, the town drunk on The Andy Griffith Show, and was the voice of many characters on various animated cartoon shorts...
(who did a number of voices including Davey's Father), Dick Beals
Dick Beals
Richard "Dick" Beals is an American voice actor. He has performed many voices in his career, which spans from the early 1950s into the 21st century...
(who was Davey's voice), and Ginny Tyler
Ginny Tyler
Ginny Tyler is a Native American voice actress who appeared in dozens of cartoons and animated films from 1957 to 1992. In 2006, she was inducted into the Disney Legends program.-Life and work:...
(who did the voice of Sally and Davey's mother). These three did many other voices as well.
After making "Lost in a Cave" in 1960, Clokey made "The Wild Goat", "Stranded On An Island", and "The Winner" in 1961. On these episodes the clay figures now had clothing. Also, more model buildings and trees were added and these three episodes looked somewhat more realistic. In 1961, the series of these four episodes began airing free on local television stations nationwide ranging from ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
, NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
, and CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
affiliates to independent stations. Many of these stations ran these episodes leading into network Saturday morning lineups. Other stations ran them in religious Sunday morning lineups in between various evangelists. By 1964 the show was airing in over 90% of the television markets.
In 1962, about eight more 15-minute episodes were made, including: "All Alone", "Polka Dot Tie", "On The Line", and "The Pilgrim Boy" among others. By then the clay figures had established looks and consistent sizes. The scenery became slightly more realistic. On endings "The End" would now be in regular print, rather than the "Davey & Goliath logo" type print. All the episodes made up to this point were known as series one. The background music used on this show originated from sources such as The Capitol Hi-Q Production Music Library
Hi-Q (production music)
Hi-Q was a brand and library of production music produced and distributed by Capitol Records in the late 1950s-early 1960s. It saw quite a bit of use in several movies and other productions, most notably in the 1968 film Night of the Living Dead, in which producer Karl Hardman used tracks from the...
, which could be heard on shows like Ozzie & Harriet, The Donna Reed Show
The Donna Reed Show
The Donna Reed Show is an American sitcom starring Donna Reed as the upper middle class housewife Donna Stone. Carl Betz appears as her pediatrician husband Alex, and Shelley Fabares and Paul Petersen as their teenage children Mary and Jeff. The show originally aired on ABC at 10 pm from September...
, Dennis The Menace, and other 1950s sitcoms. A few of these background tracks could also be heard on 1960s Hanna-Barbera
Hanna-Barbera
Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. was an American animation studio that dominated North American television animation during the second half of the 20th century...
cartoons.
From 1962 to 1963, another 13 episodes were made including "The Waterfall", "The Bell Ringer", "The Silver Mine", "Ten Little Indians", "The Dog Show" and others. The only big change was that voices of Sally and Davey's mother were done by Nancy Wible who did other female voices as well. Also, Davey's personality became slightly tougher and, within a couple of episodes, rebellious. Overall, though, Davey's character remained good-natured. These episodes were added to distribution shortly after they were made. Chronological order, however, was unclear. In addition, Norma MacMillan
Norma MacMillan
Norma MacMillan was a Canadian voice actor.Norma MacMillan was a native of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It was there that she met, worked with and married her producer/manager husband Thor Arngrim. Arngrim had started the now-legendary, but short-lived Totem Theatre company in 1951...
(who did various voices on cartoons like Sweet Polly Purebred on Underdog and others) would join the cast to do children's and female voices as well.
From 1963 to 1964, another series of 13 episodes, including "Happy Landing", "The Big Apple", "Bully Up A Tree", "Good Neighbor", "Rags & Buttons" and others were made. Davey was slightly bigger but the scope of the show itself had no big changes. At the end of 1964, production on Davey and Goliath wound down. In some episodes including "Good Neighbor", in addition to "The End" placard, a billboard showed that the show was produced in association with the United Lutheran Church in America (ULCA).
In 1965, a 30-minute Christmas special called "Christmas Lost & Found" was made. The focus of this episode was more religious in nature and distanced itself from "Santa Claus" and "Rudolph". The Christmas songs used were religious. This would also be the last episode featuring Dick Beals as the voice of Davey.
In the late 1960s several more 30-minute specials were made including "Happy Easter" from 1967, "The New Years Promise" from 1967, and "Halloween Who Did It?" from 1968. By now Davey was closer to junior high school age. He was now voiced by Norma McMillan. "Happy Easter" confronted death of a loved one as Davey's beloved grandmother dies suddenly (off camera) within hours of a fun filled visit.
After these four specials, the ULCA and Clokey Productions began funding another series of episodes in 1971. At this point, only Norma McMillan and Hal Smith did voices. In these episodes, Davey was Junior High School age and occasionally became very rebellious. His antics included pouring paint in a water well, hanging from a dinosaur's head in a museum, telling a handicapped child to shoot himself for being so "dumb", cheating on tests in school, among other things. This Davey had a totally different personality from the Davey portrayed in the 1960s. Norma McMillan continued to do the voice of Davey. At this time racism, gangs, conservation, crime, and other issues became topics within the series. That year episodes like "Blind Man's Bluff", "Finders Keepers", "Who's George", "Who Me", "Help", "The Stopped Clock" and others were distributed. The openings were also changed, featuring updated music. Background music was also different from the 60s series with some overlap. Midway through this series, Davey's African-American friend Jonathan Reed was introduced. Johnathan came from a nearby city, and both characters went to school together.
In 1972 another 30-minute special, "School Who Needs It?", was aired. Also that year the final regular series of episodes came out. Jonathan appeared in most of the episodes. These episodes included "What's His Name", "Zillion Dollar Combo", "The Watchdogs", "Chicken" and others. In 1973, the series wound down once again, but in 1975 a 30-minute summer camp special called "To The Rescue" was made. This special marked the end of the production of the series in its first incarnation.
After an almost 30-year hiatus, Davey and Goliath were next seen as part of a Mountain Dew
Mountain Dew
Mountain Dew is a citrus-flavored carbonated soft drink brand produced and owned by PepsiCo. The original formula was invented in the 1940s by Tennessee beverage bottlers Barney and Ally Hartman and was first marketed in Marion, VA, Knoxville and Johnson City, Tennessee. A revised formula was...
commercial in 2001, with the royalties from the commercial used to fund the production of the 2004 Christmas special Davey & Goliath's Snowboard Christmas. This holiday special addressed both religious and ethnic diversity. Because most of the original voice cast were no longer alive (Hal Smith having died in 1994, and Norma McMillan in 2001), new voice actors played the roles. This episode took advantage of advances in animation technology using updated graphics and scenery as well. This special was 45 minutes long and aired for an hour including commercials. (Until that point, commercials had never aired during any episode.) Hallmark Channel
Hallmark Channel
The Hallmark Channel is a cable television network that broadcasts across the United States. Their programming includes a mix of television movies/miniseries, syndicated series, and lifestyle shows that are appropriate for the whole family...
aired this special in 2004 and 2005.
Television airing
In some markets the show aired on more than one station. In New York City, for example, it aired simultaneously on three stations: WOR-TVWWOR-TV
WWOR-TV, virtual channel 9 , is the flagship station of the MyNetworkTV programming service, licensed to Secaucus, New Jersey and serving the Tri-State metropolitan area. WWOR is owned by Fox Television Stations, a division of the News Corporation, and is a sister station to Fox network flagship...
, WABC-TV
WABC-TV
WABC-TV, channel 7, is the flagship station of the Disney-owned American Broadcasting Company located in New York City. The station's studios and offices are located on the Upper West Side section of Manhattan, adjacent to ABC's corporate headquarters, and its transmitter is atop the Empire State...
, and WPIX
WPIX
WPIX, channel 11, is a television station in New York City built, signed on, and owned by the Tribune Company. WPIX also serves as the flagship station of The CW Television Network...
. WPIX aired only one episode per week, while WOR-TV and WABC-TV ran two episodes back-to-back in a 30 minute time slot. For a short while, WABC-TV and WOR-TV aired the show in the same time slot but aired different episodes, though all three stations ran all the episodes available. WOR-TV dropped the show in 1985. WABC-TV dropped it in 1987 while continuing to air holiday specials until the mid-1990s. WPIX dropped it in 1990. Also, in the 1970s the show aired in the Los Angeles on KCOP-TV
KCOP-TV
KCOP-TV, channel 13, is a television station in Los Angeles, California. Owned by Fox Television Stations, a division of the News Corporation, KCOP is a sister station to Fox network outlet KTTV , and is affiliated with the MyNetworkTV programming service...
. In most cases, the shows were run in chronological groups. An order is known in terms of the year each was episode was made, but actual chronological order in which they were made is unknown.
In the 1980s, commercial stations began gradually dropping the series. Religious stations picked it up in many markets and ran it in their blocks of Christian children's programs. By 1990 only a handful of commercial stations still aired the series, including WKBW-TV
WKBW-TV
WKBW-TV, channel 7, is the ABC affiliate for the Buffalo, New York television market, and is one of many local Buffalo TV stations seen over-the-air and on cable in Canada. Its transmitter is located at 8909 Center Street in Colden. The station is owned by the Granite Broadcasting Corporation, who...
, which aired it as part of its Commander Tom Show
Commander Tom Show
The Commander Tom Show was a children's television series that aired weekday afternoons on Channel 7 WKBW-TV in Buffalo, New York, premiering on December 20, 1965.The host of the show was Tom Jolls, who had joined WKBW as a weatherman earlier in 1965...
/Rocketship 7
Rocketship 7
Rocketship 7 was a children's television series that aired weekday mornings on WKBW-TV in Buffalo, New York from 1962 to 1978 and from 1992 to 1993....
compilation programming. When the series began airing on religious stations, some episodes were gradually dropped. They included "Polka Dot Tie" (which addresses racism in an indirect way), "On The Line" (due to the scary nature of the episode), "Ten Little Indians" (due to what was interpreted as racism in the word "Indians"), "Man Of The House" (which was controversial due to the children being left home alone at what may be perceived as too young an age), and "The Gang" (due to the violence on this episode). Commercial stations, however, continued running these episodes throughout the 1980s until they dropped the series altogether.
In the early 1990s, those five episodes were officially pulled from syndication and not available to stations regardless of their format (whether religious or secular commercial stations, though very few commercial stations ran it anyway). In the 1990s the show aired strictly on religious stations including from Baptist-based services like FamilyNet
FamilyNet
FamilyNet is a broadcast television network owned by ComStar Media Fund and based in Atlanta, Georgia. The network was founded in 1979 as the National Christian Network, and took the name FamilyNet in 1988 under the ownership of Jerry Falwell. The channel was acquired by InTouch Ministries in...
to ecumenical religious networks like VISN/ACTS
Hallmark Channel
The Hallmark Channel is a cable television network that broadcasts across the United States. Their programming includes a mix of television movies/miniseries, syndicated series, and lifestyle shows that are appropriate for the whole family...
(now Hallmark Channel
Hallmark Channel
The Hallmark Channel is a cable television network that broadcasts across the United States. Their programming includes a mix of television movies/miniseries, syndicated series, and lifestyle shows that are appropriate for the whole family...
, which no longer airs the series), Pentecostal-based services like Trinity Broadcasting Network
Trinity Broadcasting Network
The Trinity Broadcasting Network is a major American Christian television network. TBN is based in Costa Mesa, California, with auxiliary studio facilities in Irving, Texas; Hendersonville, Tennessee; Gadsden, Alabama; Decatur, Georgia; Miami, Florida; Tulsa, Oklahoma; Orlando, Florida; and New...
, Roman Catholic tele-ministries like CatholicTV
CatholicTV
CatholicTV is a Catholic television network based in Watertown, Massachusetts. It is distributed on cable systems in eight U.S. states and via the internet....
Network, EWTN (which had also aired the series in the mid-1980s but no longer airs it), a few local diocesan cable Catholic channels, and religious independent stations.
"Man Of The House" and "On The Line" have recently been revived and ran on Trinity Broadcasting on beginning in 2006. In the last few years, however, several of the later episodes have been withdrawn due to some behaviors demonstrated on these episodes are considered by some to be "politically incorrect". These episodes are "The Watchdogs" (due to its topic of violent crime), "What's His Name" (due to the nature of threats that Davey makes to take revenge on someone), "Louder Please" (due to Davey's attitude toward handicapped people), and "Help" (because a character came extremely close to a death causing injury), and "Down On The Farm" (one very brief scene has a naked Davey skinny-dipping, and was thought to be too casual a reference to childhood nudity). Additionally "Cousin Barney" and "Pilgrim Boy" were withdrawn from television due to negative references to American Indians.
The show continued to air on CatholicTV
CatholicTV
CatholicTV is a Catholic television network based in Watertown, Massachusetts. It is distributed on cable systems in eight U.S. states and via the internet....
Network until late in 2009, Trinity Broadcasting until the Summer of 2010, Tri-State Christian Television
Tri-State Christian Television
Tri-State Christian Television is a network of eight religious television stations and their repeaters, mainly in the Midwest. TCT Network provides Christian programming such as teaching, preaching, family-based movies, music, documentaries, youth and children, live broadcasts and original content...
also until 2010 and may still air on a few local Christian television stations. For example, on TBN
Trinity Broadcasting Network
The Trinity Broadcasting Network is a major American Christian television network. TBN is based in Costa Mesa, California, with auxiliary studio facilities in Irving, Texas; Hendersonville, Tennessee; Gadsden, Alabama; Decatur, Georgia; Miami, Florida; Tulsa, Oklahoma; Orlando, Florida; and New...
only the 15-minute episodes have been appearing until Christmas of 2008 (the holiday specials have not aired on TBN except for Easter of 2007 when "Happy Easter" aired). It also airs Saturday mornings on WVCY-TV
WVCY-TV
WVCY-TV is a conservative Christian television station in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It broadcasts digitally on Channel 22, but maps on a virtual channel via PSIP to their former analog channel position, Channel 30.-Sister Stations:...
Milwaukee to fill E/I
E/I
E/I, which stands for "educational and informative," refers to a type of children's television programming shown in the United States. The Federal Communications Commission requires that every full-service Terrestrial television station in the U.S. show at least three hours of these television...
requirements. As of the fall of 2010, Davey and Goliath was not airing nationally, but in July 2011, the series returned to TBN
TBN
TBN may mean:* The Bot Net* The Barter Network* The Baseball Network* The Brewing Network* The Buffalo News* Toronto Bicycling Network* Total Base Number, an indicator for the alkalinity of lubricant oil* Trombone* Trinity Broadcasting Network...
's Saturday schedule at 12:30 p.m. EST (9:30 a.m. PST).
In 2004 and 2005, when Hallmark aired a Christmas special and the 1967 "Happy Easter" episode, they aired the program with several commercial breaks. Until then no station, commercial or noncommercial, had run commercials during an airing of an episode.
Hallmark aired the entire series commercial free until 2001. Since then, Hallmark only aired a few of the holiday specials, as well as the Snowboard Christmas special made in 2004.
In 2008, iTunes began offering episodes as free downloads. By December more than 20 episodes had been made available.
The Snowboard Christmas special of 2004
In this special, Davey demonstrates his snowboardSnowboard
Snowboards are boards, usually with a width the length of one's foot, with the ability to glide on snow. Snowboards are differentiated from monoskis by the stance of the user...
ing expertise to two friends: Sam, a Jewish boy, and Yasmeen, a Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
girl.
Of course Davey leads them in trouble, and they get caught in an avalanche and end up in a cave. Goliath goes for help while Davey and his new friends find out that they really aren't all that different. In the course of the show the three children learn of each other's holiday celebrations, Jewish Hanukkah
Hanukkah
Hanukkah , also known as the Festival of Lights, is an eight-day Jewish holiday commemorating the rededication of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem at the time of the Maccabean Revolt of the 2nd century BCE...
, Christian Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
, and Muslim Eid
Eid ul-Fitr
Eid ul-Fitr, Eid al-Fitr, Id-ul-Fitr, or Id al-Fitr , often abbreviated to Eid, is a Muslim holiday that marks the end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting . Eid is an Arabic word meaning "festivity," while Fiṭr means "breaking the fast"...
.
Home video
In 1986 the Program Source began distributing the first 13 episodes of the series minus "Polka Dot Tie". Also, all five holiday specials were made available. These were distributed for sale on VHSVHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
tapes. Mail order services also made a few episodes available.
In the mid-1990s, other episodes were distributed on VHS tapes. In 2000, various episodes were released on DVDs showcasing a particular theme. In 2004 and 2005, most episodes were released on various DVD compilations. At the end of July 2006, it was announced that a new compilation would be released titled Davey & Goliath: The Lost Episodes which was intended to include the episodes "Cousin Barney", "Polka Dot Tie", "Pilgrim Boy", "10 Little Indians", "Down On The Farm", "The Gang", "Louder Please", "Help", "The Watchdogs", and "What's His Name." The producers changed the names of two of these episodes in the release ("The Gang" to "The Jickets" and "10 Little Indians" now "Ten Pin Alley"), making them more politically correct. This compilation was originally scheduled for release on September 19, 2006 by Starlite Video and then postponed several times. In April 2009, Celebrity Video Distribution (CVD) released the collection. "Polka Dot Tie", "The Gang", "Help", "Louder Please", and "Watchdogs" were unedited. "Down On The Farm" was edited by about 5 seconds when Davey and his friend were seen jumping into the lake with no clothes on. "Pilgrim Boy" and "Cousin Barney" had the scenes making negative references to American Indians edited out adding up to over a minute each. "10 Little Indians" had its title changed to "Ten Pin Alley" and all the brief scenes where the word Indian was used and brief scenes with an Indian boy picking up the bowling pins were deleted and the episode is missing about a minute of footage. "Whatshisname" was edited by one minute with a scene where Davey threatens to pour molasses on another boy and then cover him with feathers.
End credit issue
In the 1980s, end credits of these episodes disappeared. New prints distributed after 1984 also omitted the end credits. In the 1960s episodes, the end credits consisted of a variation on the instrumental horn and organ theme - "A Mighty Fortress Is Our GodA Mighty Fortress is Our God
"A Mighty Fortress Is Our God" is the best known of Martin Luther's hymns. Luther wrote the words and composed the melody sometime between 1527 and 1529. It has been translated into English at least seventy times and also into many other languages...
" (the modern form of which was written by Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...
for the hymn written earlier by Martin Luther
Martin Luther
Martin Luther was a German priest, professor of theology and iconic figure of the Protestant Reformation. He strongly disputed the claim that freedom from God's punishment for sin could be purchased with money. He confronted indulgence salesman Johann Tetzel with his Ninety-Five Theses in 1517...
) - over the Lutheran Church logo with the credits being displayed. The 1970s episodes had various instrumental pieces accompanying end credits. However, the thirty-minute holiday episodes' end credits remain intact. The reason for this is unknown.
In the fall of 2005, TBN
Trinity Broadcasting Network
The Trinity Broadcasting Network is a major American Christian television network. TBN is based in Costa Mesa, California, with auxiliary studio facilities in Irving, Texas; Hendersonville, Tennessee; Gadsden, Alabama; Decatur, Georgia; Miami, Florida; Tulsa, Oklahoma; Orlando, Florida; and New...
began running the episodes with the end credits included. Also, end credits now appear on the post 2005 DVD releases from Starlight Home Entertainment.
Parodies
- Adult SwimAdult SwimAdult Swim is an adult-oriented Cable network that shares channel space with Cartoon Network from 9:00 pm until 6:00 am ET/PT in the United States, and broadcasts in countries such as Australia and New Zealand...
's Moral OrelMoral OrelMoral Orel is an American stop-motion animated television show, which originally aired on Adult Swim from December 13, 2005 to December 18, 2008...
is said to have been a darker and an adult-oriented parody on Davey and Goliath. Though it is stylistically and thematically similar, the show's creator states that Orel is "more based on sitcoms of the 50s and early 60s such as Leave It to BeaverLeave It to BeaverLeave It to Beaver is an American television situation comedy about an inquisitive but often naïve boy named Theodore "The Beaver" Cleaver and his adventures at home, in school, and around his suburban neighborhood...
."
- MADtvMADtvMADtv is an American sketch comedy television series. It licensed the name and logo of Mad, but otherwise had no connection with the humor magazine outside the animated Spy vs. Spy and Don Martin cartoon shorts and images of Alfred E. Neuman that the show featured during the late 1990s. Its first...
also parodied an episode of the series during season three, episode 25 as Davey and Goliath 2: Pet SemataryPet SemataryPet Sematary is a 1983 horror novel by Stephen King. It was nominated for a World Fantasy Award for Best Novel in 1984, and was later made into a film of the same name.-Plot:...
, complete with the classic stop-motion animation. The parody featured Goliath run over by a tractor-trailer truck, a motorcycle gang, and the stars of RiverdanceRiverdanceRiverdance is a theatrical show consisting of traditional Irish stepdancing, notable for its rapid leg movements while body and arms are kept largely stationary. It originated as an interval performance during the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest, a moment that is still considered a significant...
, only to be raised from the dead in the Pet Sematary. Earlier in the series, MADtv spoofed Davey and Goliath on Season One episode 14 with Davey and Son of Goliath, alluding to the Son of Sam serial killer who claimed a talking dog had instructed him to kill.
The Simpsons
The SimpsonsThe Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
, created by Matt Groening
Matt Groening
Matthew Abram "Matt" Groening is an American cartoonist, screenwriter, and producer. He is the creator of the comic strip Life in Hell as well as two successful television series, The Simpsons and Futurama....
, who was raised Lutheran, has spoofed the series several times.
- In the episode "Homer vs. Lisa and the 8th CommandmentHomer vs. Lisa and the 8th Commandment"Homer vs. Lisa and the 8th Commandment" is the thirteenth episode of The Simpsons second season and the 26th episode overall. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on February 7, 1991. In the episode, Homer gets an illegal cable hook-up. Despite the family's enjoyment of the...
", after watching television all night HomerHomer SimpsonHomer Jay Simpson is a fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons and the patriarch of the eponymous family. He is voiced by Dan Castellaneta and first appeared on television, along with the rest of his family, in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
appears to be watching the show. A character obviously meant to be Davey says, "We could get there quicker if we took my dad's car!" Goliath answers, "I don't knooowwww, Davey!"
- During the episode "Bart the LoverBart the Lover"Bart the Lover" is the sixteenth episode of The Simpsons third season. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on February 13, 1992. In the episode Mrs. Edna Krabappel, Bart's teacher, feels increasingly isolated and, looking for a companion, places a personal ad in the newspaper...
", Maude Flanders speaks about her son Todd's TV habits: "Well, he used to watch Davey and Goliath, but he thought the idea of a talking dog was blasphemous...".
- In the episode "Simpsons Bible StoriesSimpsons Bible Stories"Simpsons Bible Stories" is the eighteenth episode of The Simpsons tenth season. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on Easter, 1999. It is the first of The Simpsons now annual trilogy episodes, and consists of four self-contained segments. In the episode the Simpsons all fall...
", BartBart SimpsonBartholomew JoJo "Bart" Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons and part of the Simpson family. He is voiced by actress Nancy Cartwright and first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
dreams that he is David in the biblical story of Goliath. Santa's Little HelperSanta's Little HelperSanta's Little Helper is a recurring character in the American animated television series The Simpsons. He is the pet greyhound of the Simpson family. The dog was introduced in the first episode of the show, the 1989 Christmas special "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire", in which his owner abandons...
walks up to Bart and says the famous line "I don't know, Davey! You're getting kind of fat there, Davey."
- In the episode "HOMЯ", "Gravey and JobriathJobriathJobriath , was an American folk and glam rock musician and actor...
" was a show watched by Ned FlandersNed FlandersNedward "Ned" Flanders, Jr. is a recurring fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons. He is voiced by Harry Shearer, and first appeared in the series premiere episode "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire". He is the next door neighbor to the Simpson family and is generally...
and his sons at an animation festival. The episode concerned Gravey's attempts to construct a pipe bombPipe bombA pipe bomb is an improvised explosive device, a tightly sealed section of pipe filled with an explosive material. The containment provided by the pipe means that simple low explosives can be used to produce a relatively large explosion, and the fragmentation of the pipe itself creates potentially...
("for to blow up the Planned ParenthoodPlanned ParenthoodPlanned Parenthood Federation of America , commonly shortened to Planned Parenthood, is the U.S. affiliate of the International Planned Parenthood Federation and one of its larger members. PPFA is a non-profit organization providing reproductive health and maternal and child health services. The...
!"). In contrast to the traditionally animated style of The Simpsons, the segment was created using stop-motion animation much like the original series. It ended with Gravey shoving the pipe bomb into Jobriath's mouth for his "lack of faith," followed by an off-screen explosion and cheering from the Flanders children.