The Little Clowns of Happytown

September 26, 1987 - July 16, 1988

The Little Clowns of Happytown is an American animated television series that aired as part of ABC's Saturday morning lineup from September 26, 1987 to July 16, 1988. It centers around a group of clowns from Happytown—Big Top, Badum-Bump, Hiccup, Tickles, Pranky, and Blooper, their pet elephant Rover and their mentor, Mr. Pickleherring—who go around spreading happiness and helping others with their problems while dealing with the Obviously Evil Awful B. Bad and his minions, Geek and Whiner, who constantly get in their way with their shenanigans.

The show ran for 18 episodes, and only six episodes were ever released on home media. The show was a co-production of Marvel Productions and Murakami-Wolf-Swenson, though only the former's logo showed at the end; ABC themselves also served as a co-producer, and the show was copyrighted to them (meaning Disney got their hands on it long before their acquisition of the Marvel Productions backlog in 2001 via Saban Entertainment).

Storyline

The series is set around young clowns from Happytown, whose goal is to spread happiness and imbue positive mental attitudes to the city next door. The young clowns are Big Top (the leader), Badum-Bump (Big Top's little brother), Hiccup (Big Top's helper), Tickles (Hiccup's best friend), Pranky (Big Top's best friend), and Blooper (Hiccup's big brother), along with their pet elephant, Rover, and their mentor, Mr. Pickleherring. They are also accompanied by the clownimals, clown-like animals that only Badum-Bump can understand. The only thing that stands in their way is Awful B. Bad and his minions, Geek and Whiner.

Sound Effects Used

This late 80s cartoon show uses Hanna-Barbera, Warner Bros., Cartoon Trax Volume 1, Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends (Jay Ward), Universal Studios, The Super Single Volume 1, The Edge Edition Volume 1, The Premiere Edition Volume 1/9, Series 1000, and Series 4000 sound effects.

• Anime High Pitched Miscellaneous Sound
• Cartoon Swish 43
• H-B BOING, CARTOON - WACKY SPROING/Sound Ideas, BOING, CARTOON - SPROING 01
• H-B SLIDE, CARTOON - SHORT SLIDE WHISTLE UP
• H-B SNAP, CARTOON - POP AND BIG SNAP WITH BOING
• H-B TAKE, CARTOON - SMALL WHISTLE TAKE DOWN
• H-B TAKE, CARTOON - SMALL WHISTLE TAKE UP
• H-B ZIP, CARTOON - BIG WHISTLE ZING OUT, LONG
• H-B ZIP, CARTOON - HIGH WHISTLE ZING OUT
• H-B ZIP, CARTOON - LOW WHISTLE ZING OUT
• H-B ZIP, CARTOON - QUICK WHISTLE ZIP IN 02/Sound Ideas, ZIP, CARTOON - RICCO ZIP IN 02 (R & B)
• H-B ZIP, CARTOON - QUICK WHISTLE ZIP IN, HIGH/Sound Ideas, ZIP, CARTOON - RICCO ZIP IN 01 (R & B)/ZIP, CARTOON - QUICK WHISTLE ZIP IN
• Hollywoodedge, Boink Bork Flatulent PE941007/Cartoon Raspberries TE021503/H-B SPIT, CARTOON - FUNNY ZORK SPIT/Sound Ideas, BORK, CARTOON - LOUD ZORK
• Hollywoodedge, Bulb Horn Honk PE940706/Honk Cartoon Marx Bro PE941203/H-B HIT, CARTOON - HORN BONK (First heard in "Baby Blues".)
• Hollywoodedge, Cartoon Streaks 1 SS016501/Sound Ideas, ZIP, CARTOON - QUICK WHISTLE ZIP OUT
• Hollywoodedge, Cartoon Streaks 2 SS016502/Sound Ideas, ZIP, CARTOON - QUICK WHISTLE ZIP OUT, HIGH
• Hollywoodedge, Laser Blasts CRT050604/Sound Ideas, RICOCHET - SPACEY ZAP RICCO
• Hollywoodedge, Sharp Quick Snap Rev CRT017603/Sound Ideas, CARTOON - WHIRL, SNAP, SPIN, SMACK, TWIRL AND DING/Sound Ideas, CARTOON - SMACK, SPIN, WHIRL DOWN AND DING/Sound Ideas, CRASH, CARTOON - CRASH, SLIDE AND DING
• Hollywoodedge, Small Interior Crowd PE140301 (Debut; first heard in "Baby Blues".)
• Hollywoodedge, Wet Splats Various CRT052303
• Miscellaneous Anime Sound 9
• Sound Ideas, ARROW, CARTOON - ARROW HIT 01
• Sound Ideas, ARROW, CARTOON - ARROW SWIZZLE IN
• Sound Ideas, BELL, TREE - GLISS, MUSIC, PERCUSSION 01
• Sound Ideas, BODYFALL - BODYFALL ON DIRT, HUMAN 01
• Sound Ideas, BOING, CARTOON - BOING AND SPRING
• Sound Ideas, BOING, CARTOON - BOINK AND WIGGLE
• Sound Ideas, BOING, CARTOON - HOYT'S BOING
• Sound Ideas, BOING, CARTOON - HOYT'S BOING COLLECTION 01
• Sound Ideas, BOING, CARTOON - SHORT FLAT BOING
• Sound Ideas, BOING, CARTOON - TROMBOING
• Sound Ideas, BOINK, CARTOON - DOINK 01
• Sound Ideas, BORK, CARTOON - LOW BORK
• Sound Ideas, BOUNCE, CARTOON - SINGLE TIMPANI BOUNCE 01 (First heard in a low pitch in "Baby Blues".)
• Sound Ideas, CARTOON, WHISTLE - FALL WHISTLE, MEDIUM 01 (First heard in "Baby Blues".)
• Sound Ideas, EXPLOSION - MEDIUM EXPLOSION 01 (H-B)
• Sound Ideas, EXPLOSION - LARGE EXPLOSION 03 (H-B)/EXPLOSION - LARGE BLAST 03 (Universal Studios)/EXPLOSION - LARGE EXPLOSION
• Sound Ideas, HELICOPTER - IN FLIGHT 01
• Sound Ideas, HIT, CARTOON - BRAKE DRUM AND BULB HORN HIT
• Sound Ideas, HIT, CARTOON - CYMBAL CRASH
• Sound Ideas, HIT, CARTOON - HEAVY TIMP RISE
• Sound Ideas, HIT, CARTOON - SOLID TIMP RISE
• Sound Ideas, HORN, CARTOON - KAZOO PARTY HORN
• Sound Ideas, HOP, CARTOON - PIXIE AND DIXIE HOP, LONG/MEDIUM/SHORT (Heard often, especially in the promos from the very beginning of "Joking Around With The Little Clowns".)
• Sound Ideas, HOP, CARTOON - SINGLE JEWS HARP HOP 01
• Sound Ideas, PICK, CARTOON - FIDDLE PICK AND RISE, MEDIUM 01
• Sound Ideas, PICK, CARTOON - FIDDLE PICK AND RISE, MEDIUM 02
• Sound Ideas, PLINK, CARTOON - SOUR PLINK
• Sound Ideas, POP, CARTOON - HOYT'S POP
• Sound Ideas, POP, CARTOON - POP GUN 01
• Sound Ideas, POP, CARTOON - POP GUN 02
• Sound Ideas, POP, CARTOON - POP GUN 03
• Sound Ideas, RICOCHET - CARTOON RICCO 01
• Sound Ideas, RICOCHET - RICCO AND WHINE 02
• Sound Ideas, RICOCHET - SLICK RICCO 01/GUN, RICOCHET - SINGLE RICOCHET, BULLET 01
• Sound Ideas, RUN, CARTOON - FAST RUN, LONG/SHORT
• Sound Ideas, RUN, CARTOON - WIND WHISTLE SCAT
• Sound Ideas, SKID, CARTOON - BROKEN SKID
• Sound Ideas, SLIDE, CARTOON - FAST SLIDE UP AND DOWN 02
• Sound Ideas, SLIDE, CARTOON - FIDDLE SLIDE DOWN 01
• Sound Ideas, SLIDE, CARTOON - QUICK SLIDE DOWN
• Sound Ideas, SPLAT, CARTOON - PAINT FIGHT GLOP 02
• Sound Ideas, SPLAT, CARTOON - PAINT FIGHT GLOP 05/SQUIRT, CARTOON - PAINT FIGHT SQUIRT 02
• Sound Ideas, SPLAT, CARTOON - PAINT FIGHT GLOP 06
• Sound Ideas, SPLAT, CARTOON - ZIP AND PIE IN FACE SPLAT
• Sound Ideas, SQUEAK, CARTOON - RUBBING SQUEAKS
• Sound Ideas, SQUEEZE, CARTOON - HORN SQUEEZE, LONG/MEDIUM/SHORT
• Sound Ideas, SQUISH, CARTOON - SOFT SQUISH/SPLAT, CARTOON - PIE IN FACE SPLAT
• Sound Ideas, STRETCH, CARTOON - RUBBER STRETCH, LONG/MEDIUM/SHORT 01/SHORT 02
• Sound Ideas, STRETCH, ROPE - STRETCHING ROPE CREAK, LONG/MEDIUM 01/MEDIUM 02/MEDIUM 03/SHORT 01/SHORT 02
• Sound Ideas, SWIMMING, DIVE - DIVING SPLASH, WATER, POOL 01
• Sound Ideas, SWISH, CARTOON - FAST TWIRLING SWISH, LONG/MEDIUM/SHORT 01/02
• Sound Ideas, SWISH, CARTOON - SINGLE SWISH
• Sound Ideas, TAKE, CARTOON - FUNNY RUN UP TAKE
• Sound Ideas, TAKE, CARTOON - WHISTLE TAKE/SLIDE, CARTOON - FAST SLIDE UP AND DOWN 01 (Heaviest use of this sound effect on any episodes.)
• Sound Ideas, THUNDER - BIG THUNDER CLAP AND RUMBLE, WEATHER 04 (Varying pitches)
• Sound Ideas, TWANG, CARTOON - METALLIC RULER VIBRATE
• Sound Ideas, ZAP, CARTOON - BIG KAZAM (First heard in the intro.)
• Sound Ideas, ZIP, CARTOON - BIG WHISTLE ZING OUT
• Sound Ideas, ZIP, CARTOON - QUICK FIDDLE ZIP UP, HIGH
• Sound Ideas, ZIP, CARTOON - QUICK SLIDE WHISTLE ZIP UP
• Sound Ideas, ZIP, CARTOON - ZURUP
• WB FALL, BODY - BODYFALL WITH GRUNT 01

Image Gallery

• The Little Clowns of Happytown/Image Gallery