Cartoon Destination: New England Playworld

 

It's time to take another trip into unknown lands, and this one by far is unknown.  Very little is known about this place and for it to be a cartoon destination it did not last at all.  I'm talking of course about New England Playworld in Hudson, New Hampshire.

For locals, the name was best known as Benson's Animal Farm.  New England Playworld was the name given on its very last year.  The place opened in 1926 and was a mix of zoo animals and amusement rides.  I'll spare the details on the history of the park itself, but it was best known for their large 500 lbs gorilla named Colossus.  Enough is known about its years as Benson's, but what about as Playworld?

That, unfortunately, is not easy to research.  Because it only lasted one year as such, and because it was on its last legs which means not many people were coming to the park, only a handful of proof could be found online.  No video recordings exist online (or maybe ever), very few pictures, most in bad quality black and white ink, and some select merchandise proved that Mighty Mouse and the Terrytoons gang were at the park.  This blog post is supposed to fill in all the details as best as possible.  There are still plenty of gaps in this picture, but after recent research, I think I have enough information to do a post about it.  UPDATE:  We FOUND video of when it was Playworld.  Special thanks to WMUR-TV for color footage of Mighty Mouse, Heckle and Jeckle, and Deputy Dawg meeting and entertaining guests.  

New England Playworld was a rebrand to attract more guests to the park.  As the recent trend of bringing popular IPs to parks went up (Knott's had Snoopy, Cedar Point had Berenstain Bears, Kings Entertainment had Hanna-Barbera, Six Flags had Looney Tunes, Dorney Park would soon have Care Bears, and Disney had...well...Disney).  Almost by default would be the rights to use the Terrytoons characters.  These include Mighty Mouse, Heckle and Jeckle, Dinky Duck, Deputy Dawg, etc.  All licensed by Viacom (now Paramount).  Remember, Nickelodeon wasn't on the map yet and no Nicktoon existed, so Mighty Mouse would be the top cartoon brand for the company at the time.....sort of.

Playworld used as many Terrytoons characters as possible.  There was the Mighty Mouse Express which was a CP Huntington train, Gandy's Boat Rides, and rides and concessions named after Deputy Dawg, The Terry Bears, Pearl Pureheart, Hector Heathecote, and even Larriet Sam and Sad Cat.  There was a family roller coaster, but was never named after any Terrytoons characters.  Judging by the familiarity of these characters, this probably wasn't a good idea to license save for Mighty Mouse and Heckle and Jeckle.  There was also a statue of Mighty Mouse on an elephant.  

Wait...two different Mighty Mouse costumes?

There were also costume characters of the Terrytoons.  For sure we know of the following characters that had a costume: Mighty Mouse, Heckle and Jeckle, Pure Pearlheart, Oil Can Harry, Soupuss, and Deputy Dawg.  The Mighty Mouse characters specifically had a live show where Mighty Mouse has to save Pearl from Oil Can Harry.  The blog, Heroes in My Closet, tells a greater story about some of the characters and the show.  There was even one with Spider Man for some special occasion.  

New England Playland sadly came to an end after the 1987 season.  It's easy to blame the rebrand or the Terrytoons themselves.  Even Jerry Beck said the characters were added to the park "to the brink of extinction."  The reason for its closure may not be as simple as it seems.  That's not to 100% defend the Terrytoons, but they aren't completely to blame either.  In 1985, Benson's filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy.  The reason for the rebrand was to try to bring in customers due to decline in business.  The type of park was not able to compete compared to the larger parks.  Had it been a full blown rebrand adding tons of exciting rides and attractions as opposed to just slapping the Terrytoons on there and claiming them as new, it could have been better, but who knows....it was probably too late before opening day 1987.  What's interesting is that the park closed right before Mighty Mouse The New Adventures went on the air and was actually successful on Saturday Mornings.  Had this aired a TV season earlier, would it have helped the park?  Maybe, but odds are.....maybe not.  The park was in trouble, and there was no going back no matter what is to blame.  There was another park that used the Hanna Barbera characters called Frontier Village, but despite their popularity at that time, it was already too late as the property was set to be sold off causing the park to close.   

The statue moved to Magic Forest in Lake George, New York.

There is a happy ending to the park as many years later it would reopen as a recreational park.  Some of the buildings put in the National Registry of Historic Places.  But the park has a lack of rides, roller coasters, and Terrytoons. 

New England Playworld did not leave much of a legacy if any.  It would have been nice to have had a Terrytoons themed park or themed area.  Universal Studios did at one point think of using a Mighty Mouse show for their Cartoon World concept but never did.  To this day, Paramount hasn't any interest of even Mighty Mouse as the Nickelodeon characters became more and more popular, Terrytoons were shoved to the side.  Perhaps someday Mighty Mouse will come to save the day again, but for now, this has been your cartoon destination.
 

Below are some more photos (sorry for bad quality):

 

Breaking Down the latest Paramount news

 

Welp....I didn't expect Paramount to give off so much news in so little time, especially when it comes to animation.  I've made many complaints about Paramount in the past and last year I made my predictions on Paramount +.  Do they hold up?  Let's find out

1. ViacomCBS is DEAD

Ok that was click baity, but the name is gone.  Viacom is no more.  Instead, the whole company will be called Paramount (more specifically Paramount Global).  CBS will remain the brand for its network.  

2. Among the top titles for Paramount +

They are.....Paw Patrol, Clifford the Big Red Dog (uggg...why), Spongebob, and the South Park specials.  We'll talk more about South Park later.  I've said before that unless it's Spongebob or Paw Patrol, just forget it, and with these being top content, it does seem that way, but hold on.  We're not done yet.

Artwork by me, because yup....had to be done

3.  Paramount banks heavily on Sonic the Hedgehog

We already have a second Sonic movie coming out in April, but Paramount announced that a THIRD Sonic movie is coming out afterwards.  Or at the very least, in development.  Next year, a new series based around Knuckles will be coming to Paramount +.  The first Sonic movie almost became a disaster, but they actually listened to fan demands, fixed up the hedgehog, and now Paramount is making hand over fist for the blue speed demon.  As of today, The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic Sat AM, and Sonic Underground is streaming on Paramount +.  It doesn't mean Paramount fully owns these cartoons, but it does help with content library when it comes to promoting the latest Sonic stuff.  Even though he's Sega's mascot, I'm wondering if Sonic is looking to be their Mickey Mouse for Paramount.....hmmmm........

4. More Spongebob

Being a top show streaming on Paramount + of course Paramount will be working on new Spongebob.  This time, 3 characters driven films and one big theatrical tent-pole.  So expect I guess another Spongebob feature.  There's no stopping the sponge.  He's probably Nickelodeon's most popular character.  Now the network has been taking some gambles with The Loud House and Casagrandes, but will that continue...I don't know.

5.  More Turtle Power

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles will continue to thrive.  Next year, a new Ninja Turtle film will be released with Seth Rogen at the helm (hoo boy) followed by a series of villain centered films.  I guess that is one classic IP Paramount has been keeping active somewhat, though I see no original series on Paramount + yet.  My guess as to why is that there's value to be had with those original episodes ala The Muppet Show.  They're all on DVD however so there's that.  Plus they used the classic designs for All Star Brawl.  Not bad even though I'm not a Ninja Turtle fan.

6.  More Paw Patrol

A nightmare to parents and the guys in the costumes at the parks or birthday parties and community events.  Another Paw Patrol movie has been green-lit and a spin off TV series is in the works.  Now I have heard the first one is really good, so hey, at least they are not scrubbing it off as money grabber for the kids to the annoyance of parents making their kids happy.

7. Blue's Clues

A new movie, Blue's Big City Adventure, is coming out this year and will feature ALL the hosts past and present.  Blue's Clues return surprised us all as to how big of a hit it was.  To make matters better, when Steve returned with a message, it broke the Internet.  I personally think we are ready for more Blue's Clues.  I wouldn't watch it now, but as a kid it was a lot of fun.

8. Baby Shark movie in 2023

Next......

9.  Dora the Explorer

Two new series has been announced.  The first is a CGI animated series.  The second will be a live action series basing it around the newer live action movie which will be targeted to older audiences.  This ought to be interesting since Dora had always targeted towards pre-schoolers.  Maybe Paramount has come to the realization that cartoons are for everybody.

10.  South Park

The success of the South Park Covid specials means that Paramount + will be debuting 2 more South Park events per year for 6 years.  In 2024, new episodes will stream there first, and by 2025, all streaming rights will move from HBO Max over to Paramount +.  This is one of the most valuable TV shows for streaming, so this would add more value to Paramount +.  In fact, Paramount gave it more attention than HBO Max.  

11.  Last....and least.....a new Beavis and Butthead movie

In addition, Paramount a while back announced they are banking more on The Smurfs.  Something I never thought would happen because most of the latest stuff has always been through Sony, but with the recent reboot on Nickelodeon, Paramount wants to continue.  The original Hanna Barbera series is still owned by Warner, so don't worry about that.  They're also working on the newly acquired Garfield.  In fact, Nickelodeon's already doing stuff such as appearing in All Star Brawl.  The streaming rights to the original cartoons are still all over the place and nowhere over at Paramount +.  Instead, Peacock has the specials, Peacock and Tubi combined has seasons 4-7 of Garfield and Friends, and Boomerang has seasons 1-3.

And throughout all of this.....no signs about the classic cartoon library BUT Arnold Leibovit is still working with Paramount on the Puppetoons for Blu-ray and the Fleischer family in association with Rockin Pins is working on restoring their assets with some work with the original masters over at Paramount.  One of them just debuted on Me TV as part of their Colossal Christmas Special.  Could these open more of the vaults???  I guess time will tell.  

Lastly, let me just say that while the rebrand was off to a rocky start last March, Paramount + in the end pleasantly surprised me.  So many old Nickelodeon shows and even the live action Loud House movie, A Loud House Christmas.  They also started doing linear channels for content such as Spongebob and Paw Patrol.  So who knows what's next for Paramount.  Maybe something bigger????? 

"A Moose of a Deal or Bullwinkle has a Wildbrain" What does the Wildbrain Deal Mean for Jay Ward Cartoons

 

For those living under a rock (and also living in Frostbite Falls), Jay Ward Productions just made a deal with WildBrain for not just distribution of its cartoon library but also production rights for new content with these characters.  Very little is known about it other than a couple of articles including a Variety article.  What does it all mean?  Let's break it down.

First of all, WildBrain is a Canadian company that has a portfolio of cartoons in their cartoon library with ownership of many brands including the DIC library, Strawberry Shortcake, a share of the Peanuts Brand with new content, and more.  This is an independent company not owned by any of the 6 or 5 or 4 (that number keeps shrinking) major media conglomerates.  It's not the first time Ward Productions worked with these people as they helped them at Dreamworks with some rebooted shows such as The Mr. Peabody Show and Rocky and Bullwinkle.  WildBrain's track record has been hard to follow.  Not because they do so little, but because they do so much.  They license, sub-license, spread their content, and do all kinds of stuff that makes it hard to follow.  They also do animation for shows and movies not owned by their studio such as Dreamworks and Hasbro.  Even their most notable production, MLP Friendship is Magic, is not owned by WildBrain (or DHX as it was once called).  

WARNING: The next paragraph may cause headaches due to the information provided.  If you need to take a break and walk away, please do.

The Jay Ward cartoons had many different side ownership though Ward always owned his IP regardless.  Most of the confusion came from General Mills and Peter Piech, who distributed most of their cartoons to TV stations mixing in with Total Television cartoons under General Mills.  For example, in syndication, a Commander McBragg would appear in the 5th season of Rocky and Bullwinkle.  In syndication also, Tennessee Tuxedo would mix in some segments of Aesop and Son, Mr. Peabody, Fractured Fairy Tales, Mr. Know It All, and Bullwinkle's Corner.  Some of these may have ended up in original runs of Tennessee Tuxedo as well.  Original first runs of Underdog would sneak in a Jay Ward cartoon as well especially in the first season.  This mess up made the folks at TTV happy but ticked off Jay Ward as he felt that his cartoons were superior with better writing and clever gags.  Worse yet in syndication, the episodes were split into two.  Seasons 1, 2, and 5 were labeled as The Bullwinkle Show.  Seasons 3 and 4 were labeled as The Rocky Show, THOSE would also be labeled on paper as Rocky and His Friends.  As a result, the records are a mess as to what season is what.  The first two seasons were originally Rocky and his Friends while the rest of the series would be originally The Bullwinkle Show.  Somehow when some of the Bullwinkle Show ended up in syndication as The Rocky Show they just stayed in that package by Mr. Peitch while Saturday and Sunday morning reruns of The Bullwinkle picked up the first two seasons.  As a result, seasons 3 and 4 was labeled as seasons 1 and 2 and vise versa.  It wasn't until further research by Kieth Scott and his book The Moose That Roared put the correct episode order on record.  Meanwhile, Ward Productions handled everything else non TV related.  A deal was struck with Disney to distribute some of the episodes on home video under the Buena Vista label, but Universal became partial owners in the 90s mostly for theme parks and new content.  In the 2000's, Classic Media would take over that partial ownership which in turn became a part of Dreamworks in 2012 and would be bought by NBC Universal bringing them back to Universal.  The Program Exchange would be what Peter Peitch's company would become expanding beyond Ward and TTV and added sitcoms and more cartoons while still in agreement with General Mills.  Good copies, however, was not easy.  Program Exchange did a remastering process in 1987/1990 for The Bullwinkle Show.  However, The Rocky Show remained untouched in 16mm prints.  That company shut down in 2016.  The good news is that Ward productions did some remastering in 1990 for home video, and in 1997, they restored every single episode of Rocky and Bullwinkle.  They're not perfect, a music clearance issue occurred, and Bullwinkle Show titles are missing, but otherwise they are pristine (though not in HD since this was done in the 90's) and a lot of things are preserved including the original master audio for the voices and original bumpers and intros.  All under the label The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends these versions would end up on DVD.

So what's next?  Well, WildBrain is getting in total 788 episodes of Jay Ward's work.  There seems to be something missing however, and that something appears to be Hoppity Hooper.  Unfortunately, it appears that the original negatives and masters are gone.  The Program Exchange had these for years and years under the Uncle Waldo Cartoon Show brand, but they now appear to be totally missing ever since the shutdown of Program Exchange.  Only some 16mm prints and VHS recordings exists making all the episodes able to exist in some form.  Sadly, not broadcast or streaming ready.

The biggest thing WildBrain is great at is accessibility.  Many Youtube channels of their property popped up everywhere from Inspector Gadget to Sonic the Hedgehog.  A lot of their shows are up on Tubi, Pluto TV, and Paramount +.  This could very well happen to the Jay Ward stuff as well.  Rocky and Bullwinkle did stream on Hulu in its early days, but they don't anymore.  They also have a Youtube channel managed by Universal....meh....it's not that good.

As far as home video is concerned, we don't know if Universal will continue to distribute their library this way.  Even though WildBrain owns a share of Peanuts, the animated content is still being officially released on home video by Warner Bros.  Universal could in theory still have the home video rights, but it's hard to say.  Like I said, WildBrain's track record is hard to follow.  So many home video releases from so many companies.  The DIC shows when owned by Cookie Jar were all released by Shout Factory.  Now....they're everywhere.  The majority of them were released by Mill Creek Entertainment, but other companies include New Video Group, NCircle Entertainment, Invincible Pictures, and most recently with Discotek Media.  Who knows what will happen if the Jay Ward cartoons will be re-released on DVD.

What WildBrain WON'T get according to Kidscreen are the movies, The Mr. Peabody and Sherman Show, The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle Amazon series, and the George of the Jungle reboot series. These will continue to be owned by NBC Universal for sure.

Also, new content will be made with the Jay Ward characters.  These are the same people that worked with Tiffany Ward and Ward Productions before, so they are already familiar with the content.  We can expect to see more Rocky and Bullwinkle content from WildBrain.  Meanwhile, Bullwinkle's Fun Centers are still in operation as they just opened up a 5th location in Upland, CA.  The moose isn't going anywhere.  Speaking of Bullwinkle's, despite Underdog and Tennessee Tuxedo appearing at these restaurants these were obviously commissioned by Peter Pietch and are NOT Jay Ward characters, these are Total Television.  Therefore, NBC Universal continues to have total control of the property.

That's all we know.  I will be keeping an eye on this since I am a fan of these cartoons, and it's very complicated with their history.  I expect to hear more about this in the coming months.