Friday, March 17, 2006

Ghost Monkey Cop (Who Also Plays The Marimba)

Cop shows and cartoons about animals who solve crimes and are in bands were big in the 1960s. Also big were shows about ghosts and witches. D-list animation studio Banarama/Hibernia thought they'd do the industry one better and create a hip show for kids about a dead monkey who plays the marimba and solves crimes. They even got Charles Mingus' brother Billy Mingus to write and perform the theme song (with out of work lounge act Robbie "The Throat" Vertulli on vocals).

The creepy plot premise proved too much for even the rather permissive sensibilities of the baby boomers in the test audience and, perhaps also due to the suspcious and untimely drug-related death of lead animator "Trippin'" Joe Bostowiz, no further episodes were produced after the pilot (of which no known copies are believed to exist).

Only a single recording of the theme song lived on. And here it is:

http://www.victorlams.com/audio/VLams_-_Ghost_Monkey_Cop.mp3