September 7, 1968: The Banana Splits Adventure Hour premiers on television. Greek-Canadian/American puppeteers, Sid Krofft, and Marty Krofft designed the costumes.
Siblings, Sid (Cydus) Yolas and Marty (Moshopopoulos) Yolas, who later changed their names to Krofft, were born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, to Greek parents, Peter and Mary Yolas. Moving to New York, Sid became a well-known puppeteer in vaudeville and also with Ringling Brothers and Barnum Bailey Circus. In the 1940s, Sid developed a one-man puppet show and toured Paris with his father, while Marty stayed in New York and worked on his puppetry.
Sid and Marty Krofft’s Crazy World
In 1967, Hanna-Barbera asked the Kroffts to designed costumes for an animated show with some live-action segments. It was based on a fictional rock band with four goofy animal characters, including Fleegle, guitar and vocals, Bingo, drums and vocals, Drooper, bass and vocals, and Snorky, keyboards and effects. The Banana Splits Adventure hour ran for thirty-one episodes on NBC Saturday mornings, and premiered on September 7, 1968, and ended September 5, 1970. Thereafter, it went into syndication from 1971 to 1982.
The Krofft brother went on to other television shows including, H.R. Pufnstuf, The Bugaloos, Sigmund and the Sea Monsters, and Land of the Lost. Sid and Marty received an Emmy Award for Lifetime Achievement, TV Land Award for Pop Culture, and Saturn Award for Life Career.