# Famous Classic Tales

Famous Classic Tales is an animated anthology television series featuring animated adaptations of classic children's stories which aired on CBS from 1970 to 1984. The series was produced by the Australian division of Hanna-Barbera and Air Programs International (API), also from Australia, but the thirtieth installment was animated by Ruby-Spears Enterprises.

## Overview

Famous Classic Tales was broadcast on CBS and distributed by Kids Klassics Home Video and Storybook World. It had cartoons from Sydney-based API's Family Classic Tales. Featured cartoons included adaptions of classic literature such as Gulliver's Travels, Treasure Island, Black Beauty, Moby-Dick, and many others.
The creation of a series of animated features based on classic children's stories was conceived by Jack Thinnes, Media Director at Sive Advertising in Cincinnati, Ohio. The series was created for a Sive client, toy manufacturer Kenner Products, and each program was fully sponsored by Kenner on CBS Television Network on Sunday, late afternoon or early evening, during the prime toy selling season before Christmas. In 1983, the show was billed as Kenner Family Classics.
The idea to use classic children's books sprang from Thinnes' viewing of a two-minute demo of Dickens' A Christmas Carol, which was produced by Walter J. Hucker's studio, Air Programs International (API), of Sydney, Australia. API was acquired by Hanna-Barbera in 1972 after Thinnes introduced the owners of the studios to one another. After the series ran on CBS for nearly ten years, it was moved into local syndication by Sive's syndication department. However, their adaptation of A Christmas Carol was such a favorite that it continued to run on the network for fifteen years.
A similar series, Festival of Family Classics, was produced by Rankin/Bass and aired in syndication in 1972–1973.

## Episode list

| Nº | Title | Airdate | Director(s) | Production |
| 1 | Tales of Washington Irving | November 1, 1970 | Zoran Janjic | Air Programs International |
| 2 | A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court | November 26, 1970 | Zoran Janjic | Air Programs International |
| 3 | A Christmas Carol | December 13, 1970 | Zoran Janjic | Air Programs International |
| 4 | The Legend of Robin Hood | November 14, 1971 | Zoran Janjic | Air Programs International |
| 5 | Treasure Island | November 28, 1971 | Zoran Janjic | Air Programs International |
| 6 | Travels of Marco Polo | January 1, 1972 | Leif Gram | Air Programs International |
| 7 | Robinson Crusoe | November 23, 1972 | Leif Gram | Air Programs International |
| 8 | The Prince and the Pauper | November 26, 1972 | Chris Cuddington | Air Programs International |
| 9 | The Count of Monte Cristo | September 23, 1973 | William Hanna, Joseph Barbera | Hanna-Barbera Pty, Ltd. |
| 10 | Kidnapped | October 22, 1973 | Leif Gram | Air Programs International |
| 11 | The Swiss Family Robinson | October 28, 1973 | Leif Gram | Air Programs International |
| 12 | Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas | November 22, 1973 | William Hanna, Joseph Barbera | Hanna-Barbera Pty, Ltd. |
| 13 | The Three Musketeers | November 23, 1973 | William Hanna, Joseph Barbera | Hanna-Barbera Pty, Ltd. |
| 14 | The Black Arrow | December 2, 1973 | Leif Gram | Air Programs International |
| 15 | The Gentlemen of Titipu | January 15, 1974 | Leif Gram | Air Programs International |
| 16 | Moby-Dick | January 1, 1975 | Richard Slapczynski | Air Programs International |
| 17 | The Mysterious Island | November 15, 1975 | Leif Gram | Air Programs International |
| 18 | The Last of the Mohicans | November 27, 1975 | Charles A. Nichols | Hanna-Barbera Pty, Ltd. |
| 19 | Ivanhoe | November 27, 1975 | Leif Gram | Air Programs International |
| 20 | From the Earth to the Moon | January 1, 1976 | Richard Slapczynski | Air Programs International |
| 21 | Off on a Comet | January 1, 1976 | Richard Slapczynski | Air Programs International |
| 22 | Master of the World | October 23, 1976 | Leif Gram | Air Programs International |
| 23 | Davy Crockett on the Mississippi | November 20, 1976 | Charles A. Nichols | Hanna-Barbera Pty, Ltd. |
| 24 | A Journey to the Center of the Earth | November 13, 1977 | Richard Slapczynski | Air Programs International |
| 25 | Five Weeks in a Balloon | November 24, 1977 | Chris Cuddington | Hanna-Barbera Pty, Ltd. |
| 26 | Black Beauty | October 28, 1978 | Chris Cuddington | Hanna-Barbera Pty, Ltd. |
| 27 | Gulliver's Travels | November 18, 1979 | Chris Cuddington | Hanna-Barbera Pty, Ltd. |
| 28 | The Adventures of Sinbad | November 23, 1979 | Richard Slapczynski | Air Programs International |
| 29 | Daniel Boone | November 27, 1981 | Geoff Collins | Hanna-Barbera Pty, Ltd. |
| 30 | Beauty and the Beast | November 25, 1983 | Rudy Larriva | Ruby-Spears Enterprises |
| 31 | The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn | November 23, 1984 | Paul McAdam | Air Programs International |

## Home video release

Several of the Famous Classic Tales specials were released on VHS by Worldvision Home Video, GoodTimes Entertainment, Fox Lorber, Kids Klassics, Hanna-Barbera Home Video and Turner Home Entertainment. Several other stories made it to DVD afterwards, including a 2007 release from Southern Star by Koch Vision titled Hanna-Barbera Storybook Favorites which featured The Last of the Mohicans, Black Beauty and Gulliver's Travels. All of these are now out of print.
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment currently handled home video distribution rights to several of the Famous Classic Tales specials (due to Endemol Shine Australia's parent company Endemol Shine Group was acquired by and folded into Banijay on July 3, 2020 and Neil Balnaves's death of boating accident on February 21, 2022).