1963 - Desperate for money, the family allows a comic book publisher called Best Comics to license the Hillsdale storyline for five years. Additional licenses are signed with all comers and the collectibles industry capitalizes on a formerly close held license. Click here to view some items from my personal collection. 1964 - The Claverack Hillsdale saturday morning cartoon is introduced into syndication and gathers a cultish following, as well as drawing fire from right wing religious leaders who saw the cartoon as promoting paganism. It is driven off the air after just one season and has never been broadcast again.
Plans exist to release a DVD at some time in the near future.
The owner, one Morris Plattsburg, was planning to appeal the decision, but was pushed off of a subway platform and killed. Left without the income from the license and the property deemed too hot to touch, the Hudson family had no choice but to sell their property in New York and Philadelphia and return to the familial haven in Vermont. 1967 - Ancram Hudson the fifth matriculates at the Crowborough State University in Vermont. He drops out after the first semester and makes his way to Haight street in San Francisco, California. 1968 - In the Red Eye Press magazine Tuned In, Claverack Hillsdale short stories begin to appear.