Baggy Pants and the Nitwits

***Baggy Pants and the Nitwits*** is a 1977 animated series, produced by DePatie-Freleng Enterprises and broadcast on NBC.

## Overview

Though the characters appeared together in the show's introduction, they each appeared separately in their own episodes. Each 30-minute episode of *Baggy Pants and the Nitwits* contained two segments: one for Baggy Pants and the other for The Nitwits.

**Baggy Pants** is an anthropomorphic cat mimicking Charlie Chaplin's "Tramp" character, right down to Chaplin's signature toothbrush mustache and walking cane. Similar to Chaplin and the Pink Panther, Baggy Pants performed all of his misadventures in pantomime, with very little or no spoken dialogue by any of the characters in his segments.

**The Nitwits** is about an elderly superhero named Tyrone (voiced by Arte Johnson) who, by public demand, re-emerged from retirement to again fight crime with help from his wife Gladys Ormphby (Ruth Buzzi) and his anthropomorphic cane which he called "Elmo" (which, among other things, helped Tyrone and Gladys to fly), taking cases at his own discretion.

Johnson and Buzzi adapted and reprised the roles they had originated in *Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In*, with much of the adult innuendo (including Tyrone's original last name Horneigh) being removed to keep the cartoon family-friendly. In the opening titles of "Nitwits" segment, Johnson himself was credited with having "created *The Nitwits* for television."

The series ran for 13 episodes; As of 2019, it has yet to be released on home video.

## Episode List

1. "Construction Caper / Earthquake McBash" - September 10, 1977
2. "Lost Dog / The Dynamic Energy Robber" - September 17, 1977
3. "Baggy Pants and Forgetful Freddy / Splish Splash" - September 24, 1977
4. "The Moving Man / The Hopeless Diamond Caper" - October 1, 1977
5. "Circus Circus / The Evil Father Nature" - October 8, 1977
6. "The Painter's Helper / Mercury Mike and His Jet Bike" - October 15, 1977
7. "Electric Girlfriend / Rustle Hustle" - October 22, 1977
8. "A Pressing Job / False Face Filbert" - October 29, 1977
9. "A Haunting Experience / Genie Meanie" - November 5, 1977
10. "Horse Laff / Chicken Lady" - November 12, 1977
11. "The Magician's Assistant / Simple Simon and the Mad Pieman" - November 19, 1977
12. "The Frog / The Hole Thing!" - November 26, 1977
13. "Beach Fun / Ratman!" - December 3, 1977

## Voices

* Ruth Buzzi as Gladys
* Arte Johnson as Tyrone

### Uncredited

* Joe Besser
* Joan Gerber
* Frank Nelson

## Credits

* "Baggy Pants & The Nitwits"
* Created for Television by: Arte Johnson
* Starring: Ruth Buzzi  as Gladys · Arte Johnson as Tyrone
* Direction: Bob McKimson, Sid Marcus, Brad Case, Spencer Peel
* "Baggy Pants" Sequences Directed by: Gerry Chiniquy
* Story Editor: Bob Ogle
* Writers: Bob Ogle, Dave Detiege, Cliff Roberts, Tony Benedict
* Storyboard Direction: Lew Marshall
* Storyboard: Alvro Arce, Bill Perez
* Graphic Design: Ric Gonzales, Bob Givens, Gary Hoffman, Tony Rivera, Martin Strudler, Lin Larson, Alvro Arce, Phil Phillipson
* Main Title Design: Arthur Leonardi
* Animation: Jim Davis, Bill Hutten, Nelson Shin, Tony Love, Bob Bransford, Don Williams, Warren Batchelder, John Gibbs, Bob Richardson, Bob BeMiller, Bob Matz, Fred Grable, Norm McCabe, John Celestri, Lee Halpern, Bob Kirk, Bernard Posner, James Walker
* Animation Checking: Armand Shaw
* Film Editing Supervised by: Bob Gillis
* Film Editors: Rick Steward, Bob Gillis
* Music Editor: Joe Siracusa
* Backgrounds Supervised by: Richard H. Thomas
* Backgrounds: Mary Krebs, Sharon Thomas
* Music by: Doug Goodwin, Steve DePatie
* "Nitwits" Conducted by: Eric Rodgers
* In Charge of Production: Lee Gunther
* Camera: Ray Lee, Ralph Migliori, Gary Gunther
* Production Mixer: Steve Orr
* Sound by Producer's Sound Service, Inc.
* © MCMLXXVII DePatie-Freleng Enterprises, Inc. · All rights reserved.
* This Picture Made Under the Jurisdiction of I.A.T.S.E.-IA, Affiliated with A.F.L.-C.I.O.
* Produced by: David H. DePatie, Friz Freleng
* DFE Films · A DePatie-Freleng Production