Hong Kong Phooey

***Hong Kong Phooey*** is an American animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and originally broadcast on ABC. The original episodes aired from September 7 to December 21, 1974, and then in repeats until 1976. The show was brought back in reruns in 1978 and 1981. The main character, Hong Kong Phooey, is the clownishly clumsy secret identity of Penrod "Penry" Pooch, working at a police station as a "mild-mannered" janitor under the glare of Sergeant Flint, nicknamed "Sarge."

Penry disguises himself as Hong Kong Phooey by jumping into a filing cabinet despite always getting stuck – and unstuck by his pet cat Spot – and once disguised, gets equipped with the "Phooeymobile" vehicle that transforms itself into a boat, a plane, or a telephone booth, depending on the circumstances.

He fights crime relying on his copy of *The Hong Kong Kung Fu Book of Tricks*, a correspondence-course martial-arts instruction handbook. However, his successes are only either thanks to Spot, who provides a solution to the challenges, or the direct result of a comically unintended side effect of his conscious efforts. The humor of incompetence of Hong Kong Phooey is a recurring theme of each episode. The backgrounds were designed by Lorraine Andrina and Richard Khim.

## Synopsis

Each episode begins with Rosemary, the somewhat ditzy telephone operator, getting a call about a crime which she explains to Sergeant Flint. Penry, the janitor, overhears the conversation and proceeds to transform himself into the crime-fighting canine (whom Rosemary has a crush on) by slipping into the hidden room behind the vending machine, then jumping into the bottom drawer of his filing cabinet, getting stuck, and, with help from Spot, coming out of the top drawer.

After sliding behind an ironing board to the floor below, he bounces off an old sofa, through an open window, into a dumpster outside, and emerges driving his Phooeymobile. Even when he crashes into, harms, or otherwise inconveniences a civilian, the passer-by feels honored, as opposed to being annoyed or embarrassed, when they see who did it. One example was when he drove the Phooeymobile through wet cement, splattering the workers: they responded that it was an honor to have a whole day's work ruined by "the great Hong Kong Phooey". Despite his blatant lack of talent or intelligence, Hong Kong Phooey is feared by criminals and admired by citizens, but disliked by Sergeant Flint who sees him only as a hindrance to the police, and as evidenced in the final episode "Comedy Cowboys", Flint takes pleasure in arresting the framed hero (though he is later exonerated).

## Production

Hong Kong Phooey is voiced by Scatman Crothers. Sergeant Flint is voiced by Joe E. Ross, who was best known as Officer Gunther Toody in the early 1960s television series *Car 54, Where Are You?* As Flint, Ross revived Toody's famous "Ooh! Ooh!" exclamation.

The final episode, "Comedy Cowboys," was intended as a backdoor pilot for a new series. In this two-part episode, several new cartoon characters, who are named Honcho, The Mystery Maverick, and the Posse Impossible, appear and help to clear Hong Kong Phooey of a crime. These characters later appear in their own continuing segment, "Posse Impossible" on *CB Bears.* Like many animated series created by Hanna-Barbera in the 1970s, the show uses the limited Hanna-Barbera laugh track.

## Voice cast

* Scatman Crothers – Hong Kong Phooey/Penrod "Penry" Pooch
* Kathy Gori – Rosemary
* Joe E. Ross – Sergeant Flint
* Don Messick – Spot, The Narrator, Additional Voices

### Additional voices

* Daws Butler
* Richard Dawson
* Ron Feinberg
* Bob Holt
* Casey Kasem
* Jay Lawrence
* Peter Leeds
* Allan Melvin
* Alan Oppenheimer
* Robert Ridgely
* Fran Ryan
* Hal Smith
* Jean Vander Pyl
* Lee Vines
* Janet Waldo
* John Stephenson
* Lennie Weinrib
* Frank Welker
* Paul Winchell