The Hilarious House of Frightenstein facts for kids

Quick facts for kids The Hilarious House of Frightenstein
Title card
Created by	Ted Barris, Ross Perigoe
Starring	Billy Van Fishka Rais Guy Big Mitch Markowitz Vincent Price Julius Sumner Miller
Theme music composer	Harry Breuer, Gary Carol and Pat Prilly
Opening theme	"March of the Martians"
Country of origin	Canada
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	130
Production
Producer(s)	Rafael "Riff" Markowitz
Camera setup	Single camera
Running time	~48 minutes
Distributor	CBS Television Distribution
Release
Original network	CHCH-TV
Original release	1971 (1971)

The Hilarious House of Frightenstein was a fun Canadian children's television show. It was made by Hamilton, Ontario's CHCH-TV station in 1971. The show was popular and shown in many places in Canada and other countries. Sometimes, you can still find it on TV. In Canada, you can watch it on the streaming service Crave.

This show was a unique sketch comedy series. It had lots of silly humor but also taught some cool things. The main actors included Billy Van, Fishka Rais, Guy Big, Mitch Markowitz, Vincent Price, and Julius Sumner Miller. Billy Van played most of the funny characters on the show.

All 130 episodes were filmed very quickly, in just nine months, starting in 1971. The parts with famous actor Vincent Price and scientist Julius Sumner Miller were all filmed in one summer.

How the Show Started

The idea for The Hilarious House of Frightenstein came from Riff Markowitz. He invited his creative friends to a dinner party to brainstorm ideas for the show. His assistant, Roger John Greco, wrote down all the ideas.

CHCH-TV, the station that made the show, had worked with Markowitz before. They had aired his children's show, The Randy Dandy Show, and an exercise program called The Ed Allen Show. CHCH-TV decided to make Frightenstein because it could help them get more advertising money from the nearby city of Toronto.

The show was a big project for Canadian TV producers at that time. It was very ambitious!

Famous horror actor Vincent Price introduced the different parts of the show. Price wanted to do something for kids, so he agreed to be in the show. He filmed almost 400 short segments in just four days. Julius Sumner Miller, an American scientist, was also in every episode. He acted like a "mad scientist," but his parts taught real science lessons and showed cool experiments.

In Canada, the show usually aired for kids after school or on weekend mornings. But in the United States, some stations showed it late at night for older students. Mitch Markowitz, who helped produce the show and acted in it, said that while kids loved the silly monsters, the show was also made for young adults who liked different kinds of comedy.

The Catchy Theme Song

The music at the beginning and end of the show was played on a Moog synthesizer. This instrument makes electronic sounds. The song was called "March of the Martians." It was played by Harry Breuer, Gary Carol, and Pat Prilly. You can find the original song on an album called The Happy Moog.

Meet the Characters

Count Frightenstein (Billy Van), Igor (Fishka Rais) and Brucie J. Monster

Each episode of the show was about Count Frightenstein trying to bring back Brucie J. Monster, who was like Frankenstein. Only some parts of the show directly showed this story. Most of the time, the characters were doing other funny things around the castle. The two main characters were in the "plot" parts, but other characters usually had their own separate segments.

Main Characters

• Count Frightenstein (played by Billy Van) was the main character. He was the 13th son of Count Dracula. He was sent to Castle Frightenstein because he couldn't bring Brucie back to life. The show's main idea was that he could only go back home to Transylvania if he succeeded. Count Frightenstein was also different from other vampires because he loved eating pizza! He also thought he was a great inventor, but his inventions were usually dangerous, useless, or just a worse version of something already common.
• Igor (played by Fishka Rais) was Count Frightenstein's helper, but he wasn't very good at his job.

Supporting Characters

Most of the supporting characters were also played by Billy Van.

• The Wolfman – This character was a werewolf disk jockey at a radio station called EECH. He played rock and roll music and acted like a famous radio host named Wolfman Jack. His theme song was "I Want to Take You Higher" by Sly and the Family Stone. His segments played popular songs from bands like The Rolling Stones and Three Dog Night.
• The Grammar Slammer – This was a voice that challenged Igor to fix grammar mistakes. If Igor failed, a big purple monster named Bammer would threaten him.
• The Professor (Julius Sumner Miller) – He was a professor who taught science lessons. He explained things like how things expand when they get hot or how a cartesian diver works.
• Bwana Clyde Batty – A British explorer who taught about wild animals on his show, Zany Zoo. His name was a funny take on a real animal trainer. His catchphrase was "ooga booga!"
• Dr. Pet Vet – A veterinarian who taught about pets and farm animals. He always offered the animal of the day to Igor as a pet, but a lazy Sloth in the basement always said no.
• Grizelda, the Ghastly Gourmet – A witch who hosted a cooking show. She was a funny copy of a famous TV chef. She cooked gross recipes in her cauldron. In every segment, she would hit her head on a pot and then declare her recipe a failure after it caused a small explosion.
• The Librarian – An old, grumpy man who tried to scare viewers by reading children's stories like "Humpty Dumpty" or "Henny Penny". He thought these were horror stories! He eventually admitted he wasn't scared either, but he still thought reading was important.
• The Maharishi – A Hindu guru who shared confusing but wise sayings. After he spoke, a big bag of flowers would fall on his head.
• The Oracle – A mystic who read horoscopes in a voice like actor Peter Lorre. He always knocked over and broke his crystal ball. He would also get his hand stuck in his new crystal ball. Then he would answer questions from viewers.
• The Mini-Count (played by Guy Big) – A small clone of the Count, about three feet tall. He appeared in short parts to tell a joke.

Puppet Characters

These characters were puppets, performed by puppeteer Joe Torbay.

• Harvey Wallbanger – The postmaster of Castle Frightenstein's "dead letter office." He appeared with the Count or Grizelda to answer letters.
• Gronk – A purple sea monster who interacted with the Count or the Wolfman. Gronk would announce himself with a loud "Gronk!" In his segments with the Count, Gronk would interrupt the Count's reading with wrong conclusions, making the Count frustrated. With the Wolfman, Gronk usually told short jokes.
• Bammer – A large purple monster who helped the Grammar Slammer correct Igor's grammar.

Other Fun Characters

• Super Hippy (played by Mitch Markowitz) — A hippie in a superhero costume. He appeared before and after commercials, telling viewers not to change the channel.
• The Singing Soldier (played by Billy Van) — A palace guard who sang opera-style songs. Every time he started to sing "Indian Love Call", someone would throw a cream pie in his face.
• The Mosquito (played by Mitch Markowitz) – A mosquito who told a bad joke about insects before biting someone's foot.
• The Gorilla (played by Billy Van or Paul Schultz) – A gorilla who would walk out of the jungle and try to scare people. But every time, a ping-pong ball would hit him in the head, making him fall over. He often tried to avoid the balls, sometimes even using a parasol!

Watching at Home

In 2005, some half-hour episodes of the show were released on DVD in the U.S. These versions had a laugh track added.

In 2006, a three-disc set of 13 full-length episodes was released in Canada. These episodes had the Wolfman segments restored. However, some of the original music had to be changed due to licensing rules.

In 2019, the entire series (without the Wolfman segments) became available to stream on Crave in Canada.

The Show's Impact

The Hilarious House of Frightenstein has been remembered and honored in different ways.

• The show was mentioned in an episode of the Ed the Sock program This Movie Sucks!. The hosts joked that they had the original coffee maker from The Hilarious House of Frightenstein in their studio.
• Comedian Mike Myers said that the show was very important in helping him develop his comedy style. He wrote about it in his 2016 book, Mike Myers' Canada.
• James "Jimbo" Insell, a Canadian drag performer, said that The Hilarious House of Frightenstein was one of the inspirations for his own comedy show, House of Jimbo.