The Roman Holidays facts for kids
Quick facts for kids The Roman Holidays |
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Title card
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| Genre | Animated sitcom |
| Voices of | Dom DeLuise Daws Butler Pamelyn Ferdin Stanley Livingston Shirley Mitchell Hal Smith Dave Willock |
| Composer(s) | Hoyt Curtin |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of episodes | 13 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | William Hanna Joseph Barbera |
| Production company(s) | Hanna-Barbera Productions |
| Distributor | Warner Bros. Television Distribution |
| Release | |
| Original network | NBC |
| Original release | September 9 – December 2, 1972 |
The Roman Holidays was a fun animated series that aired on Saturday mornings. It was made by Hanna-Barbera Productions and shown on the NBC TV channel. The show first aired on September 9, 1972, and its last new episode was on December 2, 1972. There were 13 episodes in total.
Even after it stopped making new episodes, The Roman Holidays was shown again on other channels. You could watch reruns on the USA Cartoon Express in the 1980s, Cartoon Network in the 1990s, and Boomerang in the 2000s. Hanna-Barbera hoped this show would be as popular as their earlier hit, The Flintstones. Both shows featured a modern family living in a very old, fictionalized time period.
Contents
Meet the Holiday Family in Ancient Rome
The cartoon The Roman Holidays was a lot like The Flintstones and The Jetsons. It showed what "modern" life might have been like in Ancient Rome. The story follows the adventures of Augustus "Gus" Holiday and his family.
The show's opening scene was funny, showing a chariot traffic jam and a TV playing football on "Channel IV." Long ago, Hanna-Barbera even thought about setting The Flintstones in Ancient Rome!
Life at the Venus DeMilo Arms Apartments
The Holiday family lived in the Venus DeMilo Arms Apartments in the year A.D. 63. They faced many everyday problems, just like families today. Gus Holiday worked at the Forum Construction Company. His boss, Mr. Tycoonius, was very demanding and often threatened to fire Gus if things went wrong.
Gus lived with his wife, Laurie, and their two children, Precocia and Happius. They also had a pet lion named Brutus! Their good friends and neighbors were Herman, Henrietta, and their daughter Groovia, who was Happy's girlfriend.
Dealing with Mr. Evictus
The family's life was often made difficult by their landlord, Mr. Evictus. He was always trying to find proof that Brutus the lion lived with them because pets were not allowed. Mr. Evictus also had a daughter named Snobbia. Gus often said, "Evictus will evict us!" whenever their landlord caused trouble.
Episode Guide
Here is a list of the episodes from The Roman Holidays:
| Episode number | Episode name | Air date | What Happens |
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| RH-1 | Double Date | September 9, 1972 | Mr. Evictus says he will kick the Holiday family out if they don't find a date for his daughter Snobbia for the big high school dance. |
| RH-2 | The Lion's Share | September 16, 1972 | Mr. Evictus threatens to evict the family because of their pet lion. So, Brutus runs away to find his long-lost father. |
| RH-3 | Star For A Day | September 23, 1972 | Hap Holiday looks exactly like the rock star Davey Cassius. They decide to switch places for a day. |
| RH-4 | Hero-Sandwiched | September 30, 1972 | Gus feels bad when he is wrongly honored as the hero who stopped a robbery. |
| RH-5 | The Big Split-Up | October 7, 1972 | Groovia hears Precocia setting up a date for Brutus. She thinks it's for Hap and breaks up with him. |
| RH-6 | Hectic Holiday | October 14, 1972 | The family finds an offer to trade houses with another family in Venice for a free vacation. |
| RH-7 | Switch Is Which? | October 21, 1972 | Gus stays up all night working on building plans for a big client. Laurie puts on a fake mustache to pretend she is Gus for the client. |
| RH-8 | That's Show Biz | October 28, 1972 | When the circus comes to town, Gus gets tickets from his old school friend, Hammus Terrificus. |
| RH-9 | Double Dilemma | November 4, 1972 | Precocia's drum performance is at the same time as Gus's bowling team's big match. Gus has to find a way to be in two places at once.
Note: This episode is a new version of an old The Flintstones episode called "Fred Strikes Out." That episode first aired on March 2, 1962. |
| RH-10 | A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Chariot Wash | November 11, 1972 | Mr. Tycoonius tells Gus to get his special racing chariot washed. But the chariot gets ruined before Gus can return it. |
| RH-11 | Buried Treasure | November 18, 1972 | Gus thinks a treasure map he found in some old junk leads to a fortune buried under their apartment building. |
| RH-12 | Cyrano De Happius | November 25, 1972 | Hap tries to help his friend get a date with a pretty cheerleader. But the cheerleader likes Hap instead, and Groovia starts dating Hap's friend. |
| RH-13 | Father Of The Year | December 2, 1972 | Gus and Mr. Evictus compete in Rome's biggest competition, the Father of the Year awards. |
Voice Cast
Here are the actors who lent their voices to the characters in The Roman Holidays:
- Dom DeLuise - Mr. Evictus
- Daws Butler - Brutus the Lion
- Pamelyn Ferdin - Precocia Holiday
- Stanley Livingston - Happius Holiday
- Shirley Mitchell - Laurie Holiday
- Harold Peary - Herman
- Hal Smith - Mr. Tycoonius
- John Stephenson - (various other voices)
- Judy Strangis - Groovia
- Janet Waldo - Henrietta
- Dave Willock - Gus Holiday
The Roman Holidays Around the World
This show had different names in other languages:
- Brazilian Portuguese: Os Mussarelas (which means "The Mozzarellas")
- Galician: Festas de Roma (meaning "Roma's Parties")
- German: Die verrückten Holidays (meaning "The Crazy Holidays")
- Spanish: Roma me da risa (meaning "Rome makes me laugh")
- Italian: S.P.Q.R. - Sembrano Proprio Quasi Romani (This is a clever play on words. SPQR is a famous Latin abbreviation from Ancient Rome, and the Italian title means "They really seem almost Roman.")
In the United Kingdom, the show kept the same title, even though "roman holiday" is an American English phrase. In the UK, they might say "busman's holiday" for a similar idea.
Comics Based on the Show
Gold Key Comics made a comic book series based on The Roman Holidays. The comics came out from November 1972 to August 1973. Only four issues were published. Pete Alvarado drew the first three comics, and Jack Manning drew the last one.
See also
In Spanish: Roma me da risa para niños
