The Funky Phantom

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

Similar to Hanna-Barbera's successful Scooby Doo, The Funky Phantom featured three teenagers — Skip, April and Augie — and their dog, Elmo. While trying to get out of a storm, they entered an old house where the longcase clock was wrong. Upon setting the clock to midnight, they released two ghosts: Jonathan Wellington "Mudsy" Muddlemore, a ghost from The American Revolution, and his cat, Boo. The two of them allegedly hid inside the clock from the British during the Revolutionary War, but then couldn't get out and eventually died inside. Ever since being freed by their new friends, Mudsy and Boo have accompanied them on many mysteries, always giving an invisible helping hand.

The show -- Hanna-Barbera's first series with animation farmed out overseas (Air Programs in Sydney, Australia) -- aired on ABC in 1971. The voice of Mudsy, provided by Daws Butler, was identical to his voice work for the character Snagglepuss. Butler went so far as to include Snagglepuss' catch phrases, such as appending sentences with the word "even".

Tropes used in The Funky Phantom include: