In 1970, Filmation aired an interesting cartoon called Groovie Goolies. This was an animated variety show that seemed like a mashup of The Addams Family and Laugh-In. There were quick "bad-dum-tss" joke vignettes, musical numbers, and wacky animated shorts. All the monsters lived together in Horrible Hall and had a beatnik vibe. My favorite is the building switchboard operator, the vampy Bella la Ghostly. Visually she looks like a typical cartoon vamp of the era, but with a bubbly Brooklyn-type accent a'la Janine Melnitz. There are several regular female characters in the show including Sabrina Spellman and Hagatha the Witch, but the tall Morticia-like characters are always my favorite. Despite the toyetic qualities of this series, the early 1970s weren't a time known for television merchandising. But luckily there was a line of PVC figurines by Chemtoy in 1971 (that now cost an absolute mint in collector's circles). I finally managed to nab Bella at a decent price. Let's check her out below!
Confession time: I had to touch up the paint on my Bella figure quite a bit. For a 53-year-old PVC figurine, she is in really good shape. But the paint on her nose and her fingertips was completely gone, exposing the red plastic beneath - plus various other rubs and discolorations. I wanted to recreate the original paint job as best as I could so I scoured the internet looking for photos of people's figures. I thought it was interesting how much variation there was. She was clearly hand-painted so no two were identical.
Time for some Group and Comparison Pics!
Here is Bella with the other vampy Filmation lady, Mysteria, from Filmation's Ghostbusters. This PVC figure was from Yolanda in 1987
Cheers!
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