Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Here's a cool piece of animation history - a complete "broadcast" (from a 16mm film print with original commercials intact, so just a whisker shy of an actual broadcast recording) of the first rerun of the Bill Cosby special Hey! Hey! Hey! It's Fat Albert (which was transmitted in Chicago over WMAQ Channel 5.) Brought to you by those fine folks at Mattel.
This special, inspired by a track called "Go-Karts" from his 1966 album "Wonderfulness," and itself an inspiration for the 1972-84 Saturday morning cartoon series Fat Albert and The Cosby Kids (whose Filmation animation, and depiction of the characters, was miles removed from this special), is a tale of a group of kids (including Weasel, Dumb Donald and Weird Harold) with whom Bill and his brother Russell grew up in North Philadelphia.
The plot involves showings of "Wolf Man" movies at a film festival in a local theatre and a football game against the Green Street Terrors of which Fat Albert ends up playing a part.
Cosby, on this show, played himself as a little boy, as well as playing Fat Albert and Dumb Donald, and being the narrator. Other voices were Steven Cheatham as Russell, Ernestine Wade as Bill's mother, Solomon Young as Weird Harold, Alvin Hillard as Weasel, Gary Moore as Nolan, Ben Anderson as Rudy, Pat Ross as Rosemary, Angela Miller as Naomi, and Dana Marshall and Roosevelt Blow as two of the Terrors.
The music was composed and conducted by a cool cat named Herbie Hancock.
[NOTE: Between that routine and this special, the Tetragrammaton label, of which Mr. Cosby was co-owner from its 1968 founding until a few months prior to its 1969 demise, issued a single, "Fat Albert (Hey, Hey, Hey)," which was credited to The Fat Albert Chorus and Orchestra, its very first (T-1500), in 1968. In addition, the typeface used for the opening titles and closing credits was Ad Lib.]
Includes:
1962 "Laramie Peacock" animated bumper, as run post-1968 (voiceover by Mel Brandt - "The following program is brought to you in living color...on NBC")
Show opening titles
Opening sponsor billboard for Mattel ("Mattel Loves Kids")
Commercial: Hot Wheels - Rolls Royce and Drag Chute Set - from Mattel (posted separately here: youtu.be/ZEf6vhUXzZ4)
Act I, with Bill setting up premise of this special at start via voiceover
Commercials for:
Wiz-z-zer ( Wizzer / Wizzzer) - from Mattel (posted separately here: youtu.be/mB7RV-N0cNI)
New Living Barbie - from Mattel (with Maureen McCormick, of Brady Bunch fame!) (posted separately here: youtu.be/MgPbKXEWnj4)
Act II
Commercials for:
Hot Wheels Rod Runner Race Set - from Mattel (posted separately here: youtu.be/yy_3eJ6h7KQ)
New Chatty Cathy - from Mattel (posted separately here: youtu.be/76nTIi6PujA)
Act III
Commercial: Talking Story Books - from Mattel (posted separately here: youtu.be/pdr4pIJt-XU)
Closing sponsor billboard for Mattel
Ending credits:
This Has Been a Specialization of The Campbell, Silver Corporation
(C) Copyright 1969 The Campbell, Silver Corporation
Written by Ed Weinberger and Jack Mendelson and Bill Cosby
Design, Animation and Layout - Bob Bachman, Dick Drew, Lil Evans, Bill Hajee, Amby Paliwoda, Len Rogers, Leo Sullivan and Stan Green
Production Manager - Ray Thursby
Editorial Supervision - Joe Siracusa
Negative Cutting - Bud Thompson, Virginia Wood
Directors of Photography - Mike Bortman and Ken Brown
Color by Technicolor
Sound Recording by Glen Glenn Sound
Assistants to the Producers - Vera Tarvin and Barry Bunce
Casting Director - Susan McCusker
Produced by Harry J. Gittes
Directed by Ken Mundie
Executive Producers - Roy Silver and Bruce Campbell
followed by 'Produced with the NBC-TV Network' animated 'snake logo' bumper
This aired on local Chicago TV on Monday, April 27th 1970 during the 6:30pm to 7:00pm timeframe. (It had originally aired, with different commercials, on Wednesday, November 12th 1969 during the 6:30pm to 7:00pm timeframe, and would be repeated once more on Sunday, September 12th 1971 during the 6:30pm to 7:00pm timeframe; after these broadcasts, it never aired again, especially once Filmation's Fat Albert and The Cosby Kids premiered.)
About The Museum of Classic Chicago Television:
The MCCTv (FuzzyMemoriesTV) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit whose primary mission is the preservation and display of off-air, early home videotape recordings (70s to early 80s, mostly) recorded off of TV (in Chicago or other cities now too); things which would likely be lost if not sought out and preserved digitally. If you have any old 1970s videotapes recorded off of TV please email: tapes@fuzzy.tv We preserve the entire broadcasts in our archives - the complete programs with breaks (or however much is present on the tape), for historical preservation. For information on how to help in our mission, to donate or lend tapes to be converted to digital, please e-mail tapes@fuzzy.tv Thank you for your help!
Here's a cool piece of animation history - a complete "broadcast" (from a 16mm film print with original commercials intact, so just a whisker shy of an actual broadcast recording) of the first rerun of the Bill Cosby special Hey! Hey! Hey! It's Fat Albert (which was transmitted in Chicago over WMAQ Channel 5.) Brought to you by those fine folks at Mattel.
This special, inspired by a track called "Go-Karts" from his 1966 album "Wonderfulness," and itself an inspiration for the 1972-84 Saturday morning cartoon series Fat Albert and The Cosby Kids (whose Filmation animation, and depiction of the characters, was miles removed from this special), is a tale of a group of kids (including Weasel, Dumb Donald and Weird Harold) with whom Bill and his brother Russell grew up in North Philadelphia.
The plot involves showings of "Wolf Man" movies at a film festival in a local theatre and a football game against the Green Street Terrors of which Fat Albert ends up playing a part.
Cosby, on this show, played himself as a little boy, as well as playing Fat Albert and Dumb Donald, and being the narrator. Other voices were Steven Cheatham as Russell, Ernestine Wade as Bill's mother, Solomon Young as Weird Harold, Alvin Hillard as Weasel, Gary Moore as Nolan, Ben Anderson as Rudy, Pat Ross as Rosemary, Angela Miller as Naomi, and Dana Marshall and Roosevelt Blow as two of the Terrors.
The music was composed and conducted by a cool cat named Herbie Hancock.
[NOTE: Between that routine and this special, the Tetragrammaton label, of which Mr. Cosby was co-owner from its 1968 founding until a few months prior to its 1969 demise, issued a single, "Fat Albert (Hey, Hey, Hey)," which was credited to The Fat Albert Chorus and Orchestra, its very first (T-1500), in 1968. In addition, the typeface used for the opening titles and closing credits was Ad Lib.]
Includes:
1962 "Laramie Peacock" animated bumper, as run post-1968 (voiceover by Mel Brandt - "The following program is brought to you in living color...on NBC")
Show opening titles
Opening sponsor billboard for Mattel ("Mattel Loves Kids")
Commercial: Hot Wheels - Rolls Royce and Drag Chute Set - from Mattel (posted separately here: youtu.be/ZEf6vhUXzZ4)
Act I, with Bill setting up premise of this special at start via voiceover
Commercials for:
Wiz-z-zer ( Wizzer / Wizzzer) - from Mattel (posted separately here: youtu.be/mB7RV-N0cNI)
New Living Barbie - from Mattel (with Maureen McCormick, of Brady Bunch fame!) (posted separately here: youtu.be/MgPbKXEWnj4)
Act II
Commercials for:
Hot Wheels Rod Runner Race Set - from Mattel (posted separately here: youtu.be/yy_3eJ6h7KQ)
New Chatty Cathy - from Mattel (posted separately here: youtu.be/76nTIi6PujA)
Act III
Commercial: Talking Story Books - from Mattel (posted separately here: youtu.be/pdr4pIJt-XU)
Closing sponsor billboard for Mattel
Ending credits:
This Has Been a Specialization of The Campbell, Silver Corporation
(C) Copyright 1969 The Campbell, Silver Corporation
Written by Ed Weinberger and Jack Mendelson and Bill Cosby
Design, Animation and Layout - Bob Bachman, Dick Drew, Lil Evans, Bill Hajee, Amby Paliwoda, Len Rogers, Leo Sullivan and Stan Green
Production Manager - Ray Thursby
Editorial Supervision - Joe Siracusa
Negative Cutting - Bud Thompson, Virginia Wood
Directors of Photography - Mike Bortman and Ken Brown
Color by Technicolor
Sound Recording by Glen Glenn Sound
Assistants to the Producers - Vera Tarvin and Barry Bunce
Casting Director - Susan McCusker
Produced by Harry J. Gittes
Directed by Ken Mundie
Executive Producers - Roy Silver and Bruce Campbell
followed by 'Produced with the NBC-TV Network' animated 'snake logo' bumper
This aired on local Chicago TV on Monday, April 27th 1970 during the 6:30pm to 7:00pm timeframe. (It had originally aired, with different commercials, on Wednesday, November 12th 1969 during the 6:30pm to 7:00pm timeframe, and would be repeated once more on Sunday, September 12th 1971 during the 6:30pm to 7:00pm timeframe; after these broadcasts, it never aired again, especially once Filmation's Fat Albert and The Cosby Kids premiered.)
About The Museum of Classic Chicago Television:
The MCCTv (FuzzyMemoriesTV) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit whose primary mission is the preservation and display of off-air, early home videotape recordings (70s to early 80s, mostly) recorded off of TV (in Chicago or other cities now too); things which would likely be lost if not sought out and preserved digitally. If you have any old 1970s videotapes recorded off of TV please email: tapes@fuzzy.tv We preserve the entire broadcasts in our archives - the complete programs with breaks (or however much is present on the tape), for historical preservation. For information on how to help in our mission, to donate or lend tapes to be converted to digital, please e-mail tapes@fuzzy.tv Thank you for your help!
![N.A.A.C.P. [NAACP] Special Contribution Fund - Over 68 Years (PSA, 1978) ✊](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/iPGgwaiab-I/mqdefault.jpg "N.A.A.C.P. [NAACP] Special Contribution Fund - Over 68 Years (PSA, 1978) ✊
Heres a powerful one-minute PSA from the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) Special Contribution Fund, of which 34 seconds are devoted to a rapid-fire delivery of photos (1-2 frames per photo) of numerous events from 1909 (the year of the civil rights organizations founding) to the point this PSA was made, from old sharecropper homes to colored facilities, to voter registration drives, to the fight for jobs and medical access, to integration of the military, to education, to housing, to the present day (1978) - ending with a shot of a black man and his young son, and where to contact.
Voiceover by ??
Fighting for freedom for over 68 years.
This aired on local New York TV on Monday, September 25th 1978 within the 10:00am to 11:30am (Eastern) timeframe.
About The Museum of Classic Chicago Television:
The MCCTv (FuzzyMemoriesTV) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit whose primary mission is the preservation and display of off-air, early home videotape recordings (70s to early 80s, mostly) recorded off of TV (in Chicago or other cities now too); things which would likely be lost if not sought out and preserved digitally. If you have any old 1970s videotapes recorded off of TV please email: tapes@fuzzy.tv We preserve the entire broadcasts in our archives - the complete programs with breaks (or however much is present on the tape), for historical preservation. For information on how to help in our mission, to donate or lend tapes to be converted to digital, please e-mail tapes@fuzzy.tv Thank you for your help!")
