Camp Runamuck Explained

Genre:Sitcom
Creator:David Swift
Director:Charles Barton
Bruce Bilson
Howard Duff
Hal March
R. Robert Rosenbaum
David Swift
Starring:Arch Johnson
David Ketchum
Dave Madden
Alice Nunn
Theme Music Composer:Frank DeVol
Jack Keller
Howard Greenfield
Opentheme:"Camp Runamuck Theme"
Composer:Edward J. Forsyth
Country:United States
Language:English
Num Seasons:1
Num Episodes:26
Executive Producer:David Swift
Producer:Billy Friedberg
Editor:Ralph James Hall
Runtime:22 - 24 minutes
Company:Runamuck Productions Inc.
Screen Gems Television
Channel:NBC

Camp Runamuck is an American sitcom that aired on NBC during the 1965–66 television season. The series was created and executive produced by David Swift, and aired for 26 episodes.

Synopsis

The series related the wacky goings-on at the titular boys' summer camp, and at Camp Divine, its girls' counterpart across the lake. Runamuck was run by Commander Wivenhoe (Arch Johnson), a man who couldn't stand kids, and senior counselor Spiffy (David Ketchum), his assistant of sorts.

Helping them out were counselor Pruett (Dave Madden), Doc Joslyn, and camp cook Malden (Mike Wagner). Eulalia Divine (Hermione Baddeley) was the owner of the girls' camp, which was run by chief counselor Mahalia May Gruenecker (Alice Nunn). Nina Wayne (younger sister of Carol) played Camp Divine's curvaceous counsellor Caprice Yeudleman. The competitiveness between the two camps and the incidents and accidents that would normally occur at such summer camps - missing kids, people falling into the lake, food poisoning, and so on - formed the basis of most of the show's plots.

The series was scheduled opposite CBS's The Wild Wild West and ABC's The Flintstones and struggled in the ratings. The series was canceled after 26 episodes, with the last new episode airing on April 15, 1966. Reruns aired on NBC until September 2, 1966.[1]

Production notes

Composer and bandleader Frank DeVol (who also wrote the series' theme song) played the part of Doc Joslyn in the pilot episode, but illness forced him to quit the role, and he was replaced by Leonard Stone for the actual series.[2] DeVol's original theme song was performed by Bobby Darin. Hugo Montenegro provided a new theme song and score to the episodes.

In April 1966, Dell Comics issued a Camp Runamuck comic book.[3]

Some of the characters on that show were based on some of the names described in the song "Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh" by Allan Sherman, including Joe Spivey.

Cast

Episodes

Episode # Episode title Directed by Written by Original airdate
1-1 "Who Stole My Bathtub?" David Swift September 17, 1965
1-2 "Rabbits of the World Unite" David Swift David Swift September 24, 1965
1-3 "Fraternize" R. Robert Rosenbaum David Swift October 1, 1965
1-4 "I'm in Luv with Your Beautiful Limpid Eyes, But I Can't Marry You Because You're a Cow" David Swift David Swift October 8, 1965
1-5 "Say, You're A Bleeder Aren't You?' Tom Asks Cuttingly" David Swift October 15, 1965
1-6 "They're Not Making Hurricanes Like They Used To" Howard Duff David Swift October 22, 1965
1-7 "Turtle???" R. Robert Rosenbaum Sidney A. Mandel & Bob Rodgers October 29, 1965
1-8 "Slaughter" David Swift David Swift November 5, 1965
1-9 "Today is Parent's Day" David Swift David Swift November 12, 1965
1-10 "Masquerade" Howard Duff Sidney A. Mandel & Bob Rodgers November 19, 1965
1-11 "Spiffy Quits - Part 1" David Swift Sidney A. Mandel & Bob Rodgers November 26, 1965
1-12 "Spiffy Quits - Part II" David Swift David Swift December 3, 1965
1-13 "Soapsuds" R. Robert Rosenbaum Sidney A. Mandel & Bob Rodgers December 10, 1965
1-14 "The New Swimming Pool" R. Robert Rosenbaum Sidney A. Mandel & Bob Rodgers December 24, 1965
1-15 "Wivenhoe's New Car" Howard Duff Sidney A. Mandel & Bob Rodgers December 31, 1965
1-16 "Tomboy" Hal March Ann Marcus & David Swift January 7, 1966
1-17 "Look Out, Here Comes Arnie" Howard Duff Sidney A. Mandel & Bob Rodgers January 14, 1966
1-18 "Diet" R. Robert Rosenbaum Sidney A. Mandel & Bob Rodgers January 28, 1966
1-19 "Air Conditioner" R. Robert Rosenbaum Sidney A. Mandel & Bob Rodgers February 4, 1966
1-20 "Food Poisoning" Howard Duff Sidney A. Mandel & Bob Rodgers February 11, 1966
1-21 "Building" R. Robert Rosenbaum David Swift February 25, 1966
1-22 "Termites" Sidney A. Mandel & Bob Rodgers March 4, 1966
1-23 "Peace" Howard Duff Sidney A. Mandel & Bob Rodgers March 18, 1966
1-24 "Malden Falls in Love" David Butler Bill Freedman & Ben Gershman March 25, 1966
1-25 "Senior Citizens" Howard Duff Sidney A. Mandel & Bob Rodgers April 8, 1966
1-26 "Commander for a Day" Bill Freedman & Ben Gershman April 15, 1966

Syndication

The series aired in the UK by the BBC on Saturday mornings 10 years after it aired in the United States. (Although this was the first network UK screening of Camp Runamuck, the series was aired by some ITV regional stations in 1969). In the United States, it briefly ran on Nickelodeon[4] and Comedy Central.

Approximately half of the series became available on streaming service Crackle in 2021.[5]

External links

Notes and References

  1. Book: Hyatt, Wesley. Short-lived Television Series, 1948-1978: Thirty Years of More Than 1,000 flops. McFarland & Co.. 2003. 155. 0-7864-1420-0.
  2. Book: Brooks, Tim. Marsh, Earle. The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946-Present. Ballantine Books. 1999. 7. 157. 0-345-42923-0. registration.
  3. Book: Eury, Michael. Giordano, Dick. Dick Giordano: Changing Comics, One Day at a Time. TwoMorrows Publishing. 2003. 1967. 1-893905-27-6.
  4. Web site: Saturday afternoon. August 5, 1990. Reading Eagle. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20200128045450/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=if0hAAAAIBAJ&sjid=xqMFAAAAIBAJ&pg=2434,1792428 . 2020-01-28 . 2019-10-14. Scroll to the right.
  5. Web site: Crackle - Watch Camp Runamuck . Crackle . Crackle Plus, LLC . 2021-11-27.