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The Roman Holidays

The Roman Holidays is a half-hour Saturday morning animated series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and broadcast on NBC from September 9 to December 2, 1972.[1] Reruns were later shown on the USA Cartoon Express during the 1980s, Cartoon Network during the 1990s and Boomerang during the 2000s.[2]

The show was an attempt by Hanna-Barbera to replicate the success of their 1960-1966 show The Flintstones, with another modern family living in heavily fictionalized Roman times.[3] Thirteen episodes were produced.

Plot

Very similar in theme to both The Flintstones and The Jetsons, The Roman Holidays brought a look at the "marble age" life in Ancient Rome, as seen through the eyes of Augustus "Gus" Holiday and his family.[4] The opening shows a chariot traffic jam and a TV showing football on Channel "IV". An Ancient Roman setting was one of the ideas that Hanna-Barbera considered when creating The Flintstones.[5]

The Holidays, a Roman family living at the Venus DeMilo Arms Apartments in A.D. 63, deal with a variety of modern-day problems. Gus Holiday works at the Forum Construction Company for his demanding boss Mr. Tycoonius who is constantly threatening to fire Gus if an assignment he is given goes awry. He lives with his wife Laurie, children Precocia and Happius, and pet lion Brutus. Their neighbors are good friends Herman, Henrietta, and their daughter: Happy's girlfriend Groovia. Their lives are embittered by their exasperated landlord Mr. Evictus who tries to find proof of Brutus living with the Holidays, has a daughter named Snobbia, and excites Gus's tagline "Evictus will evict us!"[6]

Cast

Episodes

The Roman Holidays in other languages

Comics

Gold Key produced a comic book based on the series from November 1972 to August 1973. Only four issues were published. Pete Alvarado drew the first three; Jack Manning drew the final issue.[7]

Home media

The first episode, "Double Date", is available on the DVD Saturday Morning Cartoons: 1970s Volume 1. On April 23, 2013, Warner Archive released The Roman Holidays: The Complete Series on DVD in region 1 as part of their Hanna–Barbera Classics Collection. This is a manufacture-on-demand (MOD) release, available exclusively through Warner's online store and Amazon.com.[8]

Appearances in other media

Manatee versions of the characters Laurie and Precocia Holiday and Mr. Tycoonius appear as sirens in the Jellystone! episode "Balloon Kids". The rap song in the episode features a reference to the year the series was originally released (1972).

See also

References

  1. ^ Woolery, George W. (1983). Children's Television: The First Thirty-Five Years, 1946–1981, Part 1: Animated Cartoon Series. Scarecrow Press. pp. 243–244. ISBN 0-8108-1557-5. Retrieved 14 March 2020.
  2. ^ Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. pp. 687–688. ISBN 978-1476665993.
  3. ^ Perlmutter, David (2018). The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 517–518. ISBN 978-1538103739.
  4. ^ Sennett, Ted (1989). The Art of Hanna-Barbera: Fifty Years of Creativity. Studio. p. 178. ISBN 978-0670829781. Retrieved 2 June 2020.
  5. ^ Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. p. 336. ISBN 978-1476665993.
  6. ^ Hyatt, Wesley (1997). The Encyclopedia of Daytime Television. Watson-Guptill Publications. pp. 363–364. ISBN 978-0823083152. Retrieved 19 March 2020.
  7. ^ The Roman Holidays at Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Archived from the original on September 29, 2015.
  8. ^ "The Roman Holidays".

External links