The Roman Holidays
GenreAnimated sitcom
Voices ofDom DeLuise
Daws Butler
Pamelyn Ferdin
Stanley Livingston
Shirley Mitchell
Hal Smith
Dave Willock
ComposerHoyt Curtin
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes13
Production
Executive producersWilliam Hanna
Joseph Barbera
Production companyHanna-Barbera Productions
Original release
NetworkNBC
ReleaseSeptember 9 (1972-09-09) –
December 2, 1972 (1972-12-02)

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] It ran for 13 episodes before being cancelled, and 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]

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

No.TitleOriginal air dateProd.
code
1"Double Date"September 9, 1972 (1972-09-09)58-1
Mr. Evictus threatens to evict the Holiday family if they fail to fix up his daughter Snobbia with a date for the big high school dance.
2"The Lion's Share"September 16, 1972 (1972-09-16)58-2
After Mr. Evictus threatens to evict the family for violating the "no pets" policy, Brutus runs away to find his long-lost father.
3"Star For A Day"September 23, 1972 (1972-09-23)58-3
Hap turns out to be a look-alike for rock star Davey Cassius, so the two trade places for the day.
4"Hero-Sandwiched"September 30, 1972 (1972-09-30)58-4
Gus struggles with his conscience when he's mistakenly honored as the hero who foiled a robbery.
5"The Big Split-Up"October 7, 1972 (1972-10-07)58-5
When Groovia overhears Precocia setting up Brutus on a date, she thinks it's for Hap and breaks up with him.
6"Hectic Holiday"October 14, 1972 (1972-10-14)58-6
The family finds an offer to trade houses with another family in Venice for a free vacation.
7"Switch Is Which?"October 21, 1972 (1972-10-21)58-7
After Gus stays up all night working on architectural plans for a big client under the orders of Mr. Tycoonius, Laurie dons a fake mustache to fool the client into believing she's Gus.
8"That's Show Biz"October 28, 1972 (1972-10-28)58-8
When the circus comes to town, Gus gets tickets from his old school chum Hammus Terrificus.
9"Double Dilemma"November 4, 1972 (1972-11-04)58-9

When Precocia's drum performance conflicts with his bowling team's big match, Gus must find a way to be in two places at once.

Note: This episode is a re-working of The Flintstones episode "Fred Strikes Out", which originally aired on March 2, 1962.
10"A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Chariot Wash"November 11, 1972 (1972-11-11)58-10
Mr. Tycoonius orders Gus to get his prized racing chariot washed, but the chariot is destroyed before Gus can return it.
11"Buried Treasure"November 18, 1972 (1972-11-18)58-11
Gus believes a treasure map he's found at the bottom of some junk leads to a fortune buried under the apartment building.
12"Cyrano De Happius"November 25, 1972 (1972-11-25)
Hap tries to fix up his friend with a beautiful cheerleader, but the cheerleader falls for Hap and Groovia starts dating Hap's friend.
13"Father Of The Year"December 2, 1972 (1972-12-02)58-13
Gus and Mr. Evictus compete in Rome's most prestigious competition, the Father of the Year awards.

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

Children's programming on NBC in the 1970s
Categories