I was so happy to hear Diver Dan was on YouTube. My kids thought I had made this show up. It's so corny and badly done, but when I was 2 and 3 yrs old watching this I thoroughly loved it. Miss Minerva was what I aspired to become!!
Good acting gig for Dan - wear this heavy canvas beneath studio lights, move slow, no lines. And here we were, being fed a few stereotypes... Baron Baracuda is Lugosi, Trigger is that French sailor/longshoreman in stripes with drooping cig, Doc ready to break into Yiddish. And Miss Minerva, she is so beautiful! More bleach, more rhinestone! But, how does she know to 'not get too close' to 'just an ordinary man'. Say it ain't so! Nudge, nudge, wink, wink.
Where else but Youtube. This really dates us who identify with Diver Dan. Hearing the character voices really takes one back, like smelling fresh crayons. Thanks for the memory lane.
Dear 50OzCarsman,Yes! Mr.Swift did perform some character voices on"The Underdog"TV Cartoon Show..He was the voice of"Simon Bar Sinister","Cad Lackey","Riff Raff The Werewolf gangster","The Electric Eel","Batty Man'etc.
When my parents asked me to suggest a name for my brother who was born on my birthday I of course suggested Dan as this was my favorite show (short as it was). Now Dan will turn 51 this year. As for myself, I became a commercial diver in the late seventies and went to Dive school in City Island, NY. I even got to spend time in the Mark V mod 1, part of which Diver Dan is wearing. What a show.
I grew up on the North Shore. I was terrified of Baron Barracuda and the music but I was 6. Yes the Mermaid is timelessly beautiful. Great days - that and Captain Kangarro - better days.
I never saw it on tv, but once for my birthday I received a "Diver Dan board game", which was basically a tug of war game between Diver Dan and a giant octopus. You would roll the die and advance or regress a certain number of spaces. The octopus could win or Dan could win. I enjoyed the game without knowing it was based on a real tv show. Must have been a mainly Chicago show, but it became a Milton Bradley board game.
Saw this on Sunday mornings prior to church, ca. 1964-8 in the Phila. market. Didn't remember the lame theme song, or Miss Minerva, but the fish voices are classic. Can you hear Grandpa Stroehman (of bread co. fame) among them? And didn't Swift voice some Underdog characters as well? Miss Minerva's voice is so soothing. This is kind of a cool show.
Many thanks for posting this amazing clip. Haven't seen it since I was a tiny tot in the early '60s. All I remembered was Dan talking to a barracuda-type fish with a rather floppy jaw. How funny to hear the "Baron" is a riff on Count Dracula, another fish has a yiddish accent -- and of course the smoking one cracked me up. A real gem and one of the reasons I'm obsessed with Youtube.
Oh gosh, I remember watching this way back in the day!!!! The smoking fish cracks me up now. Could you see the outcry these days if they put a smoking anything on a kid's show?? Thanks for the memories. I am sending this to my brother. I think he had the hots for Miss Minerva hahaha!!
Thank you for posting this. What a great show. I agree with Bob Cronley, we learned from bad examples. The fish was Trigger, a "hench-fish" and we all knew we shouldn't be like him. At the time teachers would actually smoke in the classroom. We loved some of the teachers, but we didn't want yellow, smelly teeth like them. It was called judgement......not the thought police.
time and seasoned: when I watched this as a little kid i could NOT figure out how that thugfish kept his cigarette LIT under the sea! PS - remember EVERYONE smoked in those days. Those who didn't smoke (my mother) were considered oddballs!
This was syndicated in serial form that played on local kid's shows like Sheriff John in Los Angeles. I haven't seen this in over 40 years! Thanks for sharing!
@tde235 - Yes, Mary Ann was a definate cutie and ranks high. (aged very well, too.) But, in my opinion, at the top of the "Boyhood Babes" list has to be Ms. Elizabeth Montgomery, of "Bewitched". The show wasn't all that good, but she was the "creme de la creme", Alpha female. Oh, what I'd give for a time machine!
I did too. I hoped and prayed Miss Minerva and Diver Dan would eventually hook-up. And they really did. She was beautiful! A little girl really looked up to her!
I grew up on Ray Raynor, Bill Jackson and Bozo's Circus. This was a gret find for me! Believe me, in the 1960's this cartoon and Clutch Cargo were the best!! Diver Dan never saw Miss Minerva. The tension was always there if they would meet or not. It was great to be a kid in Chicago when Ray and Bill and Bozo were on TV.
@timeclock4000 He's the bad fish, he is supposed to smoke. (I never understood how when the bad guys does something wrong, it is somehow setting an example for the kids. He's the BAD GUY, you are not supposed to be like him. :)
Those wonderful days, as a child of the early 1960's. After school shows,they dont do that anymore. After a hard day in 5th grade,we took the edge off with these shows. We had our own TV hosts, and only 7 channels,so we all watched the same things. I like to think of it as the Sandy Becker Era. I was there watching these shows just like you. It was great.
I figured this would be on here, I too watched this as a lil' squirt in the late 50's and early 60's and occasionally catch myself humming it in the shower and I still remember the words. Too much Ray Raynor and Garfield Goose... reminds me of the time I got to go to the Bozo show!
wow I remember watching this on Garfield Goose on WGN in Chicago. I loved it, and I was also a fan of (I am sry for the misspelling) Jacque Cousteau too.(I am still a fan of him and his work and his sons and the rest of th Calypso)
Unbelievable, I remember getting up in the mornings in Chicago and watching this and other great shows before heading off to school. Wonderful memories and good clean fun. Kids today miss out on great imagination and family entertainment. Thanks for posting
wow! this show is one of my earliest tv memories. so amazing to see it again after all these years. i remember being fascinated by this when i was like 4. thanks a lot for posting it.
Boy oh boy..I remember this from the 60's..I remember Baron Baracuda and Minerva the mermaid.. and of course Diver Dan..I saw it on the Jerry Mahoney and Knucklehead show on channel 11 in Los Angeles they also hosted Tobar the 8th Man and I think Aquaman...I guess I'll probably find Gigantor on youtube also.
I think most of us remember this in black and white. I have color programs from the 1960's and turn the color off on my tv,to watch them as i remember them. Thanks for putting this video on.
I was 8 when I watched this on a show called Skipper & Company, with Ray Bellew as Skipper. It was in St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada, where I grew up.
Minerva, was a Deity that was worshiped in anchent rome, well I am too young to have seen this show I was born in 80 but I remember the bozo show very well and sunday classics so I saw part of the golden age of chicago 9 superstation. good times, and the puppetering was pretty good not too many out of synch to sound movements.
Why is it that the cheesiest cartoon shows had the coolest tunes? To this day I remember Diver Dan like it was yesterday. I also loved the filming through fish tanks! And they got paid for this! LOL!
@jsolari99 I too watched in Sacramento but don't think it was Capt Sacto cuz remember it was on channel 10 and they had a contest to name the ship and the winning entry was "The Channel Ten-der"?
I loved this show when I was a kid. The life of a mermaid was always my fantasy dream life. I'm going to post a video I made with underwater sequences in it .
does anyone recall a song "you got your green alligators and homley geese? Your humpy backed camels and your,,,,, it was on some 60s show in Chicago. Thanks Oh, and you ain't never gonna see no unicorn!
That's The Unicorn Song! They played it whenever the guy from Lincoln Park Zoo would visit the Ray Rayner show. "There was green alligators and long-necked geese; Some humpty backed camels and some chimpanzees; Some cats and rats and elephants, but sure as you're born; The loveliest of all was the unicorn"
When your at a party and you want to know how old someone is...Does anyone remember "Diver Dan". I had a boss who could sing the theme song. I loved this show. I could hardly wait for the mermaid to come on and wondered when she and Dan would finally meet up. They never did as far as I remember.
This looks like a color "demo reel" used to sell the series to local stations- all the elements are in place, and everyone in the cast is properly introduced...but the episodes that followed were filmed in black and white {no demand for color, and a budget that wouldn't allow for it}.
How do I get a copy of this footage? I had forgotten about this show. This was one of my childhood favorites and it seems to have influenced my life interests. If it is public domain i would be most grateful if you could please tell me where can I obtain it.
Some of the "Diver Dan" segments have been released on public domain DVDs by Alpha Video and East-West Video. I have seen the latter at Dollar Tree, so if there is one in your area, check it out. Alpha's DVD is on Amazon.
clutch cargo, cuddly duddley,the cubs/sox hat that ray wore,the little box of corn flakes (and lettuce) that he fed chelveston the duck. man,this brings back memories.
I had to show this to my 7 year old granddaughter. She wanted to know the identity of the "thing" hanging out of Trigger's mouth. Had to tell her it was a cigarette- and from the looks of it, filter-tipped, too.
is there any way I can get the last ever episode of Diver Dan either footage or just a summary cause my father was a huge fan when he was kid and saw all episodes with the exception with the last one. He has told me all about the 2nd to last one where Diver Dan is stuck in the clam and is about to run out of air while the Baron pops his sos note and he never knew what happened
I believe a company called "Nostalgia Family Video" released a series of public domain VHS tapes (from B/W prints of films originally made in color) but I have no idea how comprehensive it was. I think they released 5 or 6 tapes. Maybe it might be in there.
another 100 years of technology will never replace the gloriously insane production values of Diver Dan. I've long suspected that the reason you never see Miss Minerva and Diver Dan in the same scene is because they're played by the same actor.
If Frank Freda had a hand in the writing, he didn't receive screen credit for it--at least not under that name. The credited writers were Joseph Bonaduce and Ron Ronszel.
That would seem to suggest that Larry Harmon had his hand in there. He was on some talk show a number of years back and a member of the crew mentioned having played a game on the Bozo show. He was asked which version. "In LA with Larry," he said. Harmon didn't contradict him.
I found this interesting. There is a Bozo coloring book published by Western Publishing in the early 1960s, which has the drawings of the Harmon animated Bozo and other characters like Butchy and Belinda...plus Oliver O. Oliver, Sandy and a ringmaster who looks a lot like Ned Locke! (All characters from WGN in Chicago.) It shows up on ebaY all the time. It has a purple cover.
The story I've read is that in Boston, they'd been doing their own show since 1959, and Larry Harmon decided to syndicate their show. He flew to Boston, took it over, created new characters, appeared on camera, for half of the one-hour local show. That half was then syndicated. After 26 weeks, Harmon and all his characters disappeared from the show never to be seen again, and those 130 half-hours have played in syndication ever since!
(To clarify...Harmon played a few other characters in those syndicated shows, but never appeared as Bozo--Bozo was played by Frank Avruch on the Boston show from 1959 to 1970--those syndicated half-hours are from 1965-67.)
I want to spawn with her.
branek52 3 months ago
I was so happy to hear Diver Dan was on YouTube. My kids thought I had made this show up. It's so corny and badly done, but when I was 2 and 3 yrs old watching this I thoroughly loved it. Miss Minerva was what I aspired to become!!
yummyyummyumm 3 months ago
I wonder if Dan ever thought about "diving' on Miss Minerva? But Then without legs.....
weing 6 months ago
WOW...thought I was the only one on the planet who remembered Diver Dan.
rnrbunt 6 months ago
adam sandler had an action figure just like that, no joke
cameron123able 6 months ago
Good acting gig for Dan - wear this heavy canvas beneath studio lights, move slow, no lines. And here we were, being fed a few stereotypes... Baron Baracuda is Lugosi, Trigger is that French sailor/longshoreman in stripes with drooping cig, Doc ready to break into Yiddish. And Miss Minerva, she is so beautiful! More bleach, more rhinestone! But, how does she know to 'not get too close' to 'just an ordinary man'. Say it ain't so! Nudge, nudge, wink, wink.
MrDarwinsDog 6 months ago
Oh my goodness. I use to watch this as a child. Many years ago. Thank you for posting. Great memories.
Lismetdetu 7 months ago
What looks like a long snake? an innocent air-hose???
Diogenes1360 7 months ago
OH MY GOD!!! Unbelievable! So COOL! Thanks. And even with Baron Baracuda!
CHARIOTEERDC 8 months ago
Proof positive that as toddlers we were pretty easily entertained.
1960 was a very long time ago.
johnprovince 8 months ago
Miss Minerva was hot, but my fave was always Baron Barracuda. He had that Bela Lugosi thingi going...
LesbianVampireLover 9 months ago
Where else but Youtube. This really dates us who identify with Diver Dan. Hearing the character voices really takes one back, like smelling fresh crayons. Thanks for the memory lane.
Dafydde 9 months ago
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ottlakerambler 10 months ago
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ottlakerambler 10 months ago
OMG Diver Dan!!! I loved this!!!
chels01e 11 months ago
Dear 50OzCarsman,Yes! Mr.Swift did perform some character voices on"The Underdog"TV Cartoon Show..He was the voice of"Simon Bar Sinister","Cad Lackey","Riff Raff The Werewolf gangster","The Electric Eel","Batty Man'etc.
TheStanbabe 11 months ago
Always LOVED this show. The theme song even stuck in my head all these years. Go, DIVER DAN!
Wordwoman54 11 months ago
Miss Minerva smells like fish but she tastes like chicken.
pastafazool56 11 months ago 2
I lke the fish with the Yiddish accent!
comercuuy 11 months ago
OMG'SH, I had forgotten about this show!!! What a blast from the past!! Thanks for the memories...
mimisbabygirl1 11 months ago
When my parents asked me to suggest a name for my brother who was born on my birthday I of course suggested Dan as this was my favorite show (short as it was). Now Dan will turn 51 this year. As for myself, I became a commercial diver in the late seventies and went to Dive school in City Island, NY. I even got to spend time in the Mark V mod 1, part of which Diver Dan is wearing. What a show.
Mikeythediver 1 year ago
I grew up on the North Shore. I was terrified of Baron Barracuda and the music but I was 6. Yes the Mermaid is timelessly beautiful. Great days - that and Captain Kangarro - better days.
pwwatson8888 1 year ago
@pwwatson8888 What part of the North Shore? I grew up in Lake Forest, I'll ! I don't have to tell you what great shows we kids had back then.
mikey42 8 months ago
@mikey42 Wilmette. Remember Captain Kangaroo and Mr Green Jeans?
pwwatson8888 8 months ago
Colorized?
heine71 1 year ago
He moves among creatures of frightening features,
Flashing teeth slashing jaws, flapping fins snapping claws.
He protects and he saves his friends under the waves,
That's where you'll find Diver Dan.
parkman35 1 year ago
I never saw it on tv, but once for my birthday I received a "Diver Dan board game", which was basically a tug of war game between Diver Dan and a giant octopus. You would roll the die and advance or regress a certain number of spaces. The octopus could win or Dan could win. I enjoyed the game without knowing it was based on a real tv show. Must have been a mainly Chicago show, but it became a Milton Bradley board game.
PassatDoc 1 year ago 2
@PassatDoc I watehed it and it was hysterical!
Aeerobic 3 months ago
Must be one of them new waterproof cigs!
jpratt01 1 year ago
Com[are this to the cartoons now, im absoloutly in love with this show. My grandma wqas talking to me about it <3
xMaxydoodlex 1 year ago
How come all the fish have Yiddish, New York accents?
Is this Sheepheads Bay?
harpo103 1 year ago
This is Priceless
Reminds me of Pacific Ocean Park and KRLA 1110AM Pre Art laboe KRLA.
I remember watching this before Billy Barty and The Three Stooges
Thank You for the listing.
TL250Rider 1 year ago 2
Minerva is hot hottie hot
johnalang 1 year ago
baron barracuda
sussyman3016 1 year ago
I cant believe I watched this LOL
BIGPREZY 1 year ago
Nono, he isnt smoking, he is eating a Fish Stick, ahahhaha
MsEminem4eva 1 year ago
I remember this Judy.... You dug up a good one. The vicious Baracuda. lol
mezatopia 1 year ago
I did not know who Allen Swift was,but when I first saw Diver Dan I noticed one of the fish sounded like Itchy Brother(King Leonardo).
RJRanke 1 year ago
it is JUST LIKE THIS at the jetties in St. Andrews. Just like this!
drazil91 1 year ago
minerva looks like singer julie london
margaretsville 1 year ago
I used to watch these on Sheriff John's show. Mid 60s.
Synthetrix 1 year ago
This show was surprisingly entertaining and kinda' hip,in an innocent way.And Miss Minerva was waaay hot in 1960,and still is in 2010.
postatility 1 year ago
Diver Dan! Whoa! This was da bomb at the time, a smoking triggerfish and an evil barracuda named The Baron. High-tech, baby!
welcome2myhell 1 year ago
Saw this on Sunday mornings prior to church, ca. 1964-8 in the Phila. market. Didn't remember the lame theme song, or Miss Minerva, but the fish voices are classic. Can you hear Grandpa Stroehman (of bread co. fame) among them? And didn't Swift voice some Underdog characters as well? Miss Minerva's voice is so soothing. This is kind of a cool show.
50zcarsman 1 year ago
thanks for posting
swamisMotelBand1 1 year ago
arms and a long snake with a head That's not a monster that's miss minerva's dream come true.
Casablanca1939 1 year ago
Classic!
maryel3 1 year ago
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Stingray19681 1 year ago
Many thanks for posting this amazing clip. Haven't seen it since I was a tiny tot in the early '60s. All I remembered was Dan talking to a barracuda-type fish with a rather floppy jaw. How funny to hear the "Baron" is a riff on Count Dracula, another fish has a yiddish accent -- and of course the smoking one cracked me up. A real gem and one of the reasons I'm obsessed with Youtube.
Stingray19681 1 year ago
the Barracuda sounds kinda like a Jewish count dracula.
fthefarmer 1 year ago
Oh gosh, I remember watching this way back in the day!!!! The smoking fish cracks me up now. Could you see the outcry these days if they put a smoking anything on a kid's show?? Thanks for the memories. I am sending this to my brother. I think he had the hots for Miss Minerva hahaha!!
scladyusa 1 year ago
Strange!
andydada 1 year ago
Allen Swift just passed away a few days ago (at age 86). God, what a talent!
: (
fromthesidelines 1 year ago
Best darn show I ever saw. Ripley
Ripley44mag 1 year ago
Thank you for posting this. What a great show. I agree with Bob Cronley, we learned from bad examples. The fish was Trigger, a "hench-fish" and we all knew we shouldn't be like him. At the time teachers would actually smoke in the classroom. We loved some of the teachers, but we didn't want yellow, smelly teeth like them. It was called judgement......not the thought police.
Lester2955 1 year ago
time and seasoned: when I watched this as a little kid i could NOT figure out how that thugfish kept his cigarette LIT under the sea! PS - remember EVERYONE smoked in those days. Those who didn't smoke (my mother) were considered oddballs!
oogaachaka 1 year ago
WOW! Have not seen this stuff since I was a kid! 1960... I would have 3 years old. Still remember it tho, good old Baron Barracuda!
Sang1957 1 year ago
This was syndicated in serial form that played on local kid's shows like Sheriff John in Los Angeles. I haven't seen this in over 40 years! Thanks for sharing!
MonsterMenagerie 1 year ago
HAHA this is great i saw this in science class And we were like whoa...
yellowtangfish 1 year ago
Very cheesy.
loufalce 2 years ago
Obviously you are not from Chicago!!
RJBFIRECHIEF1 1 year ago
I love ya Miss Minerva. Glad you hooked him!!
AudryKay 2 years ago
Miss Minerva married diver Dan in 1983!!!
and we are still married.
merv714 2 years ago
@merv714 Wow, it took that long? I wondered if they ever got to meet. :)
BobCronley 1 year ago
@merv714 Wow, it took that long? I wondered if they ever got to meet.
BobCronley 1 year ago
He got demoted to transport services, and now he's Driver Dan.
He was in the army too, during Vietnam, as a Lieutenant.......
ranran19701 2 years ago
"we'll be back...." hahah
Schwarzenegger must have copied that complete with accent!
ranran19701 2 years ago
Smoking on a kids show! And underwater yet. Wow. Heh-heh. ; )
ASeasonedWitch 2 years ago 8
At 10 years old, I thought Miss Minerva was the prettiest woman in the world. Now, at 50, I still think the same.
hernje 2 years ago 21
You got that right. She is/was smokin hot!
coolestdude80 1 year ago
@hernje I completely agree. She was a real babe and I had a big crush on her. Next came Mary Ann from Gilligan's Island.
tde235 1 year ago
@tde235 - Yes, Mary Ann was a definate cutie and ranks high. (aged very well, too.) But, in my opinion, at the top of the "Boyhood Babes" list has to be Ms. Elizabeth Montgomery, of "Bewitched". The show wasn't all that good, but she was the "creme de la creme", Alpha female. Oh, what I'd give for a time machine!
hernje 1 year ago
I did too. I hoped and prayed Miss Minerva and Diver Dan would eventually hook-up. And they really did. She was beautiful! A little girl really looked up to her!
AudryKay 1 year ago
@hernje I agree.
Weasler455 1 year ago
Baron Barracuda..OMG.
STUMPgrinder57 2 years ago
A Priceless treasure and treat , thanks for the post! love it! I love the line "Goldie is protected by the hard water" Glass fish bowl!
birdnerder 2 years ago
Dear SPSmyth, The name of the actor...who did the voices for"Diver Dan"and The fish puppets..is spelt..Allen Swift not Allan or
Alan Swift.
143AC 2 years ago
Watch Diver Dan 2010 click here
diverdantv 2 years ago
The barracudas' side kick was the reason I started smoking. Should I sue?
ArizonaDelRio 2 years ago 2
Totally forgot about this. Minerva's hot.
latimeclockman 2 years ago
Gee - that one fish - with the ciggy butt hanging from his mouth ! Didnt some of those fish have nasty issues ?!
newrochellephoenix 2 years ago
I grew up on Ray Raynor, Bill Jackson and Bozo's Circus. This was a gret find for me! Believe me, in the 1960's this cartoon and Clutch Cargo were the best!! Diver Dan never saw Miss Minerva. The tension was always there if they would meet or not. It was great to be a kid in Chicago when Ray and Bill and Bozo were on TV.
Micki1958 2 years ago 2
hehe...smoked fish...good one. :)
OctoberWytche 2 years ago
dig that fish with the cigarette! LOL
pudddingnpie 2 years ago 2
my son loves old skool stuff like this
javsmom 2 years ago
Glub, glub! I got the bends and someone cut my freakin' airhose!
Fretkillr 2 years ago
LOL
I wonder if he ever cut the cheese in that suit.
OctoberWytche 2 years ago
I loved watching this. It brings back great memories of Ray Raynor and the Garfield Goose show, too.
ANoonatic 2 years ago
one word: LAME
architrex753 2 years ago
it's not lame to a 5 year old!
kapute2 2 years ago
is that fish smoking?, well thats not very PC is it? we cant have that.
timeclock4000 2 years ago
You never heard of smoked fish?
ToonORama 2 years ago 9
Iv never seen this show, its funny but i didnt know if that was a cigerett or not.
timeclock4000 2 years ago
@timeclock4000 He's the bad fish, he is supposed to smoke. (I never understood how when the bad guys does something wrong, it is somehow setting an example for the kids. He's the BAD GUY, you are not supposed to be like him. :)
BobCronley 1 year ago
@timeclock4000 His name was "Trigger", and the boss was "Baron Barracuda".
Weasler455 1 year ago
@timeclock4000 political correctness is garbage
bob888907 1 year ago
One of my earliest memories of TV shows watched.
LastTree 2 years ago
Those wonderful days, as a child of the early 1960's. After school shows,they dont do that anymore. After a hard day in 5th grade,we took the edge off with these shows. We had our own TV hosts, and only 7 channels,so we all watched the same things. I like to think of it as the Sandy Becker Era. I was there watching these shows just like you. It was great.
1952kid 2 years ago
This show..Diver Dan...along with Sea Hunt..inspired me to become a scuba diver! We were squirts when this was on TV! Love it!
KatradioNY 2 years ago
I figured this would be on here, I too watched this as a lil' squirt in the late 50's and early 60's and occasionally catch myself humming it in the shower and I still remember the words. Too much Ray Raynor and Garfield Goose... reminds me of the time I got to go to the Bozo show!
joemichelli 2 years ago
I always remember that fish with a cigarette in his mouth. I remeber this show as a kid. First tijme I''ve seen it in about 45 or so years.
jdewitt77 2 years ago
Ditto, nerdy989898; this is onwe of my earliest memories as well. It's an eerie feeling, seeing this through mature eyes...
Kiwifrank 2 years ago
Spongebob ripped off Diver Dan.
Oglenthorne 2 years ago
wow I remember watching this on Garfield Goose on WGN in Chicago. I loved it, and I was also a fan of (I am sry for the misspelling) Jacque Cousteau too.(I am still a fan of him and his work and his sons and the rest of th Calypso)
Lifeflame5 2 years ago
Unbelievable, I remember getting up in the mornings in Chicago and watching this and other great shows before heading off to school. Wonderful memories and good clean fun. Kids today miss out on great imagination and family entertainment. Thanks for posting
coachdam57 2 years ago
wow! this show is one of my earliest tv memories. so amazing to see it again after all these years. i remember being fascinated by this when i was like 4. thanks a lot for posting it.
nerdy989898 2 years ago
Me too Nerdy , I was 4 in 1960 the best time of life...
dizyootum 2 years ago
Boy oh boy..I remember this from the 60's..I remember Baron Baracuda and Minerva the mermaid.. and of course Diver Dan..I saw it on the Jerry Mahoney and Knucklehead show on channel 11 in Los Angeles they also hosted Tobar the 8th Man and I think Aquaman...I guess I'll probably find Gigantor on youtube also.
TREYCEMONE 2 years ago
A real blast to the past! I watched this show as a kid and never missed it!
dezurtdude2 2 years ago
I think most of us remember this in black and white. I have color programs from the 1960's and turn the color off on my tv,to watch them as i remember them. Thanks for putting this video on.
1952kid 2 years ago
Are the new DVDs on Amazon in color? Are they remastered?
woodrailking 3 years ago
shwEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET !
195falconmike 3 years ago
I was 8 when I watched this on a show called Skipper & Company, with Ray Bellew as Skipper. It was in St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada, where I grew up.
Sciochick 3 years ago
this is old! my dad would loovvee this!!!
solami4 3 years ago
Best live action children's TV show ever!
MelodyThePussycat 3 years ago
Minerva, was a Deity that was worshiped in anchent rome, well I am too young to have seen this show I was born in 80 but I remember the bozo show very well and sunday classics so I saw part of the golden age of chicago 9 superstation. good times, and the puppetering was pretty good not too many out of synch to sound movements.
manga12 3 years ago
Toonarama, Thank you for posting this. I have not seen it in years. Now I can share it with my kids...
sailorette1 3 years ago
Why is it that the cheesiest cartoon shows had the coolest tunes? To this day I remember Diver Dan like it was yesterday. I also loved the filming through fish tanks! And they got paid for this! LOL!
mikeaustin1 3 years ago
I watched this on the Capt Sacto Show, KCRA in Sacramento. I must have been about 6, but I remember watching for the puppet strings.
jsolari99 3 years ago
Me too!
sailorette1 3 years ago
@jsolari99 I too watched in Sacramento but don't think it was Capt Sacto cuz remember it was on channel 10 and they had a contest to name the ship and the winning entry was "The Channel Ten-der"?
Michaelaj99 3 months ago
AHAHAHAHAAAA! My dad used to watch this show when he was like 7! "Hurry men!" hahaha but they go so slow, gosh this is just hilarious
ieatfood4lunch 3 years ago
Did anybody notice the Smoking Fish.Now thats Funny.
fleetfoot27 3 years ago 2
Miss Minerva. WOW!!!!!!!! 8D
KenMendell 3 years ago 2
Jeez..what a flashback..I think I had a thing for Miss Minerva when I was 12.
Devilbabytales 3 years ago
Great video! I have Diver Dan and the Bermuda Onion on LP, and have it transferred to cd. Any others out there? I love this stuff.
"A is for an apple, B is for a beet, C is for my collar, D is for my dollar, E is what I eat", etc. I'd love to hear from anyone who has other LP's.
canuck3761 3 years ago
I watched Diver Dan on Ch. 5 in NYC. But I never saw a color show until now. Was the series shot in color? Who has the masters?
SenorZorrozzz 3 years ago
I loved this show when I was a kid. The life of a mermaid was always my fantasy dream life. I'm going to post a video I made with underwater sequences in it .
Ruby
rubydartz 3 years ago
My mom says this was my fav show when I was about 3, all I remembered was the title. Ariel, eat your heart out!
favorsham 3 years ago
does anyone recall a song "you got your green alligators and homley geese? Your humpy backed camels and your,,,,, it was on some 60s show in Chicago. Thanks Oh, and you ain't never gonna see no unicorn!
peaceonearth777 3 years ago
That was a "top 40" song of the mid-1960's. It was made by the "Irish Rovers." I think that it was "long-necked geese", though.
TLJ1945 3 years ago
That song is "The Unicorn" by the Irish Rovers.
marovich1 3 years ago
That's The Unicorn Song! They played it whenever the guy from Lincoln Park Zoo would visit the Ray Rayner show. "There was green alligators and long-necked geese; Some humpty backed camels and some chimpanzees; Some cats and rats and elephants, but sure as you're born; The loveliest of all was the unicorn"
heyitsbeej 3 years ago
Ark in the Park.
rbrown270 3 years ago
Dear Bopalena, The "Diver Dan"TV Puppet films were first seen
on"Felix & Diver Dan"with "Uncle Fred"Scott on WNEW TV
Ch.5 in NYC Monday-Saturday and later on"Felix & The
Wizard"with Fred Hall from 1962 to 1965.
143AC 3 years ago
I remember watching this on WNEW channel 5 in NY when I was 5 or so. Are they available on DVD?
Bopalena 3 years ago
I was only about six, but I remember that I had a massive crush on Minerva the Mermaid.
ftsjr 3 years ago
When your at a party and you want to know how old someone is...Does anyone remember "Diver Dan". I had a boss who could sing the theme song. I loved this show. I could hardly wait for the mermaid to come on and wondered when she and Dan would finally meet up. They never did as far as I remember.
KayakToday 3 years ago
This looks like a color "demo reel" used to sell the series to local stations- all the elements are in place, and everyone in the cast is properly introduced...but the episodes that followed were filmed in black and white {no demand for color, and a budget that wouldn't allow for it}.
fromthesidelines 3 years ago
"Just don't get too close boys, he may be a negro."
fozz89 4 years ago
He may be a Arab
Rollman1 3 years ago
Or he might be your mama..LOL
WhiteKnights225 3 years ago
How do I get a copy of this footage? I had forgotten about this show. This was one of my childhood favorites and it seems to have influenced my life interests. If it is public domain i would be most grateful if you could please tell me where can I obtain it.
lulaboomchik 4 years ago
Some of the "Diver Dan" segments have been released on public domain DVDs by Alpha Video and East-West Video. I have seen the latter at Dollar Tree, so if there is one in your area, check it out. Alpha's DVD is on Amazon.
ToonORama 4 years ago
Thank you very much. I will!
lulaboomchik 4 years ago
I watched Diver Dan on Ch. 5 in NYC. But I never saw a color show until now. Was the series shot in color? Who has the masters?
SenorZorrozzz 3 years ago
I think someone said (either on this thread or on another Diver Dan page) that this particular episode could have been a pilot.
I believe that the regular series was filmed entirely in black & white.
The pilot ep was filmed in color for the purposes of shopping the series around
bd001217 3 years ago
Miss Minerva is way too hot for her own good !!!!
Pibbs1 4 years ago
that was pretty awesome - like "Finding Nemo" - not too shabby. I'm finding that every generation had it's great entertainment for kids.
zeekle 4 years ago
ooooh I know I'm getting old, I used to watch this after school:{
shopwelder 4 years ago
We always watched this after school with me brothers and sisters,it was great to see it again
RUSTYCAT97 4 years ago
Below in the deep there's adventure and danger,
That's where you'll find Diver Dan.
The sites that he sees are exciting and stranger,
Than ever you'll find on the land!
He moves among creatures of frightening features,
Flashing teeth slashing jaws, flapping fins snapping claws.
He protects and he saves his friends under the waves,
That's where you'll find Diver Dan.
bdicat 4 years ago
I'm sorry, did I say "Baron"? I'm confused... "Doc" had the moustache... Baron just sounds like Bernie Kopell
kb6kgx 4 years ago
Not Bernie Kopell, Alan Swift...
spsmyth 3 years ago
I loved the cigarette in Trigger's mouth, and the moustache and glasses on "The Baron".
kb6kgx 4 years ago
clutch cargo, cuddly duddley,the cubs/sox hat that ray wore,the little box of corn flakes (and lettuce) that he fed chelveston the duck. man,this brings back memories.
beeb1421 4 years ago
God bless the 60's.
bratschmom 4 years ago
I had to show this to my 7 year old granddaughter. She wanted to know the identity of the "thing" hanging out of Trigger's mouth. Had to tell her it was a cigarette- and from the looks of it, filter-tipped, too.
loriloristuff 4 years ago
Only the best! I have to wonder though, how that worked out for him, being underwater and all...
ToonORama 4 years ago
A bit soggy on the draw perhaps...
loriloristuff 4 years ago
is there any way I can get the last ever episode of Diver Dan either footage or just a summary cause my father was a huge fan when he was kid and saw all episodes with the exception with the last one. He has told me all about the 2nd to last one where Diver Dan is stuck in the clam and is about to run out of air while the Baron pops his sos note and he never knew what happened
s1monhookup 4 years ago
I believe a company called "Nostalgia Family Video" released a series of public domain VHS tapes (from B/W prints of films originally made in color) but I have no idea how comprehensive it was. I think they released 5 or 6 tapes. Maybe it might be in there.
ToonORama 4 years ago
In the final episode, the Baron and Tiger Fish detonate a sea mine that winds up blowing themselves to smithereens. The end.
wesleyweighs74kilos 3 years ago
another 100 years of technology will never replace the gloriously insane production values of Diver Dan. I've long suspected that the reason you never see Miss Minerva and Diver Dan in the same scene is because they're played by the same actor.
jackhillty 4 years ago
Dear ToonArama,
Mr.Harmon never played any characters
on those syndicated "Bozo"Tv Shows.
The characters on those shows were
played by A.Del Grosso,Carl & Ruth
Carlson,Carol Ed Spinney and Frank
Avrusch..but not Larry Harmon.
143AC 4 years ago
No wonder I ended up such an odd guy. Thanks for the memories!
heywally 4 years ago
Thanks for posting this. I've asked many from the Chicagoland area if they remember this and everyone says no. Great memories from early childhood!
speeddammit 4 years ago
I kinda remember this but mostley Ray Rayner and Friends (my favorite)Garfield Goose and of course Bozo!
blackwidowjack 4 years ago
Dear ToonO'Rama,
Acccording to an article in a back issue
of New York Newsday and another article
in Planet X magazine?
The articles have said that Mr.Freda was
the head writer for the series.
Yet?
The info in those articles could be wrong.
143AC 4 years ago
thanks toonorama!! for the memories
gary52car 4 years ago
Swift was also the voice of"Diver Dan"
..the actor in the suit playing "Diver Dan"
was the series scriptwriter Mr.Frank Freda.
143AC 4 years ago
If Frank Freda had a hand in the writing, he didn't receive screen credit for it--at least not under that name. The credited writers were Joseph Bonaduce and Ron Ronszel.
ToonORama 4 years ago
Dear ToonO'Rama,
Harmon Never played "Bozo"or any
character on his"Bozo Kids TV Shows".
He didn't create the concepts..games,drawing
lessions,etc.and he took unjust credit for
those characters and concepts.
143AC 4 years ago
Mostly correct...however, Harmon did play some small walk-on roles in some of the syndicated "Bozo's Big Top" shows taped in Boston.
ToonORama 4 years ago
Dear ToonO'Rama,
The Boston,Ma."Bozo Show"was syndicated
but both that sho and The WOR TV Ch.9 NYC
"Bozo Show"used the same characters.
Hence.
"Grandma Nelly" and "Prof.Tweetie Foofer"
appeared on a few other"Bozo Shows".
143AC 4 years ago
That would seem to suggest that Larry Harmon had his hand in there. He was on some talk show a number of years back and a member of the crew mentioned having played a game on the Bozo show. He was asked which version. "In LA with Larry," he said. Harmon didn't contradict him.
ToonORama 4 years ago
I found this interesting. There is a Bozo coloring book published by Western Publishing in the early 1960s, which has the drawings of the Harmon animated Bozo and other characters like Butchy and Belinda...plus Oliver O. Oliver, Sandy and a ringmaster who looks a lot like Ned Locke! (All characters from WGN in Chicago.) It shows up on ebaY all the time. It has a purple cover.
ToonORama 4 years ago
Dear ToonO'Rama,
"Bozo's Circus" and the local "Bozo"kids tv
shows weren't syndicated.
They were part of a franchise that was
owned by Mr.Larry Harmon and Larry Harmon
Pictures Inc.
The stations..with the exception of Boston,Ma and
Ch.9 in Nyc created their own characters and concepts.
143AC 4 years ago
The story I've read is that in Boston, they'd been doing their own show since 1959, and Larry Harmon decided to syndicate their show. He flew to Boston, took it over, created new characters, appeared on camera, for half of the one-hour local show. That half was then syndicated. After 26 weeks, Harmon and all his characters disappeared from the show never to be seen again, and those 130 half-hours have played in syndication ever since!
ToonORama 4 years ago
(To clarify...Harmon played a few other characters in those syndicated shows, but never appeared as Bozo--Bozo was played by Frank Avruch on the Boston show from 1959 to 1970--those syndicated half-hours are from 1965-67.)
ToonORama 4 years ago
I think the mermaid likes the long snake..........
mrschrisc 4 years ago