Hats off (get it?) to Sid and Marty Krofft, for creating "Lidsville", where children's programming and psychedelic weirdness meld like in no other show (well, except "H. R. Pufnstuf").
The plot? Seems young boy Mark (Partick, who was Eddie Munster from "The Munsters"!) goes behind the stage of a magician's act where, finding the magician's top hat has grown big enough to look down into, he falls into it and finds a weird, strange world where almost every character is some kind of hat (pith helmet, beret, beanie, etc.) except for Weenie the Geenie (Hayes, who was also Witchie Poo on "H.R." - coincidence?) and Hoodoo (the ubiquitous Charles Nelson Reilly), a goofily evil magician trying to destroy the "dum-dums" and rule hats everywhere (I guess).
It's all good, goofy fun and, as with all of Sid and Marty's shows, bright, swirling colors went hand in hand with smart kids, dumb grown-ups and LOTS of comic relief.
Reilly made the biggest impression on me as Hoodoo. As the green-skinned magician, he got the best scenes and the funniest lines. Once, terrorizing Lidsville from inside a huge, inflatable robot-like version of himself (don't ask), he looks into the camera and chortles, "If those little dum-dums knew it was me in here, they'd die!" - I always loved that one.
The whole show was great. Long live the hats!
Ten stars for "Lidsville" - living proof that the best entertainment for kids comes right off the top of your head.
