We hope you’ve enjoyed our previous 4 articles on the animated titles of past children’s classic shows from the 70s, 80s and 90s (scroll to the bottom for the links). Now, onto our last in the series. However young or old you are, you will know these remaining animated intros, as we step back into the 1960s:
Ivor the Engine
Ivor the Engine is a British stop motion animated television series created by Oliver Postgate and Peter Firmin’s Smallfilms company. It follows the adventures of a small green steam locomotive who lived in the “top left-hand corner of Wales”. Read more about Ivor the Engine
Year: 1959 (original) 1975-77
No. of series: 4 (3 b&w, 1 colour)
No. of episodes: 72 (32 b&w, 40 colour)
Composer: Vernon Elliott
Popeye the Sailor
In the late 1950s, the original Popeye theatrical shorts began airing in many television markets and garnered huge ratings. In order to capitalize on Popeye’s television popularity, King Features hastily commissioned a new series of made-for-television Popeye cartoons. Read more about Popeye the Sailor
Year: 1960-61
No. of episodes: 220
Composer: Sammy Lerner, Winston Sharples
Flintstones
The Flintstones is an animated sitcom produced by Hanna-Barbera. The Flintstones was the most financially successful network animated franchise for three decades, until The Simpsons. Read more about Flintstones
Year: 1960-66
No. of series: 6
No. of episodes: 166
Composer: Hoyt Curtin
Top Cat
Top Cat is the leader of a gang of Manhattan alley cats living in Hoagy’s Alley, and his gang were inspired by the East Side Kids, characters from a series of popular 1940s ‘B’ movies, but their more immediate roots lay in The Phil Silvers Show, a late-1950s military comedy whose lead character (Sergeant Bilko, played by Silvers) was a crafty con-man. Read more about Top Cat
Year: 1961-62
No. of series: 1
No. of episodes: 30
Composer: Hoyt Curtin
The Jetsons
The Jetsons was an animated sitcom produced by Hanna-Barbera. While the Flintstones live in a world with machines powered by birds and dinosaurs, the Jetsons live in a world with elaborate robotic contraptions, aliens, holograms, and whimsical inventions. Read more about The Jetsons
Year: 1962-63
No. of series: 3
No. of episodes: 75
Composer: Hoyt Curtin
Magic Roundabout
The Magic Roundabout is an English-language children’s television programme. It was based on the French stop motion animation show Le Manège enchanté, which was created in France in 1963 by Serge Danot with the help of Ivor Wood and his French wife, Josiane. Read more about Magic Roundabout
Year: 1965-78
No. of series:
No. of episodes: 441
Composer: Alain Legrand
Wacky Races
Wacky Races is an animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera. It features 11 different cars racing against each other in various road rallies throughout America, with each driver hoping to win the title of the “World’s Wackiest Racer.” Each episode featuring two different races. Composer: Hoyt Curtin
Read more about Wacky Races
Year: 1968
No. of series: 1
No. of episodes: 17
The Pink Panther Show
The Pink Panther Show is a showcase of cartoon shorts starring the animated Pink Panther character from the opening credits of the live-action films. When it first aired in 1969, it consisted of one cartoon featuring The Inspector, sandwiched by two Pink Panther entries. Read more about The Pink Panther Show
Year: 1969-70
No. of series: 11
No. of episodes: 32 (although each episode made up of 3 cartoons)
Composer: Doug Goodwin, Henry Mancini
If you haven’t already browsed our other articles, indulge in some nostalgic, childhood memories from these three decades:
