Pontoffel Pock, Where Are You?

Pontoffel Pock, Where Are You?
Genre	Animation Comedy Adventure Musical
Written by	Ted Geisel
Directed by	Gerard Baldwin
Voices of	Wanye Monton Ken Lundie Hal Smith Sue Allen Don Messick Joe Raposo
Country of origin	United States
Production
Executive producer(s)	David H. DePatie Friz Freleng
Producer(s)	Dr. Seuss
Production company(s)	DePatie-Freleng Enterprises
Broadcast
Original channel	ABC
Original airing	May 2, 1980

Pontoffel Pock, Where Are You? (titled Pontoffel Pock & His Magic Piano for the sing-a-long videocasette release) is an animated musical television special written by Dr. Seuss, directed by Gerard Baldwin, produced by DePatie-Freleng Enterprises and first aired on ABC on May 2, 1980. This was one of the final cartoons done at DePatie-Freleng as the studio would be sold to Marvel Comics and become Marvel Productions in 1981.

Plot

Pontoffel Pock gets fired from working at a dill pickle factory when he pushed the "Pullem" and pulled the "Pushem" (devices for placing pickles into jars). Now without a job, Pontoffel wishes that he could "get away from it all." Fortunately, a representative of the "Amalgamated Do-Gooding Fairies" named McGillicuddy appears and says, "Pontoffel Pock, your wish has been heard, and your wish has been granted." McGillicuddy and his fairy associates, Humboldt and Higbee (and later on, Hoikendorf), give him a magical flying piano that takes him anywhere in the world. To do so, Pontoffel Pock plays these six very simple notes (C, C, C, D, D#, E) and then he chooses a destination by pressing one of many differently-colored buttons, which fly him to his destination. The first place he goes to is Groogen (based on Switzerland).

Later, after scaring the Groogenites out of their wits and getting a flugelhorn "Ga-Busted", he is gunned down by their "Goomy Gun", which fires multi-colored paint, that turns his piano yellow and causes its motor to lose power. He plummets downward, but at the last second Pontoffel "twitches the Homing Pigeon Switch" that sends him and the piano home. When he gets home, Mr. McGillicuddy decides to take the piano away for Pontoffel's bad conduct, but he gives Pontoffel a second chance.

After being given another chance, he goes to Casbahmopolis (based on The Middle East), where he falls in love with a girl named Neefa Feefa, a famous eyeball dancer who dislikes her job of dancing for the King, and, like Pontoffel, wants to "get away from it all". Unfortunately, due to the Homing Pigeon Switch being broken by a palace guard, Pontoffel and Neefa Feefa can't get home. When they decide to go somewhere else, Neefa Feefa slips off the piano, which leads to Pontoffel pushing several buttons in order to find her, and ending up in several places (which are based on many real places such as the North Pole, the Congo region, Spain, Japan, and others).

Meanwhile, McGillicuddy gets worried, having not heard from Pontoffel in a long time, so he enlists the help of all of his fairy associates to fly all over the world, looking for him by song: "Pontoffel Pock, Where The Heck Are You?" Finally, Pontoffel remembers where Neefa Feefa is, and goes straight to her. They are escorted home together on the piano, now broken down, and for proving his worth, Pontoffel is rehired as a Dill Pickle factory employee along with Neefa Feefa.

Cast

• Sue Allen - Neefa Feefa
• Ken Lundie - Higbee / Additional voices
• Don Messick - Humboldt / Additional voices
• Wayne Morton - Pontoffel Pock
• Joe Raposo - Gil Gickler (Pickle Factory President)
• Hal Smith - McGillicuddy / Good Fairy-in-Chief / Additional voices

Production note

• This is the first Dr. Seuss ABC television special produced by Marvel Productions instead of Dr. Seuss Enterprises.

See Also

• Oh, the Places You'll Go!

External links

• Pontoffel Pock, Where Are You? at the Internet Movie Database