Pontoffel Pock, Where Are You?

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, completed in 1979 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. The songs are by Joe Raposo.

Plot
Pontoffel Pock gets fired from working at a dill pickle factory when he fuddles with the "Pullem" and "Pushem" controls for a device that places 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 causing a flugelhorn to get damaged, he is attacked 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, McGillicuddy at first attempts to take the piano back for Pontoffel's failure by being a "showoff" and a "smart-aleck", but then decides to give 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 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 cannot take Neefa Feefa home with him. When he decides to travel somewhere else, he loses control of the piano and Neefa Feefa slips off the piano and lands into the guards' clutches. Having lost his sense of directions, Pontoffel starts pushing several buttons and ending up in several places (which are based on many real places such as the North Pole, the Congo region, Spain, Africa, China, 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 finally remembers where Neefa Feefa is, he presses the correct button and goes straight to her, only to crash land. As the guards approach menacingly, Neefa Feefa voices a wish to "get away from it all" just as Pontoffel had earlier, which comes to the attention of the fairies who appear to grant her wish. They are escorted home together, and for proving his worth, Pontoffel is somehow rehired at the pickle factory, along with Neefa Feefa. Outside, a rainbow appears as the Fairies fly the worn out piano away.

Cast

 * Sue Allen - Neefa Feefa
 * Greg Burson - Additional voices
 * Casey Kasem - Additional voices
 * 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

Credits

 * Produced by: Ted Geisel
 * Executive Producers: David H. DePatie and Friz Freleng
 * Directed by: Gerard Baldwin
 * Teleplay and Lyrics by: Dr. Seuss
 * Music by: Joe Raposo
 * Storyboards: Bill Perez, Larry Latham
 * Graphic Design: Roy Morita, Barrington Bunce, Robert Dranko
 * Animation: Don Williams, Bob Kirk, Art Vitello, Bill Hutten, Malcolm Draper, John Gibbs, Bob Matz, Nelson Shin, Warren Batchelder, Jon McClenahan, Norm McCabe, Tom Ray, Bob Bransford, Lee Halpern, Bob Richardson, Brenda Banks, Don MacKinnon, Bob Bemiller, Art Leonardi, Chris Hauge, Berny Wolf, Tony Love, Brad Case, Art Davis
 * Film Editors: Robert Gillis, Richard Gannon
 * Music Editor: Joe Siracusa
 * Layouts: Martin Strudler, Ric Gonzales
 * Backgrounds: Richard H. Thomas
 * In Charge of Production: Lee Gunther
 * Production Manager: Steven Hahn
 * Camera by: Raymond E. Lee, Steven Wilzbach, Robert Mills, Gary Gunther, John Cunningham
 * Sound by Producer's Sound Service Inc.
 * © MCMLXXIX Dr. Seuss and A.S. Geisel All Rights Reserved
 * A DePatie-Freleng Production

Songs

 * Pull on the Pull 'Em - Joe Raposo
 * This Wondrous Piano - Hal Smith
 * Welcome to Groogen - Chorus
 * I'm Flying Free - Wayne Morton
 * Optic Coptic (AKA The Eyes Song) - Sue Allen and Wayne Morton
 * This Wondrous Piano (Reprise) - Wayne Morton
 * Pontoffel Pock, Where Are You? - Hal Smith and Sue Allen
 * Pull On the Pull 'Em (Reprise) - Joe Raposo, Hal Smith, Wayne Morton, Sue Allen and Chorus