Comic-Con: The Krofft brothers and ‘Land of the Lost’
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The Universal panel begins at 3:45 p.m. in Hall H and one of the films that will be featured is ‘Land of the Lost,’ the $100-million Will Ferrell comedy due next summer (and, after visiting the set, I can tell you it looks like it could a great popcorn movie).
Ferrell won’t be here (he’s sent a taped message) but two of the panelists will be Sid and Marty Krofft, the brother team behind the old Saturday morning shows ‘H.R. Pufnstuf,’ ‘Land of the Lost,’ ‘Lidsville’ and others. I have a front-page story in The Times today about the Kroffts and their quirky show-biz story, unexpected comeback and a family secret they’ve been keeping for decades.
The piece is getting a lot of reader response. One industry veteran who wrote in said the brothers were ‘monsters’ to employees and collaborators during their peak years in the 1970s, but most of the e-mails were like this one:
H. R. Pufnstuf! My favorite show of all time. My best friend and I were huge fans with a bigger crush on Jack Wild, of course. It was and remains the only fan letter I have ever penned (no reply, but we kept hoping for one ). Your article took me back to the days when we would wait all week for the show and time stopped while it aired. ‘H. R. Pufnstuf’ is a classic in so many ways and I remember it well even though I have not seen an episode in decades, gosh, many decades. My regards to the Kroffts. Thanks for publishing your story. Patty Montbriand, Pasadena, CA.
-- Geoff Boucher
Vinatge photo of Sid Krofft, Jack Wild and Marty Krofft on the set of ‘’H.R. Pufnstuf;’; courtesy of Krofft Picture Archive.