The Roman Holidays

The Roman Holidays is a half-hour Saturday morning animated series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and broadcast on NBC from September 9 to December 2, 1972.[1] It ran for 13 episodes before being cancelled, and reruns were later shown on the USA Cartoon Express during the 1980s, Cartoon Network during the 1990s, and Boomerang during the 2000s.[2]

The Roman Holidays
Title card
GenreAnimated sitcom
Voices ofDom DeLuise
Daws Butler
Pamelyn Ferdin
Stanley Livingston
Shirley Mitchell
Hal Smith
Dave Willock
Composer(s)Hoyt Curtin
Country of originUnited States
Original language(s)English
No. of episodes13
Production
Executive producer(s)William Hanna
Joseph Barbera
Production company(s)Hanna-Barbera Productions
DistributorWarner Bros. Television Distribution
Release
Original networkNBC
Original releaseSeptember 9 –
December 2, 1972

The show was a failed attempt by Hanna-Barbera to replicate the success of their 1960-1966 show The Flintstones, with another modern family living in heavily fictionalized Roman times.[3]

Plot

Very similar in theme to both The Flintstones and The Jetsons, The Roman Holidays brought a look at "modern-day" life in Ancient Rome, as seen through the eyes of Augustus "Gus" Holiday and his family.[4] The opening showed a chariot traffic jam and a TV showing football on Channel "IV". An Ancient Roman setting was one of the ideas that Hanna-Barbera considered when creating The Flintstones.[5]

The Holidays, a Roman family living at the Venus DeMilo Arms Apartments in A.D. 63, dealt with a variety of modern-day problems. Gus Holiday worked at the Forum Construction Company for his demanding boss Mr. Tycoonius who is constantly threatening to fire Gus if an assignment he is given goes awry. He lived with his wife Laurie, children Precocia and Happius, and pet lion Brutus. Their neighbors are good friends Herman, Henrietta, and their daughter Happy's girlfriend Groovia. Their lives are embittered by their exasperated landlord Mr. Evictus who tries to find proof of Brutus living with the Holidays, has a daughter named Snobbia, and excites Gus's tagline "Evictus will evict us!"[6]

Episodes
Episode number Episode name Production number Air date Synopsis
RH-1Double Date58-1September 9, 1972Mr. Evictus threatens to evict the Holiday family if they fail to fix up his daughter Snobbia with a date for the big high school dance.
RH-2The Lion's Share58-2September 16, 1972After Mr. Evictus threatens to evict the family for violating the "no pets" policy, Brutus runs away to find his long-lost father.
RH-3Star For A Day58-3September 23, 1972Hap Holiday turns out to be a look-alike for rock star Davey Cassius, so the two trade places for the day.
RH-4Hero-Sandwiched58-4September 30, 1972Gus struggles with his conscience when he's mistakenly honored as the hero who foiled a robbery.
RH-5The Big Split-Up58-5October 7, 1972When Groovia overhears Precocia setting up Brutus on a date, she thinks it's for Hap and breaks up with him.
RH-6Hectic Holiday58-6October 14, 1972The family finds an offer to trade houses with another family in Venice for a free vacation.
RH-7Switch Is Which?58-7October 21, 1972After Gus stays up all night working on architectural plans for a big client under the orders of Mr. Tycoonius, Laurie dons a fake mustache to fool the client into believing she's Gus.
RH-8That's Show Biz58-8October 28, 1972When the circus comes to town, Gus gets tickets from his old school chum Hammus Terrificus.
RH-9Double Dilemma58-9November 4, 1972When Precocia's drum performance conflicts with his bowling team's big match, Gus must find a way to be in two places at once.

Note: This episode is a re-working of The Flintstones episode "Fred Strikes Out", which originally aired on March 2, 1962.

RH-10A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Chariot Wash58-10November 11, 1972Mr. Tycoonius orders Gus to get his prized racing chariot washed, but the chariot is destroyed before Gus can return it.
RH-11Buried Treasure58-11November 18, 1972Gus believes a treasure map he's found at the bottom of some junk leads to a fortune buried under the apartment building.
RH-12Cyrano De Happius58-12November 25, 1972Hap tries to fix up his friend with a beautiful cheerleader, but the cheerleader falls for Hap and Groovia starts dating Hap's friend.
RH-13Father Of The Year58-13December 2, 1972Gus and Mr. Evictus compete in Rome's most prestigious competition, the Father of the Year awards.

Cast

The Roman Holidays in other languages

Comics

Gold Key produced a comic book based on the series from November 1972 to August 1973. Only four issues were published. Pete Alvarado drew the first three; Jack Manning drew the final issue.[7]

Home media

The first episode, "Double Date", is available on the DVD Saturday Morning Cartoons: 1970s Volume 1. On April 23, 2013, Warner Archive released The Roman Holidays: The Complete Series on DVD in region 1 as part of their Hanna–Barbera Classics Collection. This is a manufacture-on-demand (MOD) release, available exclusively through Warner's online store and Amazon.com.[8]

References
  1. Woolery, George W. (1983). Children's Television: The First Thirty-Five Years, 1946-1981, Part 1: Animated Cartoon Series. Scarecrow Press. pp. 243–244. ISBN 0-8108-1557-5. Retrieved 14 March 2020.
  2. Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. pp. 687–688. ISBN 978-1476665993.
  3. Perlmutter, David (2018). The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 517–518. ISBN 978-1538103739.
  4. Sennett, Ted (1989). The Art of Hanna-Barbera: Fifty Years of Creativity. Studio. p. 178. ISBN 978-0670829781. Retrieved 2 June 2020.
  5. Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. p. 336. ISBN 978-1476665993.
  6. Hyatt, Wesley (1997). The Encyclopedia of Daytime Television. Watson-Guptill Publications. pp. 363–364. ISBN 978-0823083152. Retrieved 19 March 2020.
  7. The Roman Holidays at Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Archived from the original on September 29, 2015.
  8. "The Roman Holidays".

See also
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