“Who is this super hero? Sarge? No! Rosemary the telephone operator? No! Henry the mild mannered janitor? Could be!”
Debuting on September 7th 1974, Hong Kong Phooey only ran for 16 episodes yet remains cemented in cartoon folklore to this day. The show followed a Police station’s “mild-mannered” janitor Penrod “Penry” Pooch (voiced by Scatman Crothers) who led a double life as a masked crime fighter known as Hong Kong Phooey! His crime fighting powers come from his copy of The Hong Kong Book of Kung Fu, a mail-away correspondence-course martial-arts instruction handbook! Hong Kong Phooey would patrol the streets in his Phooeymobile that had the ability to transform itself into a boat, a plane, or a telephone booth depending on the circumstances!
Penry would often change in manner similar to Superman in a phonebox only in his case it would be a Police Station filing cabinet. Usually during the change he would get stuck and need his pet cat Spot’s help to get out. Spot would also usually be the one who solved the crime of the episode and if it was not Spot then usually Penry would solve it by some humorous accidental coincedence!
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