Peter Potamus & So-So

Peter Potamus & So-So was the main segment on the half-hour show, Peter Potamus & His Magic Flying Balloon. A segment titled Breezly & Sneezly took up the second slot, with Yippee, Yappee, & Yahooey filling out the third.

Peter Potamus was a friendly, purple hippo who traveled through time in a hot air balloon with his companion So-So the monkey. The pair found themselves at the center of conflict wherever they went, while encountering well known figures from history and folklore. When things were most dire, Peter relied on his “Hippo Hurricane Holler” to get himself out of trouble. This involved taking a deep breath, before letting out a howling gust of wind to blow his adversary away.

After two years in syndication under the title Peter Potamus & His Magic Flying Balloon, ABC picked up the show for one season and renamed it The Peter Potamus Show. Under this new format, the creators swapped the Breezly & Sneezly segment with Richocet Rabbit from The Magilla Gorilla Show.

Peter Potamus, like Magilla Gorilla before him, never achieved the lasting fame of many of his Hanna-Barbera cartoon contemporaries — mainly because his show was a little “out there” in terms of story and characters. What the show lacked in familiarity it made up for in originality, and while Peter will never be as well known as Yogi Bear or Huckleberry Hound, those lucky enough to enjoy his travels will remember him fondly.