The Great Grape Ape Show

Beegle Beagle (a beagle) spent his time traveling the globe in a yellow van, accompanied by his 40 ft. purple pal, Grape Ape. The duo was fortunate to the degree that wherever they went, they stumbled across situations where Grape Ape’s towering stature came in handy. As opportunities presented themselves, Beegle Beagle used them to his and Grape Ape’s advantage, resourcefully conjuring up ways to earn money for food and gas. While their exploits were never effortless, Beegle Beagle’s wits and Grape Ape’s immense size inevitably saved the day.

A common sight gag involved Beegle Beagle introducing himself to someone, with Grape Ape standing right beside him. Because the gorilla was so large, people failed to see him. When Beegle Beagle pointed out his pal, the panic-stricken stranger cried out, “Yikes! It’s a goril-l-l-l-l-la!” before bolting for cover. Nobody need have feared though, because the purple primate lacked a mean bone in his oversized body.

The Great Grape Ape Show premiered in 1975 as part of the hour-long, The Tom & Jerry/Grape Ape Show. Two, 10-minute Grape Ape segments played during the show’s second half. For the 1976 television season, new Mumbly stories played alongside rerun segments of Tom & Jerry and Grape Ape, under the umbrella title The Tom & Jerry/Grape Ape/Mumbly Show. In 1977 The Great Grape Ape Show went solo, playing rerun episodes in a half-hour format on Sunday mornings. That same year Grape Ape joined other Hanna-Barbera cartoon characters on Scooby’s All Star Laff-A-Lympics, and later on Scooby’s All-Stars, as a member of the “Yogi Yahooeys” team of contestants.