The World of Sid and Marty Krofft at the Hollywood Bowl

On July 29, 1973, the Kroffts again hit the stage for a performance that would gain wide exposure decades later. Headlined by the Brady Bunch Kids, who were touring the country at the time, their Hollywood Bowl show featured Jack Wild, a nervous Johnny Whitaker (whose series debuted a week later), and a host of Krofft regulars ranging from Pufnstuf to Hoodoo the Great. The show was professionally filmed and broadcast in syndication over Thanksgiving weekend that November. 22 years later, a heavily truncated version of the show premiered on Nick at Nite (Witchipoo, Hoodoo and many other characters were excised), it was released uncut on VHS in 1998, and TV Land aired it frequently after the turn of the century.Looking at it as an early '70s live kiddie show, it was fantastic. Today, as an adult watching it as a now very dated TV special, it frequently verges on tedious. The writing wasn't on par with the Krofft TV shows, it was schizophrenically edited and seeing them in full-blown closeup, it's painfully obvious that Witchipoo and Hoodoo weren't played by Billie Hayes and Charles Nelson Reilly (the actors who took over their roles weren't bad, but they certainly paled in comparison) -- Witchipoo was portrayed by Louise DuArt, who later became a regular on "The Krofft Supershow" as the butterfly-covered Nashville. The highlight of the show, without question, was a 20 year old Jack Wild, whose voice had deepened a bit but he still had the spark that made him famous -- he owned the stage during his performance. The Brady actors also gave an admirable performance, but I don't think I'm alone in believing they were better shot on film than as a live act.... as most who've seen "The Brady Bunch Variety Hour" will agree....