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Arthur Rankin, Jr. and Jules Bass were best known for their “animagic” puppet-style in holiday specials such as Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and Santa Claus is Comin’ To Town, but they also created a little-known special about time travel called Willy McBean and His Magic Machine.

 

The story begins with Professor Rasputin Von Rotten, who has invented a time machine where he can travel back in time and change history to make himself famous. Pablo, a monkey in the Professor’s lab, overhears his scheme. He steals the machine’s design and escapes, winding up in the bedroom of Willy McBean, a young boy. Willy and Pablo work together to build their own machine, and go back in time to stop Von Rotten.

 

They travel back to the Old West in 1883, where Von Rotten is about to try to beat Buffalo Bill in a showdown. The Professor has hidden a gun in his hat, but Willy disguises himself as Willy the Kid while Pablo switches hats between the two. The gun slinging happens, but with the help of Sitting Bull, the Professor doesn’t win. 

 

Then everyone travels to 1492 Spain. Christopher Columbus is about to go on his famous voyage and Willy has to convince him the world is round. Von Rotten has disguised himself as a crew member who’s about to start a mutiny. The next stop is Medieval England. The Professor plans to use rust remover to free the sword Excalibur from the stone, and become England’s next king instead of Arthur.  Willy and Pablo join forces with a witch named Ms. Laffey and stop Von Rotten from succeeding. 

 

Then, on to ancient Egypt. The Professor pretends he’s an architect, and tries to convince King Tut to build a statue in his honor. After Willy and Pablo get waylaid in ancient Rome, they make it to Egypt in time to stop Von Rotten again. The last stop is 40,000 B.C., where the Professor tries to be the first to discover fire and invent the wheel. It’s a big T-Rex named “Big Big” that finally puts an end to his dastardly plans.

 

The silly time travel story did touch on a lot of historical events, even if they weren’t particularly accurate. But the great “animagic” look, combined with original songs, made an impact on the kids that watched it, and still remember it today.