H.R. Pufnstuf / H.R. Puff 'n' stuf

The 1969 TV show featuring Jack Wild and a dragon is a fond memory for many of a certain age.

Many know about the not-so-hidden in joke in the title meaning "Hand Rolled" Puff and Stuff, but that's not what's bothering many people now - it's the apparent change in the spelling of the show's title. Today, all references are to "H.R. Pufnstuf", but this just looks wrong to them since they are sure it was "H.R. Puff 'n' stuf".

The show featured Jack as "Jimmy", who became shipwrecked on an island and was only 11 years old. He befriends Freddy, a talking flute, and they get into many various scrapes and adventures battling with Witchepoo, the wicked witch, and dealing with the mayor of the island, the aforementioned dragon HR Pufnstuf. 

Costumes

All the characters except for Jimmy were distinguished by their use of the over-the-top costumes which just served to add to she charm of the show. It became more popular when shown on Saturday mornings as part of a new drive aimed fairly and squarely at becoming a part of the children's routine, hence them being free at that time.

Paul Simon had a hand in the show's theme track, but in an unusual way - he is credited, but this was only after he sued Les Szarvas, the creator, for it being too similar to "The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)". It turns out this wasn't the only legal battle the show faced, the fast food giant McDonalds were successfully sued by the shows creators because they said the characters were too similar to those in McDonaldland.

As usual with spelling Mandela Effects, the confusion over the name is not helped by the fact the pronunciation is identical no matter which way it is spelled.

And those drug references? Here's the shows creator, Marty Krofft's, last word on that:

We've heard that for 35 years. We did not intentionally do anything related to drugs in the story. People thought we were on drugs. You can't do good television while on drugs. People never believe you when you say that, but you can't. The shows were very bright and spacey looking. They may have lent themselves to that culture at the time, but we didn't ascribe that meaning to them, and I can't speak to what adults were doing when they were watching the shows. We just set out to make a quality children's program.

-- Marty Krofft