Watching Penelope Pitstop Again After Many Years

Did you ever watch an old cartoon you once loved and find yourself thinking, “What in the world!?” That happened to me with the character Penelope Pitstop.

I Was a True Penelope Pitstop Fangirl

The first cartoon character I remember loving is Penelope Pitstop, a Hanna-Barbera character. Maybe it was her nifty name. Her pleasant voice. Or her fun car. Not to mention the enjoyable sidekicks. And adventurous plots!

Penelope Pitstop first appeared in the Wacky Races cartoon. But I remember her most from The Perils of Penelope Pitstop — a show I later realized was set up to look like an old-time movie serial.

As you might expect from the title, Penelope goes from peril to peril. She is saved in every episode by a group of 1920s gangsters called The Ant Hill Mob. Each one has a personality (like the Seven Dwarfs), and each one has the world’s worst case of five o’clock shadow.

Dad used to watch the show with me, and he loved imitating the Hooded Claw — the villain of the show. I was so young when I first started watching the show that I didn’t realize that her guardian, Sylvester Sneekly, was also the Hooded Claw! I felt silly when I figured it out for myself.

It was the same voice actor, people! And you can’t miss the voice of Paul Lynde! (Yes, that Paul Lynde, the famous center square on Hollywood Squares.) Well, maybe you can if you’re four or five years old…