Pop Culture Retrospective Episode #8 - Rainbow Brite: The backstory behind the lovable (and sometimes creepy) cartoon star from the 1980s!

In 1987 when I was 4 years old and my sister was 6, my family moved to the Northside of the town that my sister and I grew up in.  The schools were a bit better, the area felt more like a neighborhood instead of a subdivision like where we lived before and we would be living closer to the downtown area that had many shops, restaurants and an excellent library.  My sister and I would often walk or ride our bikes to town and one store that we frequented was Hallmark, which had a store in our suburban town.  This particular store had 3 floors.  The main floor housed greeting cards of course, the upstairs area I believe had more collectible-type items and the sub main floor had birthday and party decorations.  Little did I know back then that Hallmark had a strong connection with the memorable 80s cartoon and merchandise icon that was- Rainbow Brite.  The connection here was that Hallmark actually came up with the concept of Rainbow Brite when they company decided they wanted to get into the licensing business.  Allegedly, Hallmark wanted to compete with another character developed several years earlier by American Greetings - Strawberry Shortcake.  

Strawberry Shortcake and Rainbow Brite were not the only characters developed by greeting card companies.  According to Rediscoverthe80s.com some other examples include:  the Care Bears, Shirt tales, Popples, My Pet Monster, Madballs,and the Get a Long Gang.

On today’s show you will learn all about the colorful sensation that was Rainbow Brite and her development from the conference rooms at Hallmark, which led to quite the merchandise craze, a TV cartoon, a terrifying live action TV special where life size characters, dressed in full costumes from the show, explored the San Diego zoo, and eventually a movie! (I’ll put a link to the San Diego zoo special in the show notes, if you’d like to sleep at night, watch it during the day, you’ve been warned).  Rainbow Brite was one of my sister’s all time favorite cartoons and characters from our childhood and I think anyone who was growing up in the early to mid 80s knows who I am talking about, even if they weren’t a huge fan.  You probably also remember the theme song from the TV show that is next to impossible to forget once you hear it.  So put on your rainbow belt and multi-colored moon boots, here we go! 

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Hello and thank you so very much for tuning in to the Pop Culture Retrospective Podcast, a show inspired by, and in memory of, my big sister Rebecca and her love for all things pop-culture, especially the people, places and things of the 80s, 90s and early 00s.  My name is Amy Lewis and I am your captain aboard this pop culture time machine. You are tuning in to Episode # 8, Rainbow Brite a beloved cartoon character and merchandise juggernaut from the 1980s.  My sister adored Rainbow Brite and collected merchandise including a Twink doll and drinking glasses adorned with her picture well into her adulthood. Rainbow Brite was a pretty short-lived TV show, but her staying power has survived the test of time over and over again.  I also found through my research that RB was one of those pop culture items that most children seemed to generally like at the time when it came out or atleast were aware of, but when you watch it and learn more as an adult, it is actually quite dark and creepy at times. I don’t think it’s something my kids would want to watch (other examples include:  Return to Oz which we talked about for a moment in the Intro Episode, Hugga Bunch and the Dark Crystal)I am not sure if they would be more creeped out or if I would be, but anyways….. 

The development of Rainbow Brite dates back to about 1983. Vice President of Creative & Licensing, Gary Glissmeyer and a team of artists, headed by Cheryl Cozad along with writers under the direction of Hallmark’s editorial director Dan Drake all worked together to come up with the concept. Also, Lanny Julian who was the VP of Sales & Marketing at Hallmark, also had a hand in the development.  Glissmeyer and Julian were given the task of somehow getting Hallmark into the licensing division via developing characters that could be marketed toward children.  Glissmeyer and his group came up with the idea about a girl who was relatively young, who has special powers over nature which eventually evolved into her being in charge of the various colors in the universe and needed to work to protect it.  A Hallmark artist, named GG Santiago, did the initial designs of Rainbow Brite and the characters of Rainbow land and they were then finalized by the artist team mentioned earlier, led by Cozad.   At first, all of the characters in Rainbow Land were female, but they would eventually change a few of them into male characters.  

Rainbow Brite, in case you haven’t seen the show or maybe you have forgotten what she looks like, was a girl who appeared to be elementary aged, whose thick, blonde hair was always up in a high, migraine inducing, tight ponytail.  She wore a very short, long sleeved blue dress with rainbow colorings on the arms and waistband and her ensemble was rounded out with rainbow colored moon boots as originally, she was going to be traveling in space.  Rainbow Brite has several friends called the “color kids” and their names were: Red Butler, Shy Violet, Canary Yellow, Lala Orange, Buddy Blue, Indigo, and Patty O'Green.  Each of these characters wore outfits that matched their respective color.  Most of the female characters wore short dresses like RB, but Canary Yellow was dressed like a child headed to an aerobics class, clad in long, yellow leg warmers, what appears to be a leotard with wings/feather on the shoulders and flat ballet shoes.  They also had hair that matched said colors. The rainbow kids were each in charge of a “sprite”, which was not a can of soda they drank when their stomach is upset, but rather a small, colorful, furry character who does mining work, which reminds me of the doozers from Fraggle Rock, another group of smallish characters that do construction work. Twink, was a white sprite who is the leader of the sprites as well as Rainbow Brite’s favorite sprite and right-hand man.  We’ll talk more about the villains in the show in a moment, but the reason why Twink is white is because he was thrown into a pit when he was red and drained of all of his color.  Another character in Rainbow’s entourage is Starlite who is her talking white horse, who enjoys galloping and tooting his own horn.  He would often refer to himself as:

• Most wonderful horse in the universe
• Having the ability to dart with magnificent swiftness
• Most magnificent horse in the cave
• Glory of the galaxy

Rainbow Brite and her friends all live in Rainbow land. Rainbow also has a best friend named Brian (who is not a rainbow kid/does not live in Rainbow land) but he can open a portal to Rainbow land with a special key.  Rainbow land is where RB and the Color Kids all live.  She meets Brian after watching him return home after baseball tryouts.  She is watching him from the sky and when she sees how down he is because he didn’t make the team, she shoots out her rainbow to make a bridge between the clouds in the sky and the ground and rides her horse down to meet him and to cheer him up with the healing power of colors. 

There are two villains in the show named Murky and Lurky who want to rid the world of color, they live in the pits which is the dark and dreadful area of Rainbowland.  Murky’s full name is Murky Dismal.  He is short in stature with black hair and is seafoam green in color.  He has a thick mustache and a sinister looking unibrow.  He is usually wearing a long sleeve gray shirt with a lightning bolt on it with a cape attached. Further, he wears gray shoes with a matching gray helmet that comes to a point, almost like there is a small antenna on top.  Lurky is Murky’s counterpart in trying to turn off the light and happiness in Rainbow land.  He is a large, fur-covered, red Chuck Taylor hightop-wearing absent-minded villain.  Although he is almost completely covered in fur, several inches of his arms and legs are more human-like and devoid of fur.  His nose is disproportionately large compared to his body.  He struggles at times with being a villain as he is very intrigued by Rainbow Brite and her magical powers.  Murky tries to keep him in a down mood by making sure that a dark cloud is above him at all times. Murky is constantly putting down Lurky, he often makes comments such as:  “Lurky, you’re such a:  snail brain, cheese ball, fog horn breath, popcorn brain or banana brain.”  To add insult to injury, Lurky’s shoelaces are always untied.  

In June of 1984, Rainbow Brite made her animated debut in a TV special called “Peril in the Pits.”  Several other specials would follow.

• In Peril of the Pits, the color kids get kidnapped by Murky and Lurky, who also manage to get Rainbow Brite’s color belt, so they start to turn Rainbowland dark.  They eventually also manage to capture Rainbow Brite, Brian, Twink and Starlite and puts them in a deep pit with the color kids.  Starlite assures the group he can get them out of the deep rock pit by “kicking his way out of it.”  When that doesn’t work, Starlite is very discouraged but Twink assures him they can get out by saying “don’t kick the wall Starlite, kick me!” Starlite is confused by this proposition, but feels better about punt-kicking him after Brian offers up his baseball glove to protect Twink’s butt from any potential damage that could result from the force of the horse’s strong legs. What? When twink gets up there, everyone starts cheering and saying things like “yay, that was a great idea!  You did it!” Twink is able to lower a rope that is at the top of the hole and get everyone out. The group then manages to foil Murky and Lurky’s plan to turn everything dark and all is well in the world.  
• In the Mighty Monstromurk Menace released in December of 1984, Brian’s rainbow is destroyed and he and Rainbow work to defeat Monstromurk who has ruined rainbow land. Rainbow is later captured in a bottle by the monster.  She is eventually rescued by Twink, Brian and Red Butler. 
• The Beginning of Rainbowland special is essentially the prequel to the whole RB story, released in April of 1985.  We learn the origins of Rainbow Brite and how she started as a girl named Wisp who had found her way onto a dark planet which was conquered by the King of Shadows, who wanted to rid the world of color and happiness.  We learn about her meeting Twink and Starlite.  We also learn the importance of Rainbow’s Color Belt and how this item alone is what will allow her to defeat the villains that want to turn the world dark. Rainbow eventually defeats the King of Shadows and Frees the Color Kids, which brings hope and light back into the world.  She then becomes known as Rainbow Brite.  This is a two part episode and a lot of it is set on the dark planet with some creepy characters like an evil crow, a double-headed dragon and a centipede looking creature with several eyes.  Yikes! 

In both the Mighty Monstromurk Menace & the BOR, we get to hear the narrator summarize the story of RB:

''Into a world filled with darkness, Came a little girl with a mission.

After proving herself to be worthy and brave, she became known as:

Rainbow Brite!

Now along with her magnificent horse: Starlight, and her loyal and true friend Twink,

and the color kids, she lives far away in Rainbowland, a wonderful place full of color and happiness!

Using the power of the rainbow, her magical color belt and the star sprinkles, Rainbow Brite and her friends protect Rainbowland! Fighting off the forces of darkness and gloom, and the devious plots of Murky and Lurky so that they can bring color and happiness to the people everywhere!”

In addition to the TV specials, there was also 1 season of a tv cartoon series which ran from late 1984 to early 1986. The show followed a similar format to the TV specials where Rainbow Brite and her colorful crew triumph over darkness. 

The television series was produced by the France-based company called DIC which I thought sounded really familiar.  In case you have forgotten, the DIC logo flashed at the end of the cartoon shows they were connected with such as RB of course, Dennis the Menace, Inspector Gadget, The Get a Long gang, Heathcliff and the Cadillac Cats, Kissyfur, Zoobilie Zoo, Hey Vern, it’s Ernest, the Chipmunks, Popples and Hammerman! Some of those logo flashes included: several blue lines in box shapes surrounding the green D-I-C letters, the shot of the boy sleeping with the dog sleeping at the foot of the bed, zoom out the bedroom window to silver DIC logo and there’s also one that involves Inspector Gadget roller skating past the logo. 

The cartoon series had a very memorable theme song and lyrics, here are a few lines:

Rainbow Brite

See the shining light

Yes I'm gonna take ya to Rainbow Brite

Starlite flies

Right before your eyes

And rainbow colors will cheer you up

In 1984, Hallmark partnered with Mattel to develop a line of Rainbow Brite toys.  This partnership would prove to be incredibly successful, albeit for a short period of time.  It first started with dolls in various sizes, followed by plastic horses (similar to ones from the Barbie collection) so kids could play with Starlite.  Other RB merchandise, not necessarily produced by Mattel included:  RB bedroom set which included curtains, pillow shams, star shaped throw pillows, a rainbow border, lamp and star mobile.  You could also get RB coloring books, board games, backpacks, furniture, cross stitch patterns, night lights and even cereal (I’ll post a link to the RB cereal commercial in the show notes).  

In 1985, RB was Mattel’s hottest selling toy in their history and as a result, there were many bootleg toys sold in North America and Europe.  This explosion may have happened due to the large budget that mattel had for marketing and advertising, which was allegedly around 35 million dollars.  There were many commercials for the RB doll including ones that starred Kelly Martin who you may remember from the TV show Life Goes On and Tracey Gold who you may remember from Growing Pains.  

RB Merchandise was also popular in other countries and areas of the world including Germany, Italy, Spain, Canada and France.  In Japan, RB was called Magical Girl Rainbow Brite.  

One piece of RB merchandise that my sister and I used all of the time was the RB record (also cassette) released by Disney’s Buena Vista Records entitled “Paint a Rainbow in Your Heart.”  We played this record over and over again.  I found this record in near mint condition in a resale shop a few years ago and it’s a good thing I was one of the only people in the store when I discovered it because I was way too excited to have found this treasured relic of my childhood and my sister of course.  The record includes songs such as: Color Symphony, Prismatism, Starlite - Rainbow Brite, the Pits and my personal favorite - The First Part of Friendship is Friends which includes the memorable lyrics:

Clippity, Clappity, Cally, Calloo,

The best part of friendship is you.

Patty you’re my friend,

I’ll stick with you through thick and thin.

We’ll explore where no one’s been before.

And when we’re through I’ll gladly share my lunch with you. 

Because I am your friend!

Where would I be with out you as my friend?

And what could I do without you?

How True!

Together forever the road never ends, 

The first part of friendship is friends.

In 1985, a feature length RB movie was released called “Rainbow Brite and the Star Stealer” in this film, RB works to try and bring Spring to a planet that is experiencing a never-ending winter.  She must stop a wicked princess in order to make this happen.  Some new characters are introduced in this film including:  On-X who is a robotic horse that has with rocket legs, Stormy (another girl with magical powers) and Skydancer (her horse), Krys (a boy from the planet that is stuck in a cycle of winter) and the Dark Princess.  It took about 3 months for the film to be made and up until that time, it held the title of being the fastest made animation film.  The film was critiqued for essentially being an 85 minute toy advertisement for RB.  Earned just shy of 5 million dollars and was later released on VHS and betamax and later DVD.  The film ran over and over again on the Disney channel.  

By the end of the 1980s, RB’s popularity started to wind down but for those of us who grew up watching the show and playing with RB inspired merchandise, the memories of this unique character never really faded away. 

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Decades after the cartoon went over the air and the merchandise stopped flying off of the shelves, RB has some true staying power.  There are super fans all over the world that collect RB memorabilia and post cartoon episodes online.  One super fan is named Katy Haile who started a Rainbow Brite website:  rainbowbrite.net in 1997, she’s hosted a podcast all about RB and she has a RB museum chock full of all kinds of RB merchandise.  You can watch a tour of it, which is 45 minutes long, on YouTube.  I’ll post a link to this tour in the show notes as well as a link to her website.  This is really one stop shopping for everything RB.  

There have been several reboots of RB, first in 1996, 2003, 2009 and 2015.  Most years included new episodes of the show, merchandise and in 2018 a comic book was released.  There is still a demand for RB inspired accessories...if you visit Etsy you can find shirts with her picture on it that say “Made in the 80s, Covid-19 approved facemasks, popsockets, and there are TONS of RB items up for the bidding on ebay including a stuffed Lurky that I am pretty sure one of my cousins had as a kid.  

I hope you have enjoyed this look back at Rainbow Brite, a memorable cartoon and doll that was present in households all over the world in the mid 1980s.  Although her popularity was relatively short-lived, we have never seen anything quite like it in the decades that have followed.  What started off as the brain child of a few creative folks at Hallmark, evolved into a merchandise sensation.  

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I hope you will join me for my next show, where we will be discussing the life and adventures of Mr. Michael Bolton! Until then, BK, BS and HOTYM.