The Banana Splits elephant. Fleegle would assume the role of leader of the Banana Splits, and preside at club meetings. The characters were played by actors in voluminous fleecy costumes, similar to later Sid and Marty Krofft characters such as "H.R. Pufnstuf". While Snorky "spoke" in honking noises, the other three spoke in English—Drooper with a Southern drawl in the manner of Michael Nesmith, and Fleegle with a pronounced lisp. The Splits' segments, including songs-of-the-week and comedy skits, served as wraparounds for a number of individual segments. In the second season, "The Three Musketeers" segments were replaced with repeats of "The Hillbilly Bears",
Banana production in Belize owned company production to smaller-scale localised indigenous farming primarily targeted at the European market. The Banana trade began between British Honduras and New Orleans. Commerce was wiped out in the 1920s by an outbreak of the Panama disease. Plantations were destroyed again by hurricanes in 1975 and 1978. The subsequent takeover of banana cultivation by the Banana Control Board, a public enterprise, had the effect of further inhibiting production. By mid-1985, the Banana Control Board had accumulated debts of US$9 million. The government reacted to the plight of the board by selling the 880 hectares under cultivation to the private