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",
The Banana Splits in the theme song. These were seen driven by each live-action character in the opening and closing segments, and occasionally in the wraparound and music video segments as well. The buggies were customized Amphicat six-wheel drive all-terrain vehicles each decorated to resemble the character who drove them. Plastic 1/25 scale model kits were issued by Aurora Plastics Corporation under catalog number 832, beginning in 1969. These were never reissued by Aurora, but have since been released as high-end, resin-based kits. "The Banana Splits" was one of the first two Hanna-Barbera series in 1968 in which Hanna and Barbera received executive