Hong Kong Phooey t-shirt by Junk Food

In the mid 1970's, children everywhere were asked the burning question: "Who is this super hero? Sarge?  No. Is it Rosemary, the telephone operator? No. Is it Penry, the mild-mannered janitor? Could be!"  Hong Kong Phooey first appeared as part of ABC's Saturday morning lineup in the fall of 1974.   Created by Hanna-Barbera, the idea behind the show was to combine the popularity of martial arts with the humor of a bumbling cartoon"superhero".

By day, Hong Kong Phooey was Penrod Pooch (or "Penry" for short), a mild-mannered janitor at the local police station.  But when he got word that a crime was being committed, he'd jump into a filing cabinet and immediately transform into the amazing, kung fu-fighting Hong Kong Phooey.  Together with his police-cat sidekick, Spot, he'd ride off to the scene of the crime in his Phooeymobile, which could transform into just about anything imaginable.  After some clumsy actions by Phooey, the crime was solved and the bad guys were apprehended -but probably more thanks to the help of Spot than to Phooey's superb crime-fighting abilities.

Although the show was amusing, it didn't stay on the air for very long.  It only ran for sixteen episodes, and ABC didn't pick up the program the following season. Over the next few years, reruns of the show were aired.  In 1977, Hong Kong Phooey appeared in Scooby's All-Star Laugh-a-Lympics, in which he and other characters competed for medals in Olympic-style events. In 1980, he made another comeback in The Godzilla/Hong Kong Phooey Hour on NBC. 

Since then, little has been seen of Hong Kong Phooey, except for the occasional reruns.  However, he does seem to have quite a following, and fans can proudly display their love for the superhero dog by donning t-shirts and other items featuring Penry's famous alter-ego.