Readers who were watching kids' TV during the early 1970's will remember a couple of psychedelically strange shows called "LIDSVILLE" and "H. R. PUFNSTUF". Like many good things from that era, "LIDSVILLE" and "H. R. PUFNSTUF" was full of nods to the prevailing stoner counter-culture, and included many sly pot and drug references which most of us likely missed as children
In the 70's a pot head would have told you that a "lid" was a bag of marijuana, about an ounce (the stuff was so cheap back then most dealers would just grab a jar lid full and throw it in a baggie) if it was about 4 fingers, it was a lid.
The Saturday morning show "Lidsville" was a children show. It was not about marijuana, but who could have created such a show other than a pothead ?
The creators of "Lidsville" were Sid and Marty Krofft, who also created it's predecessors 1969's H.R. Pufnstuf and The Bugaloos in 1970. Lidsville aired for two seasons between 1971 - 1973.
Like H.R Pufnstuf, the older kids knew that Lidsville's title and subject matter were drug related (pot).
The star of the show was Butch Patrick (Mark) who fell into a the hat that was owned Merlo the Magician (Charles Nelson Reilly). He fell and fell and landed in the land of Lidsville. This was the magical land of living hats. The hats had the same role as humans who would normally wear them. The hats lived in hat shaped houses.
The villian of the show was also a magician (also played by Charles Nelson Reilly) named Horatio J. HooDoo. Horatio would fly around on his "Hatamaran" and demand that the citizens of Lidsville pay him for their Hat Checks. As Mark tried to find his way back home he would help the citizens fight HooDoo.
