Milton the Monster

Master monster maker Professor Weirdo resided in a manor house at the top of Old Horror Hill. In the process of creating Milton—modeled loosely after the image of Frankenstein’s monster—the professor and his assistant Count Kook accidentally spilled too much “tincture of tenderness” into their brew. While necessary in small dose to temper the raging nature of a monster, the addition of the ingredient in so great a quantity resulted in the creation of a polite and tenderhearted pacifist who respected others. In the eyes of his maker, Milton was a total failure.

Milton’s amenable nature drove him to carry out any task Professor Weirdo assigned to him to the best of his ability, but because he lacked a fundamental fierceness his actions always ran counter to Professor Weirdo’s intentions. Disappointed and disgraced that his creation wouldn’t do destructive things, Professor Weirdo took every opportunity to rid himself of Milton, but always without success.

Milton’s “brothers” in the manor were Heebie, a skeleton with long hair, and Jeebie, a one-eyed monster with green fur. Their attitude was more in keeping with the traditional role of a monster, although they got on well with Milton (and were themselves never shown doing anything particularly scary). Fellow mad scientist Professor Fruitcake lived and worked over the next hill, where he had his own cadre of monsters; most notably, Abercrombie the zombie, Fangenstein, and Zelda the zombie. Bitter rivals, the neighboring households constantly warred, going so far as to employ cannons to destroy one another’s estates.

Milton the Monster was one of several, 7-minute segments that made up the half-hour program, The Milton the Monster Show. Milton’s was the only segment shown in every episode. The other segments appeared on a random basis, and included the likes of Fearless Fly, Flukey Luke, Muggy-Doo, Penny Penguin, and Stuffy Durma.