Harlem Globetrotters

The 'Harlem Globetrotters' are a touring basketball team created in 1927 by Abraham Saperstein. They became famous for their playing ability, and later their humorous antics while playing. The appeared in movies and television shows, most notable the "Harlem Globetrotters" film from 1951, a semi-prequel "Go, Man, Go!" in 1954, a animated television series called "Harlem Globetrotters" by Hanna-Barbera from 1970-1972, "Harlem Globetrotters Popcorn Machine" in 1974-75, and a second animated series "The Super Globetrotters" in 1979. They mostly perform exhibition games against a touring opponent team that goes by various names. They are known for their charitable work, including fund raising, and appearing at schools, and hospitals. Often called the "Clown Princes of Basketball", they are also known to be "Ambassadors of Goodwill" to countries that they visit. They have appeared on various products from basketballs, to lunch boxes, in comic books, 8mm sports reels, video games, board games, and in sports documentaries. Several of the players have created books about their experiences on the team, and their further basketball careers. They adopted the song "Sweet Georgia Brown" by Brother Bones as there theme song. Once adopting the song, they began to release the song on 7 inch/45rpm records, with their logo, and team name on the label, as well as the artists name. For their Hanna-Barbera cartoon a new theme song was written for the show, along with various other songs relating to basketball and the then team members. The show's soundtrack was titled "The Globetrotters" and released on LP in 1970 through Kirshner Records. It had 13 tracks. Many years later in 1994, for their "World Tour" games, the Globetrotters released a album titled "Spirit Of The Game", with their team owner's name Mannie Jackson, Louis Dunbar, and the team's mascot "Globie", all getting a song of their own. The album was later re-released in 1999 with a alternate cover.