Wednesday 1 October 2014

Yogi Bear Weekend Comics, October 1964

Some smiles but no big laughs in the Yogi Bear Sunday comics (Saturday in Canada) 50 years ago this month. I suspect Harvey Eisenberg drew these; it’s a shame I can’t find better versions on the internet to show off his artwork. Boo Boo isn’t really needed so he only shows up in two of the four comics, and only briefly in one.


The optional top row (some papers didn’t carry it) in the October 4th comic is self-contained and has nothing to do with the other two rows. I keep waiting for the line “Oh, Magoo, you’ve done it again.”


Cindy Bear was redesigned for the movie “Hey, There, It’s Yogi Bear” (1964), so that’s the version we see in the October 11th comic. Even Cindy rhymes in this one. She doesn’t seem to appreciate Yogi’s talent for playing five instruments simultaneously. And did he steal all that food around Cindy in the final panel?


I wonder if they sold Yogi balloons like the one the kid has in the final panel of the October 18th comic. The lousy scan ruins the great pose of Ranger Smith at the end. Hazelton’s Law requires all kids in Yogi comics to have dots on the sides of their faces. Mr. Eisenberg seems to have liked varying his use of silhouettes; Yogi and Smith are in silhouette in the background of the top right-hand panel with the subjects clear in the foreground. In other comics, he’ll have the characters in silhouette in the foreground (see example below).

As a side note, I found this story in the supplement of the San Antonio Express for the above date:


Yogi Dresses
NEW YORK—Fans of The Flintstones and Yogi Bear will be glad to hear (or sorry, if you’re a parent and have to spend the money) that dresses are being marketed for little girls that have “coloring book” characters from the shows printed on them, along with the material for the child to do her own coloring.


Odd looking zig-zag trees in the opening panel of October 25th comic. I like Ranger Smith’s moving fingers in the last panel.

Click to enlarge any of the comics.

3 comments:

  1. The dialogue in these strips lends itself well to interpretation by the original vocal artists. No doubt it is Daws Butler's Yogi Bear voice coming through loud and clear. It's easy to imagine Don Messick's Boo Boo and Ranger voices as well. And Julie Bennett would do justice to Cindy's dialogue, including the rhymes (Cindy Bear did speak in rhyme occasionally in the original cartoons, i.e. "I declah, it's Yogi Be-ah"). Who else but Jim Backus (or possibly Doug Young or Daws, to keep things in the H-B stable) as the nearsighted professor. I can hear Dick Beals' voice as the little boy.

    Yogi seems exceptionally vain and narcissistic in the last strip. It's a little overboard for his character. His pride is usually confined to being "smarter than the average bear." However, the drawings and poses of Yogi and the Ranger, and their overall character design, seem particularly spot-on in this one. I agree that the Ranger's jiggling fingers are a nice touch.

    Can't think of any H-B characters who are known for excessive vanity--aside from a few one-off Snow White queens and the like. The only character I can think of who might fit this last gag is Frieda from Peanuts.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Funny, SC, I read Lucille Bliss as the boy.
    Isn't this design of Ranger Smith pretty much the one used in Yogi cartoons in the future (ie. after the original series ended)?

    ReplyDelete