Wednesday 7 December 2016

Yogi Bear Weekend Comics, December 1966

What? Someone other than Yogi Bear emptying a house of food in a Yogi Bear cartoon? It happened 50 years ago this month when the Yogi weekend newspaper comics were graced with a guest appearance by Precious Pupp.

Precious was Hanna-Barbera’s first starring character that had a wheezy snicker. There had been others who appeared as incidental characters in various cartoons put out by the studio. Just as Astro’s voice pattern was later borrowed by Scooby Doo, Precious’ laugh was made more famous a few years later by Muttley.

At the time he appeared in the December 4, 1966 comic Precious would have been into his second season on the Atom Ant show. I don’t recall him being a heavy eater but he is in this comic. I do recall he wasn’t white like in the comic. Maybe it’s his winter fur.



I don’t need to say much about the other comics of the month. I really like the evergreen tree pyjamas and nightcap that Ranger Smith wears in the Christmas comic. Note the references to Huckleberry Hound and Quick Draw McGraw on packages under the tree in the opening panel.

My thanks to Richard Holliss for supplying these full-colour comics from his collection.



December 11, 1966.



December 18, 1966.



December 25, 1966.

5 comments:

  1. These materials were drawn by Iwao Takamoto and Jerry Eisenberg.
    Alias, the Yogi Bear 1966 Christmas page (drawn by Iwao Takamoto) appeared in the Mark Christiansen's extinct blog, the Mark Christiansen's Other Stuff (http://marksotherstuff.blogspot.com).

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  2. Not only does Precious Pupp (based on Huckleberry Hound's snickering mischeivous tormentor that appeared in a lot of his cartoons) appear but also Granny Sweet, his owner,too! I saw this in another blog, maybe the s=one Rod refers to!

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  3. The little boy on the beach bears somewhat of a resemblance to Spike Wilson, of "Sugar & Spike" fame. Can't tell for sure, but the beach looks like Waikiki. As far as I know, this is the only time Precious Pupp, Granny Sweet, Yogi, and Boo-Boo ever appeared together in one story. Ironic that we have a beach scene followed by all of those winter scenes, but evidently Granny is having herself a winter getaway in Hawaii.

    It's nice to see the Christmas strip with its opening panel--and in color! The b & w version minus the top tier was published here several years ago with a considerable number of Yogi Christmas strips. Thanks for that, and thanks for this! And a shout-out to Richard Holliss for his generosity in sharing these strips! Hey, hey, hey!

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  4. Hi folks! Can you please tell me what magazine or newspaper were these comics published on? Thanks.
    Luca

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