Wednesday 1 March 2017

Yogi Bear Weekend Comics, March 1967

Kids, little animals and a cameo from Huckleberry Hound highlight the Yogi comics that appeared in Sunday newspapers 50 years ago this month. Winter also disappears in Jellystone Park after the first weekend.

These tabloid versions (four rows) come from Richard Holliss’ archives. They’re identical to the three-row broadsheet version except one thin frame in the first row is missing. Many papers never printed the first row to begin with, so the comic was written with the idea it could be deleted. Sometimes it consisted of a self-contained gag, sometimes it was a set-up, but it always fit the rest of the comic.



Skiiers are always told to be ready for conditions in the back country in case they get lost or into trouble. Today, they’re told to carry a phone. That was impossible in 1967, so Yogi puts his message on his skis. Very ingenious. And it was nice of Huck to show up in Jellystone. This comic is from March 5th. Note the lack of a background in the second panel.



Yogi comes to the rescue of some cute Gene Hazelton-designed kittens in the March 12th comic, with some help from the park “general.” The fins on the red car were way out of date by 1967. Note the “meow” on the bag in the first panel, third row. Boo Boo laughs in the final panel.



The rabbit in the March 19th comic isn’t quite the White Rabbit from the Alice TV special the year before, but he isn’t a cute little cartoon bunny equivalent of the kitten in the previous week’s comic. “Paunch and Judy”? “Hare restorer”? Oh, well.



Bill Hanna’s favourite organisation is represented in the comics once again on March 26th. Can anyone hear Dick Beals’ voice coming out of the kid at the top of the pyramid? The top panel uses varying distances very nicely.

Click on each comic to enlarge.

8 comments:

  1. re: Paunch and Judy

    They are recurring characters in the Yogi Bear comic strip. You have posted a comic featuring them at least once before. See here: http://yowpyowp.blogspot.com/2017/02/yogi-bear-weekend-comics-february-1967.html (apparently, Judy has dyed her hair black, or had previously dyed her hair blonde). Their names are a nod to the old "Punch and Judy" puppet shows.

    SG

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  2. These materials were drawn by Iwao Takamoto & Jerry Eisenberg.

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    1. Were the Flintstones ones done by them too?

      http://schlesingerheadlines.blogspot.com

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  3. Despite the frequent puns, and the dozens of Bugs Bunny titles that play on the misconception, a hare is a different animal from a rabbit. Oh, well, even though it's inaccurate, "Hare Restorer" is still a great gag.

    The reference to the Wonderland rabbit makes me realize that this rabbit really looks like a near cousin to Alice's White Rabbit in the H-B special. One can almost hear him crooning "Life's a Game" in the voice of either Howard Morris (TV version) or Don Messick (vinyl version). The special had aired for the first time on television the year earlier.

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  4. Dick Beals's voice sure comes out of all the kids to my ears..:)

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  5. That rabbit looks like a pink version of the (exactly a year ealier) March (and I don't mean HARE!) 1966 Hanna-Barbera Alice special to me..!

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  6. And finally, on the first, carrying a phone. Well, no portable or cell phone in 1967. But WALKIE TALKIES, and with the spy era, communicatable shoes or wrist watched..yes!

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  7. Yeah I could hear Dick Beals as Paunch and Janet Waldo as this Judy too and some of the women. The hare gag looked more like something out of a Bugs Bunny cartoon. Pretty cool. Keep sharing!

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