Saturday 27 May 2017

Mousekeeping (Chuckle)

Maybe it’s my imagination or a faulty memory due to ancient brain cells, but it seems to me Mr. Jinks fared much better against Pixie and Dixie in those little cartoons-between-the-cartoons than in the actual cartoons.

In one 20-second routine, genial Huckleberry Hound asks the vacuum-carrying Jinks if he’s housekeeping. No, says the cat. After sucking up the meeces, he tells us he’s “mouse-keeping” and chuckles at the camera.

Jinks’ head looks odd in this shortie. I couldn’t tell you who did the layouts.



Yes, the pun is pretty weak, but you can imagine Jinksie would think it’s funny, so it fits nicely. Mr. Jinks is a great character with loads of possibilities for stories (even beyond being paired with the meeces).

I suspect the animation is by Ed Love and the flat backgrounds by Monte Montealegre.

5 comments:

  1. Thank you sooooooo much for this YOWP, My grandma, my late grandpa and I loved the ''Pixie and Dixie and Mr. Jinks'' shorts.

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  2. NYC's WPIX carried the Huck and Yogi packages until about 1966, and included all the bumpers. When WNEW took over, they shelved the bumpers (probably in favor of more commercials!). When I was on vacation in Southern California in 1974, I learned whatever independent station was showing these cartoons on weekday mornings left the bumpers in- and it was this one. At least some markets had respect for the original format.

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  3. Not intending to disagree with Howard Fein, but my recollections of the Huck and Yogi shows on WPIX in the mid-sixties was that Pixie and Dixie and Yakky Doodle “traded shows”, with the meeces going to The Yogi Bear Show, and the pathetic little duck going to The Huckleberry Hound Show. The Gold Key comic books of the time also reflected this change, putting Yakky on Huckleberry Hound covers and occasionally as part of the interior content as well.

    Around this time, the end credits for Huck’s show were redrawn to include Yakky and Chopper, along with Hokey and Ding, to replace the Kelloggs characters who traditionally took the wild jalopy ride with Huck. The end theme was shortened too.

    With the character swap, that would have seemed the logical time to discontinue the interstitials.

    Now, I’m not certain exactly when these shows transitioned to WNEW (today, FOX-5), but I DO recall “The Quick Draw McGraw Show” being broken up by WNEW to run each of the component features at 5 in the afternoon – about 1966-1967. Monday offered three Quick Draw cartoons. Tuesday (?) had three Augie Doggies. Thursday had three Snooper and Blabbers. (All three series were shown for the first time in New York with their full credits on each cartoon.) The other two days might have been Bugs Bunny. Friday certainly was.

    I first noticed Huck and Yogi on WNEW in the spring of 1970, at (again) 5 in the afternoon. It was one daily show, leading off with Huck, Quick Draw was second, and Yogi closed the half-hour. I never missed that! Though, I couldn’t say if Huck and Yogi had come to WNEW prior to that in anything resembling their original show configurations.

    And, as long as I’m “reaching back”, I cannot recall what followed this Huck/Quick Draw/Yogi show at 5:30 on WNEW – but at 6:00 PM were reruns of Lost in Space. I never missed those either.

    Hopefully, Howard (or any other New Yorker) can offer further correction to this, or add to these recollections of mine.

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  4. It seemed that from at least 1969 on, the half-hour syndicated HUCKLEBERRY HOUND SHOW (with Hokey, Yakky and Chopper in the end credits and the Screen Gems 'toilet paper' closing logo) showed a Huck cartoon in the first slot and a cartoon from the other eight 1958-61 short subject series interchangeably. This included Yogi and the three QUICK DRAW McGRAW segments.

    During the turn of the 1960s and 70s, WNEW may have also aired a weekday morning hour slot just listed in the newspaper and TV Guide as 'Cartoons' that carried the early H-B series- and possibly some combination of WB and Paramount/Famous cartoons as well. WPIX was home to Felix the Cat, the entire Popeye franchise, and beginning in 1970 THE MAGILLA GORILLA SHOW. I don't remember seeing much of Wally Gator, Touche Turtle or Lippy and Hardy on any NYC station after the mid-1960s.

    Of course, there were no interstitials. All cartoons in the Quick Draw stable were preceded by their full opening credit sequences. A handful Yogi, Meece, Snagglepuss, Yakky and Hokey cartoons had their full openings, too- but none of the Hucks.

    On Sunday mornings, WNEW might have aired early H-B cartoons under the YOGI BEAR SHOW umbrella, including the 'helicopter' closing.

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  5. Hi! I have read your blog for a while and I'm also a dedicated fan of Yogi Bear. Do you know which sweeties Yogi specificly enjoys most of all? Any cake, pie...? It would be nice to bake Yogi's favorites sweeties and eat them when enjoying a Yogi movie!

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