“MeTV is running old Hanna-Barbera cartoons. What do you think, Yowp?” I have been asked by blog readers. I’m not really sure why anyone is all that interested; like anything else I’ve written about cartoons, you can take my opinion or it leave it.
I’m happy the old cartoons are getting some exposure, and may attract new viewers. It’s no secret there are some series that leave me cold (sorry, Magilla) but there’s nothing wrong with watching the original Huck Hound and Yogi Bear shows, especially in higher definition versions than anyone has seen before. To think that 60-plus years ago, our antenna was pulling in these same cartoons on a black-and-white Philco on channels that were, in some cases, about 120 miles away. (I confess I have not owned a set in almost 30 years so I am not watching MeTV or any TV. Sorry, Philco).
Long-time readers here know my favourite of all the H-B series is The Quick Draw McGraw Show, which MeTV is not airing. I have no inside knowledge about the situation. Perhaps Jerry Beck has some insight. To speculate, it could be a case, like the late Earl Kress told me when he tried to assemble a DVD set of the show years ago, some elements are missing or are in poor shape. And the first two seasons use the Langlois Filmusic library, which could not be cleared for home video use. I suspect Warners would like to recoup some restoration costs through BluRay sales. (The cartoons also feature the Capitol Hi-Q library, but most of the cues are by Phil Green which, the way Earl put it, could be cleared through EMI. Other ones by Bill Loose were a problem).
Like Yogi in hibernation, this poor old blog is supposed to be slumbering peacefully, but Strummer Petersen sent me some of the in-between cartoons that are airing on the Yogi show on MeTV, and I felt obliged to post some frames from one of them.
Long before “universes” based on who owns a cartoon, Quick Draw, Yogi and Huck interacted with other characters who appeared on their programme in little vignettes between the cartoons. This makes perfect sense, unlike mushing Jonny Quest and the Snorks in some kind of warped cross-breeding that you’d find in Tex Avery’s Farm of Tomorrow.
In one of the in-between shorts, Yogi is a waiter in a Brown Derby-like restaurant (at least, judging by the Hanna-Barbera star pictures on the wall). His customer is Yakky Doodle (played by Jimmy Weldon).
“What is the speciality of the house?” enquires the duck.
“Roast duck. What else?” replies Yogi. We get a stretch take out of Yakky, who flies away in horror.
I love Yogi’s quick expression as he realises punking Yakky has been a success. Take that, you annoying duck!
“I can understand his sensitivity,” Yogi confides in us. I feel the same way about bear claws.” He does his Yogi laugh as he swings his head from side to side.
But Yogi, ducks can be eaten. No one eats bear claws. Oh, well.
Ed Love is the animator of this little piece.
MeTV viewers, I hope you enjoy the old cartoons on television once again. Maybe El Kabong will swing onto the small screen in high-def some day.
Update: Reader Matt Hunter tells me a bear claw is like a Danish pastry. I've never heard of it. But now the gag makes sense.
The saddening news has come in that Jerry Eisenberg has died. He was 87.
Jerry was one of the crew at MGM under Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera. He was a second-generation animation artist as his dad Harvey had worked with Barbera at Van Beuren in New York. Harvey later laid out cartoons for the Hanna-Barbera unit at Metro (Harvey is on the right of the photo) and was also responsible for the storyboard for Yogi's Birthday Party and the Top Cat opening animation.
After leaving MGM, Jerry worked under Ken Harris in the Chuck Jones unit at Warner Bros.
His name first shows up on the Huckleberry Hound and Quick Draw McGraw shows in the 1961-62 season, providing layouts for Magician Jinks, Chilly Chiller and Person to Prison (both with Snooper and Blabber). He laid out the half-hour prime time shows in the 1960s and there are other credits you can find on-line.
Our sympathies go to Jerry’s wife, who is from the Maillardville area near Vancouver.
Jerry was kind enough to spend two and a half hours with me on the phone some years back. The interview has been transcribed in six parts. You can read part one here. He has a lot of fun stories because he was a fun guy, liked by everyone in the animation business, as best as I can tell. I'm sorry we never got a chance (due to technical issues on my end) to do another interview as there was so much more of his career we never discussed.
One way of getting into a Yogi Bear cartoon was a pan over a long background while Don Messick, as narrator, sets up the plot.
One of those cartoons was Bear For Punishment, which first aired on the Huckleberry Hound Show on the week of November 30, 1959. The studio added background painters that year, as it added the Quick Draw McGraw Show to its workload. Fernando Montealegre, Bob Gentle and Art Lozzi were joined by Dick Thomas and Joe Montell. Thomas had originally been Bob Clampett’s background man at Warners and eventually left the studio in the mid-1950s to work for Disney. Montell’s first job was with Tex Avery at MGM and, when the unit was disbanded, he ended up (with Warren Foster, who wrote this cartoon) at John Sutherland Productions.
Montell is responsible for the backgrounds in this cartoon. After a shot of cars (on a cel being moved to the left) over a woodsy, repeating background, he came up with this for the second scene.
Bill Hanna then cuts to another background drawing, which is panned to the right. There has been no animation yet. That begins when the shot stops on Yogi and Boo Boo, and they begin snoring. The heads are the only things that are animated.
The next cut is to a long, repeating background. Notice how the bare pine and right-leaning whatever-it-is tree on the left of the painting are the same as on the right.
This background gets a good workout as cel overlays with cabins (as well as the animation) are placed on top. Here’s an example, just after Hanna cuts away from Yogi and Boo Boo. The cave is placed over top of the tree slanting to the left and the fir next to it. There are two overlays, one of the left half of the cave entrance and the other of the right, allowing the two bears to leave the cave. Below, you can pretty much see where the right overlay is placed.
Montell’s style is pretty easy to spot. He loved dots. See the dots he has next to branches or on top of stems? And dots he uses for rocks? That’s Montell. You can see the same thing in some of his cartoons for Avery and at Sutherland.
The animator of this cartoon is Gerard Baldwin in his first go-around at Hanna-Barbera. He started his animation career at UPA in the 1950s, and moved to Sutherland where he has an animation screen credit on that studio’s magnum opus, Rhapsody of Steel (1959). He has an odd way of drawing the bear, with two roundish parts to his muzzle in certain views, a little loop for a mouth, and sometimes with a stretched neck with his nose up. We’ve shown some examples in this post about the cartoon.
Here’s a bit of Baldwin dialogue animation. When Boo Boo (in one of many close-ups in this cartoon) asks “Why don’t we eat nuts and berries like other bears?”, Yogi responds with “Nuts and berries? Yechhh.” The drawings below are on twos.
My wild guess is the studio would not have used this many drawings in later years. It would go from profile, two in-betweens, front view, then the mouth-only animated to say “Nuts and berries? Yechhh.”
Both Baldwin and Montell left the studio for Jay Ward Productions before the season was finished. Montell ended up in Mexico supervising the work of Gamma Productions. Baldwin returned to H-B some years later and garnered some Emmys. He (and a number of others) never got screen credit on the end titles of the Huck show in the 1959-60 season but Montell did.
The blog profiled Montell some time ago and you can read that post here.
How long have animated cartoon characters been “running” for the U.S. presidency?
Well, Popeye and Bluto did. So did Betty Boop (as the crowd chanted her name to the “We Want Cantor” musical vamp). Olive Oyl dreamed she was president.
But that was only on the screen. There were no real-life campaign appearances or newspaper articles with promises or anything suggesting an actual (but phoney) run for the office.
Whether Huckleberry Hound changed all that, I don’t know, but the Hanna-Barbera publicity machine got into high gear in 1960. Broadcasting magazine revealed in its August 8, 1960 issue the idea was the brainchild of “Honest” Ed Justin at Screen Gems and, before anyone knew it, “Huck For President” ads were airing during the Republican National Convention. You can read more about it in this post.
The Palm Beach Post of August 28, 1960 reported on the size of the campaign to date. There is no byline.
“if I’m elected. . .”
He may be just the answer for thousands of confused voters. Huckleberry Hound, TV's Emmy winning cartoon hero, is running for President, and the mythical canine's bandwagon is rolling right along.
A comic book, Huckleberry Hound for President, is now out. A record company has waxed an L.P. album about Huck's campaign. Some five million campaign buttons have been made, along with banners, balloons, picket signs and TV slides.
In Mason City, Iowa the grandstand at the State Fair was plastered with Huck's picture.
Last week, Toledo, Ohio and Evansville, Indiana had "Huck" rallies, and next month Spokane, Washington plans a three-day shindig.
The biggest turnout so far was in Honolulu. Recently Huck, Yogi Bear and Quick Draw McGraw (portrayed by actors in costumes) arrived in Honolulu for a "nominating convention." The Honolulu Star-Bulletin reported, "10,000 people at the airport for Huckleberry Hound . . . more than President Eisenhower had at the airport also more than greeted the Shah of Iran or the crown Prince and Princess of Japan." One of Huck's "campaign managers" has this to say: "This may be the worst organized political campaign in history. Our candidate can't tell the White House from a dog house. His campaign manager, Yogi Bear, is a mythical inhabitant of a mythical park. There's no platform, and an awful lot of our supporters are below voting age.
"But, unlike the other candidates, Huck can't lose.”
This may the dog-gonedest campaign year yet.
The Post wasn’t the only newspaper that got a campaign press kit. The TV Editor of the Tampa Times led her column of August 27, 1960 with Huck (Hanna-Barbera got a bonus, as her second story was on the pending arrival on ABC-TV of The Flintstones.
The first, and perhaps only "Huckleberry Hound for president" button in the area, arrived at my desk last week, along with details announcing the lovable pooch's campaign Is now in full swing.
Apparently Huck doesn't have the big money interests behind him, because the button is only about the size of a nickel and doesn't look worth that much. To be frank—it looks like something you might get out of a cracker jack box.
A Bare Item!
But it is a rare item in these parts—thereby giving it some questionable value. Would someone REALLY like to have it? If anyone cares to be the only area resident with a genuine "Huckleberry Hound for president" button—write, and I will present it to the person who offers the most interesting reason why they would support Huckleberry for president. Just write me—that's Tish Gray, in care of The Times.
Checked to see if Huck has any plans to campaign or flood Tampa Bay with his election insignia but at present, the local outlet, WFLA-TV (8), says no. However any interest shown, might get them to change their minds, and then all of us could have Huckleberry Hound for president buttons.
The Huck campaign never got to Election Night. Perhaps Ed Justin’s team felt they had milked the idea until it ran dry. Broadcasting magazine told the story in its October 17, 1960 edition.
‘Huck for President’
A decision has been made in smoke-filled rooms that will change the complexion of the presidential race. Huckleberry Hound will withdraw his hat from the ring and throw his weight to the other candidates.
It has been an open secret in the trade but closely guarded from the public. In fact, there’s another Huck-for-President rally scheduled by Rich’s department store and WSB-TV in Atlanta next week. Only last week the tv hound addressed more than 5,000 at a Freedomland rally in New York after stumping other cities across the country. His campaign assistant, Quick Draw McGraw, led a rally at St. Louis’ Busch Stadium.
The presidential bandwagon got rolling last summer (BROADCASTING, Aug. 8) and inspired local promotions in many of 180 markets where Huckleberry Hound is on the air for Kellogg’s (through Leo Burnett Co.). Screen Gems spearheaded the drive. Stations and department stores carrying Huckleberry Hound merchandise rallied around with their own tub-thumping.
Now more than a third of the stations have received a series of recorded announcements containing the political secret that will swing the child vote in two other directions. Actually it is a public-service campaign to pressure parents and other fans of age to register and vote.
The first in the series of transcriptions is a standard “Vote for Huck” appeal. The second, planned for use during local registration season, urges fans to register for the vote. In the last, containing the political bombshell, the candidate announces he is quitting the race (“a joke’s a joke’), but he asks all voters to report to polls election day. This is for release shortly prior to Nov. 8. All run behind the standard Huck-for-President slide.
The Freedomland appearance was the last of the season for the paid act packaged by Screen Gems. The gate Oct. 8 was 11,000, up 2,500 (on a World Series day) from the Saturday before, with the help of promotion by WPIX (TV) New York, where Huckleberry Hound appears, and Macys department store. Performer Eddie Alberian, who plays the hound part on the amusement park-fair circuit, will take to the road with the cartoon company again next spring promoting also Quick Draw McGraw (he’s on the same Kellogg lineup) and The Flintstones, which just debuted on ABC-TV. All are Hanna-Barbera Cartoons productions.
There are 25 more department store promotions between now and December using local talent, tieing in with stations at football games and local special events, but the race for the White House has been conceded by one of the politicians’ best friends.
One last news release was sent out by Honest Ed’s P.R. people. Here’s how Joe Bryant of the Fort Lauderdale News put it in his Showtime column of November 4:
Huckleberry Hound Releases Voters
Huckleberry Hound, who for months has waged a dogged campaign for the Presidency, today withdrew from the race and released all of his voters.
"I'm downright dee-lighted with the wonderful support the public has given me, and although I have consistently-placed first at all poles, I feel it is the best interests of the country that I withdraw," Huck said.
“For one thing,” the flop-eared politician continued, "I have an unofficial ruling from the attorney general that even if elected by the populace, I would not be allowed to serve.
"I am told that my opponents will seek a strict interpretation of the Constitutional provision that a president must be at least 35 years of age. And while, in a literal interpretation, my competitive age as a dog would enable me to qualify, I don't hardly know a dog around who can meet the strict interpretation of that ruling.
"At feast, I don’t know any four-legged dogs who can," he added thoughtfully.
“Any-how," the ex-candidate mused, “I’d probably be out of place in Washington. I don't give a hoot for golf or fishing. Baying at the moon is my favorite sport and I’m afraid I’d be outclassed at this on Capitol Hill.”
What was Huck doing on election night? We know what he was doing in the Los Angeles area. Election Night is on a Tuesday. So was The Huckleberry Hound Show. Columnist Art Ryon of the Los Angeles Times was a big Huck fan, and he noted for posterity in his column of Friday, November 11:
In the frenzy of Tuesday night’s election returns, KTTV dropped everything to present, as scheduled, Huckleberry Hound.
This was a comforting gesture.
It shows that the Huckleberry Hound-for-President is still very much alive. And, while the recent campaign bogged down—mostly because of the arrogance of the Eastern and Midwest cliques in the Party—we are looking forward to ’64.
The nation needs Huckleberry Hound and Yogi Bear!
Unfortunately for Huck, the 1960 election campaign marked the peak of his career. Hanna-Barbera was already planning a feature-length movie, but it was to star Yogi Bear, not Huck. When H-B got into the syndicated newspaper comic business, the one-panel comics starred Yogi Bear, not Huck. The strips featured the Flintstones, not Huck. And when the ’64 that Art Ryon awaited finally arrived, the presidential ticket featured Yogi Bear, not Huck.
As time rolled on, the gentle Southern hound didn’t have an Ark Lark or Space Race or Yahooeys. No one said “Yo, Huck!” (which was probably a good thing). Oh, Huck was still around but, by the end of the 1960s, another Hanna-Barbera dog surpassed him in popularity (and ubiquity).
Regardless, you still have to like ol’ Huck. He’s pleasant and easy-going, even when he’s dealing with poundings or other adversity. Sometimes he wins, sometimes he loses. Maybe he wouldn’t have been a good president, but he’s a pretty good TV cartoon character.
If you want to read the Huck presidential comic, CLICK HERE. If you want to hear the Huck presidential campaign L.P., CLICK HERE. We warn you these are not the original cartoon voices. You will not hear Daws Butler or Don Messick. You will hear New York actors instead, including Mason Adams as Bert on the first track.
If I say “Yogi Bear” to you, you’ll likely think of pic-a-nic baskets and “The ranger won’t like it, Yogi.” But that isn’t how Yogi started out.
Warren Foster came to Hanna-Barbera in 1959 to take over writing The Huckleberry Hound Show in its second season. Because all the players are dead, we don’t how it specifically happened, but there seems to have been a conscious decision to calcify the Foster stories into the bear-vs-ranger template.
Yet it was different in the first season. By various accounts, Joe Barbera himself came up with the storylines, fleshed out by writer Charlie Shows, with Barbera’s old Van Beuren studio buddy Dan Gordon sketching out the story (though Shows could draw). Their versions of Yogi were a little different. Frankly, I find them appealing. TV audiences must have too, as the following year, Yogi found his way into the closing animation on the Huck show, and a costumed Yogi joined a costumed Huck on personal appearances. And there were Yogi clubs in addition to Huck clubs.
What kinds of Yogi did they come up with?
1. The Helpful Bear.
In a number of cartoons, Yogi altruistically aided less fortunate creatures. He saved a little fox from a hunter and clever dog Yowp in Foxy Hound-Dog and a duckling from the same pair in Duck in Luck.
He reluctantly gave a home to the same duck in Slumber Party Smarty and tried to teach a little eaglet to fly in High Fly Guy. .
Yogi assisted larger animals in distress, like the escaped circus elephant in Hide and Go Peek.
He rescued children as well, such as Li’l Tom-Tom in The Brave Little Brave and a toddling boy in Daffy Daddy.
Boo Boo is absent in all of these, which makes for a cleaner plot.
2. The Hungry Bear.
This is one aspect Foster carried over. The very first Yogi cartoon put into production deals with the subject as he tries to get past a guarding dog in Pie-Pirates and a bull to taste some honey in Big Bad Bully. Closer to his behaviour with Ranger Smith, he feigns illness to get food from the home of a Professor Gizmo (of Ruff and Reddy) lookalike in Tally Ho Ho Ho.
3. The Spot Gag Bear.
In a couple of cute cartoons, Yogi loses against an adversary in spot gag cartoons. One involves a wily fish in The Stout Trout and the other is against semi-humanised cars in Baffled Bear. Both have humorous narration by Don Messick, but no Boo Boo. I really wish more of these kinds of cartoons had been made.
4. The Disobedient Bear.
Foster’s Yogi found convenient ways to get around Ranger Smith’s rules. Various generic rangers appeared in the first season as Yogi did what he felt like and suffered the consequences. He stole a motorised scooter in Scooter Looter and a helicopter in The Buzzin’ Bear. In both, generic rangers try to stop Yogi before he causes much more damage. He tries to get past a ranger and escape from Jellystone in Yogi Bear’s Big Break, where he learned things weren’t great on the outside.
At least one cartoon goes in the direction Foster would head. In Robin Hood Yogi, our hero endeavours to steal “goodies,” including a picnic basket. This cartoon has two rangers, one of whom Yogi cons into pretending to be Friar Tuck.
There were other Yogi cartoons in that first season, but this gives you an idea of the variety of plots. I think this made him a stronger character, but the studio disagreed, and Yogi went on to become one of the A-listers at Hanna-Barbera, even eclipsing poor old, Tex Avery-inspired, Huckleberry Hound.
“MeTV is running old Hanna-Barbera cartoons. What do you think, Yowp?” I have been asked by blog readers. I’m not really sure why anyone is all that interested; like anything else I’ve written about cartoons, you can take my opinion or it leave it.
