As you can see, Hanna-Barbera was still using the comic page to plug its movie “Hey There, It’s Yogi Bear” 50 years ago this month. The punch line of the July 5th comic goes back to just after World War Two. The Jack Benny radio show, among others, make occasional fun of a brand of ballpoint pen that advertised it could write under water. Gene Hazelton or his writer adds into the mix a parody of Zsa Zsa Gabor. You already know Zsa Zsa voiced a caricature of herself for H-B in the Alice TV special a couple of years later so there’s no need to mention it in the comment section. I don’t know who is being caricatured in the middle panel, bottom row.
Yogi’s expressions in the July 26th comic are pretty good and I like the end gag, which is set up pretty well in the second row. The black background panel in the bottom row is a nice variation. Sigh. Even the bear skins rhyme.
Here are the comics for July 12th and July 19th. I can not get better versions. It’s too bad. I’d like to see what magazine has Yogi’s picture on the front cover on the 19th. Whether the bowl is an inside joke (it’s not filled with Kellogg’s OKs, is it?) or just a comment on Yogi’s appetite, I don’t know. I like the star-bedecked opening panel in the comic on the 12th. Yogi is nice enough to give the bellboy a tip (I don’t think they could have gotten away with “Caaaaaall for Raaaannger Smiiiiith!”). And the final panel has an unintentional nod to the music in the background of the first few seasons of Yogi cartoons with the Capitol Records building in clear view. Bill Loose and John Seely aren’t looking out any of the windows; they were gone from Capitol by then, but the company was still making the Hi-Q library available for use, mainly by industrial film producers.
The “Yogi in Hollywood” storyline continued until the end of August (with a couple of breaks). The funniest comic may be August 16, when Yogi Bear meets Yogi Berra. If Mark Kausler doesn’t post a version from his collection on his blog, I’ll see if I can find a version that’s clean.
As usual, you can click on any comic to enlarge it.
Well, thankfully for us all I would guess, no Cindy Bear.
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting and a moment of silence for the end of the strips. Steve C.
As both a Hanna-Barbera fan and a New York Yankees fan, I’ve always longed for that mythical moment when Yogi Bear would finally meet Yogi Berra!
ReplyDeleteWhat would they say? What would they do? And, even though Mr. Berra was a catcher, and not an outfielder, would Mr. Bear teach him… “The Basket Catch”? (Pardon!)
If at all possible, Yowp, please try to locate that one strip, and run it as a sort of “farewell special”!
Hoping the Yogi strips ain’t over ‘till they’re over!
Was Yogi expecting THIS in the Hollywood Bowl?
ReplyDeleteGee, I'd be thrilled to see these Sunday strips, even if you can only find the lower two thirds! The art has always been amazing.
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