Doggie Daddy Décor

The early Hanna-Barbera cartoons had a basic premise and that was about it. No one cared a lot if the Flintstones’ house looked different from episode to episode, or that Yogi Bear wasn’t always living in Jellystone Park in every show during the first season. It was no different than theatrical cartoons—Bugs Bunny lived anywhere and everywhere. So it was up to layout and background artists to come up with a setting for a particular cartoon; they weren’t beholden to anything done earlier.

I posted a while ago about the various cars Snooper and Blabber had in their cartoons because I still have a fascination for that era of car design (late ‘50s). I wanted to do a similar post pointing out all the different suburban houses Augie Doggie and Doggie Daddy lived in (you see an interior from Foxhounded Hounded Fox to the right). But Emmy-winning director/storyboard artist Sherm Cohen came up with a better idea—the various living room chairs Doggie Daddy sat in, usually while reading a newspaper. So I’ve leafed through my old posts to give you some Doggie Daddy décor. The differences add to the series, in my estimation. The same chair, lamp, table and living room in each cartoon might get stale after a while.

While the layout artist in the early H-B cartoons generally came up with props, the background artists were usually free to do what they desired. So I’ll list both the layout and background people. Not all cartoons in circulation today have credits and some are incorrect. Four of the 45 Augie Doggie cartoons are on DVD, all from the final season when only six shorts were made, so most of the frames you see here are from old, low-resolution TV captures.

In looking at this post, you might think Doggie Daddy worked in a furniture factory. Or maybe a pole lamp store (pole lamps were big in the ‘60s; we had one in our living room when I was a kid. He, like Ozzie Nelson on The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, never seemed to work, though one later cartoon reveals he spent some time in vaudeville.

Monte’s bucket chair in Skunk You Very Much is my favourite.

1959-60 SEASON



HIGH AND FLIGHTY
Layout – Bick Bickenbach, Backgrounds – Fernando Montealegre



NAG-NAG-NAG
Layout – Ed Benedict, Backgrounds – Bob Gentle



BIG TOP POP
Layout – Bob Givens, Backgrounds – Joe Montell



MILLION DOLLAR ROBBERY
Layout – Ed Benedict, Backgrounds – Fernando Montealegre



GOOD MOUSEKEEPING (no credits)



WHATEVER GOES PUP
Layout – Ed Benedict, Backgrounds – Dick Thomas



RO-BUTLER
Backgrounds – Bob Gentle?



MARS LITTLE PRECIOUS
Layout – Bick Bickenbach, Backgrounds – Fernando Montealegre



SNAGGLEPUSS
Layout – Walt Clinton, Backgrounds – Bob Gentle



HUM SWEET HUM
(uncertain) Layout – Ed Benedict, Backgrounds – Bob Gentle



PECK O' TROUBLE
Layout – Walt Clinton, Backgrounds – Art Lozzi



FUSS N' FEATHERS (no credits)



SKUNK YOU VERY MUCH
Layout – Bick Bickenbach, Backgrounds – Fernando Montealegre

1960-61 SEASON



YUK YUK DUCK
Layout – Paul Sommer, Backgrounds – Art Lozzi



IT'S A MICE DAY
Layout – Paul Sommer, Backgrounds – Fernando Montealegre



BUD BROTHERS
Layout – Paul Sommer, Backgrounds – Art Lozzi



IT'S A WORM DAY
Layout – Walt Clinton, Backgrounds – Bob Gentle



PATIENT POP
Layout – Tony Rivera, Backgrounds – Bob Gentle



LET'S DUCK OUT
Layout – Paul Sommer, Background – Dick Thomas



HORSE FATHERS
Layout – Hi Mankin, Backgrounds – Art Lozzi



PLAYMATE PUP
Layout – Paul Sommer, Backgrounds – Art Lozzi



LITTLE WONDER
Layout – Tony Rivera, Backgrounds – Fernando Montealegre

1961-62 SEASON



VACATION TRIPPED
Layout – Noel Tucker, Backgrounds – Art Lozzi



PARTY POOPER POP
Layout – Tony Rivera, Backgrounds – Fernando Montealegre



GROWING, GROWING, GONE
Layout – Tony Rivera, Backgrounds – Dick Thomas



DOUGH-NUTTY
Layout – Tony Rivera, Backgrounds – Dick Thomas



FROM APE TO Z
Layout – Tony Rivera, Backgrounds – Dick Thomas