Hanna-Barbera characters were enlisted in the public service. Maybe one of the most charming examples is in a collection of drawings courtesy of that fine animator and character designer, Mark Christiansen. (You can go to his site here and find out about his fun book “Animal Riddles”). The studio created some safety material for elementary schools in 1965 featuring pretty much all of its comedy stars at the time, including the Flintstones, Jetsons and even Touché Turtle. The artwork is by Jerry Eisenberg and Iwao Takamoto. Here are some of them. Click on them to enlarge.
The colour choices may be a little odd on a few of them but the artwork is enjoyable. My thanks to Mark for sharing these elsewhere on-line.
And remember—keep golf tees out of your mouth!
Very nice drawings. I believe I saw these a few years ago on Mark Christiansen's old site... some of them look familiar. Still, it's great to see them again. If they were good once, they will be always be good.
ReplyDeleteThe idea of Top Cat obeying a police officer, though, makes no sense. Come to think of it, neither does the idea of Yogi being a police officer.
Not sure what Eisenberg and Takamoto were thinking there. I wonder what kids who saw that drawing must have thought... Talk about sending a mixed message!
When riding in a car...Make sure Yogi Bear is NOT driving!
ReplyDeleteDIXIE:"Gosh, Jinksy, Yowp can't tell a tee from a party favor horn!"
ReplyDeleteJINKS:"Sheesh, remind me to, like, never go golf-clubbing or night-clubbing with that guy!"
There is a record album that goes along with these drawings: "Flintstones Hear See and Do Safety" I believe is the title if I recall correctly. Daws Butler provides all of the male voices for characters he regularly voiced such as Yogi Bear and Peter Potamus, as well as others that he either never voiced or rarely voiced, such as Top Cat, Barney Rubble, and Fred Flintstone. Jean Van Der Pyl is on hand as Wilma Flintstone in four of the safety messages. The coolest thing about these, besides having authentic or near-authentic voices, is the Hanna-Barbera music and sound effects that accompany each short track. Many H-B fans would probably find something to like about the album. Oh, and Yogi's not a police officer, but a safety patrol crossing guard! He's also a school bus driver.
ReplyDeleteHi, SC33. The album came out in 1973. There was a post about it here: http://yowpyowp.blogspot.com/2015/03/advice-from-yogi-and-wilma.html . You can hear the clips.
DeleteWe never had a safety patrol where I grew up. You walked to and from school and crossed streets on your own way-back-when.
I saw these materials in the Patrick Owsley's blog (http://powsley.blogspot.com).
ReplyDelete