The Huck Birthday Express

Children loved it. Teenagers went nuts for it. Adults watched it. Even critics thought it was entertaining. And it began appearing on TV screens 63 years ago today.

The Huckleberry Hound Show was syndicated across North America by Kellogg’s ad agency Leo Burnett, buying half-hour early evening timeslots where available. That meant not all stations that picked up Huck were airing it on Monday, September 29, 1958. The station in Kellogg’s home office (aka Battle Creek, Michigan) was one that did. In Los Angeles, the show was on Tuesdays. In Chicago, it was on Wednesdays. In New York and many other cities, it was on Thursdays.

Sorry, Ruff and Reddy, but the Huck show was the one upon which Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera built their empire. They started with four animators—Ken Muse, Lew Marshall, Carlo Vinci, with Mike Lah freelancing—though it appears Phil Duncan and Ed Love were brought in to do little cartoons between the cartoons in the first season. There were opening and closing pieces with all the main characters on the show interacting, with Huck finishing things by urging us to watch for the next Huckleberry Hound Show.

For the record, the first cartoons aired (not produced) were Huckleberry Hound Meets Wee Willie, Cousin Tex and Yogi Bear's Big Break (with Boo Boo).

Some time ago, Stu Shostak sent a dub of Huck show that was on 16mm and transferred to VHS. It was an episode in French. I’ll post a few frames. You’ll have to live with scratches on the print. I don't know which year this appeared.

Engineer Huck introduces the others riding the "Huckleberry Hound Express" train: Yogi Bear, guest conductors Dixie and Pixie, and Mr. Jinks (“bringing up the rear”) in the caboose.



Dixie decides to “pull the pin on that silly grin” and get rid of Jinksie.



“Hey! I'm loose in the caboose!” Some expressions and then “Wait for me!”



Ah, the old tunnel gag.



Never fret, kids. We’re invited back again for more cartoons with Huckleberry Houuuuuuund!



Huckleberry Hound had the same appeal as his direct predecessor—Tex Avery’s southern wolf in the MGM cartoon Billy Boy, where nothing ruffled him, no matter what happened. Yogi Bear wears Ed Norton’s get-up, the same as Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera’s Down Beat Bear at MGM. Pixie and Dixie are catalysts who got a few good lines from writer Charlie Shows in the first season. Mr. Jinks is the star of the segment, and his voice is borrowed from Stan Freberg’s parody of mumbling method actors in his Capitol record “Sh-Boom.”

Yogi became the biggest star of the lot, but I still like the casual Huck as he takes on all comers, including crooks, a TV set, a mosquito, potato and weinerschnitzel monsters and, of course, dogs that act like dogs.

You can read more about the 60th Huckiversary in this post.