The Hound Loved By Adults and Island-Namers

The Huckleberry Hound Show was a huge hit when it debuted in 1958, not only with kids but with college students and even adults. Reviews expressed surprise at the age of the audience, as if columnists bought into the idea that cartoons were only for kids (certainly the early evening time slot that Huck got had been aimed at adolescents in the network radio days not long before).

Here are some interesting numbers about the show’s viewers in Indianapolis during the Huck show’s second season. This is from Gene Swindell’s column in the Anderson Daily Bulletin, March 12, 1960.

ADULT CARTOONS? — The Monday night television viewing begins a bit early at our house when “Huckleberry Hound” bows in on Ch. 13. Although the cartoon show is primarily tuned in for my son’s enjoyment, I have become attracted to it myself. And judging from some statistics received this week, I’m not the only adult sneaking a peek at these cartoon characters.
WLW-I’s recent rating survey indicates that out of every 100 people watching “Huck,” 40 are children, 12 are teenagers, 24 are women and 24 are men. The show holds 42 per cent of all the TV sets tuned in from 6:30 to 7, a good record for even the best network programs.

“Huckleberry Hound” was created by Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera, teammates in cartooning for 20 years. Both reside in California and recently formed H-B Enterprises which also handles “Quick Draw McGraw,” another top-rated cartoon show aired Wednesday evenings on Ch. 13.
The voices behind most of the cartoon characters belong to Daws Butler, a native of Chicago. Butler has spent the past two years being the voice of “Huck,” “Yogi Bear,” “Mr. Jinks” and the little mouse, “Dixie.” You may remember Butler’s work on Stan Freberg’s million-dollar record, “St. George and the Dragonet,” in 1948. [sic]
“Huckleberry Hound” has avoided the occupational peril of being typed. He may turn up one week as a cop, looking like nothing else on earth and sounding like Jack Webb; then the next week he may appear as Sir Huck, taking like a British Andy Griffith.
Ch. 13 considers “Huck” and “Quick Draw” its favorite television personalities. They are even watched by personnel of the station—a critical group of viewers hardened by constant exposure to westerns, musicals, variety and detective shows.

How popular was Huck? Newspapers mentioned that an island had been named after him. Newsweek magazine reported in 1960:

Tucked away in the Antarctic’s Bellingshausen Sea sits a fleabite-size island that bears the euphonious, if somewhat curious, appellation, “Huckleberry Hound.” It was so named by the crew of the Coast Guard icebreaker U.S. Glacier, in a gesture of fealty that may mystify future naval historians, but will puzzle not at all the salaaming devotees of one of TV’s most popular characters— a cartoon dog.

Someone has asked whether the island was officially named for Huck and whether it’s still named for him. A search all over the internet has come up with nothing. The Bellingshausen Sea covers about 500 miles between Alexander and Thurston Islands. There some teeny islands in the area (where it’s supposed to be (70° 40' West latitude) but I’ve been unable to find a truly detailed map. If someone has a definitive answer, please pass on a note.

Quick Draw McGraw — Twin Troubles

Produced and Directed by Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera.
Credits: none. Animation – Ken Muse, Layout – Walt Clinton, Backgrounds – Dick Thomas, Story – Mike Maltese, Story Director – Alex Lovy, Titles – Art Goble, Production Supervision – Howard Hanson.
Voice Cast: Narrator, Good N. Meany, Mr. Briefcase, Judge – Doug Young; Quick Draw, Baba Looey, Durn Meany, Bailiff – Daws Butler. Music: Phil Green, Jack Shaindlin, Geordie Hormel, Emil Cadkin-Harry Bluestone.
First Aired: week of November 21, 1960 (rerun, week of August 28, 1961).
Episode: Quick Draw McGraw Show M-030, Production J-91.
Plot: Baba Looey has to testify in a bank robbery case against Durn Meany.

Timing is everything in comedy, and “Twin Troubles” features a little gag that couldn’t be timed better.

Baba Looey is being chased by armed bank robbers, running for his life from bullets. How does storyman Mike Maltese build the suspense to a climax? He doesn’t. He cuts to a completely unrelated routine in a courthouse. “Order in the court!” yells a judge. Quick Draw McGraw holds up a coin. “I’ll order a large sasparilly.” The judge bashes Quick Draw’s hand (hoof) with his gavel. “Oooh, that smarts,” says Quick Draw. Then it’s back to the chase.

Sure, it’s a corny old bit of business. But the timing is perfect. Exactly two frames elapse from the time Quick Draw finishes ordering to when he’s bashed. Add catchphrase. Scene done. It all takes less than nine seconds. You’re not left time to analyse it. The ridiculousness sets in and then it’s back to the chase. “Rowan and Martin’s Laugh In” used to do the same kind of thing with quick, unrelated, blackout gags inserted between routines. And it was always funny if the gag wasn’t allowed to linger.

This cartoon uses the basic idea of a western courtroom drama without really parodying it. Instead, it’s a hook to hang the usual things you find in a Quick Draw cartoon. In fact, the courtroom aspect turns out to be completely irrelevant; Baba Looey quells the bad guys at the end of the cartoon by improbably launching a cast-iron stove at them.

The original premise of the cartoon is Quick Draw has ten minutes to produce his star witness (Baba) in court, or Good N. Meany gets off on a bank robbery charge. Meany’s brother Durn is holding off Quick Draw in a gun battle. But the promise of a cartoon with “High Noon”-style deadline suspense is cut off pretty quickly. Quick Draw uses a rubber tire tube attached to the window to shoot him and Baba over the bad guy and through the wall of the courthouse “in the St. Nicholas of time.” So now there’s four more minutes of cartoon to fill. All the catchphrases get a workout during the first part of the cartoon—“Hold on, thar!” “I’ll do the thinnin’ around here, Baba-boy. And dooon’t you forget it.” And the Baba dialogue switch routine: “You’re a bully, Quickstraw.” “What’s that?” “I said ‘Bully for you, Quickstraw’.”

There’s a camera error, too. Durn Meany’s mouth animation is, as normal in an H-B cartoon, on separate cels than the rest of the drawing. Durn’s mouth slides off part of his face for a couple of seconds.



Now that the cartoon’s in the courthouse, Maltese tosses in some puns. “Good N. Meany, take the stand, please,” says the bailiff. So he walks away with the stand. The best one is helped by Daws Butler’s goofy voice he gives Quick Draw. “I object!” shouts the oily defence lawyer. “The question is entirely irrelevant, immaterial and, furthermore, calls for a conclusion on the part of this witness.” But when the Meanys pull guns on star witness Baba, prosecutor Quick Draw shouts: “I object! The question is an elephant, a cereal and calls for a concussion on the part of the witness.” And then Quick Draw’s completely taken in by Durn Meany in disguise as the old Meany mother, who socks, kicks and jumps on Quick Draw as she outlines what the sheriff did to her “golden-haired boy” (who is bald). Judge: “Any more questions, Quick Draw?” Quick Draw (looking woozy): “No, your highness. She’s suffered enough.”

The cartoon ends with Baba improbably launching the cabin’s cast-iron stove at the robbers, and the impact sends them smashing into the courthouse. They plead to the judge. “Quick, put us in jail.” “Yeah. Away from that crazy star witness.” Let’s face it. Other cartoons used the same kind of dialogue (for one, “Bugs and Thugs,” written by Warren Foster at Warners), but the characters involved acted far more crazy or violently than the sane, crime-solving Baba Looey. Quick Draw has one last “I object.” He objects to the stove being on his foot. Baba’s mandatory tag line: “I like that Quickstraw. When it comes to having brains, he’s not guilty.”

There are no credits on the copies of this cartoon that I have but it’s easy to pick out Ken Muse as the animator with his little tongue movements and partial small row of upper teeth. And layouts are by Walt Clinton; you can tell by the collar-height ear he liked to design in three quarter view. The background artist is a bit of a puzzle. The basic colour scheme looks like Dick Thomas’ work, but the crude lettering on the opening pan of diagonal-shaped buildings was something you’d see on Monte’s backgrounds in the first season of the “Huckleberry Hound Show.” Monte’s name doesn’t seem to be on a lot of cartoons in the 1960-61 season; he may have been concentrating on “The Flintstones.” Anyway, here’s the opening shot; you can click on it to make it bigger.



No surprises in the music department. I don’t know the source of the version of “Red River Valley” used in the Quick Draw cartoons.

0:00 - Quick Draw McGraw Sub Main Title theme (Curtin).
0:15 - Red River Valley (?) – Pan of street over opening narration.
0:32 - GR-96 BY JIMINY! IT’S JUMBO (Green) – Shot of judge, courtroom scene.
1:07 - ZR-94 CHASE (Hormel) – shooting, “Oh, Quick Draw.”
1:18 - GR-472 HICKSVILLE (Green) – Quick Draw/Durn dialogue, Quick Draw/Baba dialogue.
1:57 - GR-87 SKELETON IN THE CUPBOARD (Green) – “You only got a minute,” Quick Draw launches.
2:22 - ‘FIREMAN’ (Shaindlin) – Quick Draw flies through air.
2:31 - GR-98 BY JIMINY! IT’S JUMBO BRIDGE No. 2 (Green) – “Time’s up,” Quick Draw and Baba crash through wall.
2:39 - GR-99 THE DIDDLECOMB HUNT (Green) – “The star witness,” take the stand, Good N. Meany on stand, “That’s my cue.”
3:25 - sad trombone music (Shaindlin) – “Mom” shouts, judge tells “her” to proceed.
3:43 - PG-160G LIGHT MOVEMENT (Green) – “Mom” on stand, socks Quick Draw.
4:00 - fast circus chase music (?) – “And then with two lefts,” Quick Draw beaten up, “Any more questions?”
4:23 - GR-454 THE ARTFUL DODGER BRIDGE No. 1 (Green) – Quick Draw wearing chair.
4:28 - CRAZY GOOF (Shaindlin) – Baba on stand.
5:09 - CB-86A HIDE AND SEEK (Bluestone-Cadkin) – Meanys with guns, Baba runs out.
5:24 - GR-437 GATHERING THE PRODUCE (Green) – Meanys run.
5:30 - GR-455 THE ARTFUL DODGER BRIDGE No. 1 (Green) – Order in the court scene.
5:39 - rising scale music (Shaindlin) – Meanys run, flying stove, crash.
6:16 - CRAZY GOOF (Shaindlin) – Courtroom wrap-up scene.
6:43 - Quick Draw McGraw Sub End Title theme (Curtin).

Storyboard Fun and Pushing Pebbles

Storyboards, model sheets and other things involved in the production of cartoons weren’t designed for fans to see, but they’re always fun to look at. And it’s fortunate these kinds of things were saved and make it into the public view.

If you’ve been on Jerry Beck’s Cartoon Research site (see the blog-roll to the right), you’ll know an auction site in Beverly Hills will be dispensing art from a number of cartoon studios toward the end of the month. Yes, there’s a representation of Hanna-Barbera material that collectors can snap up.



Flintstones fans will recognise these drawings. “The Swimming Pool” was the third episode aired, but part of it was based on an earlier animated demo reel that Joe Barbera shopped around to prospective advertisers. Barbera signed some of these panels—evidently long after they were made, much like he and Bill Hanna did with a pile of studio art—but I’ve always been under the impression Dan Gordon did the original storyboard. I don’t have a copy of Barbera’s book handy to see if he mentions it. Mark Kausler has helpfully pointed out a Barbera story sketch before and the letter “A” is written differently than it is here.



Here’s Salt Water Daffy with the aquarium seal from “Ruff and Reddy.” The storyline on this adventure features Charlie Shows going whacko with rhyming titles like “No Hope For a Dope on a Periscope” (which is where these drawings were used). What’s more interesting than the drawings is the note accompanying the notation accompanying them on the auction house’s website.

Fifteen pages of original storyboards ( four panels per page) by John Freeman for the "Rescue in the Deep Blue" Episode which ran on April 5, 1958. Also included in the lot, on HB Enterprises paper, are 19 pages of hand written dialogue for the same episode.

The reference to John Freeman is a real surprise to me. Freeman was a story director on some Hanna-Barbera cartoons in the early ‘60s but I had no idea he was at the studio this early. Freeman had been at Disney for many years and left Walt in the mid-‘50s to work at TV Spots’ commercial operation in San Francisco (according to his obit in a union newsletter). I always thought Dan Gordon was the studio’s storyboard man from the start but, unfortunately, there are no credits on any of the “Ruff and Reddy” episodes.



This item may be the most interesting of the lot, and comes from the collection of animator and teacher David Pruiksma who, incidentally, owns cats named ‘Ruff’ and ‘Reddy.’ I’ll let the auction web site describe this great item which someone had the foresight to save.

"Flintstone Baby Contest" Marketing Kits Lot of 2 (Hanna-Barbera, 1962-63). When Wilma gave birth to Pebbles, it was a television historic moment. Prior to the day, Hanna-Barbera conducted a massive countrywide blitz to hype the sacred day. They sent out to all major television affiliates two comprehensive marketing campaign packages. One was to be used prior to January 25th and was labeled in red, the second box was labeled in blue, and read "To be used after January 25th network episode "The Surprise." "Guess the weight," "guess the sex," and "guess the name" all played into the marketing efforts. These two complete marketing kits contain scripts, film, ad slicks, glass slides, and marketing notes.

You can click on the pictures to enlarge them. And click HERE for Jerry’s link to the auction.

Yogi Bear Weekend Comics, November 1963

It’s a little hard to believe at one time NASA didn’t want news people anywhere near its space launches. Maybe it was paranoia over the Russians or concern reporters might actually report something NASA didn’t want them to report. Anyway, newsmen who covered the space beat in the early ‘60s have remarked that they never really got notice about spacecraft launches and had to camp out in Florida in anticipation something would happen.

So it was that Yogi Bear couldn’t get a look at a space launch 50 years ago this month in the Sunday comic pages (Saturday in Canada).

Cynics might ask how Yogi got to Cape Canaveral from Jellystone. Oh, you cynics. It’s because he’s Yogi Bear. He travels anywhere. Even with a huge ball of string. How did he get it? You’re being cynical again.

So here’s the comic from November 3rd. You’ve got to admire the artist. It’s one thing to draw a cartoon bear. It’s another to draw a solid, realistic spacecraft and its apparatus. I like the chain-link fence in the opening panel. Was the guard drawn first then the fence over top of him?

Back we are at Jellystone in the November 10th comic, with Boo Boo and Ranger Smith returning. I’m too lazy to check, but it seems to me a weekend Flintstones comic used the same kind of gag. Oh, and those rhymes. “Boo” and “through”?! Yikes.

A nice rounded little gag highlights the November 17th comic. The final panel has a lovely layout and perspective. I’d sure like to know if the names used in the story are names of people at Hanna-Barbera or someone known by whoever did the story (Gene Hazelton?). “Peterzell” is too real a name to be used just for a gag.

Boo Boo and the ranger return on November 24th. Clever gag again. The mountain lion looks like a distant relative of the Flintstones’ Baby Puss. Do people really run with their arms out? (See middle panel, bottom row). Regardless, look at the angles of the various running characters. They vary from panel to panel. And you can sense the balance of the woman on the horse.

You can click on any of the cartoons to enlarge them. And Mark Kausler has again taken the time to go into his collection and dig up the colour versions of these. You can find them HERE. Mark also features reprints of the newspaper adventures of the greatest silent film cartoon character, Felix the Cat, which I hope you enjoy.

Augie Doggie — It’s a Worm Day

Produced and Directed by Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera.
Credits: Animation – Ed Love, Layout – Walt Clinton, Backgrounds – Bob Gentle, Story – Mike Maltese, Story Director – Alex Lovy, Titles – Art Goble, Production Supervision – Howard Hanson.
Voice Cast: Augie Doggie, Sgt. O’Toole – Daws Butler; Doggie Daddy – Doug Young, Irving, Miss Bookend, Mr. Rowser – Don Messick.
Music: Phil Green, Jack Shaindlin.
First Aired: week of December 12, 1960.
Episode: Quick Draw McGraw Show M-031, Production J-93.
Plot: Doggie Daddy tries to convince Augie he’s more intelligent than a book worm.

Can it be true? Calm, lovable Dear Old Dad so overcome with jealous rage that he tries to kill Augie’s friend? Yeah, that’s the comic situation Mike Maltese has come up with for this cartoon.

Maltese also borrowed a routine that Tex Avery perfected in “Rock-a-bye Bear” and “Deputy Droopy” at MGM—someone running away in a panic to let out a yell in extreme pain where no one can hear it. In fact, Maltese used the same device in a cartoon he wrote for Avery at Lantz, “The Legend of Rockabye Point.” So it’s perhaps appropriate that this cartoon was animated by Ed Love, who spent five years in the Avery unit at MGM (though he didn’t work on the cartoons mentioned above).

This was Love’s only Augie Doggie cartoon. His poses aren’t terribly extreme but they work well enough to let you know what’s going on in Daddie’s head.



The cartoon starts with Augie telling “brainy” dad (who is, as usual, in an armchair reading the paper) he’s going to use his friend Irving to help him with his homework.

Daddy: Wait, Augie. I’m as smart as your friend Irving. Ask me something.
Augie: Okay, dad. Um, what is grass made of?
Daddy: Grass? Uh, grass, uh, grass is, uh, made of green stuff. Yeah, yeah, green stuff.
Augie: Irving is waiting.



Head down, Daddy follows Augie into the “republic” library to “put this Irving in his place.” We now learn Irving is a book worm who lives in the library. Daddy is remonstrated by the librarian for loudly calling for Augie. She points to a sign and asks “Can’t you read?” Yes, it’s the old “smoking” gag.

Daddy: Uhn? (looks at sign). Q-U-I-E-T. So, who’s smokin’?

Daddy tip-toes away but his feet made a scrunching sound. “I forgot to oil my feet this morning,” he tells us.



The librarian calls up to head librarian Rowser, who has Don Messick’s Frank Nelson voice. Doggie Daddy’s attempts to squish Irving get waylaid during much of the rest of the cartoon by the worm dropping books on him, and Daddy rushing somewhere to scream so it doesn’t disturb the library, with the head librarian getting in the middle of it. One of the books, Daddy tells us, is a “bicyclopedia.” First, Rowser is clobbered and runs outside. Daddy is clobbered and runs to a window. Finally, the best gag as Daddy blows his “Yeowwww!” into a paper bag, Rowser demands he hand over the bag, then he opens it with the shout blowing back his head.

Finally, climbs on the mobile ladder that runs along the bookshelves to catch the “squirmy squirt.” He rolls out the door (Augie: “Wait, dad! That’s public property) and past the usual Irish cop.




The cartoon ends with “dear old incarcerated dad” in jail. Augie tells him police wouldn’t believe his explanation of what happened, so he brought a lawyer. Yes, it’s Irving. Who is Doggie Daddy to argue “wit’ a woim?”

There’s a little piece of music when Irving appears for the first time from the books that I can’t identify. We get full versions of Phil Green’s “Light Movement” and the cue that sounds like a circus introduction with music ascending up the scale twice. The sound cutter liked the latter so much, he started it over again after its 61 seconds were finished. Unfortunately, I don’t have its name.

0:00 - Augie Doggie Main Title theme (Hanna-Barbera-Curtin).
0:25 - GR-248 STREETS OF THE CITY (Green) – Augie and Daddy talk about Irving, Augie removes book from library shelf.
2:06 - doodle music effect (?) – Irving walks out, “Good morning, Augie.”
2:10 - EM-107D LIGHT MOVEMENT (Green) – “It is indeed a pleasure,” Daddy shushed by Miss Bookend, noisy feet, Miss Bookend on phone to Rowser, “Irving is my friend.”
4:04 - rising scale music (Shaindlin) – Daddy runs with book, no squished Irving, book lands on Daddy, book lands on Rowser, yells outside, Daddy yells out window, yells come out of paper bag, Daddy climbs ladder.
6:04 - GR-334 LIGHT AGITATED BRIDGE (Green) – “So, dere you are,” Irving runs away.
6:08 - fast circus chase music (Shaindlin) – Irving runs on top of shelf, Daddy rolls down street on ladder, officer on phone and runs out of scene.
6:42 - ‘FIREMAN’ (Shaindlin) – Daddy in jail scene.
7:09 - Augie Doggie End Title theme (Curtin).

Huckstralia

Hanna-Barbera cartoons have fans around the world; a check of the location of the people who visit this blog can attest to that.
We’ve reprinted a number of newspaper articles about the studio from the time before it became a Saturday morning powerhouse. Just about all are from the United States. But the cartoons were popular elsewhere and written about elsewhere.
Here’s a feature story from The Australian Women’s Weekly of March 25, 1964. It’s, more or less, the “authorised” version of the studio’s history to date so most of it will probably be pretty familiar. It glosses over a few things—like the contributions of anyone not named “Bill” or “Joe.” And you have to laugh a bit at the opinion (parroted from either Bill, Joe or PR flack Arnie Carr) that the only “important consideration” about a cartoon is doing the best job. It seems to me the footage quota was deemed fairly important by at least one of the two producers.
The pictures in this post accompanied the unbylined article.

The men behind the Flintstones
You wouldn't know it to look at them, but the two men – sitting in the middle of the floor in their plush, carpeted modern office on Hollywood's Cahuenga Boulevarde - are fast becoming millionaires.
THEY wave their arms madly, grab for their pad and pencils with delighted outcries, and do everything but stand on their heads when they come up with a new idea. That's right! in the middle of the floor. And they couldn't care less if it is four o'clock in the morning.
The two men are William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, creators and producers of the popular cartoon series "The Flintstones," now in its third year on the Nine Network.
And they are busy creating new situations and dialogue for a bunch of "wacky" but lovable characters who are providing them with all of their riches.
The hours kept by Hanna and Barbera and staff, and their methods for getting the job done, are considered unorthodox, to say the least, by Hollywood standards.
There are no time clocks or memos. If an animator or an artist feels he does his best work by coming in at night and working till dawn, that's fine with Hanna and Barbera. The only important consideration is that the "best" job is done.

In the six or so years since this successful duo founded their studio (with a staff of three employees), they have continued to turn out superior quality work that has gained them the unshakeable reputation they now hold. Today they have attained the position once held by Walt Disney in the art of creative cartooning.
While Disney has concentrated on feature-length motion pictures and diversification in various off-shoot enterprises, "H-B" has now stepped in to capture the cartoon film field.
World leader
Their particular accent and the door that opened their way to riches was television. Today the modern studio of Hanna-Barbera, world leader in the field of animated cartooning, occupies a two-acre site in the entertainment capital, housing the ultimate in animation and production facilities. It is now staffed by more than 250 artists, animators, writers, and directors. In short, it is big business, without a doubt.
In addition to turning out “The Flintstones” and such television shows as the Emmy Award winning "Huckleberry Hound," "Yogi Bear, “Quick Draw McGraw,” and “Touche Turtle” as well “The Jetsons” and “Top Cat”—the studio produces industrial films and commercials combining animated and live action.
Their popular black-and-white and color cartoon favorites are now syndicated and shown in more than 42 foreign countries, in addition to the prestige position they have attained in the United States.
"H-B" is at present working on its first full-length feature starring Yogi Bear.
Although neither Hanna nor Barbera originally planned such a career, the partners have worked together harmoniously for 26 years. They now participate in every phase of their creative enterprises, from drawing and scripting to musical scoring.
Joe Barbera, an inveterate doodler and dreamer, gave up a career as an accountant in a New York bank when his first cartoon was sold to "Collier's" magazine.
Hanna was hired by M.G.M. as a director and story man in 1937, after he had earlier been schooled in engineering and journalism. Here he met Barbera, then an animator and writer at the same studio. Creative sparks flew from their very first meeting.
In the spring of 1957 Hanna and Barbera had just racked up their 20th year making "Tom and Jerry" cartoons for M.G.M. It was their first original creation. Their animated efforts had earned millions of dollars for the company, in addition to seven Academy Awards.
Then the phone rang.
"We were told to discontinue production and lay off the entire staff," recalls Hanna. "Twenty years of work suddenly ended with a single phone call.
"But it was the greatest break of our lives."
Out of necessity, the enterprising artists began thinking in terms of cartoon shows for television. The greatest part of animated entertainment then on TV consisted of old theatrical cartoons.
About 2000 of them were currently being distributed, almost half produced in the silent film era.
From their experience, Hanna and Barbera worked out some amazing new techniques called "planned animation," which forgoes some of the steps used in conventional cartooning without sacrificing quality. It cut down the usual preparation time almost by half.
"Then," says Hanna, "we were really in business."
The result? In July, 1957, "H-B" Productions was born, with the first venture "Ruff and Reddy," a show featuring the antics of a quick-thinking cat and his pal, a dim-witted, lovable dog.
It proved a three-year success. Then followed the now famous "Huckleberry Hound" and "Quick Draw McGraw," the slowest horse in the West.
In 1960, after one year of "casting" voices and drawings, "H-B" unveiled its greatest money-maker, "The Flintstones," which after its debut became one of their hottest "properties" or rated shows of the season.
"Yogi Bear" a character of the "Hound" series came into the picture early in 1961 as an independent film personality.
Above the desks of Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera there hangs a picture of "Huckleberry Hound" shaking hands with his two creators. The inscription of the picture reads, "Thank you, Huck," and it is signed by the two successful producers.
"It may sound nuts to be grateful to a mythical blue dog," smiled one of the rich executives sitting on the carpet, "but, believe me, we are."

The newspaper had a few Hanna-Barbera articles scattered over the years. One that’s amusingly inaccurate is this part of a column in the issue of March 4, 1959. Still, it’s nice to know the writer (Nan Musgrove) was a fan of the Huck show and liked ‘Tom Terrific,’ which was one of the best things to come out of Terrytoons, certainly when it comes to kids.

THE early days of TV, when many cartoons dating back to the bad old jerky days of animation were shown, cured me of an addiction to cartoons, but Channel 9 has reintroduced me to their joys with two new ones, "Tom Terrific" and "Huckleberry Hound."
They are both specially made for TV and, although they come on the end of the Mickey Mouse Club, they're not kid stuff.
"Tom Terrific" (every night Monday to Friday at 6.25) is made by the Terry Toon Company and "Huckleberry Hound" by M.G.M., the originators of the Tom and Jerry cartoons.
You'll recognise some old friends in "Huckleberry Hound" (Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays at 6.30).
Most fascinating is Yogi Bear, whose voice is actually that of Art Carney, of The Honeymooners" (Channel 9, Thursdays, 7.30 p.m.) I don't know who is the voice of the cat Mr. Jenks, but it's a splendid imitation of that great lover Marlon Brando.