Clik here to view.
Farewell, Jimmy Weldon
This post starts with an apology to you. Fans of the early Hanna-Barbera cartoons have likely already read of the death of the voice of Yakky Doodle, Jimmy Weldon, at the age of 99, and may wonder why...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Making The First Flintstones
“How long did it take to animate a Hanna-Barbera cartoon?” That question has been put to the Yowp blog before. I could say “How should I know? I’m a cartoon dog,” but that answer is neither...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Whip Up Some Cereal
The Quick Draw McGraw Show was bought and paid for by Kellogg’s, so the cereal maker made sure it had its imprint in the opening and closing animation. As the Randy Horne Singers cheerfully bleated out...
View ArticleClik here to view.
H-B Podcast
A Hanna-Barbera podcast? Well, it had to happen some time. No, I have nothing to do with it; I really have neither the time nor inclination to put one together. But you're in luck. Greg Erhbar does...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Voices and a Margrock
It is quite possible Hanna-Barbera’s silent partner wasn’t so silent in 1963. When H-B Enterprises started in 1957, Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera weren’t the only ones behind the studio. The two had a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Wilma
Jean Vander Pyl didn’t have a big name on television when she was cast to play Wilma Flintstone in 1960. The others were a bit different. Bea Benaderet appeared on TV on Burns and Allen, continuing her...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A Few Hanna-Barbera Staff Pictures
There’s something pleasing about seeing pictures of the people who worked on the classic Hanna-Barbera cartoons. Of course, publicity photos of Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera have been around since their...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Biggest Show in Town
One of the earliest public praises for The Huckleberry Hound Show came from the “Musing the Muses” column by Ms Jean Saxon in the Orange Leader of November 9, 1958. The series was available for viewers...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Birthday Bear
The Yogi Bear Show wasn’t ready when it went on the air for the first time on this date in 1961. The problem was simple. Hanna-Barbera didn’t have enough lead time to get the series together. Kellogg’s...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Quick Draw McGraw on Blu-ray
Are we ever, EVER, going to see The Quick Draw McGraw Show on any kind of home video format? I get asked that a lot. Let’s hear from someone who should have an answer. First, the background. A...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Super Bowl Bear
Since it is the Super Bowl weekend (at least if you’re reading this at the time it was posted), let us look at the work of Carlo Vinci in Yogi Bear’s football opus. Rah Rah Bear (1959). Here’s a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Hanna-Barbera's Caricaturist
I think you know who these guys are. Caricatures appeared periodically at Hanna-Barbera, especially on The Flintstones; we don't need to name them. Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera were caricatured, too. The...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Mr. Jinks vs Dog
Hanna-Barbera cartoons have been tarnished with a reputation of little real animation, with a lot of eye blinks and maybe an arm and mouth moving, the rest of the character left on one cel, frame after...
View ArticleClik here to view.
He Was Zin
John Stephenson lasted only five episodes before being replaced as Doctor Benton Quest on Jonny Quest in 1964. But another actor on the show got shoved out of a role even faster. The evil Dr. Zin was...
View ArticleClik here to view.
That Oh-So-Merry, On-the-Telly, Huckleberry Hound
The Huckleberry Hound Show was a phenomenon. Critics liked it, and even admitted watching it. Colleges formed Huck Hound clubs. An island in the Antarctic was named for the star. It not only was the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Dear Old Dad
Augie Doggie and Doggie Daddy had several forefathers that were combined into a pleasant cartoon series. Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera partly borrowed from themselves, as they had a father-son dog team in...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Huck Shines in the Sunshine State
Not too long after The Huckleberry Hound Show debuted on the week of September 29, 1958, newspaper columnists began praising the series. An early thumbs-up for Huck and his gang came from the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Daws Butler: Living the Characters
Daws Butler once told interviewer Larry King that he did not do “voices.” He did “characters.” If anyone was the glue that held the Hanna-Barbera cartoons together in the early years, it was Daws...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Not a Groupie For Loopy
Hanna-Barbera debuted two cartoon series in 1959. One is my favourite—the Quick Draw McGraw Show. The other is Loopy de Loop. I’m afraid I’m not a fan of Loopy. He’s a French-Canadian wolf who’s not...
View ArticleClik here to view.
He Was Hadji
Whenever Hanna-Barbera had kid characters in the 1950s, adults who had come from radio did the voices. Things changed when Jonny Quest came along in 1964. Someone made the decision to go with boy...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Jonny Quest is 60
Kids like to laugh. Kids like a bit of adventure, too. That’s why Jonny Quest turned out to be such a success. You’d think that a TV show that lasted one season was a failure. Maybe in live action it...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Quick Draw McGraw at 65
My favourite Hanna-Barbera series first appeared on television screens 65 years ago today. The Quick Draw McGraw Show was Hanna-Barbera’s attempt to gently lampoon the types of shows popular on...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Farewell to Elliot Field
The last of Hanna-Barbera’s voice actors from the 1950s has passed away. Elliot Field was 97. He died last Monday, the 23rd. Elliot was the afternoon drive jock at KFWB in Los Angeles when Joe Barbera...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Many Bears of Yogi
If I say “Yogi Bear” to you, you’ll likely think of pic-a-nic baskets and “The ranger won’t like it, Yogi.” But that isn’t how Yogi started out. Warren Foster came to Hanna-Barbera in 1959 to take over...
View ArticleClik here to view.
President Huck
How long have animated cartoon characters been “running” for the U.S. presidency? Well, Popeye and Bluto did. So did Betty Boop (as the crowd chanted her name to the “We Want Cantor” musical vamp)....
View Article