The Huckleberry Hound Show | |
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Genre | Comedy |
Created by | |
Written by |
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Directed by |
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Voices of | |
Narrated by |
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Composer | Hoyt Curtin |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 4 |
No. of episodes | 68 (list of episodes) |
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Producers |
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Running time | 22 minutes (7 minutes per segment) |
Production company | Hanna-Barbera Productions |
Original release | |
Network | Syndication |
Release | September 29, 1958 – December 1, 1961 |
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The Huckleberry Hound Show is an American animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions, and the second series produced by the studio following The Ruff and Reddy Show . The show first aired in syndication on September 29, 1958, and was sponsored by Kellogg's. [1] Three segments were included in the program: one featuring Huckleberry Hound, another with Pixie and Dixie and Mr. Jinks, which starred two mice who in each short found a new way to outwit the cat Mr. Jinks, and a third starring Yogi Bear and his friend Boo Boo. [2] The series last aired on December 1, 1961.
The Yogi Bear segment of the show became extremely popular, and as a result, it spawned its own series in 1961. [3] A segment featuring Hokey Wolf and Ding-A-Ling was added, replacing Yogi during the 1960-61 season. The show contributed to making Hanna-Barbera a household name, and is often credited with legitimizing the concept of animation produced specifically for television. In 1960, it became the first animated program to be honored with an Emmy Award. [4]
Joseph Barbera went to Chicago to pitch the program to Kellogg's executives through their ad agency, Leo Burnett. "I had never sold a show before because I didn't have to. If we got an idea, we just made it, for over twenty years. All of a sudden, I'm a salesman, and I'm in a room with forty-five people staring at me, and I'm pushing Huckleberry Hound and Yogi Bear and 'the Meeces', and they bought it." [5]
Barbera once recalled about Daws Butler's voice acting versatility:
I can remember distinctly when I first met [Daws], I said, 'I kind of like this voice, but I think I'm gonna make it kind of a Southern voice because Southern voices are warm and friendly.' Daws said, 'Well, now I can do a Southern voice which is like North Carolina, or I can do a Southern voice that would be like Florida, that would be a cracker kind of voice, or if you want to get a little harder, we could get into Texas,' and by gosh, he had about twelve different Southerners. [5]
The series featured three seven-minute cartoons, animated specifically for television. The first always starred Huckleberry, the next two featured other characters. [6] Each of three cartoons were in between the wraparound segments, which originally set in the circus tent where Huck acts like a showman in the late 1950s.
The show was originally intended to be part of a line-up of kid programmes sponsored by Kellogg and broadcast on ABC-TV, joining Woody Woodpecker , Superman and Wild Bill Hickok in an early evening, weekday line-up. [7] However, Kellogg's agency, Leo Burnett, decided instead to syndicate the show and buy air time on individual stations. [8] The show was originally distributed by Screen Gems, which held a part-ownership of Hanna-Barbera at the time, over 150 stations. In April 1967, Screen Gems announced the show had been released from advertiser control, and would be made available to stations on a syndicated basis with available bridges to create 92 half-hour shows. [9]
The distribution was later passed to Worldvision Enterprises, after it became a sister company to Hanna-Barbera. It was later distributed by Turner Program Services, after Turner's purchase of Hanna-Barbera; current distributor Warner Bros. Television picked up ownership of the show following the 1996 acquisition of Turner by parent company, Time Warner.
The show was not broadcast on the same day of the week, or the same time, in every city; airing depended on the deal for time that the Leo Burnett Agency brokered with individual stations. However, the first time the Huck series appeared on television was on Monday, September 29, 1958; it was first seen at 6 p.m. on WOOD-TV in Grand Rapids, Michigan, which also served Battle Creek, home of Kellogg cereals. [10] A few other stations airing it that day were WLWI in Indianapolis (at 6:30 p.m.) [11] and WTAE in Pittsburgh (at 7:30 p.m.). [12] The show debuted on other days that same week in other cities; Huck originally aired in Los Angeles on Tuesdays on KNXT, [13] Chicago on Wednesdays on WGN-TV, [14] and New York City on Thursdays on WPIX. [15] The show first aired in Canada on Thursday, October 2, 1958, at 7 p.m. on CKLW-TV in Windsor, Ontario. [16] The show first aired in Australia on Monday, February 16, 1959, on the National Television Network (now the Nine Network), and the show first aired in the United Kingdom on Friday, July 3, 1959, on ITV.
Each of the three segments featured one or two main characters acting as a duo, and numerous one-off or supporting characters.
Huck's voice was one that Butler had already developed and used in earlier work, such as Ruff in The Ruff and Reddy Show , Smedley the Dog in the Chilly Willy cartoons, and earlier characters in the MGM cartoon library. It was said to be based on the neighbor of his wife, Myrtis; Butler would speak with said neighbor when visiting North Carolina.
Pixie (voiced by Don Messick) and Dixie (voiced by Daws Butler) are two mice who every day end up being chased by a cat named Mr. Jinks (voiced by Daws Butler impersonating Frank Fontaine).
Yogi Bear (voiced by Daws Butler impersonating Art Carney's Ed Norton character from The Honeymooners ) and his friend Boo Boo Bear (voiced by Don Messick) live in Jellystone Park and occasionally try to steal picnic baskets while evading Ranger Smith (also voiced by Don Messick).
Hokey Wolf (voiced by Daws Butler impersonating Phil Silvers) is a con-artist wolf who is always trying to cheat his way to the simple life (much like other Hanna-Barbera characters, Top Cat and Yogi Bear). He is accompanied in this by his diminutive, bowler hat-wearing sidekick Ding-A-Ling Wolf (voiced by Doug Young impersonating Buddy Hackett).
Additional Voices
In the film Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961), Holly Golightly (Audrey Hepburn) briefly dons a mask of Huckleberry. The name for Rock et Belles Oreilles, a Québécois comedy group popular during the 1980s, was a pun on the name of Huckleberry Hound ("Roquet Belles Oreilles" in French). Australian prison slang vernacular includes "huckleberry hound", a term originated in the 1960s, meaning "a punishment cell, solitary confinement." [17] In January 2009, IGN named The Huckleberry Hound Show as the 63rd best in its "Top 100 Animated TV Shows". [18]
In 1960s Hungary, the series - there called Foxi Maxi - gained an instant following, also among adults. The reason for this was the fact that legendary scriptwriter József Romhányi had penned dialog with his trademark puns and humor, and some of the most popular actors of the day had supplied the voices. Romhányi and some of the same actors later worked on the Hungarian version of The Flintstones .
On November 15, 2005 , Warner Home Video (via Hanna-Barbera Cartoons and Warner Bros. Family Entertainment) released The Huckleberry Hound Show – Volume 1 for the Hanna-Barbera Classics Collection, featuring the complete first season of 26 episodes (66 segments) from the series on DVD, all presented remastered and restored. However, the episodes in the Volume 1 DVD set were the edited versions, instead of the uncut and unedited, original network broadcast versions due to expensive licensing issues.
DVD Name | Ep # | Release Date | Additional Information |
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The Huckleberry Hound Show – Volume 1 (The First Season) | 26 episodes (66 segments) | November 15, 2005 |
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The characters from The Huckleberry Hound Show spawned various product, publishing, and other licensing deals. Columbia Pictures/Screen Gems' record arm, Colpix, released the first Huckleberry Hound album in October 1958, with stuffed animals and games also hawked in record stores. [19]
No later than 1961, the characters began appearing "in person" at events across America. Hanna Barbera commissioned costumed characters of Huckleberry Hound, Yogi Bear, and Quick Draw McGraw, which appeared at events like the Florida State Fair. [20]
Hanna-Barbera owner Taft Broadcasting started opening theme parks in 1972, beginning with Kings Island. These parks included areas themed to the company's cartoons, and included walk-around characters of Huckleberry Hound, Yogi Bear, and others. The characters were also featured on rides, including carousels. Licensed Huckleberry products included an Aladdin-brand Thermos. [21]
Books based on the show include:
Charles Dawson Butler, professionally known as Daws Butler, was an American voice actor. He worked mostly for the Hanna-Barbera animation production company and the Walter Lantz cartoon studio. He originated the voices of many familiar Hanna-Barbera characters, including Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound, Snagglepuss, Quick Draw McGraw and Baba Looey, Auggie Doggie, Loopy De Loop, Wally Gator, Snooper and Blabber, Dixie and Mr. Jinks, Hokey Wolf, Lippy the Lion, Elroy Jetson, Peter Potamus, The Funky Phantom and Hair Bear. While at Walter Lantz, he did the voices of Chilly Willy, Smedley, Maxie the Polar Bear, Gooney, and Sam in the Maggie and Sam series.
Donald Earle Messick was an American voice actor, known for his performances in Hanna-Barbera cartoons.
Snagglepuss is a Hanna-Barbera cartoon character who debuted in prototype form in 1959 and established as a studio regular by 1961. A light pink anthropomorphic puma sporting an upturned collar, shirt cuffs, and bow tie, Snagglepuss enjoys the fine things in life and shows particular affinity for the theatre. His stories routinely break the fourth wall as the character addresses the audience in self-narration, soliloquy, and asides. As originally voiced by Daws Butler, Snagglepuss seeks quasi-Shakespearean turns of phrase. Some of his campy verbal mannerisms became catchphrases: "Heavens to Murgatroyd!", "Exit, stage left/right/up/down!", and a fondness for closing sentences with the emphatic "even".
Pixie and Dixie and Mr. Jinks is an animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions as part of The Huckleberry Hound Show from 1958 to 1961.
Hokey Wolf is an animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions as part of The Huckleberry Hound Show. It details the adventures of Hokey Wolf, a con-artist wolf who is always trying to cheat his way into the simple life. He is often accompanied alongside by his young, diminutive sidekick Ding-A-Ling Wolf, both of whom are featured as part of The Huckleberry Hound Show in their own segment.
Yogi's Gang is an American animated television series and the second incarnation of the Yogi Bear franchise, which aired 16 half-hour episodes on ABC from September 8, 1973, to December 29, 1973. The show began as Yogi's Ark Lark, a special TV movie on The ABC Saturday Superstar Movie in 1972. Fifteen original episodes were produced for broadcast on ABC, with the hour-long Yogi's Ark Lark thrown in as a split-in-half two-parter. The show confronted social and cultural issues like ecology and bigotry, with villains named Mr. Waste, Dr. Bigot, the Envy Brothers, Lotta Litter, the Greedy Genie and Mr. Cheater.
Yo Yogi! is an American animated television series and the seventh entry in the Yogi Bear franchise produced by Hanna-Barbera that aired from September 14 to December 7, 1991, on NBC for 13 episodes.
Yogi's Treasure Hunt is an American animated television series and the fifth entry in the Yogi Bear franchise produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions. Featuring Yogi Bear and various other Hanna-Barbera characters, it premiered in syndication in late 1985 as part of The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera. This is the last series to feature Daws Butler as the voice of Yogi Bear and his other characters before his death in 1988. It entirely used digital ink and paint across all three seasons, except its opening credits.
The Good, the Bad, and Huckleberry Hound is a 1988 animated Western television film produced by Hanna-Barbera for syndication as part of the Hanna-Barbera Superstars 10 series.
Fred Flintstone and Friends is an American animated anthology wheel series and a spin-off of The Flintstones produced by Hanna-Barbera and Columbia Pictures Television that aired in daily first-run syndication from September 12, 1977, to September 1, 1978. The series was packaged by Columbia Pictures Television during the 1977–78 television season and was available for barter syndication through Claster Television through the mid-1980s.
Boo-Boo Bear is a Hanna-Barbera cartoon character on The Yogi Bear Show. Boo-Boo is an anthropomorphic dwarf bear who wears a blue bowtie. Boo-Boo is Yogi Bear's constant companion, and often acts as his conscience. He tries to keep Yogi from doing things he should not do, and also to keep Yogi from getting into trouble with Ranger Smith – often saying, "Mr. Ranger isn't gonna like this, Yogi." It is not readily apparent whether Boo-Boo is a juvenile bear with a precocious intellect, or simply an adult bear who is short of stature.
Yogi's Ark Lark is a 1972 animated television special produced by Hanna-Barbera, intended to raise ecological awareness. It was broadcast on September 16, 1972, as part of The ABC Saturday Superstar Movie and served as the two-part episode for Yogi's Gang.
Yogi Bear's All Star Comedy Christmas Caper is a 1982 animated Christmas television special starring Yogi Bear. It is the third and final Yogi Christmas special. Produced by Hanna-Barbera, it first aired on December 21, 1982 on CBS. Along with Yogi's traditional cast, the characters also met up with many other Hanna-Barbera characters, including Magilla Gorilla and Fred Flintstone.
The Yogi Bear Show is a syndicated animated series by Hanna-Barbera Productions that aired between 1967 and 1968.
Huckleberry "Huck" Hound is a fictional cartoon character, a blue anthropomorphic coonhound dog that speaks with a North Carolina Southern drawl. He first appeared in the series The Huckleberry Hound Show. The cartoon was one of six TV shows to win an Emmy Award in 1960 as an "Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Children's Programming"; the first animated series to receive such an award.
Hanna-Barbera's 50th: A Yabba Dabba Doo Celebration is a 1989 American live-action/animated television special which premiered on TNT on July 17, 1989.
The Yogi Bear Show is an American comedy animated television series and the first entry of the Yogi Bear franchise produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions that centers on the misadventures of forest-dwelling Yogi Bear in Jellystone Park. The show debuted in syndication on January 30, 1961, and ran for 33 episodes until January 6, 1962. Two other segments for the show were Snagglepuss and Yakky Doodle. The show had a two-year production run.
Yogi Bear is an anthropomorphic animal character who has appeared in numerous comic books, animated television shows, and films. He made his debut in 1958 as a supporting character in The Huckleberry Hound Show.
Laff-A-Lympics is an American animated comedy television series produced by Hanna-Barbera. The series premiered as part of the Saturday-morning cartoon program block Scooby's All-Star Laff-A-Lympics which consists of 24 episodes, on ABC in 1977. The show is a spoof of the Olympics and the ABC primetime series Battle of the Network Stars, which debuted one year earlier. It featured 45 Hanna-Barbera characters organized into teams which competed each week for gold, silver, and bronze medals. In each episode, the Really Rottens would try in each event to cheat only to get caught by Snagglepuss each time. One season of 16 episodes was produced in 1977–78, and eight new episodes combined with reruns for the 1978–79 season as Scooby's All-Stars. Unlike most cartoon series produced by Hanna-Barbera in the 1970s, Laff-A-Lympics did not contain a laugh track. Scooby’s Laff-a-Lympics was originally owned by Taft Broadcasting, Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution currently owns the series through its two in-name-only units, Warner Bros. Family Entertainment and Turner Entertainment.