Yogi Bear's Honey Fried Chicken is an American fast food restaurant, formerly a restaurant chain, developed in 1968 and operating multiple locations into the 1970s. The chain sought to capitalize on the popularity of the cartoon character Yogi Bear, and the growing market for fast food fried chicken spawned by the success of Kentucky Fried Chicken. [1] [2]
In the late 1960s, South Carolina restaurant entrepreneur Eugene Broome developed a honey-flavored chicken tenderizer, which became locally popular, leading Broome to open several restaurants. [3] Broome initially wanted to name the restaurant after actor Jackie Gleason, with the intent of competing with Minnie Pearl's Fried Chicken, but Gleason declined the offer. [4] [3] Nonetheless, when the theme was changed, Broome retained as a motto one of Gleason's catchphrases from the TV series The Honeymooners , "How sweet it is!" [4] After Gleason's rejection, Broome happened to see Yogi Bear on television, and contacted Hanna Barbera merchandising supervisor Ed Justin, who was willing to license the character, which led to the branding of the chain as Yogi Bear's Honey Fried Chicken. [4] Coincidentally, the character of Yogi Bear was said to have been inspired by the character of Gleeson's costar on The Honeymooners, Art Carney's Ed Norton. [5] [6]
In January 1968, the Hardee's restaurant company paid $1 million to form a partnership with Broome for the licensing and operation of the chain. [3] Despite having purchased the chain, "the branded stores were largely neglected" by Hardee's. [3] By 1971, one magazine noted that "[w]hile hamburgers go fast, the company has had less success with a fried chicken entry. In fact, the Yogi Bear Honey Fried Chicken outlets (there are eleven now in the Southeast and Midwest) have been a bomb since the start in early 1968". [7] The following year, another magazine described the effort as a "snafu" on Hardee's part, noting that "[t]he venture was wrong on two counts: the Yogi Bear image appeals to children but fried chicken is an adult item". [8]
As of 1972, the company reported that "[p]lans are being made to change the Yogi Bear operations and in the interim there is no expansion of outlets". [8] However, "[l]ike so many of the franchised cartoon restaurant chains, Yogi Bear's Honey Fried Chicken had flown the coop by the early 1970s, leaving abandoned buildings in its wake". [4] The second-to-last location closed in the late 1970s. [3]
As the restaurants closed, a number of large fiberglass statues of Yogi Bear and other franchise characters that had been made for the restaurants were bought by the operator of a "Jellystone Park"-themed campground in North Carolina, and were later dumped on vacant land near Interstate 95 near Halifax, North Carolina. The statue graveyard became an unintentional tourist attraction, until it was razed in 2008 for new construction at the site. [9] [10] As of 2024 [update] , a single Yogi Bear's Honey Fried Chicken venue remained in operation, in Hartsville, South Carolina. [4] [3] [11]
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. 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. The series last aired on December 1, 1961.
The Honeymooners is an American television sitcom that originally aired from 1955 to 1956, created by and starring Jackie Gleason, and based on a recurring comedy sketch of the same name that had been part of Gleason's variety show. It follows the lives of New York City bus driver Ralph Kramden (Gleason), his wife Alice, Ralph's best friend Ed Norton and Ed's wife Trixie as they get involved with various schemes in their day-to-day living.
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, Auggie Doggie, Loopy De Loop, Wally Gator, Quick Draw McGraw and Baba Looey, Snooper and Blabber, Dixie and Mr. Jinks, Hokey Wolf, 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.
William Denby Hanna was an American animator, voice actor, and occasional musician who is best known for co-creating Tom and Jerry and providing the vocal effects for the series' title characters. Alongside Joseph Barbera, he also founded the animation studio and production company Hanna-Barbera.
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".
Jabberjaw is an American animated television series created by Joe Ruby and Ken Spears and produced by Hanna-Barbera which aired 16 original episodes on ABC from September 11 to December 18, 1976. Reruns continued on ABC until September 3, 1978.
Snooper and Blabber is one of the three segments from The Quick Draw McGraw Show. This show was produced by Hanna-Barbera between September 19, 1959 and October 20, 1961, and consists of 45 episodes.
Help! ... It's the Hair Bear Bunch! is an American animated television series, created by Joe Ruby and Ken Spears and produced by Hanna-Barbera, which originally aired for one season on CBS from September 11, 1971, to January 8, 1972. Daws Butler, Paul Winchell and William Callaway voice the three bears that comprise the Hair Bear Bunch, while John Stephenson and Joe E. Ross voice Mr. Eustace Peevly and Lionel Botch, respectively, the two individuals who patrol the zoo in which the bears live. The series' producer was Charles A. Nichols, with William Hanna and Joseph Barbera directing, and Hoyt Curtin serving as the composer.
Yakky Doodle is a cartoon duck created by Hanna-Barbera Productions for the 1961 series The Yogi Bear Show. Yakky's name is a spoof of "Yankee Doodle".
Hey There, It's Yogi Bear! is a 1964 American animated musical comedy film produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and released by Columbia Pictures. The film stars the voices of Daws Butler, Don Messick, Julie Bennett, Mel Blanc, and J. Pat O'Malley.
Cindy Bear is a cartoon character created by Hanna-Barbera Productions. She is one of the primary supporting characters of the Yogi Bear franchise as well as a regular in the stable of frequently appearing Hanna-Barbera animated personalities. Cindy was originally portrayed by voice actress Julie Bennett, who reprised the part for most of the character's appearances from the 1960s through the 1980s.
John Francis Smith, more commonly referred to as Ranger Smith, is a fictional park ranger first appearing in the 1958 Yogi Bear cartoon series. The character is Yogi's main antagonist, and appears in other Yogi Bear series, including Yogi's Gang (1973), Yogi's Treasure Hunt (1985), and Yo Yogi! (1991), as well as the 2010 live-action Yogi Bear film. The cartoon character has been primarily voiced by Don Messick and Greg Burson.
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 the Easter Bear is an American animated television special starring Yogi Bear, produced by Hanna-Barbera and animated by Filipino animation studio Fil-Cartoons. It was broadcast in syndication on April 3, 1994. This is one of Don Messick's last voice-over roles; he suffered a debilitating stroke in 1996 and died in 1997. It would also be the last official Yogi Bear media for 16 years until the release of the live-action Yogi Bear film.
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.
Through its history, Hanna-Barbera has operated theme park attractions, mostly as a section in Kings Island, Carowinds, California's Great America, Kings Dominion, Canada's Wonderland, and, recently, Six Flags Great America.
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.
The Hanna-Barbera Happy Hour is an American television comedy-variety show produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions which aired for five consecutive weeks on NBC from April 13 to May 11, 1978.