Hanna-Barbera

William Hanna and Joseph Barbera

Joseph Barbera alongside Cookie Monster and Kermit the Frog at the 1973 Daytime Emmy Awards.

The Spacetons in "Muppet Babies: The Next Generation"

Baby Piggy with Freddy Flintstone, of The Flintstone Kids, on a Star Comics cover.

File:Scoodydoo electric co magazine1979.jpg

Scooby Doo on the front cover of The Electric Company Magazine from 1979.

Hanna-Barbera was a prolific animation studio which, between 1957 and 2001, produced scores of animated television series and specials, as well as a few forays into theatrical films. The company took its name from William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, who first teamed as co-directors of the Tom and Jerry theatrical shorts for MGM. When MGM closed its doors, Hanna and Barbera struck out on their own, producing limited animation television product which came to dominate network Saturday morning slots for decades. Their earliest series was Ruff and Reddy, followed by Huckleberry Hound, Yogi Bear, The Flintstones, The Jetsons and Scooby-Doo, amongst others. One of their more notable successes in the 1980s came from licensing a group of popular Belgian comic characters for a long-running animated series, The Smurfs.

In 1990, Hanna Barbera was one of several companies which collaborated on Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue, with the Smurfs sharing screentime with the Muppet Babies. Though the studio itself no longer exists, having been absorbed into Warner Bros. Animation in 2001, its extensive sound-effects library is still in wide use, and has been heard in several Muppet/Henson contexts since the 1980s, most notably the Muppet Babies animated series.

Jim Henson's Creature Shop supplied animatronic dinosaurs and other prehistoric characters for the live-action film version of The Flintstones and its prequel The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas. William Hanna and Joseph Barbera made cameo appearances in both films. Additionally, the Creature Shop did some uncredited pre-production work on the 1998 Scooby-Doo film.

Appearances

• Freddy Flintstone, the younger version of Fred Flinstone who starred in The Flintstone Kids, appeared on the cover with Baby Piggy, Heathcliff, and two Madballs in Marvel Comics Star Comics magazine series, reprinting earlier comics.

For more references, appearances, or connections see the following pages:

• The Jetsons
• Scooby-Doo
• The Smurfs
• Foofur
• Go-Bots

References

• In a sketch from the December 5, 1963 broadcast of The Jimmy Dean Show, Rowlf the Dog mentions Huckleberry Hound among the graduates of the Animal Actors' Academy.

• In a Season 16 episode of Sesame Street, one of the kids has two goldfish named Tom and Jerry. When Olivia learns of their names, she says, "Well, I won't go into that."

• In a season 25 Sesame Street sketch, Oscar the Grouch hums a snatch of The Flintstones theme song to himself. The sketch features Rosie O'Donnell, who played Betty Rubble in the live action film.

• In Muppets Tonight episode 103, Sal Minella addresses Bobo the Bear as "Yogi the Butthead," an allusion to Yogi Bear.

• During the T-Rex's song in "Do the Dino Groove" in the Sesame Street Live show Elmo's Coloring Book, Baby Bear comments that the T-Rex is a regular "Fred Astaire Flintstone" as he dances.

• In The Muppets comic strip, a Whatnot autograph hound pursues a flattered Fozzie because she has mistaken him for Yogi Bear.

• In Episode 3908, Telly compliments Baby Bear's clever idea, to which he replies that he's "smarter than the average bear," in reference to Yogi Bear.

• In Episode 4055, Papa Bear reads from a book of bear names when trying to come up with a name for their new baby. Among the names he suggests are "Yogi Bear" and "Boo-Boo."

• In A Muppet Christmas: Letters to Santa, Bobo tackles Fozzie and calls him "Yogi."

• In the Sesame Place stage show, The Not-Too-Spooky Howl-o-ween Radio Show!, Grover (dressed as a pumpkin) must leave the scene after The Count's "Five Little Pumpkins" poem. Before he leaves, he utters "Exit Grover, stage left!," referencing the catchphrase of Snagglepuss.

• The Muppets Character Encyclopedia mentions that Bobo is "less smart than the average bear."

Muppet Mentions

• In the first episode of the short-lived 1992 prime-time Hanna-Barbera series Fish Police, Inspector Gil tells waitress Pearl "You know how I feel about you" and winds up repeating "How..." when at a loss for words. Pearl asks why he talks like that, and Gil retorts that "all the great couples talk like that... uh, Fred and Wilma, Kermit and Miss Piggy, Rocky and Bullwinkle..."

Connections

Several voice actors in Hanna-Barbera series were also heard in Sesame Street inserts.

• Bob Arbogast had voice roles on Monchhichis and Galtar and the Golden Lance.
• Edward Asner voiced Chief Abalone on Fish Police
• Daws Butler voiced Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound, Augie Doggie, Quick Draw McGraw and dozens of others for Hanna-Barbera.
• Nancy Cartwright had voice roles on Richie Rich, Shirt Tales and other 1980s HB series.
• Joan Gerber voiced Irma Boyle on Wait Til Your Father Gets Home, Mrs. Zuckerman and Mrs. Fussy in Charlotte's Web, Mrs. Kelp on The Snorks, and others
• Kathy Gori, the voice of Rosemary on Hong Kong Phooey, recorded the songs "It's a Lovely Eleven Morning" and "If You've Lost Your 'L', Look Around".
• Casey Kasem voiced Shaggy on Scooby-Doo, Alexander Cabot on Josie and the Pussycats and Robin on Superfriends.
• Howard Morris voiced Atom Ant, Mushmouse and Mr. Peebles on The Magilla Gorilla Show, and various roles on The Flintstones, amongst others.
• Gary Owens voiced Space Ghost, the Blue Falcon, Commander Feral on SWAT Kats: The Radical Squadron, and various narrators.
• Hal Smith voiced several roles on The Flintstones, Yappy and the king in Yippee, Yappy and Yahooey, Santa Claus in multiple HB specials and series episodes, Coil Man in The Impossibles and others.
• Arnold Stang voiced Top Cat

Other actors who lent their voices or appeared in Muppet/Creature Shop productions also had Hanna-Barbera connections, as did some animators and other crew.

• Cynthia Adler was heard in various Hanna-Barbera cartoons including The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan
• Greg Berg voiced Huckleberry Hound on Yo Yogi!'
• Mel Blanc voiced Barney Rubble, Dino, and various roles on The Flintstones, Secret Squirrel, Captain Caveman, and many others.
• Peter Cullen voiced Dog Foot, Snarl, Scratch, and Rover on The Biskitts, Mantus on The Pirates of Dark Water and others
• Tim Curry voiced Konk on The Pirates of Dark Water, Sharkster on Fish Police, and others
• Dom DeLuise voiced Mr. Evictus on The Roman Holidays
• Micky Dolenz voiced Skip on The Funky Phantom, Harvey on Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kids, and others
• Jodie Foster voiced Pugsley on The Addams Family and Anne Chan on The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan
• Ben Ryan Ganger voiced the title role on Fantastic Max
• Brad Garrett voiced Rocinante on The Adventures of Don Coyote and Sancho Panda and Big Dog on 2 Stupid Dogs
• Buddy Hackett voiced Crabby the cabbie on Fish Police
• Gordon Hunt was voice director, and occasionally voice actor, on many Hanna-Barbera projects including several Yogi Bear series and specials
• Don Knotts voiced himself on Wait Til Your Father Gets Home and Mr. Lichen in the Fish Police episode "The Two Gils"
• Eric Bauza voiced Bamm-Bamm, Dino, and Hpopy on "The Flintstones and WWE: Stone Age Smackdown"
• Harvey Korman voiced the Great Gazoo on The Flintstones (1965-66).
• Paul Lynde voiced the Hooded Claw on The Perils of Penelope Pitstop, Mildew Wolf on Help, It's the Wolf!, Claude Pertwee on Where's Huddles? and Templeton the rat in Charlotte's Web
• Danny Mann voiced additional characters on Yo Yogi
• Rick Moranis voiced Mr. Schneider in Gravedale High
• Megan Mullally voiced Pearl on Fish Police
• Rob Paulsen voiced Corky on The Snorks, Hadji on The New Adventures of Jonny Quest, D.E.C.K.S. on Wake Rattle and Roll, and Dickie Dastardly on Yo Yogi!
• Russi Taylor voiced Pebbles Flintstone on "The Flintstones and WWE: Stone Age Smackdown"
• John Ritter voiced Inspector Gil on Fish Police
• Avery Schreiber voiced Benny the Ball in Top Cat and the Beverly Hills Cats and played Grandpa Quirk on Wake Rattle and Roll
• Martin Short voiced Ed Grimley on The Completely Mental Misadventures of Ed Grimley
• John Stephenson voiced Mr. Slate on The Flintstones, Dr. Benton Quest on Jonny Quest, Doggie Daddy in several productions, and others
• Sally Struthers voiced Pebbles on The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show and was heard on Fish Police and others
• John Vernon voiced the title role on Wildfire
• Jessica Walter voiced Lady Diabolyn on Wildfire
• Frank Welker voiced Dynomutt, Jabberjaw, Bandit on The New Adventures of Jonny Quest, Mussles Marinara and Doc Croaker on Fish Police, and many others.
• Mo Willems directed a Quick Draw McGraw short, "City-E-Scape", for Cartoon Network.
• Jonathan Winters voiced himself and Maude Frickert on Wait Til Your Father Gets Home, Mayor Cod on Fish Police, Coach Cadaver on Gravedale High, and others
• William Woodson voiced the sheriff on the C.B. Bears segment "Posse Impossible" and various announcers

Trivia

• Both Yogi Bear and Scooby-Doo were included on Animal Planet's 50 Greatest TV Animals, along with Big Bird and Kermit.