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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.
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.
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.
References
- 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."
- The seventh-season Muppet Babies episode "Muppet Babies: The Next Generation" spoofed several space-themed films and TV series, including The Jetsons. The equivalent here is The Spacetons, with Baby Kermit in the George Jetson role, Baby Piggy spoofing Jane, and Baby Rowlf as "Rowlfo the Dog" (the equivalent to Astro).
- 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."
Connections
- 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.
- David Barrington-Holt and the Creature Shop were the Creative Supervisor/Character Design for the live-action film adaptation of Scooby-Doo
- Mo Willems directed a Quick Draw McGraw short, "City-E-Scape", for Cartoon Network.
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.
- Daws Butler voiced Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound, Elroy Jetson, 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. On Sesame Street, she and her co-stars from The Simpsons performed in the celebrity version of "Monster in the Mirror".
- 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; Grandpa Jetson, Jet Screamer and others on The Jetsons; 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.
- 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!
- 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
- Harvey Korman voiced the Great Gazoo on The Flintstones (1965-66).
- Danny Mann voiced additional characters in Yo Yogi
- Mona Marshall did additional voices in Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo
- Rob Paulsen voiced Corky in The Snorks, Hadji in The New Adventures of Jonny Quest, and Dickie Dastardly in Yo Yogi!
- 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, various villains on Scooby Doo, Doggie Daddy in several productions, and others
- Frank Welker voiced Fred on Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! and its spinoffs, Dynomutt, Jabberjaw, Bandit in The New Adventures of Jonny Quest, Hefty Smurf, Puppy, Peewit and others on The Smurfs, Foofur, and many others.
Trivia
- Both Yogi Bear and Scooby-Doo were included on Animal Planet's 50 Greatest TV Animals, along with Big Bird and Kermit.