Mark McDermott
4937 Stanley Ave., Downers Grove, IL 60515

Markm    @    MarkMcDermott    .    com

Yogi Bear and his smaller bear-buddy Boo Boo were among the favorites in the
crop of cartoons characters created for television in the 1950s. The conniving
Yogi ("Smarter than the average bear!") has held his appeal through several
revival series.
     Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera had been executive producers of MGM's cartoon
unit for less than two years when it shut down in 1957. The two immediately went
into television production, trading on their reputations as directors of the Tom
and Jerry cartoons. Their first series was The Ruff and Ready Show, an adventure
serial about a dog and cat team sold to NBC.
     In 1958, Hanna-Barbera produced its first syndicated series, "The
Huckleberry Hound Show," distributed by Columbia Pictures' Screen Gems arm and
sponsored by Kellogg's Cereal. The slow-talking, "Clementine"-mangling
bloodhound hosted, supported by two other segments: "Pixie and Dixie," a rehash 
of the Tom and Jerry formula, and "Yogi Bear." The show won the 1959 Emmy award 
for children's programming, the first for an animated series, and drew up to 16
million viewers around the world. Yogi spun off into his own syndicated
anthology, "The Yogi Bear Show," in 1961, supported by "Snagglepuss" ("Exit, 
Stage left") and "Yakky Doodle."
     The premise of most Yogi Bear plots can be said to have some appeal to
adults as well as children. Yogi (voiced by Daws Butler) was a nonconformist,
driven by his simple desire for tourists' picnic baskets. Boo Boo (Don Messick)
played Yogi's conscience ("I don't think the Ranger will like that, Yogi"),
while Ranger John Smith (also Don Messick) tried to keep Yogi from turning
Jellystone National Park upside down ("Why can't you eat nuts and berries like
the nice bears?" "Nuts and berries? Sheesh!"). Yankee catcher Yogi Berra thought
the name constituted defamation of character, but Hanna-Barbera steadfastly
claimed the similarity of names was sheer coincidence.
     Yogi's popularity, like that of most cartoon shows, was supported by a
well-oiled publicity machine. Kellogg's sponsorship put Hanna-Barbera characters
in their commercials and on the boxes: Yogi plugged Kellogg's OK's (just like
Cheerios, but with a letter K added). Yogi and Boo Boo appeared on toys, comic
books, and strips, and those ubiquitous Kenner Giv-a-Show Projectors. The most
manifest tie-in came with the opening of a chain of Yogi Bear's Jellystone Park
campgrounds, many of which are still in operation today.
     "The Yogi Bear Show" was in production for two years, then repeated for 
years afterward. In 1964, Yogi starred in Hanna-Barbera's first theatrical 
feature, "Hey There, It's Yogi Bear." Yogi was revived in 1973 as leader of 
"Yogi's Gang" (ABC), where he and Boo Boo teamed with other characters from 
Quick Draw McGraw to Atom Ant to battle pollution and other "relevant" evils 
from a flying ark. The team-up formula was repeated in "Scooby's All-Star 
Laff-A-Lympics" (1977-80, ABC) and "Yogi's Space Race" (1978-79, NBC). Yogi 
returned to Jellystone Park for a new syndicated series in 1988; and in 1992, 
the Hanna-Barbera gang was featured as hip-hopping youngsters in "Yo, Yogi" 
(ABC).

Bibliography
Brasch, Walter M. Cartoon Monickers: An insight into the Animation Industry.
     Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green State U. Popular Press, 1983.
Lenburg, Jeff. The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Rev. ed. New York: Facts
     on File, 1991.

                                                                  Mark McDermott
See also
Children's Network Programming 

from: The Guide to United States Popular Culture, Ray B. Brown & Pat Browne,
editors 
Copyright 2001 © Bowling Green State University Popular Press