The Huckleberry Hound Show

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Template:Short description Template:Use American English Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox television

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.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Three segments were included in the program: one featuring the title character, 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.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> 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.<ref>Mallory, Michael. Hanna-Barbera Cartoons. New York: Hugh Lauter Levin Associates, 1998. Template:ISBN. p. 44.</ref> 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.<ref name="CNNobit">Template:Cite web</ref>

Background/production

Conception and development

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."<ref name="voices">Template:Cite book</ref>

Barbera once recalled about Daws Butler's voice acting versatility: Template:Cquote

Format

The series features three seven-minute cartoons, animated specifically for television. The first always stars Huckleberry, and the next two feature other characters.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Each of three cartoons are in between the wraparound segments, which originally set in the circus tent where Huck acts like a showman in the late 1950s.

Distribution

The show was originally intended to be part of a line-up of kid programs sponsored by Kellogg and broadcast on ABC-TV, joining Woody Woodpecker, Superman and Wild Bill Hickok in an early evening, weekday line-up.<ref>Weekly Variety, June 26, 1958, pg. 7</ref> However, Kellogg's agency, Leo Burnett, decided instead to syndicate the show and buy air time on individual stations.<ref>Daily Variety, June 26, 1958, pg. 1</ref> The show was originally distributed by Screen Gems (the television division at the time of Columbia Pictures) 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.<ref>Broadcasting magazine, Apr. 10, 1967, pg. 64</ref>

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; the current distributor Warner Bros. Television picked up ownership of the show following the 1996 acquisition of Turner by parent company, Time Warner.

Original syndication

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.<ref>Lansing State Journal, Sept. 27, 1958, pg. 20.</ref> A few other stations airing it that day were WLWI in Indianapolis (at 6:30 p.m.)<ref>Tipton Tribune, Sept. 29, 1958, pg. 6.</ref> and WTAE in Pittsburgh (at 7:30 p.m.).<ref>The Morning Herald (Uniontown, Pennsylvania), Sept. 29, 1958, pg. 12</ref> The show debuted on other days that same week in other cities; Huck originally aired in Los Angeles on Tuesdays on KNXT,<ref>Los Angeles Times, Sept. 30, pg. A6</ref> Chicago on Wednesdays on WGN-TV,<ref>Chicago Tribune, Sep. 27 1958, pg. c16.</ref> and New York City on Thursdays on WPIX.<ref>New York Herald Tribune, Sep 28, 1958, pg. G-12</ref> The show first aired in Canada on Thursday, October 2, 1958, at 7 p.m. on CKLW-TV in Windsor, Ontario.<ref>Toronto Globe and Mail, Oct. 2, 1958, pg. 39</ref> 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.

Plot and characters

Each of the three segments features one or two main characters acting as a duo and numerous one-off or supporting characters.

Huckleberry Hound

Template:Main Huck's voice is Butler's impression of a family friend. He used it in earlier work, such as Reddy in The Ruff and Reddy Show, Smedley the Dog in the Chilly Willy cartoons, and earlier characters in the MGM cartoon library. Butler's son Charles confirmed that the voice was based on the neighbor of his wife, Myrtis; Butler would speak with said neighbor when visiting North Carolina.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Pixie & Dixie and Mr. Jinks

Template:Main 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).

Yogi Bear

Template:Main 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

Template:Main 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).

Voice cast

  • Daws Butler - Huckleberry Hound, Yogi Bear, Dixie, Mr. Jinks, Hokey Wolf, Various
  • Don Messick - Boo Boo Bear, Ranger Smith, Pixie, Narrator, Various
  • Doug Young - Ding-A-Ling Wolf, Various

Additional Voices

Credits

Episodes

Template:Main List of The Huckleberry Hound Show episodes

Legacy

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, is 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."<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> In January 2009, IGN named The Huckleberry Hound Show as the 63rd best in its "Top 100 Animated TV Shows".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

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.

Media information

Home media

On Template:Start date, 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 with only the individual segments, instead of the uncut and unedited original broadcast versions with the original opening and closing titles and interstitial segments.

After Volume 1 no further Volumes of The Huckleberry Hound Show were released on DVD. According to Warner Archive President George Feltenstein, since many early Hanna-Barbera shows used stock music from Capital Records, there were rights issues between WB and the estates of the composers over the music cues used in the show that prevented further seasons from being released.<ref name="Millard">Template:Cite web</ref>

However in 2025, Warner Archive Collection cleared the rights and announced The Huckleberry Hound Show: The Complete Original Series and 11 Disc Blu-Ray box set that contains all 68 episodes (178 segments) restored with the original opening/closing credits and bridging material intact, as well as all the extras from the 2005 DVD. The set was released on August 26, 2025.<ref name="Millard" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Homevideo title Ep # Release date Additional information
The Huckleberry Hound Show – Volume 1 (The First Season) (DVD) 26 episodes
(66 segments) 		November 15, 2005
  • A bonus collectible animation cel
  • Featurette on reconstructing the premiere episode
  • Never-before-seen bumpers and bridge
  • Segment tributing Daws Butler, voice actor
The Huckleberry Hound Show: The Complete Original Series (Blu-ray) 68 episodes
(178 segments) 		August 26, 2025
  • Same as the DVDs. Minus reconstruction of the original pilot episode.<ref name="Millard">Template:Cite web</ref>

Licensing

The characters from The Huckleberry Hound Show spawned various product, publishing, and other licensing deals. Colpix Records, the recording company of Columbia Pictures/Screen Gems, released the first Huckleberry Hound album in October 1958, with stuffed animals and games also hawked in record stores.<ref>The Billboard, Oct. 20, 1958, pg. 4</ref>

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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Hanna-Barbera's 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.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Books adaptations

See also

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References

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Template:Huckleberry Hound Template:Yogi Bear Template:Hanna-Barbera Template:Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Children's Program

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