RIP Yakky Doodle

A few days ago, we lost one of the last remaining of Hanna-Barbera's early voices, Jimmy Weldon, 99-1/2, the original Yakky Doodle. The little yakker duckling,initally a mallard, was derived from early H-B series/Tom and Jerry's "Little Quacker", voiced by funny song singer (no, he didn't have any hits or sing on any)  Red Coffee/Coffey,in turn based on Donald Duck (Clarence Nash). The HB duckling tended to be too self-deprecating and defeatist, making him too emotional (Yeah, we need a Charlie Chaplin type to really pull for, but this is just using us.) 

By 1960-61 HB gave him a spot with Snagglepuss, and, uable to get Red Coffey for whatever, got our local (Los Angeles, California) KTLA ventriloquist Jimmy "Webster Webfoot" Weldon to play Yakky, changing him from mallard to more yellow feller (as his big Vance Colvig-voiced bulldog pal Chopper might put it), and gave him a much more upbeat attitude, and then put him in Yakaky Doodle, on Huckleberry Hound's show (replacing Pixie & Dixie/Mr.Jinks, who went with Yakky and Yogi to Yogi's own show for more originals.) Weldon then continued for a soon to be only occasional (because, honestly folks, how MUCH of Yakky Doodle do you REALLY need, huh folks?) apearance including 1973's YOGI'S GANG.

In the meantime he also did a lot of TV appearanced...you can look around the 'net,including blogspot.yowpyowp.com for more. He was around even for non-Yakky appearances as late as one of the SHIRT TALES (NBC, 1982-84) seasons. See YOWP's blog, Mark Evanier's News From me and again around the net for more, I couldn't do Jimmy Weldon justice.

50th ANNIVERSARIES: FROSTY, QUICK DRAW, TV FELIX THE CAT< and MOOSE AND SQUIRRELL

Hello, world! (a la Haley Lu Richardson as Stella in the not so aptly titled FIVE FEET APART)

After four months I am back.. 

This year is when Fosty the Snowman, Qucik Draw McDraw, Joe Oriolo and Trans-Lux's tv verison of Felif the Cat, (see upcoming blog) and Rocky and Bullwinkle celebrate anniversaries. FROSTY in 1969, the others in 1959.

Much loved these will have a big birthday celebrations..

Death of a Choo-Choo

For many years, longtime character actor MARVIN KAPLAN wss a welcome sight on mayn shows (the radio/TV "Meet Millie"), and
relevant to animaiton, "Top Cat'(ABC-TV/1961-1962), as the beloved "Choo-Choo" to Arnold Stang most effectual Top Cat ala TC
(1918-2009. The others were Leo De Lyon, sitll alive and the only living member  of the cat cast as Spoook and brain, and the deceased John Stephenson,
1923-2015 as Fancy Fancy, Maurice Gosfield from the infelunce show "Bilko", 1900-1964, as Benny, the fat cat. Also gone has long been their police
nemesis, Officer Dibble, in real life Allen Jenkins, 1900-1974).

Marvin Kaplan spent his original years, as TC would, in Flatbush, aka Brooklyn, NYC, and later became a local and Hollywood character
actor on shows like the long forgotten "Meet Millie", then in a handful of movies and in Hanna-Barbera's 1961-62 "Top Cat" as purple
furred, oval eyed, lovable, loyal "Choo Choo" or "Chooch".

Chooch was a kind of goofy cat, not as "dumb" like De Lyon's "Brain", but a upbeat "eager" type, axious and looking forward to TC
s next plan or what he got (usually by conning Off.Dibble from....) His fur had a kind of lavender color, in keeping with the cats's
disinctive color schemes:
Yop Cat=Yellow
Benny the Ball=Blue
Fancy=Orange
Brain=Brown
Spook=Green
Choo Choo=Purple

Aftrr "Top Cat" Sgt.Bilko-esque-like "hup two'd" off into endless Saturday morning and off-network syndi-cat-ed (like that pun?) reruns in
1962, Kaplan went onto many other shows (incluyding the mid 1970s) "Kiss mah show" "Alice".


He appeared on many others outside this blog's scope but you can go on
Internet Movie Database and the ususal Google sites and look up.

Didja ever hear of "Duffy's Dozen"?

Many pilot shows have made been and shown...Hanna-Barbera, in 1970-71, tried with a Brady Bunch times twice with a sheepdog (thirteen,get it?)
in a sitcom that Makr Evanier and others came across, titled "Duffy's Dozen". Voices include Casey Kasem as, for once, a very funny young teenage boy out of the twelve kids, and Janet Waldo as Alice, the mother. The gimmicks were, live photographic backgrounds and all adopted, some non white, kids.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GB7zTWbl4Lw

Pretty good, no laugh track (yet)! I wonder if other soundtracks or a complete unaired (FINGERS crossed!) series exists..

The one peiosde here concerns a bear getting the father's bowling ball stuck on his finger.

You can actually link easily min the video post above.

Hanna-Barbera Records Drop-Ins Volume One - Side 2 (RARE!)

Recredited Flinstones

For many years, from 1966-1990 to be exact, generations of rerun wathing kids who never saw "The Flintstones in its original ABC run from
1960-1966 would have seen the credits for the Flintstone episodes from 1960 to 1962 as:
PRODUCED AND DIRECTED BY
JOE BARBERA   BILL HANNA
Written by                  Story Director
WARREN FOSTER     ART DAVIS
Starring the voices of
ALAN REED as FRED FLINTSTONE
JEAN VANDERPYL as WILMA FLINTSTONE
(next scene; credits fade)
MEL BLANC as BARNEY RUBBLE
BEA BENADERET (sic) as BETTY RUBBLE
then
  Other voices
HAL SMITH & JOHN STEPHENSON
Music Direction
HOYT CURTIN
and on and on
then
(C)MCMLXII BY HANNA-BARBERA PRODUCTION INC.
then the Screen Gems credit at the end of then after the credits.
For many what many children growing up dkidn't realize was that in its original prime time showing
[the audlt one] that NO Rubbles voice creedits appeared, that underneath the main credits just incidental cedits or no credits involved at all!
The now taboo ciggie ads, lack of credits, and such prompeted Screen Gems/Columbia Pictures TV in September 1966 to format the earlier ones [whose successors of course, beginning with the last
:original Oriental font" logo SG/CPTV had been using at the on "Gidget","I Dream of Jenanie etc." with Howie MacNear, Don Messick and opthers then the
new lettering to have the original endings] so that the pre-Pebbles episodes WOULD HAVE the same "gang" credits for each episode.,[BTW the credits used seem to be form one of the Water Buffalo/the boys sneak
out from Betty and Wilma ones]
By the time of Unviersal/Spielberg/Brian Grazer/HB's 1994 runaway block buster on the Stones, someone named T.S>Elliott came out with the FIRST EVER Flintstone
credits book, and as late as December 1994 it was aviable., That is where I saw who was around to do voices that never appeared aafter 1962 on the show, suchas Frank Nelson, Nancy Wible and some other sused later on other HB shows,
and regular like D.essick. The late Earl Kress [1951-2011] was very generous in putting some stock credits showed some of the voices and writers.