Huckleberry Hound was the first major TV creation from the legendary team of William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, the pair later responsible for The Flintstones.
Hanna originally created the Tom and Jerry cartoons for MGM, while Barbera was a former New York banker whose hobby was drawing.
They joined forces to introduce a constant flow of new characters like Hokey Wolf, the accident-prone Snagglepuss (with catchphrases like “Heavens to Murgatroyd” and “Exit stage left”), Augie Doggie and Doggie Daddy, Quick Draw McGraw (and his Mexican side-kick Baba Looie) as well as the other stars of the Huckleberry Hound show, Pixie and Dixie, Mr Jinks and Yogi Bear and Boo Boo.
A blue dog with a southern drawl (his voice was provided by Daws Butler) and a fondness for the song My Darling Clementine, Huckleberry was willing to try anything once, while Pixie and Dixie the mice, had an on-going struggle to outwit Jinks the cat, who, incidentally, hated “meeces to pieces”.
Huckleberry Hound had many occupations over the years, but he began his career as a police officer who sniffed out a gorilla that was missing from a zoo.
He was also a mail carrier, a truant officer, an explorer, a mounted police officer, a firefighter, and even a dog-catcher at different times.
After Yogi left for his own show in Jellystone National Park, Hokey Wolf, was added to the Huckleberry Hound Show.
Huckleberry Hound won the coveted Emmy Award for the 1959-1960 season – the first such award ever bestowed on an animated series.
Each episode of the show cost a mere $2,800, which was extremely reasonable for the time.
Hanna and Barbera called the technique they used to film the series “limited animation” since it greatly reduced the number of drawings needed to complete a full cartoon.
Huckleberry Hound Daws Butler
Hokey Wolf
Daws Butler
Ding A Ling
Doug Young
Yogi
Daws Butler
Boo Boo
Don Messick
Ranger Smith
Don Messick
Pixie
Don Messick
Dixie
Daws Butler
Mr. Jinks
Daws Butler
