| Show Name: | The Yogi Bear Show |
| Genre: | Cartoon series |
| Creator: | William Hanna Joseph Barbera |
| Director: | William Hanna Joseph Barbera |
| Voices: | Julie Bennett Mel Blanc Daws Butler Vance Colvig June Foray Don Messick Hal Smith Bill Thompson Jean Vander Pyl Jimmy Weldon Doug Young |
| Num Episodes: | 35 |
| List Episodes: | List of The Yogi Bear Show episodes |
| Runtime: | 30 min. |
| First Aired: | January 30, 1961 |
| Last Aired: | December 30, 1961 |
| Related: | The Huckleberry Hound Show |
Yogi Bear should not be confused with Yogi Berra.
Yogi Bear is a fictional anthropomorphic bear who appears in animated cartoons created by Hanna-Barbera Productions. He made his debut in 1958 as a supporting character in The Huckleberry Hound Show. He was the first break-out character created by Hanna-Barbera Studios, and was eventually more popular than Huckleberry Hound.[1] In 1961 he was given his own show, The Yogi Bear Show, which also included the segments Snagglepuss and Yakky Doodle.[2] Hokey Wolf replaced his segment on The Huckleberry Hound Show.[3] A musical animated feature film, Hey There, It's Yogi Bear!, was produced in 1964.[4]
Yogi was one of several Hanna-Barbera characters to have a collar, which allowed the body to be kept static and to redraw just the head in each frame when he was speaking, thus reducing the number of drawings needed for a seven-minute cartoon from 14,000 to around 2,000.[5]
In October 2008, it was announced that Warner Bros. will film a live-action/animated version similar to Fox and Bagdasarian's Alvin & the Chipmunks.[6]
Yogi Bear was voiced by Daws Butler, and later by Greg Burson.
Over the years he appeared in many other spin-off series as well, including:
In 1999, animator John Kricfalusi's Spumco company created and directed two Yogi cartoons, which were A Day in the Life of Ranger Smith and Boo Boo Runs Wild. Both shorts aired that year on the Cartoon Network as part of a Yogi Bear special. "Boo Boo Runs Wild" features a fight between Yogi and Ranger Smith, which was edited heavily for broadcast for both violence and torture situations. A third Yogi cartoon from Spumco was planned and storyboarded, but was never finished.
In 2003, Spumco created another Boo Boo cartoon, "Boo Boo and the Man", which was made with Macromedia Flash and released on Cartoon Network's website. Hanna-Barbera produced an instructional comic book on earthquake preparedness called Yogi's Quakey Shakey Van.[7]
On October 2, 2008, it confirmed that a live-action/CGI Yogi Bear movie is in the works.[8] [9] It is currently in development, with a planned 2011 release date. It will be distributed and financed by Warner Bros., with Hanna-Barbera Productions. It will be the first movie development of a Hanna-Barbera property not produced with the assistance of William Hanna nor Joseph Barbera. Ash Brannon is signed on as director for the film.[9] Donald De Line is the producer and Karen Rosenfelt is the executive producer along with Jon Berg as a secondary executive producer for Warner Bros. Joshua Sternin and Jeffrey Ventimilia are writing the script.The film, adapting the television series, will follow the adventures of Yogi Bear and his pal Boo-Boo in Jellystone Park, as they avoid Ranger Smith who is trying to stop Yogi from stealing picnic baskets.
Like many Hanna-Barbera characters, Yogi's personality and mannerisms were based on a popular celebrity of the time. Art Carney's Ed Norton character on The Honeymooners was said to be Yogi's inspiration[10] ; his voice mannerisms broadly mimic Carney as Norton. Yogi's name commonly seen as a nod to the famed baseball star Yogi Berra, though Hanna and Barbera denied this intent.[11] The plot of most of Yogi's cartoons centered on his antics in the fictional Jellystone Park, a takeoff on the famous Yellowstone National Park. Yogi, accompanied by his reluctant best friend Boo Boo, would often try to steal picnic baskets from campers in the park, much to the chagrin of Park Ranger Smith. A girlfriend, Cindy Bear, turned up sometimes, and usually disapproved of Yogi's antics.
Besides often speaking in rhyme, Yogi Bear is well-known for a variety of different catchphrases, including his pet name for picnic baskets ("pic-a-nic baskets") and his favorite self-promotion ("I'm smarter than the average bear!"),[12] although he often overestimates his own cleverness. He often greets the ranger with a cordial, "Hello, Mr. Ranger, sir!" He also likes to say, "Hey, Boo Boo!" as his preferred greeting to his humbler sidekick.
Yogi Bear is currently aired by Cartoon Network's sister channel, Boomerang, worldwide.
There was also a Hanna-Barbera Personal Favorites video where William Hanna and Joseph Barbera picked their favorite Yogi Bear episodes, including the very first one, "Yogi Bear's Big Break", and Yogi meeting some storybook friends: The Three Little Pigs, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Little Red Riding Hood.
A music video (known as a Cartoon Groovie) for Yogi Bear airs on The Cartoon Network and Boomerang. It showcases clips of Yogi and Boo Boo stealing picnic baskets and annoying Ranger Smith. The Punk Rock-inspired song is sung by High School Jim.
Over the years, several publishers put out Yogi Bear comic books.
From 1961 until 1988, there was also a Yogi Bear comic strip, created by Gene Hazelton and distributed by the McNaught Syndicate.
On November 15, 2005, Warner Home Video released the complete series on DVD R1.
Yogi Bear lends his name to a chain of recreational vehicle and camping parks ("Yogi Bear's Jellystone Park Camp Resorts"), with the first opening in 1969 in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. As of 1971, there have been ten new park openings. As of 2008, over seventy new locations (including Van Buren, Missouri and Gardner, and New York) have hosted the parks. Over the years, families have made a tradition of bringing their young children to the parks during the summer. It has been said that founder Sarah Adamo enjoys frequenting the parks with her family. There is also one remaining restaurant from the chain bearing Yogi's name, "Yogi Bear's Honey Fried Chicken," in Hartsville South Carolina. In the 60's and 70's, these restaurant chains were found mostly within the Southeast United States (these were owned/franchised by Hardee's). In both cases, Hanna-Barbera licensed the name and likenesses to the respective companies.