Huckleberry Hound
| Huckleberry Hound | |
|---|---|
| The Huckleberry Hound Show character | |
 | |
| First appearance | Huckleberry Hound Meets Wee Willie (1958) |
| Created by |
William Hanna Joseph Barbera |
| Portrayed by |
Daws Butler (1958–1988) Greg Burson (Wake, Rattle and Roll) Greg Berg (Yo Yogi!) James Arnold Taylor (Johnny Bravo) |
| Information | |
| Species | Bluetick Coonhound |
| Gender | Male |
Huckleberry "Huck" Hound is a fictional cartoon character, a blue anthropomorphic dog that speaks with a Southern drawl and has a relaxed, sweet, and well-intentioned personality. He first appeared in the series The Huckleberry Hound Show. The cartoon was one of six TV shows to win an Emmy Award in 1960[1] as an "Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Children's Programming";[2] the first animated series to receive such an award.[3]
The term "huckleberry" can be a slang expression for a rube or an amateur, or a mild expression of disapproval . Most of his short films consisted of Huck trying to perform jobs in different fields, ranging from policeman to dogcatcher, with results that backfired, yet usually coming out on top, either through slow persistence or sheer luck. Huck did not seem to exist in a specific time period as he has also been a Roman gladiator, a Medieval knight, and a rocket scientist. He never appeared in futuristic cartoons, only those set in the present or the past.
One regular antagonist in the series was "Powerful Pierre", a tall and muscular unshaven character with a French accent. Another regular villain was "Dinky Dalton", a rough and tough western outlaw that Huck usually has to capture, and Crazy Coyote, an Indian who Huck often had to defeat who was his match. There were also two crows with Mafia accents who often annoyed Farmer Huck. Another trademark of Huck was his tone deaf and inaccurate rendition of "Oh My Darling, Clementine", often used as a running gag. He also commonly used the phrase "and stuff like that thar" in place of "and so on". This phrase showed up quite often in many Hanna-Barbera productions of this time, but Huckleberry said it more often than anyone else. One of his careers had his job position on the door listed as "TS & SLTT". When asked what it stood for, Huck said "Top secrets and stuff like that thar."
Various Hanna-Barbera characters were known for breaking the fourth wall, frequently turning to the viewing audience to make comments and asides. Huck took this to somewhat of an extreme, and a significant part of a typical cartoon was his running narrative to the audience about whatever he was trying to accomplish.
Concept and creation
In 1953, Tex Avery created a character named Southern Wolf for his MGM cartoons The Three Little Pups and Billy Boy. Introduced as an antagonist to Droopy, the wolf had a southern drawl and laid back mannerisms provided by Daws Butler. The most memorable trait of the character was that whenever something painful or unpleasant happened to him he never lost his cool, instead he calmly talked to the audience or kept whistling the song 'Year of Jubilo'. After Avery left MGM, Hanna and Barbera produced two more shorts with the character. In two of his cartoons (Billy Boy and Blackboard Jumble) the wolf plays a role that was exactly like a usual Huckleberry Hound short, aside from his frequent use of slang and the slaughter he only had in Billy Boy. While Sheep Wrecked was the wolf's final appearance, Huckleberry can be considered his reincarnation.
Huckleberry's name is a reference to classic American novel Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, written by Mark Twain. Hanna and Barbera almost named Yogi Bear as "Huckleberry Bear".[4]
He was voiced in the original cartoons in 1957 by Daws Butler, who had given a similar voice and characterization to the dog character in Ruff and Reddy. Butler denied he based the voice on North Carolinian actor Andy Griffith, and had been using it since the late 1940s.[4] The voice for Huck was actually inspired by a neighbor of Butler's wife, Myrtis Martin, in Albemarle, North Carolina, her hometown. Butler would visit Myrtis and her family, and would talk to the neighbor who was a veterinarian. Butler found the man's voice amusing, and would remember it when it came time to voice Huck.[5]
Episodes
Role in later productions
Yogi, Boo Boo, Quick Draw McGraw, Magilla Gorilla, Snagglepuss, and Huckleberry traveled around America in the half-hour series Yogi's Gang. Debuting in 1973, the characters traveled in Ark Lark, a hot air balloon. They solved problems including Mr. Waste and pollution, Mr. Bigot's bigotry, and other various issues.[4]
Huckleberry Hound appeared as a member of "The Yogi Yahooeys" team on Scooby's All-Star Laff-A-Lympics / Scooby's All-Stars from 1977–1979.
The Galaxy Goof-Ups segment of the 1978 series Yogi's Space Race featured new characters Captain Snerdley, Scare Bear, and Quack-Up the Duck with returnees Huckleberry and Yogi, traveling through space to multiple planets in a race throughout the galaxy. The series soon split off to its own half-hour program where Huckleberry Hound, Yogi Bear, Scare Bear, and Quack-Up are bumbling intergalactic police officers.[4]
Syndicated series The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera included a segment in 1985 called Yogi's Treasure Hunt; Huckleberry appeared alongside characters including Yogi and Boo Boo, Snagglepuss, Dick Dastardly and Muttley, and Top Cat.[4] In 1987, he appeared in Yogi Bear and the Magical Flight of the Spruce Goose, traveling around the world, saving animals and fending off the Dread Baron and Mumbley.[4]
With fuller (but not so much feature quality) animation Yogi's First Christmas featured Huckleberry and others helping Yogi Bear prevent Jellystone Lodge's owner from tearing it down.[4]
His main comeback was in the television film The Good, the Bad, and Huckleberry Hound released in 1988.[4]
Huckleberry Hound appeared as a teenager in the series Yo Yogi! voiced by Greg Berg. Wee Willie was also featured as a teenager with his vocal effects done by Rob Paulsen.
In other languages
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Other appearances
- In the 1961 film Breakfast at Tiffany's, the main character briefly wears a Huckleberry Hound mask in the shoplifting scene.
- Huckleberry Hound made a special guest appearance at a celebrity roast honoring Fred Flintstone on the TV special Hanna-Barbera's All-Star Comedy Ice Revue (1978).
- Huckleberry Hound appeared in the "Fender Bender 500" segment of Wake, Rattle, and Roll voiced by Greg Burson. He is paired up with Snagglepuss where they drive a monster truck called the Half Dog, Half Cat, Half Track.
- Cartoon Network's Boomerang channel plays a more recent Huckleberry Hound animated short that strays greatly from the animation and story style of the original, entitled "Sound Hound". He also appeared in various commercials and bumpers featured on Cartoon Network, voiced by Jeff Bergman.
- Huckleberry Hound appears in one episode of The Brak Show in the role of a feral dog who steals and eats the cosmetic nose given to him by Brak's father, and passed down from generations of Brak's family.
- Huckleberry Hound made a cameo in a MetLife commercial entitled, "Everyone".
- Huckleberry Hound appeared in the Johnny Bravo episode "Back on Shaq" voiced by James Arnold Taylor. He was Seth Green's "good-luck charm" when Shaquille O'Neal was using Johnny Bravo as his "good-luck charm."
- In The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy from episode "Irwin Gets a Clue", he is run over by Hoss Delgado's truck.
- Huckleberry Hound made two cameo appearances on Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law. Admiral Mutt appeared in the episode "Peanut Puberty" amongst the Board of Directors.
- Huckleberry Hound appeared in The Simpsons episode "Behind the Laughter" voiced by Karl Wiedergott. Near the end of the episode, he confesses: "I was so gay, but I couldn't tell anyone."
See also
References
- ↑ "HB Screen Gems Emmys". Variety. Screen Gems: 38. June 1, 1960. Retrieved 10 November 2015.
Outstanding program achievement in the field of children's programming
- ↑ "Primetime Emmy Awards (1960)". Imdb.com. Retrieved November 17, 2015.
- ↑ "Hanna-Barbera - Television Academy". Academy Of Television Arts & Sciences. Retrieved November 10, 2015.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Ted Sennett, The Art of Hanna-Barbera: Fifty Years of Creativity. Viking Studio Books, 1989. ISBN 0-670-82978-1, 274 pages.
- ↑ Beamon, Shannon (May 31, 2015). "Stanly has famous ties near and far". Stanly News and Press. p. 1A.
