Magilla Gorilla Gets Twisted

 In 1961, the toy company Marx released a line of toys called "Twistables." Based on Disney characters, they were figurines that featured noodle-like arms and legs that made them easy to pose, bend, and twist, hence the name. A couple of years later, Ideal Toys got the idea to do their own version of this line. And what better set of characters to base them around then the Hanna-Barbera ones?

As Ideal Toys were sponsors on shows like Magilla Gorilla, this was a no-brainer on their part. Unfortunately, these toys aren't quite as memorable as Marx's Disney offerings. That's not to say these are bad toys, but if you've seen the Disney ones, it's clear that their line was superior. That being said, these must've sold well enough, as they made around a dozen or so of them. Below are the Magilla Gorilla and Peter Potamus twistables, which I feel are the best in the line. 

Now here's one in the packaging. Interestingly, the initial figures in this series were sold in just a plastic bag, rather than a cardboard box. This package also highlights some of the other characters sold in the line. They covered pretty much all of the essential characters across the segments of both Magilla Gorilla and Peter Potamus. If you have a particular favorite from any of those, they probably were included in the line. I must also say it's pretty surprising to see Sneezly show up here. How many Sneezly toys can you genuinely say you've seen before?

Hanna-Barbera TV Pals

 Everyone on Earth has heard of PEZ, a brand of candy dispensers featuring a variety of famous characters across multiple beloved franchises. However, I imagine only a few of you have heard of TV Pals. Released in 1975, these were more or less the same thing. Just like PEZ, they covered multiple beloved properties, including a few Hanna-Barbera characters. TV Pals of The Flintstones, Yogi Bear, and Huckleberry Hound were all made.

Here are the actual dispensers. Yogi and Huckleberry Hound look quite good, but the ones of The Flintstones characters are rather rough. At the very least, all of them, with the exclusion of Wilma, would get new versions from PEZ in the 1990s, during what was probably the height of their popularity.  

Jean Vander Pyl Speaks With Satellite Surgery

 On this day in 1919, Jean Vander Pyl, the voice behind Wilma Flintstone and countless others, was born. I've shared TV interviews and print interviews involving her before, but today, I've got something a bit different. This is a radio interview Jean did sometime in the early 1990s (I'm guessing '93?) with Satellite Surgery. If the name doesn't ring a bell, that's because it was a program that only played on English airwaves. Eric Wiltsher conducts this interview, which focuses on the legacy of The Flintstones, The Jetsons, and the experience of returning to Wilma for the 1993 telefilms. From this interview, we also learn that Jean didn't exactly have great thoughts on the 1980s Flintstones projects. If you've ever seen any of those, can you really blame her? 

DJR Creative · Eric Interviews Jean Vander Pyl on the Satellite Surgery

Video of the Week: A Spooky Fruity Pebbles Commercial

 There's been no shortage of memorable Halloween-related commercials over the years, and the Fruity Pebbles cereal has had several. Check out this one from 1999, which sees Fred and Barney getting into the spirit themselves. It also gives us a look at Barney without his skin, if that's something you want to see. It's a pretty memorable commercial with some great animation courtesy of the legendary Scott Shaw. He's done tons of work for The Flintstones and Hanna-Barbera characters in general, and during this period, he oversaw many of the Fruity Pebbles commercials. Pretty much all of the ads in this era were well-animated and full of love for The Flintstones, and you can thank him for that. Perhaps another time I'll look at the evolution of the Fruity Pebbles ads, but if I were to pick out a "golden age" for them, it would certainly have to be when he was in charge. But don't simply take my word for it, see it for yourself right below!

Nanco's Hanna-Barbera Halloween Plush Dolls

 Halloween is fast approaching, so it's the perfect time to share some spooky Hanna-Barbera collectibles. Today, I bring you these two Halloween-themed plush dolls of George Jetson and Fred Flintstone, manufactured by Nanco. These were put out around 1989, and while they are the only Halloween-related toys Nanco made, they actually created a whole line of Hanna-Barbera plushies. The George plush is honestly pretty solid, but that Fred Flintstone could use some work. His short and stout build makes him look more like Barney dressing up as Fred, rather than Fred himself. 

I thought I'd share one of their traditional plush dolls now. Just take a look at the face on this Magilla Gorilla plush. Yikes! My first thought was that the plush had simply deteriorated over time, but according to over photos, that's not the case. That's simply what he looks like. Now how's that for spooky?

Elliot Field Plays the Hits

Not many people can say they've been a cartoon character, a disc jockey, or a mayor. Elliot Field, on the other hand, managed to be all three. Readers of this blog will know him best for his role as Blabber Mouse in the Snooper and Blabber cartoons, and for several roles in later episodes of The Flintstones.

As many of you may know from Yowp's latest post, Elliot Field sadly passed away on September 23rd at the age of 97. He was the last surviving cast member of Hanna-Barbera's 1950s output. In honor of his legendary career, I thought it was only appropriate to highlight Field's earlier years. Today, I bring you the following piece from The Daily Report, dated August 5th, 1959. This discusses his involvement in the opening ceremonies of the Ontario Plaza, and it also sheds some light on his entertainment career, which goes back even further than some may think.

Teener Dance Friday Stars Elliot Field

    The teenagers take over Friday night during grand opening festivities at Ontario Plaza.
    Elliot Field, KFWB disc jockey currently the rage of teeners throughout the Southland, will act as master of ceremonies at a special party and dance at the Plaza.
    There will be dancing, prizes, and entertainment—and it's all FREE. Honored guests will be the queen candidates of the West End Community Fair who will be introduced by Field. 

    Elliot Field has made a rocket climb to stardom in Southern California over KFWB, Hollywood. He spins the wax as custodian of the "Fabulous Forty" top hits show which he likes to call, "Mayhem in the P.M."
    Only 29 years old, Field started his career as a 12-year-old actor and m.c. He had his own DJ show at 15. A graduate of the University of Florida, Field gained his veteran's stripes via radio shows in Miami, Boston, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and waypoints.
    At the Plaza, he'll be spinning his records for dancing, conducting contests, awarding prizes, and, of course, signing autographs for his many admirers.

    So make it a date, kids. It'll be a real cool bash, and Elliot Field is the coolest, man, the very coolest!

Rest in peace, Elliot Field. My heart goes out to his family, his friends, and everyone else who was acquainted with him.

The Many Meetings of the Hanna-Barbera and Cartoon Network Characters: Part Two

Just as promised, it's time I wrap up this week's Cartoon Network-related posts by looking at the later examples of their original characters crossing paths with their Hanna-Barbera forebearers. Today, we're discussing shows from the year 2000 and beyond. There aren't as many series that feature crossovers as there were in the nineties, and for reasons I'll get to later. In the meantime, let's start off with our first series of the day, Samurai Jack!

Over its five-season run, Samurai Jack contained references to all kinds of media that the crew were fans of, so it was no surprise that the show had a few nods to the Hanna-Barbera classics. In the second episode of the show, a character looking quite a lot like the big dog from 2 Stupid Dogs appears. Fitting, considering how much of the Jack crew came from that show. Later on, in "The Good, the Bad, and the Beautiful," Quick Draw McGraw and Baba Looey appear as guests on the train the episode takes place inside. Greg Burson voices them here, as he did for most of their appearances following original actor Daws Butler's passing.

Years after the series ended its run on CN, Adult Swim decided to bring it back with one last season to close out the story. While much changed about the show in this more mature form, its love of references remained. In one of the final episodes, Astro from The Jetsons appears. Everyone says The Flintstones and The Jetsons take place simultaneously, but what if Samurai Jack and The Jetsons existed in the same future? Probably not, but I'd say it's a lot more likely. 

Around the same time Jack premiered, so too did The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy. Of all the shows CN has produced, I think this one easily has the most callbacks and cameos to the Hanna-Barbera cartoons of yesterday. There are so many I'll probably miss a few, especially since a lot of them are rather short. But enough about the amount of them, how about the cameos themselves? 

Starting us off, the first HB character to appear in the show were Yogi and Boo Boo in the season two episode "Here Thar Be Dwarves!" These versions of the characters are noticeably more manic and grotesque than usual. Tom Kenny voices Boo Boo like in most appearances during this time, but Yogi is played by actor Dave Fouquette. This is, as far as I know, the only time he voiced him. The two bears would later appear in the episode "Irwin Gets a Clue," alongside Secret Squirrel, Huckleberry Hound, and Snagglepuss. Each one served as little more than punchlines, as they were all hit by oncoming traffic.

In the following season, the episode "Reap Walking" featured an appearance from all of Mystery Incorporated. Their scene lasts all of two seconds, with none of the characters moving or saying anything. Scooby would later appear in the episode "Keeper of the Reaper," where he'd testify against Mandy. Just like in all of his modern appearances, Scooby was voiced by Frank Welker. This episode also contains yet another cameo from Yogi. I wonder which HB character was the Billy and Mandy teams' favorite?

Season five featured two HB character appearances. Grape Ape made a cameo in "Giant Billy and Mandy All-Out Attack," but the far more interesting one was Fred Flintstone's role in the episode "Modern Primitives." Portrayed as a brainless caveman who'd been stuck in a block of ice, this was the only time in the series a classic character had an active role in an episode. He was portrayed by James Arnold Taylor, who also filled the role in Fruity Pebbles commercials at that time. Barney and Betty even appeared in the episode's end credit sequence. As you can see, the majority of HB character appearances played the characters as the butt of jokes, which is something that I've always appreciated Warners for letting them do. So often, classic characters are treated as sacred objects, put on a pedestal that isn't to be touched. Every once in a while though, it doesn't hurt to have a little fun with them, and do something nobody else would think of doing.

After Billy and Mandy concluded in 2007, the amount of Hanna-Barbera references in Cartoon Network shows went down. And when I say they went down, I mean they became non-existent. Why? Well, blame it on licensing. As you all know, when Time Warner and Turner merged, control of the Hanna-Barbera properties went over to WB. This gave them control of not only new productions but the existing characters and licenses as well. Because of this, CN now had to pay a licensing fee to air Hanna-Barbera shows. This is why those shows slowly began to disappear from the network in the early 2000s. This fee extended, naturally, to cameos as well. According to Maxwell Atoms, the creator of Billy and Mandy, the channel was initially positive towards these references. As the show continued, however, they began requesting the team to back off from these cameos, likely to avoid those aforementioned fees. While it's unfortunate, I understand that thought process from the higher-ups. After all, why spend money to license Snagglepuss if he's just going to appear in a five-second shot of one cartoon?

From that point on, the Hanna-Barbera characters disappeared not just from the network, but from cameos as well. The only one I know of during this time was in a 2015 episode of Uncle Grandpa, titled "Uncle Grandpa Retires." Dick Dastardly and Muttley appear in a crowd, and that's about it. Kind of a random appearance, but it's a pretty random show, so I guess it tracks.

The relationship between the Hanna-Barbera and Cartoon Network characters would change again in 2019. Following the AT&T and Warner merger (remember that?), a lot of restructuring occurred, including the moving of CN's operations underneath WB. This meant they were once again part of the same family as the Hanna-Barbera library. The days of needing to pay a license to use those characters were over, and the company was quick to take advantage of that. In 2021, Straight Outta Nowhere, a crossover between Courage the Cowardly Dog and Scooby-Doo, was released on home video. The movie itself is, honestly, rather forgettable, but it was astonishing to see characters from these two studios interact again after so long.

And now, what better way to end this saga of CN and HB characters meeting than by talking about a crossover of epic proportions? Jellystone!, a series revolving around classic Hanna-Barbera characters, will have a crossover episode containing an assortment of Cartoon Network characters. If you can think of a character, the chances are high they'll show up. The episode, "Crisis on Infinite Mirths," doesn't have a release date, but I'm confident we'll see it next year. It's kinda funny. In the old days, it used to be Hanna-Barbera's characters appearing in new CN shows. Now, it's the other way around, as if they're repaying them. Feels like this whole saga has come full circle, wouldn't you agree?