Hanna-Barbera and Hallmark Ornaments: A Truncated History

 No Christmas tree is complete without a healthy dose of ornaments covering it, and when you think of ornaments, what is the first company that comes to mind? For many of us, we will no doubt be immediately thinking of Hallmark. Their products eat up most shelf space at retail for ornaments, and they've tackled nearly every single intellectual property imaginable, and that includes the works of Hanna-Barbera Productions. For almost every year since 1994, Hallmark has made characters like Scooby-Doo and Fred Flintstone major players in their line of keepsake ornaments. So, to celebrate Christmas day and the end of the year, I thought I'd go through and look at some of the more notable ones in this line. We start at the beginning, with a 1994 ornament featuring Fred and Barney in the Flintmobile. For the time, the likenesses are pretty on point, at least for Barney. Fred looks a little off, though.

In 1995, in celebration of The Flintstones' 35th anniversary, Hallmark released not one, not two, but three different keepsake ornaments based on the series' pivotal characters. Of the trio, I think the Wilma and Betty one is the nicest looking. 

1996 saw Hallmark finally branch out from The Flintstones, giving us ornaments based on both The Jetsons and Yogi Bear. The former shows the family of the future in their main mode of transportation, while the latter has Yogi and Boo Boo noticing what else, a picnic basket!

It wouldn't be until 1999 that Scooby-Doo would finally get represented in the Hallmark keepsake line. This first ornament was a lunchbox and thermos modeled after Scooby and the gang. The following year, Shaggy and Scooby would get their first ornaments in the collection, but far from the last. Unsurprisingly, Scooby makes up most of the entries in the Hanna-Barbera keepsake line, with a new edition of the cowardly canine coming out pretty much every year, so for the sake of brevity, I won't feature all of them here today. If I did, what would I share with you guys next Christmas?

In 2001, Hallmark made yet another lunchbox ornament, this time themed after The Jetsons. Unlike the Scooby one, however, this one actually takes inspiration from a Jetsons lunchbox released during the show's original run. Below is the Hallmark version, and under it is the original for reference. The characters are more on model in Hallmark's rendition than in the first, but the layout of the characters is essentially the same.

Following this one, Hallmark backed off of all non-Scooby HB characters until 2007, when they made a new Flintstones ornament after over a decade since the last set. Unfortunately, this is easily one of the more unremarkable ones we've gotten. It's just Fred with a generic rock pun. At least the Fred featured here looks alright.

As "meh" as that Flintstones ornament was, it seemed like it rekindled interest in the Hanna-Barbera characters for the folks at Hallmark because, in 2008, they made several new ornaments, all based on different properties. We got the Flintstone family taking a joyride, George and Astro on the treadmill in a scene taken out of the original Jetsons credits, and making his Hallmark debut, Jonny Quest facing off against danger. A pretty good lineup if you ask me!

2009 gave us yet another Flintstones keepsake ornament. This time, it's Pebbles who gets some time in the spotlight. She's been featured in a few of these ornaments, but this one was truly her time to shine.

I now share two that came out in 2010, and both are among my favorites. The first is another Yogi Bear ornament, the first to come out since 1996. It's a huge improvement on the original, to say the least. We also got the first-ever Hallmark ornament of the Jetsons' robot maid, Rosie. This is probably one of the best pieces of Rosie merch that I've seen. It certainly beats out Kurt Adler's efforts, that's for sure!

It's been some time, so here's another Scooby-Doo ornament. This one came out in 2012, and it's among my favorites from the Scooby line. Also note that this is one of several in the keepsake series to feature sound effects.

In 2016, after yet another lengthy hiatus, we got a brand new Flintstones ornament. As of now, it is also their most recent. This one depicts Fred hopping off his work dinosaur, a scene we all know from the show's second intro.

Though Hallmark has been making Hanna-Barbera ornaments since 1994, they still appear to be interested in trying new things. This is evident by the franchise they picked to do an ornament of in 2018. Rather than another Flintstones or Jetsons one, we got our first ornament for Wacky Races, showcasing Dastardly and Muttley in their Mean Bean Machine.

Since then, sadly, we've only gotten ornaments for Scooby and the other members of Mystery Incorporated, but that isn't to say there haven't been some gems in that collection. 2019 saw the release of a cute ornament celebrating the franchise's fiftieth anniversary, and just this year, we received a lovely ornament of Scooby and Shaggy doing what they do best: shaking and shivering!

That's a brief rundown of Hallmark's association with Hallmark so far, but I'm sure we will get many more in the future. Maybe we'll even see new characters in the line one day, like Space Ghost or Huckleberry Hound. Hey, it took them nearly twenty-five years to delve into Wacky Races, so anything is possible! I sincerely hope you've all enjoyed this post, and I wish you all a very happy holiday season. Come back here on the second of January for my next post and the first one of the new year. I'll be counting down my ten personal favorite Hanna-Barbera characters, and I look forward to sharing that one with you guys as well. Until then, take care!

Video of the Week: The Jetsons Celebrate the Holidays at Radioshack

 For the last video of the week before Christmas day, I've got a pretty interesting find I thought I'd share with you all. I'm sure you are all aware of the Jetsons Radioshack commercials that aired during the late 90s. As weird as it might sound, these commercials might be the last major piece of media that the Jetsons were featured in (although you could argue that title also goes to the Electrasol ads or that strange WWE crossover from a couple years back). These commercials are pretty well-known among fans, but here is one I hadn't seen until a few days ago. Fittingly enough, it's a Christmas advertisement, showing the family preparing for the holiday season. This aired in late '98, and is the only commercial from the campaign to feature both Mr. and Mrs. Spacely. It sounds like Cosmo is voiced by Jeff Bergman to me, who has voiced the character in all of his appearances since Mel Blanc's passing. Mrs. Spacely, on the other hand, is clearly voiced by Jean Vander Pyl, who voiced the character in the original series alongside Rosie the Robot. Besides Janet Waldo as Judy Jetson, she was the only original cast member from the show to reprise their role in these ads. Check it out below!

That's it for today, but come back here on Christmas day as I look through some of the many Hallmark keepsake ornaments based on the Hanna-Barbera library. After that, I'll be taking a short break until right after the new year begins. I've got some really exciting things in the pipeline for the first month or so of 2024, so be sure to come back here on the 2nd of January for the first of those posts!

Christmas Wrapping, H-B Style

Throughout this month, I've looked at various Hanna-Barbera-based Christmas decorations, like stockings, cards, and ornaments. But what of one of the more overlooked yet still important parts of the holidays, wrapping paper? Suprising nobody, there's been plenty of those based on the Hanna-Barbera characters over the years as well. Today, I will go through some of the more interesting ones, and in chronological order. First off is this one from 1965 featuring some of the earlier HB characters up in the clouds. Technically, this is intended more for birthdays than Christmas, but the art in this is so good and unique that I couldn't help but include it here.

Next up, from 1986 and 1990 respectively, here are wrapping papers based on The Flintstones Kids and Yo Yogi!. Both of these were created by Celebrations by Gibson. One of the notable things about these is that it's one of the few instances I've seen of merchandise created for the Yo Yogi! series, for whatever that's worth.

Later on, in 1994, we got another Flintstones-themed set of wrapping paper, this time based on the classic interpretations of the characters. It's got a rather nice variety of renders for the characters, some of which I hadn't seen before finding this.

In 1996, we got probably the oddest roll of wrapping paper yet. This one, featuring the Cartoon Network branding, shows off characters from Flintstones, Scooby-Doo, and Wacky Races. Info regarding this one is rare, which makes me wonder if this only existed for promotional purposes, rather than for retail release. You also have to love both variations of Fred featured on the paper.

I don't know quite when this one was released, but judging the fact it credits WB, I assume this was from either the late 90s or the early 2000s. It's a Scooby-Doo-themed roll of wrapping paper, and I'm pretty sure my family had this (or something very close) back when I was little.

These next two are from sometime in the 2000s, and both showcase a whole assortment of different Hanna-Barbera characters. I believe these were also created by Hallmark. It's a little strange that only a few characters are sporting holiday decorations, while others use the typical stock art used in most modern merchandise. Still, I can't complain too much. Both include a diverse selection of characters, and are the obvious wrapping paper of choice for any Hanna-Barbera fan!

Miscellaneous Flintstones Christmas Goodies

 I've looked at a fair amount of Christmas memorabilia based around the Hanna-Barbera characters this month, but now, it's time to look at the more random and odd holiday items based around their most famous franchise, The Flintstones! Jumping right into things, here are two Flintstones Christmas cards from the tail end of the 80s, featuring Fred and Wilma in both their classic and Flintstones Kids looks. 

Here's a set of four Flintstones gift cards, featuring a shorter-than-usual version of Fred Flintstone. 

Up next is a Flintstones stocking and a set of nametags, both released in 1994.

Here's one more Christmas card, although this card is more on the recent side (I don't know quite when it was produced, unfortunately). A little disappointing that they used the same render of Fred on both the outside and inside.

And, of course, no look at Flintstones Christmas merch would be complete without mentioning Fruity Pebbles! The cereal has had many special editions and commercials tied into the holidays. Here's one such advertisement from 1995. This is actually an alternate version of an ad released several years earlier, with the most notable change here being Jim Cummings as the voice of Santa.

Video of the Week: Hanna-Barbera Shopping Metrô Tatuapé Commercial

 Like I said on this blog months ago, since the beginning of the new millennium, it has been the world of advertising where the Hanna-Barbera library of characters has primarily shown up (or, at least the ones who aren't Scooby-Doo). But while I'm sure you're all familiar with the gluttony of Fruity Pebbles commercials, or the series of Electrasol ads with The Jetsons, the commercials created for territories beyond America are usually relegated to obscurity. Here's one you might not have seen. From Brazil in 2010, this is a holiday commercial for the retail location Shopping Metrô Tatuapé. It features a pretty impressive collection of Hanna-Barbera characters advertising a promotion that the store had at the time. If anyone is versed in Portuguese, I'd love to see a translation of the dialogue, and whether or not the voice actors featured here are also their voice actors in any Portuguese dubs. All in all, it's a fun commercial, even if it's a bit on the short side.

 

Kurt Adler's Hanna-Barbera Christmas Ornaments

 Back at the beginning of this month, I shared a menagerie of Hanna-Barbera ornaments throughout the years. However, I purposefully left out any by Kurt Adler and Hallmark, as I felt there were enough from them for posts of their own. Now, I think it's time to look at the Hanna-Barbera collection of Christmas ornaments from Kurt Adler. From what info I could find about them, these appear to have been released in or around 2005. Let's start off by looking at the series they made the most ornaments for, The Flintstones! First, here is a set of Fred and Barney, with the pair sporting some festive apparel. Also included in their Flintstones collection are ornaments of Fred dressed as Santa, Fred with Pebbles in arm, Fred in his Water Buffalo hat, and a set of mini ornaments featuring the major characters (except Betty, for some reason).

While Kurt Adler's line of Hanna-Barbera ornaments represented The Flintstones pretty well, their ornaments of other franchises left a little to be desired. Of the other Hanna-Barbera characters, the only ones beyond The Flintstones that they covered were Yogi Bear, The Jetsons, and Tom and Jerry, and none of them got quite the attention the Stone Age family got. That's not to say there weren't any gems among these, though. I quite like the first Jetsons ornament pictured below, featuring Astro and Elroy celebrating the holiday spirit. Also part of this assortment are two ornaments of Yogi and Boo Boo, a Tom and Jerry piece, and a kind of strange-looking Rosie the Robot. Something about her mouth makes her look like she's stuck in a constant state of terror. Not very jolly if you ask me!

Hanna-Barbera, The Recorded History

 Not too long ago, I shared here a post previewing the University Press of Mississipi's forthcoming Hanna and Barbera: Conversations book, which will be released in the spring of 2024. Now, I am pleased to share with you that they have another book covering the Hanna-Barbera universe coming that same year. Coming August 15th, take a look at Hanna-Barbera, the Recorded History: From Stone Age to Meddling Kids.

As you can see, this book is being authored by Greg Ehrbar, whom I've mentioned on this blog a few times and have even talked to on some occasions. He is extraordinarily well-versed in all things Hanna-Barbera, as seen in his "Animation Spin" series of posts on Cartoon Research, as well as his fantastic Hanna-Barbera podcast. Featuring a preface by film historian Leonard Maltin and a foreword from the original Jonny Quest, Tim Matheson, Stone Age to Meddling Kids promises to be an exciting look at the audio side of Hanna-Barbera's legacy, from their impact on the music business to the voices behind our favorite characters. For more info, check out the book's page on Amazon, where you can already go ahead and pre-order it. I also advise you to check out Greg's newest post on CR for more info. Also featured in that article is a great deep dive into Hanna-Barbera's Christmas album of the 1990s, which I was actually planning on covering this month. Ehrbar certainly did it better than I ever could have!

Hanna-Barbera Home Video Print Ads

 Building off the video I shared this past Friday, here's a nice collection of holiday-themed print advertisements for several Hanna-Barbera releases on VHS. This first one appears to be from 1983, and promotes a set of Yogi and Scooby hand puppets that come packaged with that year's Christmas video offerings. 

This second ad is from 1988, and shows off a horde of HB characters caroling, alongside an assortment of HB video tapes. You probably recognize the art featured in this ad, as it's been used in many Christmas items featuring the Hanna-Barbera characters, including the Christmas Sing-a-long video shown in this.

Last but not least, we have one from 1996, at which point Turner had taken over the Hanna-Barbera studio, including management of its titles on home video. Considering this was right around the same time as the merger with Time Warner, I imagine this was also the last print ad created before Warner's home video department inherited the library. Like a lot of Hanna-Barbera titles at this time, these were also labeled as part of the "Cartoon Network Video" collection.

Janet Waldo Reflects on The Jetsons

 As one of the longest-lived voice actors in Hanna-Barbera's history, Janet Waldo found herself in many interviews over the years, whether on TV, print, or the internet. Around 2011, she did many of these to help promote the DVD release of the 1988 TV movie Rockin' with Judy Jetson. This is one of the more obscure ones from that time, from August 2011. This is an episode of the Retroist Podcast, and is all about both Janet Waldo and The Jetsons. During the podcast, she also discusses her early years in Hollywood, other voice-acting roles, and her husband's legacy as a playwright. Check it out through this link, and I hope you enjoy it!

Before I go, however, I also thought I'd throw in this extremely short clip of Janet at what appears to be an autograph show sometime in 1996. From my understanding, Hanna-Barbera voice actors (or, at least those involved in their classic cartoons) were pretty regularly featured at these events back then. Here, we see her as Judy fawning over the one and only Jet Screamer! It truly is impressive how she was able to sound almost identical to the Judy of the sixties series, even all those decades later. Also, look out for a quick snippet of fellow HB regular Don Messick at the end. It's a real shame there isn't more footage, as I would have loved to have heard from him here.

Video of the Week: Hanna-Barbera Christmas Classics on VHS

 It's been another slow week for updates (don't worry, I have a little something planned for every day of next week), but I couldn't let the week go by without giving you guys a new video. Today, I share a promotional advert from Hanna-Barbera Home Video, showcasing their holiday offerings. A neat little trip to the past, when VHS ruled the home video market. Sometime in the future, I'd like to discuss Hanna-Barbera's history on various video formats, but until then, I hope this video will end this week on a good note for you all!

Hanna-Barbera Ornaments

 It wouldn't be Christmas without a Christmas tree, and what good is a Christmas tree without ornaments decorating it? Today, I figured I'd show off some Christmas tree ornaments featuring various Hanna-Barbera characters. For the moment, however, I'll shed light on some of the more obscure ones. Later in the month, I'll discuss the Hallmark keepsake and Kurt-Adler ornaments you are probably more familiar with. Trust me when I say there are some really great pieces in those collections, especially the Hallmark ornaments! Now back to the lesser-known ones. First off, we have two sets of Flintstones ornaments released by a company named Bradford in the seventies. Have to say, I rather like the illustrations featured on these. 

Here's a better look at the ornaments. As you can see, both sides of the ornaments feature unique illustrations of the characters celebrating the holidays.

Let's now take a look at a set of ornaments based on HB's other most famous franchise, Scooby-Doo. These ones I believe to have been produced sometime in either the late nineties or early 2000s, due to them featuring the Cartoon Network branding.

Now, here's a set of several ornaments done by American Greetings back in the 2000s. One is a set of three, featuring Pebbles, Jerry, and Boo Boo. The second is another set, this time focused on different pairings of Flintstones characters. The last two are both based on The Jetsons, with one featuring George and Astro ready for the holidays, and the second showing off the entire family, ready to burst out of a monitor!