It was on September 27th, 1961 that ABC premiered Top Cat, a Hanna-Barbera series focusing on a group of back-alley felines concocting various get-rich-quick schemes, although never quite succeeding. The show, like a lot of Hanna-Barbera cartoons, wasn't a big success after premiering, being canceled after only one season. However, also like many of their shows, the series found a second chance through reruns. Since then, it's become one of their most recognizable and beloved series, and a personal favorite of mine.
Today, to celebrate a series I haven't gotten to discuss a lot on this blog, here's a cool newspaper article from September 22nd, 1961, previewing the show just days before it premiered. This one appeared in The Minneapolis Star.
Yogi Bear's House Bursting at Seams
By FORREST POWERS
Minneapolis Star Staff Writer
Hollywood, California - From the outside, the house that Yogi Bear helped to build looks like any small office building. A neat, one-story structure, it is located well off the beaten track of other Hollywood studios.
Inside, however, the building is unbelievably cluttered and crowded. Artists, actors, technicians, and office workers perform their duties in quarters spilling over with desks, drawing and recording equipment, posters, and merchandise "endorsed" by the studio's stable of animated cartoon "stars."
"When we started four years ago, we had five people working for us; now we have 160," said Joe Barbera, co-creator of Yogi and his famous friends. "Many of our artists have to do the work in their own homes."
"We've bought three acres of land across the street," said Bill Hanna, Barbera's partner. "We're going to put up a building four times as large as this one. Then, for the first time, all of our family will work under one roof."
For 20 years, Hanna and Barbera worked together at MGM, turning out "Tom and Jerry" cartoons.
"People thought we were crazy when we moved to TV," Hanna said. "Until that time, cartoons were considered too expensive to produce for that medium."
Hanna and Barbera, however, developed a technique which eliminated a number of steps used in conventional cartooning.
"In the movies, a cartoon character walks or runs completely out of the scene of action," Hanna explained. "We break off the action immediately, and switch to a close-up. That eliminates hundreds of drawings and cuts the costs considerably."
Starting with the TV series "Ruff and Reddy", Hanna and Barbera went on to "Quick Draw McGraw," "Huckleberry Hound" (the top money maker), "The Yogi Bear Show" and finally to "The Flintstones," their first venture into the prime-time viewing hours.
This year they have prepared a new cartoon series dealing with the self-styled chieftain of a Runyonesque mob of cats that operates out of an ash can in a New York alley. Entitled "Top Cat," the series debuts Wednesday evening on ABC-TV.
Arnold Stang, the little comedian who used to "cheep, cheep, cheep" at Milton Berle, serves as the voice for the title character.
"We tested for the voice for more than a year," Barbera said. "We tried Michael Shea, Mickey Rooney, and even Jack Oakie. Stang gave us the voice quality we were looking for, but it still didn't fit our picture of "Top Cat". We wound up tailoring the cartoon character to Stang's voice."
Other voices on the show will include Maurice Gosfield (Sgt. Bilko's former pal Doberman) as Benny the Ball; Leo De Lyon, as The Brain and Spook; John Stephenson as Fancy Fancy, and Marvin Kaplan as Choo Choo. Allen Jenkins speaks for Dibble, a harassed "human" policeman.
Other cats will put in an appearance from time to time. The voice of one, A.T. Jazz (for All That Jazz), will be done by Daws Butler, who also works as Huckleberry, Yogi, and Quick Draw.
Hanna admitted that the success of "The Flintstones" last year took both him and his partner by surprise.
"This year we're doing a group of characters for the first time," he said, "but we're prepared for anything. We've got 'Top Cat' magazines, toys, dolls, and games ready to sell before the series goes on. So far we haven't experienced a single flop."
Stang, heretofore an eastern-based performer, is so high on the series that he bought a home in Los Angeles.
This is a nice way to earn a living," he said. "Kind of like old radio days. A guy can earn a good living and still enjoy anonymity when he walks down the street."
"And cartoon shows are the only place left for comedy on TV," said Kaplan, a round-faced actor who spent four years on the former "Meet Millie" series. "You can do things in cartoons that can't be done on 'live' shows." There are so many silly restrictions there."
"I think the nicest part of our business, Barbera noted, "is that there is no temperament among the cartoon 'stars'. One squawk out of Yogi, and we can slam down the lid on his ink bottle."
Inside, however, the building is unbelievably cluttered and crowded. Artists, actors, technicians, and office workers perform their duties in quarters spilling over with desks, drawing and recording equipment, posters, and merchandise "endorsed" by the studio's stable of animated cartoon "stars."
"When we started four years ago, we had five people working for us; now we have 160," said Joe Barbera, co-creator of Yogi and his famous friends. "Many of our artists have to do the work in their own homes."
"We've bought three acres of land across the street," said Bill Hanna, Barbera's partner. "We're going to put up a building four times as large as this one. Then, for the first time, all of our family will work under one roof."
For 20 years, Hanna and Barbera worked together at MGM, turning out "Tom and Jerry" cartoons.
"People thought we were crazy when we moved to TV," Hanna said. "Until that time, cartoons were considered too expensive to produce for that medium."
Hanna and Barbera, however, developed a technique which eliminated a number of steps used in conventional cartooning.
"In the movies, a cartoon character walks or runs completely out of the scene of action," Hanna explained. "We break off the action immediately, and switch to a close-up. That eliminates hundreds of drawings and cuts the costs considerably."
Starting with the TV series "Ruff and Reddy", Hanna and Barbera went on to "Quick Draw McGraw," "Huckleberry Hound" (the top money maker), "The Yogi Bear Show" and finally to "The Flintstones," their first venture into the prime-time viewing hours.
Arnold Stang, the little comedian who used to "cheep, cheep, cheep" at Milton Berle, serves as the voice for the title character.
"We tested for the voice for more than a year," Barbera said. "We tried Michael Shea, Mickey Rooney, and even Jack Oakie. Stang gave us the voice quality we were looking for, but it still didn't fit our picture of "Top Cat". We wound up tailoring the cartoon character to Stang's voice."
Other voices on the show will include Maurice Gosfield (Sgt. Bilko's former pal Doberman) as Benny the Ball; Leo De Lyon, as The Brain and Spook; John Stephenson as Fancy Fancy, and Marvin Kaplan as Choo Choo. Allen Jenkins speaks for Dibble, a harassed "human" policeman.
Other cats will put in an appearance from time to time. The voice of one, A.T. Jazz (for All That Jazz), will be done by Daws Butler, who also works as Huckleberry, Yogi, and Quick Draw.
Hanna admitted that the success of "The Flintstones" last year took both him and his partner by surprise.
"This year we're doing a group of characters for the first time," he said, "but we're prepared for anything. We've got 'Top Cat' magazines, toys, dolls, and games ready to sell before the series goes on. So far we haven't experienced a single flop."
Stang, heretofore an eastern-based performer, is so high on the series that he bought a home in Los Angeles.
This is a nice way to earn a living," he said. "Kind of like old radio days. A guy can earn a good living and still enjoy anonymity when he walks down the street."
"And cartoon shows are the only place left for comedy on TV," said Kaplan, a round-faced actor who spent four years on the former "Meet Millie" series. "You can do things in cartoons that can't be done on 'live' shows." There are so many silly restrictions there."
"I think the nicest part of our business, Barbera noted, "is that there is no temperament among the cartoon 'stars'. One squawk out of Yogi, and we can slam down the lid on his ink bottle."
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