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!

Hanna-Barbera Christmas Cards

 December has finally come, and with it, Christmas time arrives as well. To start the month off, here's a collection of several Christmas cards issued by Hanna-Barbera over the years. Starting us off is this holiday gift cel from 1965, showing some of the early Hanna-Barbera characters wishing us a merry Christmas and a happy new year!

Jumping forward to the seventies, here are two more cards, although I'm unsure as to when they were issued. The first one was commissioned by Hanna-Barbera themselves, and features some of the famous (and not so famous) characters to come out of their output in that era. The second was done as a promotional piece for Kings Island, which for many years was the closest thing to a genuine Hanna-Barbera land. It's also not entirely representative of what the piece looked like, as it's more akin to a rough concept than the finished product. 

Next up is a Christmas card from 1981, showing the disembodied heads of Hanna-Barbera protagonists adorning a Christmas tree. Just what every kid wants to see on Christmas! That being said, I must admit that the HB swirling star logo taking the usual spot of the Christmas star is a really nice touch.

I'm not sure if this next one was actually official art commissioned by the studio or not, but I've never seen it before, so I thought I'd share it here. This piece I'm guessing was done sometime in the 90's (or perhaps for WB in the 2000s?), and shows a couple of classic characters celebrating the holidays. This one was also created by legendary Hanna-Barbera artist Iwao Takamoto, whose signature adorns the piece. One of my personal favorites of this collection, though I wish I knew more about where it came from.

That's it for today, but there will be plenty of other holiday surprises in store this month! Hanna-Barbera and the holidays go hand in hand, so I'll have a lot to cover and discuss for the merriest of seasons!