Regular readers will know that I'm a big YOGI BEAR fan who collects all sorts of merchandise related to the bampot bruin. So when I saw this glove puppet on eBay recently, I had to have it - especially as it was going for just a little over a couple of quid. Yogi's nose was a bit spiky and he was bereft of collar and tie (though he may not have had them to begin with), but that didn't stop me fixing things to my satisfaction. The result? See below. I'm smarter than the average blogger!
For a minute there the subject of this blog post left a rather twisted image in my head I didn't need (John Kricfalusi would do that justice)! Don't worry, it passed!
ReplyDelete"Yogi's nose was a bit spiky and he was bereft of his collar and tie (although he may not have had them to begin with), but that didn't stop your bold host rectifying matters to his satisfaction."
Which is more than could be said for most Hanna-Barbera-licensed merchandising of the late 50's/early 60's, when being off-model wasn't uncommon and you couldn't tell these characters apart at all unless you thought that hard about it. Here's some examples!
http://yarkscreations.blogspot.com/2014/04/knickerbocker-hanna-barbera.html
http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com/2007/10/which-characters-make-best-toys.html
http://yowpyowp.blogspot.com/2012/11/green-haired-barney-rubble.html
http://www.cartoonbrew.com/disney/vinatge-mickey-mouse-figure-with-hanna-barbera-copyright-39177.html
God sakes what world did we lived in 50 years ago!
I'll certainly be having a look at them, Chris. Early Yogi Bear merchandise often had him with a 'shirt-bib' (there'll be a name for it, but I don't know what it is) and he was often teamed with Huckleberry Hound rather than Boo Boo. (On account of him first appearing on Huck's show before he got his own.) For example, the Marx Ramp Walker is Yogi and Huck, and there's a kiddie light which has Yogi and Huck on either side of a TV with Mr Jinks' head looking out from the screen.
ReplyDeleteKid, you didn't say how you got the collar and tie - I assume you just cut it out of cloth ? Christopher's criticism of 50 years ago is a bit at odds with your belief that it was a paradise, eh? :)
ReplyDeleteDidn't think I needed to spell it out, Col, seeing as I was indulging in a bit of 'trumpet-blowing'. I cut them out from felt and stitched them on. (Yogi got 'felt' - there's one I missed.) As for Chris's query about ONE ASPECT of 50 years ago, well, firstly, I don't think he's anywhere near 50 years old and, also, he didn't have my childhood. I'd have it back again in a second.
ReplyDeleteOnly teasing, Kid. I've been reading your blog for about seven months so that makes me a "regular reader" I suppose but today's the first I knew you're a Yogi fan. When I was about seven my father told me that television was invented by John Logie Baird (of course he was very proud that a Scotsman had invented TV) but I mis-heard him and thought he said Yogi Bear had invented television lol.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure you heard your father correctly, Col. Yogi Bear is smarter than the average bear, remember, so he probably DID invent TV. (I prefer that version.)
ReplyDeleteKid said...
ReplyDeleteAs for Chris's query about ONE ASPECT of 50 years ago, well, firstly, I don't think he's anywhere near 50 years old and, also, he didn't have my childhood. I'd have it back again in a second.
You're right, I'm only 36. I was only thinking of what I had seen of what constituted the merchandising of H-B's famous characters at the time those cartoons first aired. There was once a LaserDisc of Flintstone episodes that came with an image gallery section devoted to Flintstone toys of that time, often critiquing in humorous ways at how alien-like the characters became (like Green-haired martian Barney).
Colin said...
When I was about seven my father told me that television was invented by John Logie Baird (of course he was very proud that a Scotsman had invented TV) but I mis-heard him and thought he said Yogi Bear had invented television lol.
Ha-ha!
Then Kid went...
I'm sure you heard your father correctly, Col. Yogi Bear is smarter than the average bear, remember, so he probably DID invent TV. (I prefer that version.)
I would too! I think the first I've heard of Baird was courtesy of those Usbourne books I use to borrow from a school library as a kid! Those books always had a very UK slant on things I couldn't get from normal American counterparts. It was nice those books found a place on the shelves of our libraries since I liked looking at the detailed pictures showing the timelines, especially a page devoted to the invention of the toilet.
Col, type Yogi bear into the Blogger search box and you'll see what's on offer.
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Interestingly, Chris, I actually freelanced for Usborne Books back in the '90s, so it's good to hear that you liked them. (Although the ones you read were no doubt from an earlier period.)
Yogis looking good kid. He does'nt look quite so bear/bare now with his new collar and tie. :)
ReplyDeleteKid, I just tried typing in Yogi Bear and it came back as "no results" - I don't understand it, I had this problem when I was trying to find Tommy Gunn on your blog and that also said no results - I found it eventually only because it popped up in one of those little boxes at the bottom of the post. Talking of Usborne, in 1979 I bought a book called The Usborne Book of The Future which tried to take a serious look at future technology over the next 50 years - of course it was way out and there was no mention of the internet or smartphones etc. but it did predict that the 2020 Olympics would be on the Moon because we'd have a lunar colony by then !!
ReplyDeleteNot like you to be funny, Moony. Ho ho! Yes, he's looking good - wish I was half as smart.
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That's weird, Col, because I tried it out before suggesting it to you, and it worked fine at my end. Alan Fennell, editor of TV21 and Look-In, once lamented to me in a letter (it's on the blog somewhere) that we hadn't ended up with the kind of future that had been forecast back in the '60s.
"Interestingly, Chris, I actually freelanced for Usborne Books back in the '90s, so it's good to hear that you liked them. (Although the ones you read were no doubt from an earlier period.)"
ReplyDeleteYeah, I think the books I've read were mainly from the early-mid 80's. Tried to google for that one book I remember so well but can't find it somehow (the one about inventions, since I recall that was where I learned of Baird in).
I don't think I was ever sent copies of the books I worked on, although I was told I would be. One day I must go through my invoices and see what they were called, as the name of the books should be on them.
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