Classic Cartoons on DVD...

Over the course of the last several months quite a few Hanna-Barbera cartoons of the '60s and '70s have finally saw their release on DVD. The only catch is the discs are DVD-R's but I'm pretty sure the discs will play in any brand name DVD player. I've got some DVD-R discs that play in my DVD player and so I feel confident that there will be no problems.

I haven't placed an order for any of the collections, yet. I'm waiting on the holiday season to pass and then place my order(s) in the new year. However, I may slip in an order next month for one of the collections as an early Christmas present for myself. The collections are for sale at various on-line stores. Amazon is where I purchase things and so that's where the following links will take you...

The Herculoids: This series features the adventures Zandor, Tara, and Dorno who battle a different enemy in each episode. They're aided by Igoo, Tundra, Zok, Gloop, and Gleep. Mike Road and Don Messick provided a bulk of the voices.

Frankenstein Jr. and the Impossibles: This series deals with a kid named Buzz and a flying robot patterned after the Frankenstein monster. The second segment stars a rock band that doubles as a crime fighting trio. Fluid Man, Multi-Man, and Coil Man each have distinct powers and in many of the episodes there's spoofs of pop culture. Ted Cassidy voices Frankenstein Jr. while Dick Beals voices Buzz. Don Messick, Paul Frees, and Hal Smith voice Multi-Man, Fluid Man, and Coil Man respectively.

Moby Dick and The Mighty Mightor: This series deals with the whale, Moby Dick, acting as a guardian/protector of two kids. Along side this trio is the kid's pet seal, named Scooby! Typically the kids get into trouble and the seal acts as a messenger of sorts...escaping the latest trap and getting Moby to come to the kid's rescue. The Mighty Mightor segments are a lot like another series, Young Samson, although in this series the teenager named Tor uses a club to turn into his alter-ego, Mighty Mightor. In Young Samson the teenager clings his two gold bracelets together.

Jabberjaw: This series from Hanna-Barbera came along during the mid '70s. The previous collections all originate in the mid and late '60s. Unlike the emphasis on realistic science fiction and adventure in the mid '60s cartoons, Jabberjaw is light and patterned after the mystery solving format. Jabberjaw was a shark, who had a voice like Curly from The Three Stooges, and he played drums and doubled as the mascot for the show's teenage rock band, The Neptunes. This group consists of leader, Biff, easily annoyed Shelley, scatterbrained Bubbles, and cowardly Clamhead. Although it's often referred to as a Scooby-Doo clone given the teenage mystery solving format it has much more in common with Josie and the Pussycats. Shelley has similar facial expressions with Alexandra but Clamhead could pass as Shaggy's long-lost brother.

Speed Buggy: In this series we see the adventures of three teenagers and their talking race car, Speed Buggy. The teens this time around are named Mark, Debbie, and Tinker. Michael Bell, a frequent voice on cartoons, is the voice of Mark while face actress Arlene Golonka is Debbie. Phil Luther, Jr. does the voice of Tinker while Mel Blanc is Speed Buggy. In later years Tinker would be voiced by Frank Welker (Laff-a-Lympics, specifically).

Those are just 6 of the DVD releases that have come up for sale during the last several months focusing on classic Hanna-Barbera cartoon series. One of the long-time voice actors at the studio, John Stephenson, can be heard in many of those programs. He was typically cast as villains, policemen, scientists, and sometimes he'd do vocal effects, too. He had a varied career in radio and TV drama as well...I found this clip on You Tube the other day and it's John Stephenson acting in a daytime soap called Morning Star in 1966. John's natural voice will immediately be recognizable to Hanna-Barbera cartoon fans because he used his natural voice a lot in addition to doing celebrity impressions. In the soap he plays the part of Stan Manning and he has a substantial role in this particular episode, too. His scene starts at the 6 minute, 2 second mark:

The Dick Tracy Collection...

This 4-disc DVD set houses all 130 short-subject episodes of The Dick Tracy Show. I purchased this collection earlier this year and have probably watched it 7 or 8 times...well, not in one sitting and not each and every disc. I watched all four of the DVD's sprinkled throughout a week-long span and ever since that time I've often reached for DVD #1 and #3 the most even though DVD #2 and #4 are just as good. There's roughly 30-32 short episodes per DVD. Each and every adventure opens and closes as if it's a full-length half hour cartoon and so you'll find yourself seeing the same opening and closing sequences over 30 times per DVD. One of the things I would have done differently is have an opening at the start of the DVD and then just air each episode back to back to back and not show a "closing sequence" until the final cartoon on the DVD airs. However, that isn't the way it is on this collection.

In this series Dick Tracy doesn't participate too much in the crime solving. Instead, that part of the work is handled by a series of leg men who star in the individual episodes. First up is Hemlock Holmes, a white dog with a Cary Grant voice, who goes about his work with the aid of the bumbling Retouchables. This group of inept police are patterned after the Keystone Cops but have a name based on The Untouchables. Joe Jitsu is a parody of Charlie Chan and often uses his unassuming super-strength to punish his opponents. Go-Go Gomez is a Mexican character who has super speed...sort of like a human depiction of Speedy Gonzales. One of the ironies about Go-Go is even though he has super speed he speaks rather lazily. Heap O'Callory is a bumbling policeman with a voice similar to Andy Devine. Heap is featured on the outside cover of this collection chasing after Flat Top.

A lot of the voices are based on celebrities. Flat Top's voice is based on Peter Lorre. The Brow has a voice similar to James Cagney. B.B. Eyes has a voice similar to Edward G. Robinson. Itchy's voice often comes across sounding like the exaggerated voice made famous by Joe Besser. Once you see an episode with Itchy you'll understand what I mean. Prune Face has a voice similar to Boris Karloff's natural speaking voice. Some of the other villains have the typical dumb-bell voice or the stereotypical gangster voice...those voices can be heard via Oodles, Stooge Villar, The Mole...a French accent is given to Sketch Puree. The voice of Mumbles is hilarious. Some of the voice actors in this series are Everett Sloane as Dick Tracy; Benny Rubin as Joe Jitsu; Paul Frees as Go-Go Gomez and Flat Top; Jerry Hausner as Hemlock Holmes, Itchy, Stooge Villar, etc.; Johnny Coons as Heap O'Callory. Mel Blanc voiced Flat Top and Go-Go Gomez on an infrequent basis.

One disc is devoted almost entirely to adventures featuring Joe Jitsu while another has a majority of Go-Go Gomez adventures. Heap O'Callory isn't featured nearly as much while Hemlock Holmes is confined mostly to the first and second disc. In one of the episodes Hemlock Holmes and the Retouchables have to be rescued by Joe Jitsu...marking one of the rare moments where two of Tracy's underlings are featured in the same episode. The Retouchables are a spoof of The Untouchables but with a comedic twist inspired by the Keystone Kops. One of the running gags is how the Retouchables can never remember their orders. For example: suppose there's a robbery at a shoe store on piper street. Well, the Retouchables in unison would mangle their orders by saying something like "there's a pipe robbery at a shoe story" and another may 'correct' that description by saying "no, there's a pipe store being robbed on shoe street", etc. etc.

I found the cartoons to be completely entertaining...I loved them as a kid/teenager in the early '90s but seeing that I'm a bit older now I get the biggest kick out of the vocal work and the culture references. The banter between Prune Face and Itchy is hilarious as well. "Itchy, STOP that scratching!!" is something of a catchphrase. Another recurring feature is a scene where the cop on patrol can freeze time, typically at a crucial part of the story, in order to call in to Tracy with an update. Typically this feature requires comical commentary from whichever underling is reporting back to Tracy.

If Hemlock Holmes, for example, is about ready to fall into a burning building he'd holler "Hold everything!!!" and then the action would stop and he'd relay to Tracy, via wrist watch radio, the latest happenings by referencing the current situation. Hemlock would say something like: "I'm hot on their trail, Tracy, it's getting hotter each second!". Tracy, going only by the words Hemlock used and unaware of the true danger, would say something like: "Keep cool, Hemlock, I'm on my way...".

All this and Wally Gator

During the late 1980's into the early 1990's part of my daily habit was watching the USA Cartoon Express. The marathon cartoon series at one time was a once a week program, airing on Sunday mornings beginning usually at 7am and going until noon. 5 or 6 hours of back-to-back cartoons which were mostly Hanna-Barbera or Ruby-Spears productions. Later, the Cartoon Express became a daily program...airing at first during the 6-7pm hour but then shifting to a 6-7am hour. The daily version being only an hour meant just two half-hour cartoons were aired. All of these shifts in schedule and cartoon line-up changes ultimately ended that show's run in 1996. The program had began in 1982...reaching it's peak in the late '80s and early '90s prior to Ted Turner buying the Hanna-Barbera library and shifting 90% of the cartoons to his new Cartoon Network. One of those Hanna-Barbera cartoons was a series called Wally Gator. This cartoon originally aired in 1962-1963 and 52 episodes were produced. Daws Butler provided the voice of Wally, doing an impression of Ed Wynn. The zoo keeper, Mr Twiddle, was voiced by Don Messick. The other one-shot characters were voiced by Daws and Don, too. Wally was depicted as a pampered alligator who loved life in the zoo but boredom usually sets in and he escapes...by episode's end he's running back to the zoo. It aired under the umbrella title The Hanna-Barbera New Cartoon Series. Each episode consisted of three short segments which was a trademark of Hanna-Barbera made for TV cartoons.

Along side the Wally cartoons you had a self-titled cartoon starring two characters named Lippy the Lion and Hardy Har Har. The voice for Lippy was Daws Butler, doing an impression of Joe E. Brown. Lippy was a con-artist, always looking for quick way to make money at almost any cost. Daws would use this voice again for a different character, Peter Potamus. Mel Blanc was the voice of Hardy Har Har, a pessimistic hyena in spite of his name. Daws and Mel would voice any other character written into the episode...or sometimes, Don Messick would play a role. A lot of the female characters in many of the Hanna-Barbera cartoons during this era were voiced by either Jean Vanderpyl or Janet Waldo.

The third segment featured in the series featured two swashbucklers by the name of Touché Turtle and Dum-Dum. They fought on the same side of the law, though. Touché Turtle was up-standing, well-meaning, and heroic while his partner, Dum-Dum, was as his name implied: dumb. Bill Thompson gave this turtle character the same voice he gave Droopy. Alan Reed was on hand as Dum-Dum. It was never really explained why this series didn't feature Daws Butler or Don Messick in the lead roles. Each segment contained 52 episodes. So, in the years/decades to come, there were plenty of short-subject cartoons to fill Saturday mornings with. Doing the math that's 52 + 52 + 52 and that equals 156 short-subject cartoons produced in a season's time.

Moving on...in the 1970's Hanna-Barbera ended this practice and focused on half-hour programs, 22 minutes minus commercials. Often, these half-hour's would contain at least 16 separate episodes airing once a week...and that would be the norm throughout the decade. A lot of their late 1960's and 1970's cartoon shows featured no more than the standard 16 episodes a piece and those were re-ran continuously for at least a decade. Everyone whose a fan of older cartoons knows how Speed Buggy, for example, only consisted of 16 episodes. The original network, CBS, aired the show for two years, 1973-1975. 16 episodes...plus the re-run cycle...that's 32 air-dates for the show. What happened is, CBS aired the series but then kept repeating the same episodes for an additional season. It was on the CBS line-up from September 1973 until August 1975. Then ABC and NBC aired the 16 episodes. According to research, ABC aired the cartoon for a few months in early 1976 and then NBC picked it up and aired it on their schedule during 1976-1977. In the 1980's it moved to the USA Network's Cartoon Express, the show that I started this blog entry writing about.

I know it sounds mind-boggling...but those 16 episodes of Speed Buggy got a lot of mileage.

The Jetsons hold the record, though, for longest running cartoon series with the fewest episodes. That series by Hanna-Barbera began in prime-time in 1962 on ABC and originally 24 episodes were produced. These 24 episodes would be re-ran continuously on Saturday morning...up until 1985 when all-new episodes started airing. 23 years worth of repeats of the same 24 episodes {1962-1985}. Amazingly, 23 years later, all of the original voice actors/actresses were on hand to reprise their roles. Original voice cast: George O'Hanlon, Penny Singleton, Daws Butler, Janet Waldo, Don Messick, Mel Blanc, and Jean Vanderpyl were joined by other voice actors like John Stephenson, Frank Welker, Julie McWhirter, Hamilton Camp, and others.

There were 21 additional episodes produced in 1985...bringing the total of episodes altogether: 65. These episodes aired along side the 1960's version...and then 10 more new episodes were produced in 1987...bringing the grand total to 75 episodes...a much better total than 24.

I want to touch upon, just briefly, the huge celebrities and famous people who passed away during the month of June. David Carradine's mysterious death happened on June 3rd. Later in the month long-time TV personality Ed McMahon passed away on June 23rd. Now, what happened afterward is something I've never witnessed before and I'll probably never witness it again. On June 25th two legendary figures passed away on the same day. Early in the day Farrah Fawcett was reported to have died. The media and news programs aired their tribute's to her and then the news broke that Michael Jackson had died...and he was 50. This isn't all...on June 27th news breaks that 1950's sitcom star, Gale Storm, died...and then a day later, on June 28th, news breaks that commercial pitchmen Billy Mays has died at the age of 50 and on the same day news breaks that impersonator/voice actor, Fred Travalena, died after a battle with cancer.

Gale Storm was a weekly fixture on TV for eight years, 1952-1960, starring in two back-to-back comedy shows: My Little Margie and The Gale Storm Show. Obviously, a lot of female comics during this era are over-shadowed by Lucille Ball but Gale Storm was one of the few, along with Eve Arden and Gracie Allen, to enjoy popular careers along side Lucy. Unfortunately, Gale's two sitcom's weren't heavily syndicated in their repeat cycle as other programs were and this caused less familiarity as the years went by.



Fred Travalena had a career that paralleled Rich Little. The two of them were known for their impressions. Fred often used heavier make-up to visually look like the character he was impersonating. As with Rich Little, the two impressionists couldn't break out into the contemporary scene...their impressions were of celebrities and singer's of a different time period enjoyed more by those like myself who have interest in the past. Also, their impressions were enjoyed more by those who are old enough to remember the celebrities that either Fred or Rich were impersonating. Fred did a brilliant Humphrey Bogart impression and he used this on the cartoon series, Shirt Tales, in the 1980's. The character he gave voice to was Bogey, obviously named after Bogart. Fred also voiced several characters on the Smurfs and other 1980's cartoons. His legacy, aside from his impressions, was his many appearances on TV game shows and talk-shows showcasing his impressions. I saw him numerous times on game shows...also, he sang...but it's the impressions and voice-over work that brought him fame. In 1972 he was part of a group called the Kopycats on The ABC Comedy Hour. Among the other impressionists in this group were Rich Little, Frank Gorshin, George Kirby, and others.