Hanna-Barbera Turns 50

Until I read about it in Mark Evanier's recent column I had missed the fact that Hanna-Barbera hit the half century mark last week. This company produced the cartoons that got me through the early part of my childhood. When I was scared, in the hospital at five and a half with a nosebleed that wouldn't stop, it was the Huckleberry Hound dog howdy of him singing Clementine that helped pass the time.

My father had a single called "Yogi" by the Ivy Three, 30 seconds of which can be heard on this novelty compilation album. The song went up to #8 on the Billboard charts in the second half of 1960. While the group was considered a "one-hit wonder", Charles Koppelman, one of the group members, found other success in the music industry.

A New Orleans compilation disc I own features the Dirty Dozen Brass Band playing "The Flintstones Meet The President", with the Flintstones theme alternating with various patriotic songs.

But the real effect H-B had on me is that, to this day, I still know the themes to Huckleberry Hound

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the Flintstones, the Jetsons, and heaven help me, Magilla Gorilla.


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