Don Messick Movies

First telecast in the fall of 1958, the first season of Hanna-Barbera's The Huckleberry Hound Show offers 22 half-hour episodes, each comprised of three short cartoons respectively starring Huck Hound, Yogi Bear, and the mouse-and-cat combo of Pixie, Dixie and Mr. Jinks. Unlike later seasons, these aforementioned characters did not appear in the closing-credit sequence: Instead, the credits were played over images of several corporate icons from the Kellogg's Cereal firm, including Cornelius the Rooster (representing Kellogg's Corn Flakes), Tony the Tiger (Frosted Flakes) and Sugar Pops Pete (Sugar Pops). It is easy to identify the earliest cartoons in the Huckleberry Hound canon. The characters move more slowly, speak less frequently, and are more inclined towards sight gags rather than verbal jokes; also, the background music is almost exclusively culled from stock themes, instead of the original compositions by Hanna-Barbera stalwart Hoyt Curtin. Also, whereas the formula of the "Huckleberry Hound" cartoons is pretty well set from the beginning (Huck appears in a different job or personality each week), the producers were still tinkering with the format of the "Yogi Bear" cartoons (Yogi is a con artist in some, a victim of circumstance in others, and a good Samaritan in still others) and the "Pixie and Dixie" entries (the personalities of two mice are already established, but Mr. Jinks is generally a straight villain or fall guy, with none of the heart and three-dimensionality he'd later display). Finally, the character design tends to be inconsitent, as witness the many shapes and sizes of Yogi Bear's traditional enemy Ranger Smith. Of the 66 cartoons shown during Season One, several are standouts, including "Huckleberry Hound Meets Wee Willie", in which our highway patrolman hero tries to talk a runaway gorilla off a high girder; "Skeeter Trouble", highlighted by the "Fred Allen" voice adopted by narrator Daws Butler; "Sheep Shape Sheepherders", a delightful throwback to Tex Avery's classic "Droopy" cartoons; "Show Biz Bear", wherein Yogi Bear is hired to star in a horror flick "The Bear From Outer Space" (the director hands him a script and murmurs "Look over the bear's part"); "Duck in Luck", in which Yogi comes to the rescue of a baby duck who sounds very much like future Hanna-Barbera headliner Yakky Doodle; and "Little Bird Mouse", a charming "Pixie and Dixie" offering in which Dixie discovers that he can fly whenever he revs up his ears helicopter-style. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

By the time The Huckleberry Hound Show entered its third season in the fall of 1960, Hanna-Barbera's position as TV's top animation studio was secure. In addition to this series, Hanna-Barbera was also churning out episodes of Quick Draw McGraw and The Flintstones, with such future cartoon favorites as Top Cat, Touche Turtle and Wally Gator still waiting in the wings. Indeed, only Jay Ward's Rocky and His Friends and UPA's Mister Magoo in any way challenged H-B's market supremacy. The 13 new episodes of Huckleberry Hound served up this season include 13 new "Huckleberry Hound" cartoon shorts and an equal number of "Pixie and Dixie" efforts. Conspicuous by his absence is longtime Huckleberry Yogi Bear, who had been spun off into his own starring series, logically titled The Yogi Bear Show. Yogi's replacement is Hokey Wolf, a "Sergeant Bilko"-type carnivore who in the company of his pint-sized pal Dingaling spends most of his screen time trying to steal sheep or cadge from meals from gullible farmers. While none of the "Hokey Wolf" cartoons this season are truly memorable (with the possible exception of "Hokey in the Pokey"), the "Huckleberry Hound" and "Pixie and Dixie" shorts maintain their high standard. The best of the "Huckleberrys" include "Spud Dud", a satire of mutant-monster horror films in which an overgrown potato tries to conquer the world; and "Cluck and Dagger", a wild spy spoof wherein Huck plays "The Man of 1000 Faces" (actually, he's only got one face, but nobody's ever asked him to display the other 999). And the highlight of the "Pixie and Dixie" manifest is the sublimely titled "Plutocrat Cat." All of these cartoons benefited from the sprightly orginal music scores by Hoyt Curtin, replacing the familiar, overused stock-music themes that had run through the first two seasons. At the same time Season Three of Huckleberry Hound was making the syndication rounds, selected cartoons from the series' first two seasons were network-run by CBS as a part of the live-action Saturday morning series The Magic Land of Allakazam. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Fred and Barney are complaining loudly and longly about household expense, so Wilma and Betty decide to raise some money. This they do by renting out their spare rooms to some college students. Unfortunately, the kids are cash-poor, so the girls take music lessons instead of collecting rent. This episode features the first appearance of the neighborhood newsboy, though he isn't named Arnold just yet. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this droll dual takeoff of Alfred Hitchcock Presents and the Hitchcock feature film Rear Window, Fred is unnerved by his new neighbor Alvin Brickrock, a short, squat Britisher who can be heard arguing with his harridan of a wife. Then, one night, the arguing stops suddenly--and not long afterward, Mrs. Brickrock disappears. These and several other ominous incidents lead Fred and Barney to conclude that Alvin Brickrock is actually the notorious wife slayer Albert Bonehart. The satire is played to the hilt, concluding with Mr. Brickrock bidding the audience a fond "Good ev-e-ning." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Fred finds Wilma's secret stash of money and purchases a bowling ball, only to learn that the cash was being set aside by for his birthday present. Sheepishly--and without telling Wilma what he's done--Fred returns the bowling ball and replaces the money, but by this time Wilma is thoroughly convinced that she has been robbed, and will not rest until the "perpetrator" has been brought to justice. In desperation, Fred hires a shady-looking character to pose as the non-existent burglar. . .and then things really go awry. This episode was later remade as an installment of the live-action sitcom The Danny Thomas Show, and still later as an entry in the Hanna-Barbera cartoon series Where's Huddles? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Season Three of The Flintstones begins with an episode focusing on Dino, the pet dinosaur of Fred and Wilma Flintstone. Thanks to a nationwide contest, Dino lands a role on the popular animal series "The Adventures of Sassie" (which is, of course, a takeoff of Lassie) at Screen Rocks Studios. Fred's eagerness to cash in on Dino's big chance causes a rift between pet and master, but worse is to come when Dino catches a glimpse of the "real" Sassie in her dressing room. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

At the invitation of his old friend Sherman Cobblehead, Fred packs up wife Wilma and neighbors Barney and Betty and heads to Rock Vegas, there to spend some time at Cobblehead's Golden Cactus Hotel. Fred thinks he's going to strike it rich at the gambling tables because Sherman has promised to "take care of him." Inevitably, Fred loses his shirt, and in order to pay his debts he signs on to the Golden Cactus as an entertainer, with Wilma, Betty and Barney assisting. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Using the joint nom-de-plume of "Barney V.I. Flintstone" (the V.I. stands for "Vivid Imagination"), Wilma and Betty enter a contest for an all-expense-paid trip to Rockiki Beach in Hawaii. The main purpose of all this is so the girls can meet their idol Larry Lava, star of the popular TV series "Hawaiian Spy." One thing leads to another (they generally do), and by episode's end poor Fred has been hired as Larry Lava's stunt double. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Barney is suffering from a toothache--and when Barney suffers, so does the whole neighborhood. Clearly, a visit to the dentist is in order, but such a visit costs money, and Fred hopes to use the cash to purchase tickets to a fight. Thus it is that Fred offers to pull Barney's tooth for free. . .an act of largesse that ultimately requires the intervention of the National Guard! Comedian Howard Morris provides the first of several Flintstones voiceovers in this episode. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Although he knows that his pregnant wife Wilma needs some help around the house, Fred would just as soon not have his mother-in-law move in. Thus, he hires a sweet-looking old lady to serve as housekeeper. Unfortunately, the old dear turns out to be the notorious bank robber Grandma Dynamite, who is in desperate need of a hideout and headquarters for herself and her musclebound henchman. Needless to say, the climax of this episode is an explosive one indeed! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Quick-thinking Barney saves the life of a child at an amusement park, but it is Fred who gets the credit. As a result, Fred is lauded as a hero, and showered with all manner of awards and honors--and even nominated as leader of his fraternal lodge. Though Barney takes all this in stride, Wilma is outraged that the swell-headed Fred is willing to accept hero worship that he doesn't deserve, and demands that he tell the truth. But only when he realizes that he can't live with himself (thanks to a rather obnoxious manifestation of his own conscience) does Fred do the right thing. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Although Fred insists loudly that he doesn't need glasses, Wilma insists even more loudly that he pay a visit to the local optometrist. Reluctantly, Fred agrees to don the spectacles which the doctor has prescribed for him. Unfortunately, he puts on the wrong pair, and ends up mistaking a trained circus monkey for his baby daughter Pebbles! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

After being bested by Arnold the newsboy in a table tennis game, Fred is in no mood to see Arnold kitchy-kooing the Flintstones' baby daughter Pebbles. What if, Fred wonders, Pebbles and Arnold should get married when they grow up. A subsequent dream sequence offers this very scenario, as a stooped and aged Fred Flintstone scurries all over Bedrock to prevent the wedding. Although the voice of the older Pebbles is provided by Janet Waldo in this episode, it would be Sally Struthers who assumed this role in the 1971 Flintstones animated spinoff Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide