| Series: | The Yogi Bear Show |
| First: | "Yogi Bear's Big Break" (The Huckleberry Hound Show, 1958) |
| Portrayer: | Dick DeBartolo (To Tell the Truth)[1] [2] |
| Creator: | William Hanna Joseph Barbera |
| Designer: | Ed Benedict[3] Kali Fontecchio (Jellystone!)[4] |
| Gender: | Male |
| Species: | Brown bear |
Yogi Bear is an anthropomorphic animal character who has appeared in numerous comic books, animated television shows, and films. He made his debut in 1958 as a supporting character in The Huckleberry Hound Show.
Yogi Bear is the first breakout character in animated television; he was created by Hanna-Barbera and was eventually more popular than ostensible star Huckleberry Hound.[5] In January 1961, he was given his own show, The Yogi Bear Show, sponsored by Kellogg's, which included the segments Snagglepuss and Yakky Doodle.[6] Hokey Wolf replaced his segment on The Huckleberry Hound Show.[7] A musical animated feature film, Hey There, It's Yogi Bear!, was released in 1964.
Yogi was one of the several Hanna-Barbera characters to have a collar. This allowed animators to keep his body relatively static, redrawing only his head in each frame when he spokeone of the ways Hanna-Barbera cut costs, reducing the number of drawings needed for a seven-minute cartoon from around 14,000 to around 2,000.[8]
Like many Hanna-Barbera characters, Yogi's personality and mannerisms were based on a popular celebrity of the time. Art Carney's Ed Norton character on The Honeymooners was said to be Yogi's inspiration;[9] [10] his voice mannerisms broadly mimic Carney as Norton.[11] Carney, in turn, received influence from the Borscht Belt and comedians of vaudeville.[10]
Yogi's name was similar to that of contemporary baseball star Yogi Berra, who was known for his amusing quotes, such as "half the lies they tell about me aren't true." Berra sued Hanna-Barbera for defamation, but their management claimed the similarity was just coincidence. Berra withdrew his suit, but the defense was considered implausible. At the time Yogi Bear first hit TV screens, Yogi Berra was a household name.[12] Journalist Walter Brasch once wrote that "whether coincidence or not, it is difficult to find anyone else in the [animation] industry who believes it."
The plot of most of Yogi's cartoons centered on his antics in the fictional Jellystone Park, a variant of the real Yellowstone National Park. Yogi, accompanied by his constant companion Boo-Boo Bear, would often try to steal picnic baskets from campers in the park, much to the displeasure of Park Ranger Smith.[13] Yogi's girlfriend, Cindy Bear, sometimes appeared and usually disapproved of Yogi's antics.
Besides often speaking in rhyme, Yogi Bear had a number of catchphrases, including his famous chant of excitement and greeting ("Hey, Hey, Hey"), his pet name for picnic baskets ("pic-a-nic baskets"), and his favorite self-promotion ("I'm smarter than the av-er-age bear!"),[14] although he often overestimates his own cleverness. Another characteristic of Yogi was his deep and silly voice. He often greets the ranger with a cordial, "Hello, Mr. Ranger, sir!" and "Hey there, Boo Boo!" as his preferred greeting to his sidekick, Boo Boo. Yogi would also often use puns in his speech and had a habit of pronouncing large words with a long vocal flourish.
From the time of the character's debut until 1988, Yogi was voiced by voice actor Daws Butler. Butler died in 1988; his last performance as Yogi was in the television film Yogi and the Invasion of the Space Bears.
In 1983, a Yogi Bear balloon made its first appearance in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, becoming the final balloon that year. That same year, he appeared on a float named A Hanna-Barbera Christmas alongside many other Hanna-Barbera characters, as they cleaned up the streets of Broadway. The performance was bookended with animated segments featuring Yogi and Boo-Boo, voiced by Mel Blanc and Butler, respectively.
After Butler's death in 1988, Greg Burson stepped in to perform the role; Butler had taught Burson personally how to voice Yogi as well as his other characters. Worsening alcoholism and a legal incident led to Burson's firing in 2004 and eventually his death in 2008.[15]
Yogi's current voice actor is Jeff Bergman. Bergman and Billy West also performed the character throughout the 1990s and early to mid-2000s for various Cartoon Network and Boomerang commercials and bumpers.
Australian voice actor, animation historian and impressionist Keith Scott provided Yogi's voice in a Pauls commercial and the live show Hanna-Barbera Gala Celebrity Night at the Wonderland Sydney amusement park in Australia, where Yogi and other Hanna-Barbera characters including Huckleberry Hound, Scooby-Doo, George Jetson, Fred Flintstone, Barney Rubble, Wilma Flintstone, and Betty Rubble make guest appearances.
In the 2010 Yogi Bear film, the character is voiced by actor Dan Aykroyd.
In a Müller commercial in 2011 titled "Wünderful Stuff", Lewis MacLeod performed the voice of Yogi.
In the animated stop motion sketch comedy show Robot Chicken, Dan Milano and Seth Green (creator of the show) voiced Yogi Bear.[16]
Scott Innes performed the voice of Yogi, along with Boo-Boo, in At Picnic, Forest, and Honey Lesson.
| Series number | Title | Broadcast run | Original channel | Total # episodes | Total # seasons | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Huckleberry Hound Show | 1958–1960 | Syndication | 35 episodes | 2 | ||
| 2 | The Yogi Bear Show | 1961–1962 | 33 episodes | ||||
| 3 | Yogi Bear & Friends | 1967–1968 | 96 episodes | ||||
| 4 | Yogi's Gang | 1973–1975 | ABC | 15 episodes | 1 | ||
| 5 | Yogi's Space Race | 1978–1979 | NBC | 13 episodes | |||
| 6 | Galaxy Goof-Ups | ||||||
| 7 | Yogi's Treasure Hunt | 1985–1988 | Syndication | 27 episodes | 3 | ||
| 8 | The New Yogi Bear Show | 1988–1989 | 45 episodes | 1 | |||
| 9 | Yo Yogi! | 1991 | NBC | 13 episodes | |||
| 10 | Jellystone![17] | 2021–present | Max | 57 episodes | 3 | ||
| Notes: | |||||||
A live-action/animated film titled Yogi Bear was released by Warner Bros. Pictures in December 2010. The movie featured Dan Aykroyd as the voice of Yogi Bear. The film, adapting the television series, follows the adventures of Yogi Bear and his pal Boo-Boo in Jellystone Park, as they team up with Ranger Smith to save Jellystone Park from being shut down and logged.
"Yogi" by The Ivy Three (1960), sung in a voice mimicking Yogi Bear. The song reached no.8 on the Billboard Hot100.
In 1999, animator John Kricfalusi's Spümcø company created and directed two Yogi cartoons, A Day in the Life of Ranger Smith and Boo Boo Runs Wild. Both shorts aired that year on the Cartoon Network as part of a Yogi Bear marathon.
In 2002, Spümcø created another Boo Boo cartoon, Boo Boo and the Man, which was made with Macromedia Flash and released on Cartoon Network's website.
A music video (known as a "Cartoon Groovie") for Yogi Bear used to air on Cartoon Network and Boomerang. It showcases clips of Yogi and Boo Boo stealing picnic baskets and annoying Ranger Smith.
Yogi Bear aired on Cartoon Network from 1992 to 2004 and its sister channel, Boomerang until 2014. Additionally, Nickelodeon re-aired The Yogi Bear Show, Yogi's Gang, and Galaxy Goof-Ups under the umbrella title "Nickelodeon's Most Wanted: Yogi Bear" throughout the early 1990s.In the UK it aired on Cartoon Network from 1993 to 2001, CN TOO from 2006 to 2010 and Boomerang from 2000 to 2002.
In the Hanna-Barbera Personal Favorites video, William Hanna and Joseph Barbera picked their favorite Yogi Bear episodes, including the very first one, "Yogi Bear's Big Break", and Yogi's meeting some storybook friends: The Three Little Pigs, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and Little Red Riding Hood.
Over the years, several publishers have released Yogi Bear comic books.
The Yogi Bear comic strip began February 5, 1961.[22] Created by Gene Hazelton and distributed by the McNaught Syndicate, it ran from 1961 to 1988.
Hanna-Barbera has also produced giveaway instructional Yogi Bear comics on first aid (Creative First Aid: Yogi's Bear Facts (1986)) and earthquake preparedness (Yogi, the Be-Prepared Bear: Earthquake Preparedness for Children (1984) and Yogi's Bear Facts: Earthquake Preparedness (1988)). These were issued in connection with Yogi Bear being used as the mascot for Earthquake Preparedness Month in California, an annual campaign that ran each April for over ten years and also utilized Yogi in earthquake preparedness posters, advertisements, a cartoon, and other promotions including a special "Quakey Shakey Van" exhibit.[23] [24]
On November 15, 2005, Warner Home Video released the complete series on DVD.