50 Fun Facts About 60s Cartoons

Which Looney Tunes voice legend recorded Barney Rubble's lines from a hospital bed after a crash?

Mel Blanc lay flat in a full-body cast while his co-stars gathered round the bed to record, after a stand-in had covered a handful of episodes.

Which cigarette brand sponsored early seasons of The Flintstones, with Fred and Barney in its ads?

Winston pulled out as the audience grew younger, and Welch's grape juice and jellies took over as the main sponsor.

Which 1950s sitcom about a blustering New York bus driver was a model for The Flintstones?

The Honeymooners star Jackie Gleason considered suing Hanna-Barbera, but decided he did not want to be the man who took Fred Flintstone off the air.

Which horror film star both narrated How the Grinch Stole Christmas! in 1966 and voiced the Grinch?

Boris Karloff, famous as Frankenstein's monster, had his higher pitches removed by sound engineers to give the Grinch a gravelly growl.

Which bubblegum hit by the cartoon band from The Archie Show topped the US charts in 1969?

Sugar, Sugar finished as Billboard's number one song of 1969, credited to a band that existed only as drawings.

Which Flintstones character was planned as Fred Junior until a toy company pushed for a doll?

Pebbles became a girl after Ideal Toy Company told Hanna-Barbera it could build a doll around her, and the baby arrived in 1963.

Which cartoon character played Ebenezer Scrooge in 1962 in TV's first animated Christmas special?

Mr. Magoo plays an actor starring as Scrooge in a Broadway musical, so the whole Dickens story is staged as a show within a show.

Which future radio countdown host first voiced Shaggy in Scooby-Doo after hoping to play Fred?

Casey Kasem wanted to voice Fred, and the actor cast as Fred wanted Shaggy, but the CBS network assigned the two roles its own way.

Which cartoon cat debuted in the titles of a 1963 Peter Sellers film, then won an Oscar for a short?

The Pink Panther was drawn only for the film's credits, but audiences liked him so much that United Artists signed up a whole series of shorts.

Which Marvel hero's 1967 cartoon produced the meme of two identical figures pointing at each other?

Spider-Man and his double point at each other in the episode Double Identity, a frame the films Into the Spider-Verse and No Way Home later restaged.

Which Flintstones pet knocks Fred flat and licks his face whenever he comes home from work?

Dino speaks in the early episode showing how Fred found him, chattering like the comedian Phil Silvers, unlike in his other appearances.

Which tiny green alien, exiled to Earth for inventing a doomsday device, pesters Fred Flintstone?

The Great Gazoo was voiced by Harvey Korman, and only Fred, Barney, the children and animals are able to see him.

Which Jellystone Park sidekick acts as Yogi Bear's conscience and shared a voice with Ranger Smith?

Boo-Boo is Yogi's constant companion, not his son as viewers sometimes assume, and Don Messick voiced both him and the ranger.

What is the name of the Jetsons' robot maid, an old demonstrator model hired from U-Rent a Maid?

Rosie is spelled Rosey on the title card of the very first episode, which also gives her model number as XB-500.

Which short-tempered boss keeps firing George Jetson in The Jetsons, only to rehire him soon after?

Mr. Spacely owns Spacely Space Sprockets, where George's job is mostly pushing buttons, and his chief business rival is Mr. Cogswell.

Which policeman patrols the alley in Top Cat, trying to keep the gang off the police phone?

Officer Dibble's series was retitled The Boss Cat by the BBC after four weeks, because a British brand of cat food was already called Top Cat.

Which canine genius adopts a boy named Sherman and takes him through history in the WABAC machine?

Mr. Peabody is said to have graduated from Harvard at the age of three, and he needs the President's help in court to adopt Sherman.

Which dim-witted Canadian Mountie chases Snidely Whiplash and rides a horse named simply Horse?

Dudley Do-Right pines for Nell Fenwick, but in a running gag she seems far more taken with his horse than with him.

Which Wacky Races dog, sidekick to the villain Dick Dastardly, is known for his rasping laugh?

Muttley got his wheeze from the voice actor Don Messick, and the dog followed his boss into a 1969 spin-off about flying machines.

Which cartoon Southern belle, introduced in 1968, fled the Hooded Claw in her own series a year later?

Penelope Pitstop began as the only woman driver in Wacky Races, at the wheel of a pink car called the Compact Pussycat.

Which caped cartoon hero is secretly humble Shoeshine Boy and always speaks in rhyming couplets?

Underdog was voiced by Wally Cox and dreamed up to help sell General Mills cereals, flying in whenever Sweet Polly Purebred was in danger.

Which boy hero of a 1964 prime-time cartoon travels with bodyguard Race Bannon and bulldog Bandit?

Jonny Quest grew out of a studio plan to adapt a radio adventure hero, and the comic book artist Doug Wildey gave the series its realistic look.

Which Jay Ward hero thinks his huge pet Shep is a dog and keeps falling out of his own home?

George of the Jungle treats his elephant Shep as a lap dog and forgets he lives in a treehouse, while his closest friend, an ape named Ape, is far brighter than he is.

Which Hanna-Barbera big cat sounded so like the Cowardly Lion that Bert Lahr took legal action?

Snagglepuss drew the complaint by appearing in Kellogg's cereal commercials, which Lahr feared viewers would take as his own endorsement.

Which Peanuts character takes the spotlight to recite a Bible passage in A Charlie Brown Christmas?

Linus drops his security blanket before reciting from the King James Version, then picks it up again once he has finished.

Which Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer character quits Santa's workshop to become a dentist?

Hermey puts his training to use in the end, pulling the Abominable Snow Monster's teeth while the beast is knocked out cold.

Which 1961 Disney villain was drawn by one animator, Marc Davis, and modeled on Tallulah Bankhead?

Cruella de Vil got her long, lanky frame from a different performer, Mary Wickes, who acted out the part as a live-action model.

Which carefree Disney character, voiced by bandleader Phil Harris, befriends Mowgli in a 1967 film?

Baloo is a stern teacher of the law in Kipling's stories, but Disney remade him as a carefree idler with no responsibilities at all.

Which Winnie the Pooh character, voiced by ventriloquist Paul Winchell, debuted on screen in 1968?

Tigger nearly went to Wally Boag, Walt Disney's first choice, whose take on the role was later judged too zany for a children's film.

Which real band starred in a 1965 ABC cartoon, the first weekly series to animate living people?

The Beatles did not voice themselves: Paul Frees played John and George, and Lance Percival played Paul and Ringo.

Which manager and father figure to the Chipmunks in The Alvin Show bears their creator's stage name?

David Seville was the stage name of Ross Bagdasarian, the songwriter who created the Chipmunks as a hit recording gimmick.

Which Scooby-Doo character was inspired by Zelda Gilroy from The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis?

Velma is the brains of the gang and usually cracks the case first, though she keeps losing the glasses she cannot see without.

Which child robot created by Osamu Tezuka starred in the first anime series broadcast overseas?

Astro Boy set the look the world came to recognise as anime, and its success abroad led to remakes in the 1980s and in 2003.

Which Alex Toth superhero fights evil with teen sidekicks Jan and Jace and a monkey named Blip?

Space Ghost was revived in the 1990s as the dim-witted host of his own spoof late-night talk show on Cartoon Network.

Which tiny Hanna-Barbera hero, first voiced by Howard Morris, keeps a mainframe computer at home?

Atom Ant works out on his own exercise equipment, and his powers run to flight, incredible strength and invulnerability.

Which Hanna-Barbera hero becomes El Kabong, a Zorro spoof who clobbers villains with a guitar?

Quick Draw McGraw, a horse who serves as an Old West sheriff, swoops in on a rope as El Kabong and usually wrecks the guitar.

Which voice actress played both the hero Rocky and the spy Natasha in Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoons?

June Foray also voiced little Cindy Lou Who in the Grinch special and Granny, the owner of Tweety and Sylvester.

Which music-hating villains invade Pepperland and turn its people to statues in Yellow Submarine?

The Blue Meanies bombard their victims with apples, a wink at Apple Corps, the company the film's real-life stars had just founded.

Which anime hero drives the Mach 5 and faces a mysterious rival who is secretly his older brother?

Speed Racer was called Mach GoGoGo in Japan, and little brother Spritle and his pet chimpanzee wear matching jumpsuits and striped hats.

Which crooner's scat singing, heard by a TV executive on a flight, inspired Scooby-Doo's name?

Frank Sinatra's scat at the close of Strangers in the Night stuck with programming chief Fred Silverman, who renamed the dog and retitled the show.

Which jazz pianist, Grammy winner for Cast Your Fate to the Wind, scored A Charlie Brown Christmas?

Vince Guaraldi also suggested the muted trombone that stands in for the offscreen teacher's voice in later Peanuts specials.

Which Looney Tunes director, fired by Warner Bros., made 34 Tom and Jerry shorts from 1963 to 1967?

Chuck Jones set up his own studio, Sib Tower 12, after losing a job he had held for more than 30 years, and took on the cat and mouse there.

Which Hanna-Barbera spy, known as Agent 000, works with a fez-wearing sidekick called Morocco Mole?

Secret Squirrel spoofed the James Bond films, hiding gadgets in a purple fedora with eye holes cut into it that he seldom takes off.

Which character voiced by Get Smart's Don Adams keeps fleeing Megapolis Zoo with Chumley the walrus?

Tennessee Tuxedo is a small penguin whose clipped delivery was, Adams said, an exaggeration of the film actor William Powell.

Which fictional Minnesota town, said to mirror a real border city, is home to Rocky and Bullwinkle?

Frostbite Falls is said to be based on International Falls, a real Minnesota border city nicknamed the Icebox of the Nation.

Which white lion cub created by Osamu Tezuka starred in the first Japanese color animated TV series?

Kimba made headlines again in the 1990s, when Japanese cartoonists signed a letter urging Disney to credit the series as an influence on The Lion King.

Which Viva Las Vegas star voiced herself on The Flintstones under a stone-age pun on her name?

Ann-Margret appeared as Ann-Margrock, one of a run of guest stars given rocky names, alongside Stony Curtis and James Darrock.

Which bass singer, the voice of Tony the Tiger, sang the Grinch's 1966 theme song without credit?

Thurl Ravenscroft was left off the credits by an oversight, so Dr. Seuss wrote to columnists across the country to set the record straight.

Which Peanuts animator and director voiced Snoopy by recording gibberish and playing it back fast?

Bill Melendez stepped in because Charles Schulz would not let the beagle speak English, and he used the same trick at another speed for the bird Woodstock.

What name is given to the brightly colored van that carries the gang in Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!?

The Mystery Machine is painted in psychedelic colors with flower power imagery, a snapshot of the late 1960s when the series began.