50 Fun Facts About Hanna-Barbera

Which cat-and-mouse duo did Hanna and Barbera create at MGM before founding their studio?

Seven of their Tom and Jerry shorts won Oscars, though the statuettes went to producer Fred Quimby.

In what year was the Hanna-Barbera studio founded?

It opened one year after MGM closed its animation studio, in rented offices on the old Charlie Chaplin lot.

How was it decided that Hanna's name would come first in the studio's name?

Columbia boss Harry Cohn took an 18% stake in the new H-B Enterprises and supplied working capital.

What was Hanna-Barbera's first animated television series, premiering in 1957?

Its five-minute episodes had to be made for $3,000 each, against $35,000 for a Tom and Jerry short.

Which Hanna-Barbera series was the first cartoon to win an Emmy?

Kellogg's sponsored it; its Yogi Bear segment proved so popular that Yogi got his own show in 1961.

Which Hanna-Barbera series was the first animated show to air in prime time?

It premiered on ABC on September 30, 1960 and ran six seasons, a prime-time record until The Simpsons.

Bedrock's first family was loosely based on which live-action sitcom?

Jackie Gleason considered suing but did not want to be "the man who yanked Fred Flintstone off the air".

Who provided the voice of Barney Rubble for most of the original run?

Blanc, the Looney Tunes legend, also voiced Dino; Alan Reed was Fred and Jean Vander Pyl was Wilma.

Who voiced Fred Flintstone in the original series?

Fred was drawn to resemble both Reed and Jackie Gleason; Henry Corden took over the role after Reed's death.

What is the name of Fred and Wilma's pet dinosaur?

Hoppy is the Rubbles' hopparoo; the Great Gazoo is the exiled alien from the final season.

Where does Fred Flintstone work?

He operates a bronto-crane, a Brontosaurus used as an excavator.

From which planet does the Great Gazoo come?

Harvey Korman voiced the exiled alien, who could be seen only by Fred, Barney and the children.

Where do the Jetsons live?

Its Googie-style buildings stand on adjustable columns to stay above the pollution below.

Who is George Jetson's boss?

Spacely Space Sprockets' great rival is Cogswell Cogs; George works an hour a day, two days a week.

The Jetsons was the first programme broadcast in colour on which network?

Only a handful of ABC stations could show colour in 1962; the original run was just 24 episodes.

Who voiced Astro the dog on The Jetsons and Scooby-Doo's original voice?

Messick was one half of Hanna-Barbera's great voice duo with Daws Butler.

Where does Yogi Bear steal picnic baskets?

It is a play on Yellowstone; Ranger Smith is the long-suffering park authority.

Yogi Bear's personality and voice were based on which Art Carney character?

Art Carney's Norton was the model; Yogi also claims to be "smarter than the av-er-age bear".

Which voice actor played Yogi Bear from his debut until 1988?

Butler also voiced Huckleberry Hound, Quick Draw McGraw and Elroy Jetson.

Which cereal company sponsored The Yogi Bear Show?

Barbera pitched Huckleberry Hound to 45 Kellogg's executives in Chicago — the first show he had ever had to sell.

Top Cat was created as a parody of which sitcom?

Arnold Stang's T.C. began as a Phil Silvers impression until the sponsor complained it was paying for Stang.

Which policeman hounds Top Cat's gang?

Charles Dibble, voiced by Allen Jenkins, mostly wants the cats to stop using his police-box phone.

Who created Jonny Quest for Hanna-Barbera?

The comic artist drew on Doc Savage, Tintin and Tom Swift for the studio's first realistic adventure show.

Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! premiered on which network in 1969?

It was meant to be a non-violent answer to parent groups upset by the mid-1960s superhero cartoons.

Which duo created Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!?

They joined the studio as film editors and later founded rival Ruby-Spears Enterprises in 1977.

What was Scooby-Doo's working title before the name changed?

It was then called Who's S-S-Scared? before the musical-group angle was dropped.

Hanna-Barbera's share of Saturday-morning cartoons earned it what nickname?

In one year the studio produced nearly two-thirds of all Saturday-morning cartoons.

Which company bought Hanna-Barbera in 1966 for $12 million?

The sale was delayed a year by a lawsuit from Harry Cohn's heirs over their 18% stake.

Which company bought Hanna-Barbera in 1991 and used its library to launch Cartoon Network?

Disney's Michael Eisner later said not buying Hanna-Barbera was his biggest regret.

On what date did Cartoon Network launch?

It was the first 24-hour all-animation channel, built on Hanna-Barbera's 3,000 half-hours.

Which Belgian comic adaptation became the longest-running Saturday-morning cartoon in history?

It ran nine seasons on NBC from 1981 to 1989 and was the network's highest-rated show since 1970.

Which animator dismissed Hanna-Barbera's limited animation as "illustrated radio"?

Ironically Jones's own short The Dover Boys pioneered many limited-animation techniques.

Roughly how many drawings did a typical Hanna-Barbera seven-minute short use?

A fully animated theatrical short needed around 14,000; characters were split into levels so only the moving part was redrawn.

Which show did Hanna-Barbera make as its first Cartoon Network spin-off from What a Cartoon!?

Johnny Bravo and Cow and Chicken followed in 1997; The Powerpuff Girls in 1998.

Which Hanna-Barbera executive hired Genndy Tartakovsky, Craig McCracken and Seth MacFarlane?

Seibert's What a Cartoon! shorts let the new hires pitch their own series.

What was Hanna-Barbera's final original show, in 1999?

After William Hanna's death in 2001 the studio was absorbed into Warner Bros. Animation.

In which year did the Hanna-Barbera studio cease to exist as an independent company?

William Hanna died of throat cancer that March, aged 90; Joseph Barbera lived until 2006.

Which Hanna-Barbera head writer duo came over from Warner Bros. Cartoons?

Both had written classic Looney Tunes; Iwao Takamoto joined at the same time as character designer.

Which 1973 film was the first Hanna-Barbera feature not based on one of its TV cartoons?

Paramount released the E.B. White adaptation; only three more non-TV features followed.

In which US state was William Hanna born?

He was born in Melrose, New Mexico Territory, in 1910, the third of seven children.

In which New York neighbourhood was Joseph Barbera born?

His parents were Sicilian immigrants; he joined Van Beuren Studios in 1932 before heading west.

Hanna and Barbera first met while working at which studio?

They met in the MGM animation unit in the late 1930s and partnered for six decades.

What was the title of the first Tom and Jerry cartoon, released in 1940?

Tom was called Jasper in that debut, and Jerry's name was not mentioned at all.

How many Academy Awards did Hanna and Barbera's Tom and Jerry shorts win?

The awards went to producer Fred Quimby, who had no hand in making the cartoons.

Which composer was in charge of Hanna-Barbera's music from the studio's start?

Curtin wrote the Flintstones, Jetsons and Jonny Quest themes.

Hanna-Barbera supplied the animated opening credits for which live-action sitcom?

The cartoon Samantha and Darrin were reused in a sixth-season Flintstones episode.

Hanna-Barbera's overseas studio, opened in 1972, was in which country?

It later bought itself out as Southern Star; the Philippine unit Fil-Cartoons came in 1987.

Which DC Comics team did Hanna-Barbera adapt as Super Friends in 1973?

Versions of Super Friends stayed on ABC through 1985.

Which 1968 Hanna-Barbera racing show spun off Dastardly and Muttley and Penelope Pitstop?

Eleven cars, including the Mean Machine, raced across America every episode.

Where was Hanna-Barbera's headquarters from 1963 until 1998?

Architect Arthur Froehlich's building had a moat, fountains and a Jetsons-like tower.