On September 29, 1958, Yogi Bear, who was created by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, was introduced to the world as a segment on The Huckleberry Hound Show.  He got his own show, not surprisingly named The Yogi Bear Show, on January 30, 1961, becoming the first cartoon character to become bigger than the original host show.  In order to do that, you have to be smarter than the average bear.

 

And, yes, Yogi Bear really was named after Yogi Berra, the famous New York Yankees’ catcher, who played professionally from 1946 to 1963.  Hanna-Barbera denied that they named their bear after the ballplayer, but they weren’t kidding anybody.  At first, Berra considered suing Hanna-Barbera, but he quickly backed down.  After all, his real name was Lawrence, not Yogi, so it wasn’t like they were truly stealing his name.  Berra got the nickname Yogi because, as a teenager playing American Legion ball, the way he sat in the dugout reminded his teammates of a Hindu yogi.

 

Yogi (the bear, not the ballplayer) aways wore a collar and a tie (along with a hat), which is a great look, but more than that, it allowed only his head to move in the drawings, while the rest of his body stayed static.  Known as limited animation, it greatly cut down how many cels the artists had to draw.  A typical cartoon might take upwards of 14,000 cels.  By limiting Yogi’s movements, they only needed around 2,000 cels, making cartoons quicker and cheaper.  By the way, a “cel” (short for cellulous nitrate) is the individual hand-painted frame of a cartoon.  It was how cartoons were made until computers came along. 

 

Actor and comedian Art Carney did Yogi’s voice.  He also did Barney Rubble and a Loony Tunes mouse named Ned Morton, which was a take off of the character Ed Norton on the TV show The Honeymooners.  Yogi’s voice, as well, was based off of Ed Norton.  As far as that goes, so was Barney Rubble.  Which makes sense.  After all, Art Carney played Ed Norton on The Honeymooners.  Even today I can hear Yogi saying that he wants to steal a pick-a-nic basket.  And Boo Boo telling him, “I don’t think that’s a good idea, Yogi.” 

 

The final episode of the original Yogi Bear Show aired on January 6, 1962.  Hanna-Barbera tried to revive Yogi with The New Yogi Bear Show (which lasted just short of two months in 1988) and then Yo Yogi! (which lasted about two weeks longer in 1991).

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