Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Yippee, Yappee, and Yahooey in “Throne for a Loss” (1966)

From the land of unjustly obscure Hanna-Barbera cartoon series come Yippee, Yappee, and Yahooey.

This “Trio of Musketeers” serves as bumbling guards to their king, and the series was one of the three component parts of THE PETER POTAMUS SHOW (1964-1967).

The Musketeer concept is one that must have interested producers William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, harkening back to their “Tom and Jerry Days” and the run of Musketeer cartoons they did with Tom, Jerry, and Tuffy/Nibbles. Along the way, it would resurface with Snagglepuss and, the imagery would also lend itself to cartoons with Huckleberry Hound and Touché Turtle.

Something that is not immediately apparent – but notable – is that, because it was produced for the third season of THE PETER POTAMUS SHOW (the 1966-1967 television season), “Throne for a Loss” was among the VERY LAST of the “Three-Per-Show” funny-animal short gag TV cartoons that the H-B studio had made their reputation on.

For, in that season, H-B shifted production to heroic adventure series such as SPACE GHOST AND DINO BOY and FRANKENSTEIN JR. AND THE IMPOSSIBLES – and would follow those with THE HERCULIODS, BIRDMAN AND THE GALAXY TRIO, MOBY DICK AND THE MIGHTY MIGHTOR, etc.

When H-B humor series would return, with WACKY RACES, its spin-offs starring Dick Dastardly and Penelope Pitstop, and comedy adventure series like SCOOBY-DOO WHERE ARE YOU, the “Three-Per-Show Funny-Animal” format, that gave us Huckleberry Hound and Yogi Bear, would largely remain a thing of the past.

So, let’s enjoy Doug Young as Yippee, Daws Butler as Yahooey, and Hal Smith as Yappee and the world-weary, put-upon King in “Throne for a Loss” …and close out an era of Hanna-Barbera history at the same time.

Oh, and I just LOVE a pun title like that one!


3 comments:

Chris Barat said...

Joe,

The King = King Blozo? (Especially at the start, with a little Ed Wynn thrown in.)

Chris

Joe Torcivia said...

Chris:

Yes, he DOES seem to exhibit that same "woe-is-me" attitude as Segar’s Blozo.

But, this King can be ill tempered and can get rough when he wants to – as he does at the end of the YY&Y cartoon on Sat AM Cartoons 1960s Volume One, taking out all of them and their drill instructor with a well-aimed, long-range cannon shot.

And he leaves YY&Y to be mauled by a pair of bears at the end of this one too! Blozo was a pathetic jerk, but he’d probably not go that far!

Joe.

Chris Barat said...

Joe,

Maybe this explains why the Goofy Guards never really caught on?

The Guards are inept buffoons. The King is much put-upon but exacts harsh revenge.

For whom does one root? (Don't say Marge Simpson, I already used that one years ago.)

Chris