Monday Cartoon Day.
Two of the favorite strips on this blog and on other blogs in general are the Yogi Bear and Flintstones strips that were produced by the same team of 'Hanna-Barbera Productions', which included Gene Hazelton and Harvey Eisenberg. Not only did they produce the full color Sunday strips, but there also was a daily version of The Flintstones and in 1963 there was a daily panel with Yogi. What, a daily panel with Yogi Bear? How come I have neer heard of that? When I came zcross one of these panels by accident, I started searching the web and the nearest I came to some information was a mention on Alan Holtz' Stripper's Guide where someone asked Alan about it and he said he hasd never seen it. Now, if Alan Holtz hasn't seen it, it probably doesn't exist because he is doing the book of all strip data and he is checking it twice.
When I asked him about it again, he said he had seen it since and it seems to have run from october 12th 1962 to october 14th 1963. Or at least it did in the LA Times. In the meantime I had done some more hands om searching and found samples starting from Deceber 3rd 1962 (nothing earlier in three papers) and ending October 28th 1963 (but with an odd 'reused' panel appearing on Oct. 9th).
So it is with some pride I present here most of the firt three months of this rare Yogi Bear strip, with some of the last weeks. I found samples in three papers, none of which used the panel every day, so I had to mix and match. The strip itself seems to have been done by the same team, or at least sometimes it does. There is a telltale 'wiggle' in the panel borders which seems to appear and disappear, which might indicate some sort of switch between artists... or it might not.
Anyway, I hope the Yogi lovers will enjoy.
10 comments:
Thanks Ger, I love this art, especially the backgrounds. I appreciate all your efforts!
Hello Ger.
Always great stuff on your blog.
Let me say what I know about the Yogi Bear daily panel.
It was initially written by Gene Hazelton, pencilled by Harvey Eisenberg and inked/lettered by Joe Messerli.
Fred Treadgold and Don R. Christensen probably contributed some gags in 1963.
When Harvey Eisenberg died in 1965, the panel continued for a while, now drawn by his son Jerry Eisenberg and inked/lettered by Joe Messerli. It might have lasted until 1966 or even 1969, but I don't know for sure. The Yogi Bear Sunday page, instead, ended on March 3, 1981
Best,
Alberto
Alberto, thanks for dropping by. Your knowledge about this stuff is amazing. Where do you get your information? Is it all from interviews and meetings?
The additional information on the Yogi panel is appreciating and fascinating - but also puzzling, since two of the three sources I used have the panel stop on the same day, October 26 1964. And I have yet to find a smaple of a later anel. So f you have samples, Id love to see them. Or a paper name...
The third source I used has no later panels either - and of course it should be October 26 1963 instead of 1964.
Hi Ger.
I myself thought that the Yogi Bear panel was cancelled in late 1963, but the late Joe Messerli told me that it went on for a few more years, and that Jerry Eisenberg drew it after his father died.
Jerry also drew (pencilled) the Sunday Yogi Bear for quite a while, as you can see from the notes below, which is what I've come up with so far, thanks to my own art spotting and to various interviews (Gene Hazelton, Joe Messerli, Don Christensen...).
Please let me know what you think.
Best,
Alberto
Key:
> = at least from
< = at least until
(G) = Ghost
(S) = Supervision
(p) = pencils
(i) = inks
YOGI BEAR
© Hanna-Barbera Productions, dist. McNaught Syndicate, Inc.
By-line: BILL HANNA AND JOE BARBERA
Sunday page Feb. 5, 1961-Mar. 3, 1981
Writers:
GENE HAZELTON (G) Feb. 10, 1961- -1965; (S) 1965-1973; (G) 1973-Mar. 3, 1981
DON R. CHRISTENSEN (gags) 1963
FRED TREADGOLD (gags) c1963- -1965 [e.g. June 21, 1965]
DALE HALE (G) 1965-1973
Artists:
GENE HAZELTON (Gp) Feb. 5-26, 1961; (Gp) Apr. 29, 1962-May 2, 1962; (Gp lay) 1962-1970; (Gp) Jan. 1970- -Mar. 3, 1981
HARVEY EISENBERG (Gp) Mar. 5, 1961-Apr. 1, 1962; (Gp) Apr. 22, 1962; (Gp) May 13, 1962-Mid 1965 [last seen: June 6, 1966]
LEE HOOPER (Gi) Jan. 1962- -Dec. 28, 1969<
JERRY EISENBERG (Gp) Apr. 8-15, 1962; (Gp) Nov. 11, 1962; (Gp) Mid 1965- -July 27, 1969
(Gi) Jan. 14, 1962-Dec. 28, 1969<
PETE ALVARADO (Gp) Dec. 15, 1968; (Gp) Nov. 16, 1969
BOB SINGER? (Gp/i) >July 27, 1969-Nov. 9, 1969; (Gp/i) Nov. 23, 1969-Dec. 7, 1969; (Gp) Dec. 28, 1969; (Gp?) Oct. 25, 1970
TONY DI PAOLA (Gi) Nov. 16, 1969; (Gi) >Jan. 1970-c1978 [last seen: Aug. 6]
Letterers:
JOE MESSERLI? Feb. 10, 1961-Dec. 1961
LEE HOOPER Jan. 14, 1962-July 27, 1969; Nov. 16, 1969; Dec. 28, 1969
BOB SINGER? Aug. 3, 1969-Nov. 9, 1969; Nov. 23, 1969-Dec. 7, 1969
TONY DI PAOLA Nov. 16, 1969; >Jan. 1970-c1978 [last seen: Aug. 6]
Daily panel Dec. 10, 1962-1969?
[NOTE: Joe Messerli says that the panel was pencilled by Jerry Eisenberg, so it lasted longer than 1965 when Harvey Eisenberg died]
Writers:
GENE HAZELTON (G) Dec. 10, 1962-Oct. 14, 1963<
FRED TREADGOLD (gags) 1963
DON R. CHRISTENSEN (gags) 1963
Artists:
HARVEY EISENBERG (Gp) Dec. 10, 1962-Mid 1965
JERRY EISENBERG (Gp) Mid 1965-1969?
JOE MESSERLI (Gi) Dec. 10, 1962-1969?
Letterers:
JOE MESSERLI 1962- -1969
Alberto,
thanks for your notes, they will have to stand for now, since I am not really up on these cartoon artists. As for the dates on the panels... Mark Christiansen shows several color panels which were published as Yogi's Yuks in Gold Key's Golden Comic Digest. They are all different from mine (which are about 50% complete), so they may either be the prove that the series went on longer than I can find or they were done seperatly for the comic books and that's what Mr. Messerli remembers. Mark's blog is at: http://marksotherstuff.blogspot.com/2012/04/yogi-bear-daily-comic-stripin-color.html
Don't forget that Iwao Takamoto (who also worked in Disney) also produced the Yogi Bear Sunday pages in 1966-67.
All these materials were drawn by the legendary Harvey Eisenberg.
After long consideration I have come to the opinion that the panel must have stopped in late 1963, as I first thought. The later color ones are the ones everyone remebers as the continuation but they probably were a seperate run. I have no proof, other than that I was not able to find any samples after the named date of Oct 26 1963, except for those in the comics. A recent search in a completely different set of paper yielded just as little.
Also, why would every source I did find stop at the same date?
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