Campaign 2020 - Cartoon Characters who Ran for President - Part 1

 As Election Day gets closer and the country goes further into turmoil, I thought it might be time to consider some alternatives to the current crop of presidential candidates.  In fact, in the past we've had many cartoon characters run for president and it may be time to resurrect one of them as a presidential candidate.  They would be just as cartoony as the candidates we have now.  So, once a week we'll look back at the various campaigns - perhaps we'll find a likely candidate among them.

Part One:  The Hanna - Barbera Characters

In 1960, Huckleberry Hound took the plunge and through his hat in the ring.  Being one of the first big TV cartoon stars, you would think he'd use the new medium to promote his candidacy.   For some reason, he stuck with more old-fashioned campaigning.   His entire campaign consisted of a record album, a comic book and campaign buttons.   Kennedy learned to utilize television much more effectively and was able to win the presidency from both Huck and Nixon.

         

In 1964, Huckleberry Hound was pushed aside by TWO Hanna -Barbera characters who ran against each other (and Johnson and Goldwater) for the presidency.  Yogi Bear ran against Magilla Gorilla in a hard-hitting campaign that was covered in comic books, records, coloring books and even bubble gum machines.  Strangely, both candidates again eschewed television campaigns despite both having their own television shows at the time.  

Both used top-notch advisors to run their campaigns.   Yogi relied on previous candidate Huckleberry Hound, while Magilla brought in a Washington outsider, Top Cat.   Mirroring the politics of the time, their campaigns cumulated in a Space Race, with both candidates building rocket ships in a race to be the first to the moon.  Unfortunately, come election day they were both stranded on the moon, clearing the way for Johnson to declare victory.

          

     

For those who like something to rally about, here are the campaign songs for both candidates.  Definitely no "I Like Ike" type lyrics...

Today's Un-PC Post

Now HERE is a product I doubt you will ever see again. 

I never saw these Hanna-Barbara characters smoking on their actual TV shows.   However, I think everyone has seen this famous clip of other Hanna-Barbera characters "lighting up."



Check out another instance of un-PC activity on the Flintstones (and there were several) by following this link...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6TI2dkk2MA

The Ten Worst Cartoon Characters of all Time, Number 6

We're still at work, listing the Ten Worst Cartoon Characters of all Time!  Number six has checked in, and you can read all about him in the blog entry below.  Remember, if you have your own list you'd like printed, please send it in and I'll print it and the end of the series.   Now, on to number six...

10.  Baby Huey
9.  Squiddly Diddly
8.  Buzzy the Crow
7.  Hippity Hopper
6.  Loopy De Loop

When I was a kid, we had a book around the house entitled "Huckleberry Hound Treasury."  I loved the early Hanna-Barbera characters at that time, and read this book constantly during my childhood.  It was a great book, containing full-color illustrated stories of all the Hanna-Barbera characters at the time.   Here's a picture of the book.

Such memorable characters!   Yogi Bear!   Mr. Jinks!  Quick Draw McGraw!   Loopy De Loop!   Pixie and...    Loopy De Loop?  Who the heck is Loopy De Loop?    I watched all the Hanna Barbera shows religiously and had never seen hide nor hair of any character named Loopy the Loop.  Was he some long-lost relative of Hokey Wolf?  This character was a total mystery to me.  It took me years until I was able to finally discover his identity.

Loopy was the star in a series of theatrical cartoons created by Hanna-Barbera between 1959 and 1964.   Hanna-Barbera productions was created in 1957 by Joe Barbera and William Hanna.   Joe and Bill had just been fired after almost 20 years with the MGM cartoon department, where they created the Tom and Jerry characters.  They had immediate success in television, creating Ruff and Reddy in 1957, Huckleberry Hound in 1958 and Quick Draw McGraw in 1959.  Meanwhile, theatrical cartoons were going through a uneven time, as several studios were closing their cartoon departments but still wanting a steady supply of new cartoons.   Columbia Pictures was an earlier supporter of Hanna-Barbera (Harry Cohn owned 18% of H-B at the time) and its Screen Gems television subsidiary was handling the H-B product.   Columbia was releasing UPA cartoons to theaters in the late 1950's and when UPA stopped producing theatrical shorts, Columbia turned to H-B for a new series.  H-B created Loopy De Loop, who starred in 48 cartoons between 1959 and 1965.  The cartoons eventually received limited television exposure, but quickly slipped into cartoon oblivion.

A rare Loopy De Loop theater poster

Loopy De Loop is a French-Canadian wolf who has dedicated his life to clearing the bad name wolves have earned throughout the years.  Loopy is a "good wolf" who spends his time trying to do good deeds and prove to the world that he is a "good wolf."   However, he has a hard time convincing everyone of his honorable intentions, and usually gets shot or beaten for his efforts.  The problem with this formula is: 1) it is extremely repetative, and 2) it isn't funny.  After one or two of these cartoons you wish Loopy would revert to "bad wolf" and eat everyone he has encountered in the last 6 minutes.  The cartoons were produced in the same fashion as the rest of H-B's product at the time, which means limited animation and stock music.

For reasons I don't quite understand, Warner Bros. has chosen to release a DVD set of all of Loopy's cartoons (sigh...   yes, I admit, I bought a copy).   For the sadistics out there, here's a link.   Below is Loopy's first appearance in the 1959 cartoon "Wolf Hounded."

Loopy got his own Little Golden Book that was eventually reprinted in the Huckleberry Hound Treasury.

More Loopy merchandise.  Loopy looks a little too...  loopy here.

The Ten Worst Cartoon Characters of All Time - Number 9

For those of you who are just tuning in, I am counting down the Top Ten worst cartoon characters of all time.  This is in answer to a question my nephew asked me en route to a festival of world's greatest cartoons.  We are now at number nine, counting down to Numero Uno....

10. Baby Huey
Number Nine:  Squiddly Diddly

In the mid 1960's Hanna-Barbara cartoons were very much hit and miss.   After practically creating television animation with popular shows as Huckleberry Hound and Yogi Bear, they went into overdrive, creating a huge menagerie of cartoon animals in the process.  I'm sure you're familiar with many of them:  Atom Ant, Touche Turtle, Hillbilly Bears, Peter Potamus, Pumpkin Puss, Ricochet Rabbit. and other such lovable creations.  Sometimes these would be something novel or new, such as Precious Pupp or The Impossibles.  However, many of the new cartoon stars seemed to be a reconfiguration of a previous series.  After the success of Yogi Bear, Hanna Barbera decided to re-use this basic formula ad nauseum.  So, instead of Jellystone Forest and Ranger Smith, we were offered animals in various institutions such as zoos, (Wally Gator), pet stores, (Magilla Gorilla), and military bases (Breezly and Sneezly),  battling wits with an authority figure (Mr. Twiddle, Mr. Peebles, and Colonel Fuzzby, respectively).   Squiddly Diddly was just another character in this formula, and in my opinion, the worst (Wally Gator is a close second).
 
Squiddly Diddly lives in Bubbleland, a large aquatic theme park.  Squiddly is constantly trying to escape Bubbleland to enjoy the outside world, but is usually thwarted by his keeper, Mr. Winchly.  I don't understand why he is constantly trying to escape.  The few times he actually does escape, his experience with the outside world is so traumatic that the cartoon ends with him running back to Bubbleland, happy to be back in his tank.  I'm not sure why the folks behind the documentary  Blackfish didn't cover this aquatic theme park, as Squiddly was usually mistreated more than Shamu ever was.   His tank was much too small as well.

Twenty-six Squiddly Diddly cartoons were produced as part of the Atom Ant / Secret Squirrel show.  Squiddly didn't make much of an impression on the general populace.   There was very little Squiddly merchandise and he rarely made other appearances in comic books and the like.  Squiddly later appeared on the Yogi's Gang series, but after that his career was pretty much all washed up.  
Squiddly Diddly's cartoons are repetitious and unfunny.  In addition, his voice is annoying and his personality is... squid-like.  Below is a typical Squiddley Diddley cartoon.  About two minutes in, you'll want to raise all eight of your arms and scream "I Surrender!"

Squiddly Diddly 08 Squid On The Skids

 

A rare piece of Squiddly Diddly merchandise - and an album that has recently regained a cult following.  Serach Youtube and you can find the tracks to all the songs....  If you dare...

Bonus cartoon! Safety Second

I can't think of a better way to celebrate July Fourth than with random cartoon violence.   So, with that, I give you "Safety Second" a Tom and Jerry cartoon from 1950, directed by Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera.  Not one of the better Tom and Jerry's.  The subject matter kept this one off of TV for quite some time.   Enjoy!  



Tom and Jerry - Safety Second cartoon TJ by takuyamiyata