| Huckleberry Hound | |
|---|---|
| The Huckleberry Hound Show character | |
 | |
| First appearance | Huckleberry Hound Meets Wee Willie (1958) |
| Created by | |
| Voiced by |
|
| In-universe information | |
| Nickname | Huck |
| Species | Dog |
| Gender | Male |
| Occupation | Folk ballad singer |
| Musical instrument | |
Huckleberry "Huck"Hound is a fictional cartoon character, a blue dog who speaks with a North Carolina accent. He first appeared in the seriesThe Huckleberry Hound Show. The cartoon was one of six TV shows to win anEmmy Award in1960[8] as aPrimetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Children's Program;[9] the first animated series to receive such an award.[10]
In most of his cartoons he has different jobs, with results that backfire, yet usually coming out on top, either through slow persistence or sheer luck. He has been a Romangladiator, a medieval knight, a dogcatcher, a policeman and arocket scientist. He also appears in futuristic cartoons, as an intergalactic space policeman, alongside otherHanna-Barbera characters. His off-key and inaccurate rendition of "Oh My Darling, Clementine" was often used as arunning gag.[11]
In 1953,Tex Avery created a character known as the Southern Wolf (later Dixie Wolf inThe Tom & Jerry Show) for hisMGM cartoonsThe Three Little Pups andBilly Boy.[citation needed] Introduced as an antagonist toDroopy, the wolf had a southern drawl and laid-back mannerisms provided byDaws Butler.[citation needed] The most memorable trait of the character was that whenever something painful or unpleasant happened to him, the Wolf never lost his cool; instead, he calmly talked to the audience or kept whistling the song "Year of Jubilo".[citation needed] After Avery left MGM,William Hanna andJoseph Barbera produced two more shorts with the character.[citation needed] In two of his cartoons (Billy Boy andBlackboard Jumble), the wolf plays a role that was exactly like a usual Huckleberry Hound short, aside from his frequent use of slang, and the echo-like repetition of words he had only inBilly Boy.[citation needed]Sheep Wrecked was the wolf's final appearance.[citation needed]
Huck's name is a reference to the 1884 American novelAdventures of Huckleberry Finn, written byMark Twain. Hanna and Barbera almost namedYogi Bear "Huckleberry Bear".[12]
He was voiced in the original cartoons in 1958 by Daws Butler, who had given a similar voice and characterization to the dog characters Reddy inThe Ruff and Reddy Show and Smedley inWalter Lantz'sChilly Willy shorts. The voice for Huck was actually inspired by a neighbor of Butler's wife, Myrtis Martin, in her hometownAlbemarle, North Carolina. Butler would visit Myrtis and her family and would talk to the neighbor who was aveterinarian. Butler found the man's voice amusing and remembered it when it came time to voice Huck.[13][11] The voice bore similarities to that ofAndy Griffith, who likewise based his character accent on a rural North Carolina town (in Griffith's case,Mount Airy), and Hanna-Barbera was known for its characters' voices beingparodies of known celebrities; Butler, who had been using the accent for about a decade before Griffith became famous, denied this rumor.[12]
FollowingThe Huckleberry Hound Show Huck appeared inThe Yogi Bear Show episode "Yogi's Birthday Party" where he and the others help celebrate Yogi Bear's birthday.[14] He later made a cameo in theTop Cat episode "King for a Day", in a comic cover along with Yogi.[15] Following a decade hiatus, Huck reunites with Yogi,Boo-Boo,Snagglepuss,Quick Draw McGraw,Magilla Gorilla and others traveling around America in the half-hour seriesYogi's Gang. Debuting in 1973, the characters traveled in a ship calledYogi's Ark, which resemblesNoah's Ark with a helicopter propeller added, solving problems including Mr. Waste's pollution, Mr. Bigot's bigotry, and other various issues.[16][12]
Huckleberry appeared as a member of "The Yogi Yahooeys" team onScooby's All-Star Laff-A-Lympics from 1977 to 1979.[17] TheGalaxy Goof-Ups segment of the 1978 seriesYogi's Space Race featured new characters Captain Snerdley, Scare Bear, and Quack-Up the Duck with returnees Huck and Yogi, traveling through space to multiple planets in a race throughout the galaxy. The one episode ofYogi's Space Race also reveals Huck's origin inMemphis, Tennessee.[18] The series soon split off to its own half-hour program where Huck, Yogi, Scare Bear, and Quack-Up are bumbling intergalactic police officers.[16][12]
In 1979, Huck appeared alongside Yogi and the gang inCasper's First Christmas, in which they meetCasper the Friendly Ghost and Hairy Scary fromCasper and the Angels.[19][16] The following year,Yogi's First Christmas featured Huck and others helping Yogi Bear prevent Jellystone Lodge's owner from tearing it down.[20][16] InYogi Bear's All Star Comedy Christmas Caper (1982), Huck drives in avan, bringing Snagglepuss,Hokey Wolf, Quick Draw McGraw,Augie Doggie and Doggie Daddy, andSnooper and Blabber to Jellystone Park, before discovering that Yogi and Boo-Boo have escaped to a department store.[21]
The syndicated seriesThe Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera included a segment in 1985 calledYogi's Treasure Hunt; Huckleberry appeared alongside characters including Yogi and Boo-Boo,Ranger Smith, Quick Draw McGraw, Snagglepuss,Dick Dastardly andMuttley, and Top Cat.[12] This show also debuted Huck's superhero alter-ego called "Huckle Hero".[citation needed] In 1987, Huck appeared in thetelevision filmYogi Bear and the Magical Flight of the Spruce Goose, traveling around the world, saving animals and fending off the Dread Baron and Mumbly.[17]
Huck's return to the spotlight was in theWestern television filmThe Good, the Bad, and Huckleberry Hound (1988),[12] where he is portrayed as a reluctant town sheriff who attempts to outwit the menacingDalton Gang and falls in love with a Native American girl named Desert Flower, for whom he performs a different song "By the Light of the Silvery Moon".[22] The same year, Huck was originally slated to make a cameo in the 1988 filmWho Framed Roger Rabbit.[23]
In theWake, Rattle, and Roll (1990) segment,Fender Bender 500, Huck teams up with Snagglepuss in theirmonster truck called "Half Dog, Half Cat, Half Track" throughout the racecourses.[17] The following year, Huck appeared as a teenager in the 1991 seriesYo Yogi!, voiced byGreg Berg. One of his enemies, Wee Willie, was also featured as an adolescent, vocalized byRob Paulsen.[17] In 1997, Huck, along with other Hanna-Barbera characters includingFred Flintstone,Barney Rubble,Wilma Flintstone,Betty Rubble, Yogi Bear,Scooby-Doo andGeorge Jetson, made appearances in the live showHanna-Barbera Gala Celebrity Nite at the Australian amusement parkWonderland Sydney in 1997.Keith Scott provided the voices of all the characters (except Wilma and Betty) including Huck himself.[24]
On June 11, 2000,Cartoon Network aired a short film called "Sound Hound" as part of a series of short animations called "Cartoon Network Shorties" that would eventually be moved with the short musical animations known as "Cartoon Network Groovies" to its other channel devoted to old classics,Boomerang. The short features Huckleberry as the lead character. Attempting to sing his signature song "Oh My Darling, Clementine", he is repeatedly interrupted by the sounds ofNew York City, likecar horns,jackhammers, andbirds, and a visibly irritated Huckleberry zips a radio host's mouth closed, interrupts a man and woman's phone calls, and silences two teenagers rocking in acar, all rendered withcutout animation. As he finally begins to sing, all the people he silenced begin to scream in agony, due to his singing being so terribly loud.[25]
Huck appears in the seriesJellystone!, voiced byJim Conroy,[26] as themayor of Jellystone, withMr. Jinks serving as hispersonal assistant.[27] His voice in the series is more based on children's television hostFred Rogers. Huck is confirmed to begay in the Season 3 episode "Disco Fever".[28]
In terms of guest appearances, Huck made a cameo appearance in theAnimaniacs segment "Suffragette City",[29] and in 2000, appeared inThe Simpsons episode "Behind the Laughter", voiced byKarl Wiedergott.[30] Near the end of the episode, he confesses: "I was sogay, but I couldn't tell anyone".[31] Huck briefly appeared in aMetLife commercial that aired in 2012,[32] and in 2023, made several cameos in theTeen Titans Go! episode "Warner Bros. 100th Anniversary".
Outstanding program achievement in the field of children's programming
