| The Quick Draw McGraw Show | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre | Western |
| Created by | |
| Written by |
|
| Directed by |
|
| Voices of | |
| Narrated by |
|
| Composer | Hoyt Curtin |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | American English |
| No. of seasons | 3 |
| No. of episodes | 45 (135 segments)(list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Producers |
|
| Running time | 22 minutes (7 minutes per segment) |
| Production company | Hanna-Barbera Productions |
| Original release | |
| Network | First-run syndication |
| Release | September 28, 1959 (1959-09-28) – October 20, 1961 (1961-10-20) |
The Quick Draw McGraw Show is an American animated cartoon television series produced byHanna-Barbera Productions, and their third television series overall afterThe Ruff and Reddy Show andThe Huckleberry Hound Show. Voice actorDaws Butler performed the show's title character,Quick Draw McGraw.[1]
The show debuted insyndication on September 28, 1959,[2] ending its run on October 20, 1961, and was sponsored byKellogg's. The series featured three cartoons per episode, with Quick Draw and his sidekickBaba Looey appearing in the first segment, father and son dog duoAugie Doggie and Doggie Daddy in the second, and cat and mouse detectivesSnooper and Blabber in the third.[3] There were also "bumpers," mini-cartoons between the main cartoons that featured Quick Draw and other main characters on the show.
Michael Maltese wrote the stories of all the episodes.Screen Gems, the television division at the time ofColumbia Pictures, originally syndicated the series. It ran onSaturday mornings onCBS for three seasons, 1963-66.
Quick Draw (voiced byDaws Butler) was usually depicted as asheriff in these short films set in theAmerican Old West. Quick Draw was often accompanied by hisdeputy, a Mexicanburro calledBaba Looey (also voiced by Butler).[4] Although technically thesidekick, ordeputy, to the main character ofSheriff Quick Draw, Baba Looey is often portrayed as the more thoughtful half of the duo; at times realizing some detail about a given situation and trying desperately without success to caution Quick Draw of a trap or other danger. The exchange would always go as follows: Baba Looey would see a fatal flaw in Quick Draw's plan, and begin voicing a warning such as "I don' thin' we should be doing...", to which Quick Draw would angrily interrupt with his frequentcatchphrase, "I'll do the 'thin'in' around here and don't you forget it!" His plans would then go disastrously wrong, and Quick Draw would be forced to realize he should have listened to Baba Looey.
Quick Draw was assisted in some cartoons by his bloodhoundSnuffles (voiced by Butler), who refused to work until he was given a dog biscuit, after which he would hug himself and spring into the air, floating back down to Earth.[5]
Quick Draw spent a number of cartoons as hisalter ego, the masked El Kabong, who used a guitar (a "Kabonger") to bash bad guys into submission. WriterMichael Maltese said the character was inspired by actorDouglas Fairbanks, Sr. asZorro.[6]
A youngdog named Augie Doggie (voiced byDaws Butler) and his father Doggie Daddy (voiced byDoug Young impersonatingJimmy Durante) have different misadventures in their life.[3]
A detectivecat named Super Snooper (voiced byDaws Butler impersonatingEd Gardner as the character Archie from the radio showDuffy's Tavern) and his sidekick BlabberMouse (also voiced by Butler, originally voiced by Los Angeles radio announcer Elliot Field) work for the Super Snooper Detective Agency solving mysteries and catching criminals.[3] In several cartoons, the duo had a private secretary named Hazel (voiced byJean Vander Pyl with a Southern accent), who was never seen on screen.
| Season | Segments | Episodes | Originally released | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First released | Last released | ||||
| 1 | 78 | 26 | September 28, 1959 (1959-09-28)[7] | March 21, 1960 (1960-03-21) | |
| 2 | 39 | 13 | September 10, 1960 (1960-09-10)[8] | December 3, 1960 (1960-12-03) | |
| 3 | 18 | 6 | September 15, 1961 (1961-09-15) | October 20, 1961 (1961-10-20) | |
Season sets of the series for theHanna-Barbera Classics Collection label were originally announced byWarner Bros. for release in 2006, but were later cancelled due to the poor condition of the masters as well as the music rights issues. In 2006, a Warner spokesperson said of the DVDs, "They were pulled because significantremastering work needed to be researched."[9] Four episodes are available on DVD, the first two episodes onSaturday Morning Cartoons 1960s: Vol. One and the other two onSaturday Morning Cartoons 1960s: Vol. Two.
On the July 26, 1990, broadcast ofThe Howard Stern Show, executive producerGary Dell'Abate was talking about the animation cels that he buys and collects. When attempting to say 'Quick Draw and Baba Looey', he accidentally said 'Quick Draw and Baba Booey'. He said later that talking about it would last a few hours. But since then, hundreds of 'Baba Booey' song parodies have been played onThe Howard Stern Show. In addition, 'Baba Booey' was often yelled out during live news broadcasts. Until recently, it was also frequently yelled at golf tournaments after the ball was struck.[10][11]
