Hoppity Hooper

Uncle Waldo and His Friends (1961-1963) on ABC, and The Hoppity Hooper Show (1963-1967) on NBC (1963-1966), and ABC (1964-1967) is an American animated television series produced by Jay Ward, and sponsored by General Mills, originally broadcast on ABC on November 9, 1961 (the first 24 episodes for the pilot series only) (and later broadcast on NBC on September 15, 1963). The series was produced by Jay Ward, and Bill Scott, with animation done in Mexico City by Gamma Productions.
==Series premise==
The recurring characters are Hoppity Hooper, a frog, voiced by Chris Allen, Professor Waldo Wigglesworth, a fox, voiced by Hans Conried; Fillmore, a bear wearing Civil War clothes, voiced by Alan Reed (segments 1-4 only), and Bill Scott (segments 3-104 only), and the narrator was voiced by Paul Frees (segments 1-102 only), and William Conrad (segments 101-104 only). Fillmore, as in the picture at right, often blew on his bugle, producing loud, sour notes (mostly due to Waldo standing on Fillmore's foot).
The stories revolved around the three main characters, who lived in Foggy Bogg, Wisconsin, seeking their fortune together, through different jobs or schemes, usually ending in misadventure.
Each story consisted of four short cartoons, one aired at the beginning and end of each episode, with the four-part story shown over two consecutive episodes. Interspersed were recycled second features from the earlier series Peabody's Improbable History, Fractured Fairy Tales, Dudley Do-Right, Bullwinkle's Corner, and Aesop and Son. In later syndicated runs, each four-part story was assembled into a single half-hour episode.
One of the best-remembered stories is "The Traffic Zone," a parody of The Twilight Zone in which the characters were transformed into vegetables.
==Background==
The two part pilot were produced in February 1960, and featured Alan Reed as Fillmore. Production begin on the pilot series, and were picked up for broadcast in November 1961. Production did not begin on the series, and wasn't picked up for broadcast until September 1963, before Rocky and Bullwinkle had ended its run on NBC in 1964, and later on ABC in 1965; and by 1961, and 1963, Reed was committed to the role of Fred Flintstone on The Flintstones and was unavailable, and Bill Scott took over the role; the pilot aired as produced with Reed's voice as the four segments.
The pilot series called The Adventures of Hoppity Hooper, as a segment for Uncle Waldo and His Friends, were broadcast first-run in black-and-white by ABC on their Thursday afternoon schedule (1961-1963), on their Tuesday afternoon schedule (1961-1962), on their Sunday afternoon schedule (1962-1963). The series called The Adventures of Hoppity Hooper, as a segment for The Hoppity Hooper Show, was broadcast first-run in color by NBC on their Sunday evening schedule (1963-1964), on their Sunday afternoon schedule (1964-1965), and on their Saturday morning schedule (1965-1966). The series was also broadcast first-run in color by ABC on their Saturday morning schedule (1964-1967). The series was broadcast re-runs in color by ABC on their Sunday morning schedule (1966-1975), and by NBC on their Saturday morning schedule (1983-1984). The series was also syndicated to local television stations under the title "Uncle Waldo's Cartoon Show", beginning in 1963.
==Episodes==
Over the course of three seasons, 52 episodes were broadcast with two segments of Hoppity Hooper each. With two exceptions (as noted), each story line consisted of four episodes (or four shorts - making 27 stories told over 104 segments).
===Pilots===
Over the course of two seasons, 24 episodes were broadcast with two segments of Hoppity Hooper. Each story line consisted of four episodes (or four shorts - making 12 stories told over 48 segments).
==Production==
*Producers: Jay Ward, Bill Scott
*Directors: Pete Burness, Bill Hurtz, Lew Keller
*Writers: Chris Jenkyns, Bill Scott
*Film Editor: Skip Craig
*Designers: Sam Clayberger, Roy Morita, and Shirley Silvey
*Animation by Gamma Productions S.A. de C.V.
*Production Director: Harvey Siegel
*Assistant Director: Jaime Torres
*Animation Supervisor: Sam S. Kai
*Layout Supervisor: Joe Montell
*Executive Producers: Peter Piech, Ponsonby Britt
*A Jay Ward Production
*In association with Producers Associates of Television, Inc.
==Voice cast==
*Chris Allen - Hoppity Hooper
*Hans Conried - Professor Waldo Wigglesworth
*Alan Reed (eps. 1-2), and Bill Scott (eps. 2-52) – Fillmore Bear
*Paul Frees (eps. 1-51), and William Conrad (eps. 51-52) – Narrator
==Home media==
Hoppity Hooper was released in compilations on CED Videodisc in the early 1980's by RCA.
In the early-to-mid 1990's, the boxed set were released on VHS, Betamax, and LaserDisc by Walt Disney Home Video.
===Grey market releases===
Years after the Walt Disney releases ended, another series of Hoppity Hooper VHS videotape cassettes were released both separately and as a boxed set. However, these were released through Kids Klassics Home Video, and were not authorized by Ward Productions. The copies used were from 16mm The Hoppity Hooper Show prints. Some other companies also released unauthorized editions of Hoppity Hooper, including Nostalgia Family Video, which also released all of The Hoppity Hooper Show package shows via 16mm The Hoppity Hooper Show prints, and Bridgestone Multimedia Group, which released as Uncle Waldo and His Friends using an old broadcast 16mm print.
From 2001 to 2003, Jay Ward Productions produced DVDs of the three seasons of The Hoppity Hooper Show. In 2002, Jay Ward Productions established a partnership with Classic Media called Bullwinkle Studios. Releases then stalled until 2008, when pilot season 1 for Uncle Waldo and His Friends was released. Pilot season 2 for Uncle Waldo and His Friends, and The Complete Series for The Hoppity Hooper Show were released in 2009. The three seasons of The Hoppity Hooper Show were distributed by Sony Wonder, while pilot seasons 1, and 2 for Uncle Waldo and His Friends, and The Complete Series for The Hoppity Hooper Show sets are currently distributed by Genius Products, and Vivendi Entertainment. The Complete Series was re-released on DVD again in 2017, by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment.
In 2003, Sony Wonder, Genius Products, and the partnership with Classic Media, and Bullwinkle Studios released a series of best of DVD compilations of popular segments of the series, plus volumes. These compilations contain episodes from the entire run of the show.
In 2008, Mill Creek Entertainment released episodes 1-6 and episodes 8-11 as part of their "Giant 600 Cartoon Collection". They also re-released these episodes as part of the "Super 300 Cartoon Collection" in 2009. Also in 2008, Mill Creek released the first 6 episodes under their 200 Classic Cartoons: Collectors Edition label.
==In other media==
===Comics===
A syndicated daily newspaper comic strip titled Hoppity Hooper began on July 13, 1964, with original stories drawn by Al Kilgore. It was syndicated by the United Feature Syndicate/North American Newspaper Alliance, and ended in 1967.
Hoppity Hooper stories were published by Four Color Comics (1962).
Hoppity Hooper comic books were published by Dell Publishing/Dell Comics (1962-1964), Western Publishing/Golden Books/Golden Press/Whitman Publishing/Gold Key Comics/Whitman Comics (1962-1982), Anderson Press (1964-1982), Charlton Comics (1972-1973), Blackthorne Publishing (1989-1990), Malibu Comics (1989-1991), and Marvel Comics (1989-1994). All were called Hoppity Hooper. The comics, although for children, did contain numerous references spoofing issues such as celebrity worship or the politics of the 1980s.
From 2015 to 2017, IDW Publishing with DreamWorks Classics and Bullwinkle Studios released comics of Hoppity Hooper.
From 2019 to 2022, American Mythology Productions released comics of Hoppity Hooper and it was written by Todd Livingston.