The Smokey Bear Show
The Smokey Bear Show is an American-Japanese animated television series that aired on ABC's Saturday morning schedule, produced by Rankin/Bass Productions. The show features Smokey Bear, the icon of the United States Forest Service, who was well known for his 1947 slogan, "Remember... only YOU can prevent forest fires". It aired for one season of 17 episodes starting on September 6, 1969, and then aired in reruns for the 1970–1971 season. "The Smokey Bear Show" was based on stories created for the Dell Comics "Smokey the Bear" comic books, which were published as  part of Dell's "Four Color" anthology series from 1955 to 1961. The comic featured anthropomorphic animals acting out fables of carelessness and greed, including a story about two bears who are Communist spies, and another about two cynical weasels who want to feed a baby bird to a bobcat in order to sell pictures of the "tragedy" to a magazine. The series adapted the comic's tales for the show, but toned down some of the morbid content. It did not garner high ratings. American broadcaster and voice-over artist Jackson Weaver performed the voice for the adult Smokey ; the cub Smokey was voiced by Canadian actress Billie Mae Richards. Other voices were provided by Carl Banas and Paul Soles. The series' animation was outsourced to Japanese studio Toei Doga (now known as Toei Animation), who were also responsible for their overseas animation work on "The King Kong Show" (its international co-production with Rankin/Bass) in 1966, "The Wacky World of Mother Goose" in 1967, and the Thanksgiving special "The Mouse on the Mayflower" in 1968. Previously, Rankin/Bass produced a "General Electric Fantasy Hour" television special for NBC in 1966, "The Ballad of Smokey the Bear", which  featured their trademark stop-motion animation called "Animagic". While the character is often referred to in popular culture as "Smokey the Bear" (including in the Dell Comics series), the correct name is "Smokey Bear", which is reflected in the cartoon's title and the spinoff Gold Key Comics series. Opening. The theme song tells a brief summary of the bear's history: he was saved as a cub from a forest fire in New Mexico by a ranger, who named him Smokey and brought him to Washington, D.C. There, he became a ranger, and we see him don a ranger  hat and grab his trusty shovel as he grows to a full size, adult bear. Traveling through the city in a parade, he heads for the woods with an important job to do. This reflects the true story of a real bear cub who was rescued from the May 1950 Capitan Gap Fire in New Mexico. That cub was named Smokey after the already existing ad campaign, which began in 1944. New Mexico Department of Game and Fish Ranger Ray Bell and his family adopted the cub, and nursed him back to health, with the help of a veterinarian. The  story was picked up by the national news service, and upon regaining his health, the bear was taken to the National Zoo in Washington and designated the "living symbol" of Smokey Bear. Description. Each episode contains three cartoons: two featuring Smokey as an adult bear, with the middle cartoon showing Smokey in his cub days titled "Smokey Bear's Album." Smokey lives in the forest with his neighbors: Floyd the fox, Benny the rabbit, Bessie the pig, Hiram the snake, Mayor Owl, Freddy Fume, the skunk, Smokey's cousin Griz, and Gabby the mountain lion. He often has to remind  his friends about the principles of fire safety, and the show also stresses other conservation themes. Comic books. As a tie-in for the cartoon, Gold Key Comics published another "Smokey Bear" comic book series, this time a quarterly beginning with an issue dated February 1970. 13 issues were published, ending in March 1973. In these stories, Smokey was aided by a coyote deputy named Clem. His TV show friends Bessie Pig, Benny Bunny and Mayor Owl appeared in the comic, along with Mr. and Mrs. Grizzly, Luke and Seth Coyote, Floyd Fox, Mayor Owl's niece Olivia, Lionel Lion  and Sammy Skunk. Cast. The voice cast included: