Hoppity Hooper

"Hoppity Hooper" was an animated television series produced by Jay Ward in 1964, originally broadcast on ABC (1964-67) and later syndicated under the name "Uncle Waldo's Cartoon Show."

Series premise

The recurring characters were Hoppity Hooper, a frog, voiced by Chris Allen, "Uncle" Waldo P. Wigglesworth, a fox, voiced by Hans Conried; Fillmore, a bear, voiced by Bill Scott; and the narrator, Paul Frees. Fillmore, as in the picture at right, often blew on his bugle, producing loud, sour notes.

The stories revolved around the three main characters 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 two series episodes. Interspersed were recycled second features from the earlier series "Rocky and His Friends" & "The Bullwinkle Show" and "Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales" (the latter not produced by Ward but animated by the same company, Gamma Productions), like "Peabody's Improbable History", "Fractured Fairy Tales", "Mr. Know-It-All", and "The World of Commander McBragg".

One of the best-remembered stories is "The Traffic Zone," a parody of "The Twilight Zone" in which the characters were transformed into vegetables.

Another episode featured this exchange:

* "British gent:" "My name is Baddeley-Bent with a hyphen."
* "Hoppity:" "Gee, that's too bad."
* "Hoppity lived in Foggy Bogg, Wisconsin.

Data

The first two episodes were produced in 1960, and featured Alan Reed as Fillmore. The series wasn't picked up for broadcast until September 1964, and by that time Reed was unavailable, because of his commitment with another ABC animated TV series, "The Flintstones", as the voice of Fred Flintstone. Therefore, Bill Scott was named to do the voice of Fillmore.

The series was broadcasted by ABC from September 12, 1964 to September 4, 1965. ABC continued to air reruns until September 2, 1967. The series was syndicated to local television stations through the 1970s and 1980s.

52 episodes, each containing two "Hoppity Hooper" shorts, were made.

Episodes

*Ring a Ding Spring
*Rock 'n' Roll Star
*Diamond Mine
*Costra Nostra
*Giant of Hoot 'n' Holler
*Detective Agency
*Olympic Star
*Ghost
*The Masked Martin
*Jumping Frog Contest
*The Traffic Zone
*Wottabango Corn Elixir
*Frog Prince of Monomania
*Colonel Clabber--Limburger Cheese Statue
*The Giant Cork
*Ferkle to Hawaii
*Hallowe'en
*Christmas
*Horse Race Follies
*Jack and the Beanstalk
*Granny's Gang
*Golf Tournament
*The Hopeless Diamond
*The Dragon of Eubetchia
*Rare Butterfly Hunt
*Oil's Well at Oasis Gardens
*Wonder Water
*

taff

*Producers: Jay Ward, Bill Scott
*Directors: Pete Burness, Bill Hurtz, Lew Keller ( uncredited: Gerard Baldwin, pilot episode )
*Writers: Chris Jenkyns, Bill Scott
*Film Editor: Skip Craig
*Designers: Sam Clayberger, Roy Morita, Shirley Silvey
*Animation by Gamma Productions S.A. de C.V.
*Production Director: Harvey Siegel
*Associate Director: Jaime Torres V.
*Animation Supervisor: Sam S. Kei
*Layout Supervisor: Joe Montell
*Executive Producer: Ponsonby Britt, O.B.E.
*A Jay Ward Productions
*In Association with Producers Associates of Television, inc. (Peter Peitch, executive producer)

Voices

*Chris Allen - Hoppity Hooper
*Hans Conried - Waldo Wigglesworth
*Alan Reed [pilot episode] and Bill Scott - Fillmore Bear
*Paul Frees [eps. 1-50] and William Conrad [eps. 51-52] - Narrator

Releases

"Hoppity Hooper" was released in two separate volumes on VHS in the early 90s. Volume One found its way to DVD in 2001 but as of 2008, Volume Two has never been released to DVD.