Oh My Darling. Oh My Darling, Oh My Darling Huckleberry.

Well, now to talk about my thoughts on Huckleberry Hound and the supporting segments.

I have to say I consider Huck the funniest funny animal from H-B. He may not have been the brightest, but he always defeated his adversaries in humorous ways. I liked seeing one who could be a Mountie in one episode, and a truant officer in another. He was just the perfect one for comedy. And I can't forget him singing "Clementine" most of the time. Though I often wonder why he chose a song with a tragic ending.

"Pixie, Dixie, and Mr. Jinks" took Tom and Jerry one step further by centering around a cat and two mice. And these could talk. Althought "Jinksie" hated the meeces to pieces, he actually went to get them back when they went off to live in a rich cat's mansion.

Another character on the show upstaged Huck, and soon got a show of his own. That was Yogi Bear, but more about him later.

Finally, Hokey Wolf and Ding replaced Yogi. They were good enough for a barrel of laughs. That's all I can say.

Afterwards, aside from "The Good, The Bad, And Huckleberry Hound," Huck merely became a supporting character in subsequent shows.

The Huckleberry Hound Show was shown on ITV here in the UK, starting in 1959, when I was 11. It was the first H-B show I'd seen (I don't know if Ruff 'n' Reddy had aired over here - we got our first TV set in 59, but I hadn't seen it on friends or relations TVs) and I loved it! (Eventually I fell out of love with H-B, but I'll mention that when your chronological list gets there!) In the write-up in the TV Times (ITV's listing mag) I remember they highlighted Mr Jinks' particular character trait - he was a method actor! (i.e. he said "like, er.." constantly, as if improvising his dialogue!)

One curious connection that I've noticed is that Charles "Daws" Butler gave voice to Huckleberry Hound, and as far as I can tell, added Huck's signature tune of "Clementine" almost as part of his introductory walk cycle. Likewise, Daws Butler gave voice to the earlier character of Fred "Tex" Avery's Southern wolf, and also added the wolf's singular whistling of "Kingdom Comin'" as part of that character's ambling cycle.

Now, Daws Butler was born and raised in Ohio, so he had no real experience with Southern culture and mannerisms. His additions of these traits to these two characters, then, must be largely hearsay, guesswork and hyperbole. Let me point to "Blackboard Jumble" as an example: in this cartoon, Tex's Southern wolf whistles "Kingdom Comin'" which is a song about plantation slaves realizing that they're suddenly free men because their taskmasters have abandoned their property as indefensible against the advancing Union Army. However, when the three pups fingerpaint a Confederate flag minus the nine stars on a canvas as part of their art class, Tex's wolf takes no offense. In fact, the wolf even points out that the flag is missing the nine stars, which triggers the next Tex Avery gag. * ouch *

Similarly, happy-go-lucky Huckleberry Hound sings the first stanza of "Clementine" as one of his character traits. Let me speculate that, like the whistling of "Kingdom Comin'" mentioned earlier, Daws Butler was unaware of the context of the tune, and introduced it simply because it had an easygoing nuance which dovetailed nicely with Huck's demeanor. In short, Daws added the tunes purely for their melody, not for their lyrics.

I think OUB's point was that Butler had little or no awareness of a deeper Southern culture when establishing the Southern character voices. He just did what he recognised as "Southern".

How much input he had in the vocal tricks of the characters is debatable, but some evolution is to be expected in establishing a character's vocal characterisation, especially with Hanna-Barbera where the voices were going to have to carry more of the personality than the limited animation could provide. Things that Butler threw in as he tried out the voice might have been taken up by Barbera and worked into the dialogue. Of course, in the case of Avery's wolf it might have been writer Heck Allen or Tex himself who suggested 'Jubilo'.

For the record, while "Three Little Pups" was directed by Avery, the other two shorts with the Southern wolf character, Blackboard Jumble and "Sheepwrecked" were actually directed by Michael Lah.

Let's see, there are a total of four MGM cartoons that feature this Southern wolf character, portrayed for the most part as easygoing and slow-witted.

1) The Three Little Pups, directed by "Tex" Avery and produced by Fred Quimby, debuted on Saturday 26 December 1953.
2) Billy Boy, directed by "Tex" Avery and produced by Fred Quimby, debuted on Saturday 8 May 1954. This particular cartoon does not feature Droopy Dog at all, and is the only one of these four cartoons not listed in Droopy's filmography.

During this intervening period, Fred "Tex" Avery left MGM studios. Not long after that, Fred Quimby retired, which left Joe Barbera and Bill Hanna as producers in charge of the entirety of the MGM animation division.

3) Blackboard Jumble, directed by Michael Lah and produced by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, debuted on Friday 4 October 1957.
4) Sheep Wrecked, directed by Michael Lah and produced by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, debuted on Friday 7 February 1958.

I know that when Bill Hanna and Joseph Barbera founded their own cartoon studio, their two voice actor stalwarts were Don Messick and "Daws" Butler. Although there are sources that mention that Joe Barbera was usually the voice director, and quite meticulous in his coaching, I can't envision either Joe Barbera or Bill Hanna keeping these two veteran voice actors under tight leash; their enterprise was too new and too fragile for micromanagement. Let me posit that when "Daws" Butler got a read on the Huckleberry Hound character, he saw a large parallel with the earlier Southern Wolf character from MGM studios, and gave Huck similar voice tics and speech patterns. In my view, Huck's manner of speaking and his approach to situations seem to coordinate very well, which tells me that Daws nailed the Huck character.

As far as I know, there is no certain indicator as to who composed the voice characterization for the Southern Wolf in his first cartoons. But knowing that "Daws" Butler could read a character so well, I'm willing to state that Daws had significant input in the Wolf's development.

Trivia Question 93: In which of these classic movies does the main character wear a Huckleberry Hound mask? A. "Splendor In The Grass." B. "Breakfast At Tiffany's." C. "To Sir , With Love." D. "Beverly Hills Cop."

Right again, Bobby. Great job, and another A for you.