Yippee, Yappee, and Yahooey in “Throne for a Loss” (1966)

From the land of unjustly obscure Hanna-Barbera cartoon series come Yippee, Yappee, and Yahooey.

This “Trio of Musketeers” serves as bumbling guards to their king, and the series was one of the three component parts of THE PETER POTAMUS SHOW (1964-1967).

The Musketeer concept is one that must have interested producers William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, harkening back to their “Tom and Jerry Days” and the run of Musketeer cartoons they did with Tom, Jerry, and Tuffy/Nibbles. Along the way, it would resurface with Snagglepuss and, the imagery would also lend itself to cartoons with Huckleberry Hound and Touché Turtle.

Something that is not immediately apparent – but notable – is that, because it was produced for the third season of THE PETER POTAMUS SHOW (the 1966-1967 television season), “Throne for a Loss” was among the VERY LAST of the “Three-Per-Show” funny-animal short gag TV cartoons that the H-B studio had made their reputation on.

For, in that season, H-B shifted production to heroic adventure series such as SPACE GHOST AND DINO BOY and FRANKENSTEIN JR. AND THE IMPOSSIBLES – and would follow those with THE HERCULIODS, BIRDMAN AND THE GALAXY TRIO, MOBY DICK AND THE MIGHTY MIGHTOR, etc.

When H-B humor series would return, with WACKY RACES, its spin-offs starring Dick Dastardly and Penelope Pitstop, and comedy adventure series like SCOOBY-DOO WHERE ARE YOU, the “Three-Per-Show Funny-Animal” format, that gave us Huckleberry Hound and Yogi Bear, would largely remain a thing of the past.

So, let’s enjoy Doug Young as Yippee, Daws Butler as Yahooey, and Hal Smith as Yappee and the world-weary, put-upon King in “Throne for a Loss” …and close out an era of Hanna-Barbera history at the same time.

Oh, and I just LOVE a pun title like that one!