Separated at Mirth: Bears Repeating (a Gag)!

What could a "Smarter Than the Average Bear" possibly have in common with a "Bear of Very Little Brain"?  

Not much, I'll grant you, but they DO have a Mirth Separation over Honey (or "Hunny") and the not-so-safe transport of same!  

Consider the "sidekick's delight" on the covers of YOGI BEAR # 14 (Gold Key Comics, Cover Date: October, 1963)...

...And WINNIE-THE-POOH #21 (Whitman Comics, Cover Date: October, 1980 - more-or-less 17 years apart)!  

When you set them in reverse chronological order, they're even WALKING TOWARD one another! 

And with all four characters in the correct proportions to one another!  Tallest to shortest: Yogi, Pooh, Boo Boo (almost neck-and-neck), and Piglet!  

Ya think one bear might tip off the other?  You know like the "Brotherhood of Fellow Bears", or something like that?  ..."Code of the Bears", if you will?  

Or maybe Yogi and Pooh are too taken with visions of Honey (or "Hunny") to notice... and Boo Boo and Piglet will just wink at each other!  

The branch-bearing bears might even obliviously walk into each other, and ask directions back to Jellystone Park and/or the Hundred-Acre Wood.  After all, ONE OF THEM would be seriously out of place.  ...Probably lost because they didn't heed their perpetually-worrying sidekicks!  

Well, regardless of WHO's headed WHERE, we have YOGI BEAR # 14 and WINNIE-THE-POOH #21 simultaneously "together" while "SEPARATED" AT MIRTH! 

Separated at Mirth: To Each His Hitchhiking-Own: Gold Key AND Dell Style!

When I was a car-less teenager, all the kids used to hitchhike to get to the mall, beach, movies, etc.  

Even I went along with it once or twice, reluctantly - as a sort of "Boo Boo to a Yogi-like friend"!

"I know, Boo Boo, we'll go HITCHHIKING!" 

 

But that was long before I began to fight for better bus service in my county, and things were like this...

Versus the far better system we have now.  

Hicksville-bound busses... then and now!

We lived more dangerously back in the early 1970s, and I'm glad to see that the practice has all but vanished in the decades since.  

But hitchhiking was in full force among Long Island's youth when BUGS BUNNY #125 (Gold Key Comics, Cover Date: September, 1969) was released!

And, in December, 1967, long before I ever imagined indulging in such a potentially dangerous method of travel (reluctantly, of course, because I was one of the "good kids"), there was also UNCLE SCROOGE # 73 (Gold Key Comics, Cover Date: February, 1968), hitchhiking with his own preferred mode of transportation!  

Despite each character displaying his own particular fetishism (be it carrots or money), what we have here - you guessed it - is a hitchhiking SEPARATION AT MIRTH!  

Similar layouts with the main character "large, close, and at left" and the approaching vehicle further back and at right.  

Of course, these were both 1960s Gold Key reprint covers so that means there were Dell antecedents for each... and here they are!  

BUGS BUNNY #36 (Dell Comics, Cover Date: April-May, 1954)  

UNCLE SCROOGE #32 (Dell Comics, Cover Date: December, 1960 - February, 1961)

Bugs Bunny covers are by Ralph Heimdahl.  Uncle Scrooge covers are by Carl Barks.  

As we hope our beloved characters reach their intended destination safely - and that each gets what he wants from their respective approaching vehicles -  we give a great big "Thumbs-Up" (...or should that be THUMBS-OUT") to another installment of Separated At Mirth!  

EXTRA HITCHHIKING BEAGLE-BONUS!

Here are the covers of BEAGLE BOYS #11 and #17, each with an appropriate hitchhiking gag!

And even another Separated at Mirth!

Beagle Boys covers are by Pete Alvarado.  

Gotta love the gag-symmetry: Hitchhiker - Armored Car - Armored Car - Hitchhikers! 

Lah Dee-Dah!

Today's entertainment comes to us through the courtesy of our talented friend Austin Kelly, who has produced, among many other delightful and informative videos on animation and animators, this compilation of the frightfully underrated work of Michael Lah in the earliest days of Hanna-Barbera (known at the time simply as "HB Enterprises"). 

Among other biographical notes, Michael Lah was an animator in Tex Avery's unit at MGM, became a director with Avery's departure, and was Bill Hanna's brother in law!  

His lively and spirited work (all the more amazing within the limitations of Hanna and Barbera's newfangled "planned animation") made many a cartoon from the first season of THE HUCKLEBERRY HOUND SHOW (1958) that much more memorable.  

Among them "Pie Pirates"...

..."Cousin Tex"... 

...and "Lion Tamer Huck"!  

One final observation on the video you are about to see... Lots of folks can edit together a video compilation.  The extra step of genius in what Austin does here is set it to appropriate HOYT CURTIN (later and very familiar) Hanna-Barbera music cues, vs. the stock music that was used in the original cartoons before a "regular composer" could be worked into the budgets.  

So, you've literally never seen this familiar animation set to these familiar cues!  

Take it away, Austin and Michael Lah...  HERE!

Austin also has a YouTube channel, to which I've subscribed.  If you like Warner Bros. and early Hanna-Barbera cartoons, and want to know more about the folks who made them so great, you should all do the same!  

...And do it quick before an animated Lah-lion gets you! 

Adventures in Comic-Boxing: Yogi's "Behind" in This Debate!

Today's "Bear-ish Debate", over whether or not Cindy Bear should join a bathing beauty contest, is brought to you through the... er, um... "courtesy" of YOGI BEAR # 25 (Charlton Comics, Cover Date: April, 1975) - and artist Ray Dirgo!  

(Below:) Perhaps Yogi's "behind" in this debate, but there's no question he's also "on-top of things"...

...And, with the "weight" of wisdom on his (back) side (...he IS "smarter than the av-ver-age bear", after all), he "crushes his opponent flat"! 

Perhaps that's what lead to other "un-bear-buddy-like" Charlton stuff like THIS! 

Ya gotta love the idea that, only in a Charlton Comic, Boo Boo could actually be squashed into something resembling a flattened paper-doll!  

That would never happen in the "more realistic world" of the Dell and Gold Key comics! 

But, I guess it's good that we have them both!  ...Even if Boo Boo disagrees! 

EXTRA:  A BOO BOO BONUS by Charlton: 

Notice how Boo Boo's word "LOOK" has a pair of EYEBALLS!  

Now, there's something you'd NEVER see outside of Charlton! 

...And, that's why Charlton, this truly offbeat publisher, remains so fascinating to this day! 

Adventures in Comic-Boxing: Our Changing Standards of Villainy!

Here's the cover of LOIS LANE # 50 (DC Comics, Cover Date: July, 1964), with Lois acting as our issue's VILLAIN (...as characters in Silver Age DC Comics were often wont to do)!

Ah, but WHAT is it that makes Lois the villain?  Depends on WHEN you ask! 

If you were to ask that question in 1964, it would be her extreme jealously toward Lana Lang, wanting to (as the thought balloon says) "wreck her romance"!  

Why the TITLE EVEN TELLS YOU she's "plotting against poor, innocent, teen-age Lana"!   

But NOW, you have Jerry Springer, Dr. Phil, and a host of reality-competition shows like "The Bachelor" that showcase, if not outright promote, the underhandedly destructive aspects of "romance"!  Today, folks even cheer-on such bad behavior - or go WHOOP-WHOOP just to make their sorry-studio-audience-selves heard!  
 

That would NEVER happen in 1964! 

On the other hand, wearing FUR was quite common at the time of this story, and no one batted an eye at Lois' coat's once-living-now-not source material!  

Just look at that diabolical fur-wearing expression!  She relishes every stitch of that coat! 

Not unlike Cruella De Vil, who was really only regarded as a villain because she wanted a coat made from CUTE LITTLE PUPPIES!  If her desires were merely for mink or fox, as Lois appears to be sporting, Cruella would be kinda okay by 1964 standards!  Even her chain smoking was sorta normal! 

But, today, Lois would clearly be a villain due to her choice of attire!  ...And, I can't say I disagree!

Look out, Li'l Fox!  Big bad Lois is after you!  

Perhaps I'm applying too much hindsight but, even back in the sixties, fur wasn't always good for you...

...Even if you were just an innocent bystander! 

It's a good thing this didn't happen to CLARK KENT, with Lois' fur coat...

...One bite might have exposed him as Superman... 

(...At least her COAT is made of CLOTH!)

...or worse, just plain "exposed him" to something like this! 

YEOW!

Note that, even here, "Villain Lois" is wearing fur! 

Adventures in Comic-Boxing: "Boo Boo Runs Wild - The Prequels" and "Woodsman, WHERE'S that Tree?"

"Boo Boo Runs Wild" was a... (Ahem!) rather unforgettable cartoon produced by noted cartoon creator John Kricfalusi for (what was once) Cartoon Network in 1999!

In it, Yogi Bear's kind and gentle sidekick, Boo Boo Bear, snaps and commits one bizarre atrocity after another! 

But, did you know that dear sweet Boo Boo showed unusually sadistic and anti-social tendencies many years before? 

"Uh, shouldn't that be a book on Abnormal Psycho-cology, Boo Boo?" 

Perhaps it was justified after years of stuff like this...

But, kind and even-keeled Boo Boo never let it get any more out-of-control than occasional mild pranks!

After all, more often than not, Yogi was quite benevolent to his bitty-bear-buddy! 

At least until 1970, when Charlton Comics began publishing their own "alternate universe" version of YOGI BEAR! 

 Yeah, my reaction was not unlike Yogi's above! 

Perhaps it was the strain of appearing in these spectacularly bad comics that pushed Boo Boo over the edge for the first time... If so, who could blame him?! 

But, check out these two examples of Charlton's interpretation of Boo Boo Bear, and decide for yourselves...  As always, Click to Enlarge! 

Really, Boo Boo?  Yogi should have taken your warning, but "being right" hardly justifies this!  

In this case, at least, he was passive... Inappropriately morbid, but passive!  ...But, then there was this!

If your heart hasn't stopped yet, we can dolly-in for a closer view of Boob's wanton cruelty!  ...Some "thrill", eh? 

Just look the expression of JOY as harm befalls his "bestest-bear-buddy"!  And that's the END of the gag!!! 

SHOCKING!  But, perhaps "not shocking" for Charlton!  Oh, sooo often, they just really didn't get it!  

Even John Kricfalusi "got it" more than Charlton... and he produced THIS!  

And made the characters look like THIS...

But, at least he never made 'em look like THIS!  ...Eeesh!  

BONUS BIZARRE CHARLTON ARTIFACT: 

The GAG is "nothing to write home about" and neither is the ART, though instead of "home", it DID make me consider "writing my congressman"!  

But, look at the first four panels of Yogi and Boo Boo... Then, check out the FIFTH PANEL where a TREE just seems to appear out of nowhere to help "pull-off" the tepid gag!  ...If you ask me, our old friend artist Ray Dirgo should have been "pulled-off" these comics!  (...But, given an equivalent assignment that was more in line with his unique artistic stylings!  ...We never call for people's jobs around here!)  Remember, even creators you may not care for are PEOPLE too!  

That said, a more skilled artist would have at least "set up" the tree in any of those previous panels!  

But, there is NOTHING overhead, or even behind, Yogi and Boo Boo until the tree materializes to punctuate a gag that needed "punch" far more than "punctuation"! 

Forget "A Change of Mind", what we needed was a CHANGE of ARTIST, and a change of WRITER... or dare I say a change of PUBLISHER!  Yes, I dare! (...While simultaneously not calling for anyone's jobs, because, unlike certain Internet trolls, we just don't do that 'round here!)

But, to give the (deservedly) underappreciated Mr. Dirgo some due... 

I doubt even the great Harvey Eisenberg...

...Would have had the audacity to try an unorthodox angle like THIS!  

And, precisely because of such wonderfully painful things like this, Charlton will always hold a special place in the annals of "Comic-Box Adventuring"!