To Tell the Truth - William Hanna (1975) 

Nipsey asked good questions. He knows his animation!

I had the pleasure of meeting Bill Hanna at a Seattle art gallery in Sept.1991 and as a huge fan of Hanna-Barbera cartoons, that was a monumental meeting for me. I mean, to shake hands with and talk to the man who helped make Saturday mornings great was the best. I asked him how he felt about Turner Communications purchasing the entire H-B cartoon library at that time and he was happy about it but felt that he and Joe sold their stake in it in 1969 for a fraction of what they could've today.

Contestant #3, Thomas Patrick (Tommy) White, Jr., died in 2012 at the age of 94. He lived his life to the fullest, playing golf, dining out, being an avid reader and movie goer until he finally succumbed to complications from a three month courageous battle with cancer. He grew up in Queens and Point Lookout, NY. He attended Bucknell and graduated St. John's College, NY. He served in WWII as a Captain in the US Army, stationed in Europe for five years, first in Reconnaissance, then as Provost Marshall investigating war crimes in Germany. He was honored with other WWII Veterans for his service by the Intrepid Museum in 2008 and on home plate thanks to the Wounded Warrior Project and the Yankees at Yankee Stadium 2012. As a young man he was an advertising model and had a reputation for dapper attire throughout his life. He later worked as a creative ad rep in New York, then switched careers to become a very successful restaurateur. He opened several restaurants, including the well known Giraffe on 58th St (receiving high ratings from the Times), then in 1966 he established the Beach Cafe, a popular upper East side restaurant still going strong both of which he owned with his brother Bill White, and his son, Thomas III never really retiring. Thomas is one of the original members of the Country Club of Darien. An avid golfer, his passion for the sport has taken him all over the world and has a record for having sunk six holes-in-one.

Nipsey had the most informed questions about animation. He either really knows his stuff or did his homework.

My mom said that when she was a child, she though Hanna and Barbera were two women, named Hannah and Barbara. :DD

Bill Hanna is the best Tom and Jerry screaming voice thanks for his iconic Tom Screams and holler since Hanna-Barbera produced Tom and Jerry cartoons introduced in 1942. After Bill Hanna's died in 2001, his Tom holler and Screams, laughs, etc. was reused and recycled in many Tom and Jerry modern era from Warner Bros. including Tom and Jerry: Shiver Me Whiskers (2006), The Tom and Jerry Show (2014 TV series) and the upcoming Tom and Jerry 2021 film with Mel Blanc and June Foray's voice using archive audio recordings.

Bill did the "yelps," screams, and the famous yell. He did some of the voice work when Tom rarely spoke. But he did not speak for Jerry.

Nipsey was the only panelist who was asking good questions. All of the other panelist clearly weren't very familiar with Hanna-Barbera's work and just asked random cartoon queations. Also, number #2 was a terrible liar lol.

I understand "limited animation" developed from the test sketches Hanna and Barbera used making TOM & JERRY, to try out ideas before making the fully animated cartoon.

Not to forget also the Jetsons, Top Cat, and Jonny Quest (actually created for H-B by newspaper adventure strip artist Doug Wildey.) Another TV cartoon studio created out of necessity by the closing of a theatrical studio was De Patie-Freleng (Pink Panther,) spun off from Warner Bros. Also pleased to hear Peggy Cass mention Walter and Gracie Lantz!

Nipsey probably hit on a sensitive subject --- full and partial animation.

@ D heine I agree with you 100% When I was 3 I watched The New Price Is Right for the first time in 1972 the same week when the Flintstone comedy show,The New Scooby Doo Movies,and Josie and the Pussycats in outer space,And on Saturday night The nightime Price is Right appeared on the same night as well.

I liked this intro. We were able to hear more of the theme (45 seconds instead of 15). Thanks for posting.

I think I remember seeing one of those Yogi Bear costumes at Canada's Wonderland, when they had Hanna Barbera characters there.

It helps that I knew what Bill Hanna looked like in advance.

i knew it was Number one because Bill Hanna is in the 1994 Flintstones movie.

Kitty says “yoga” bear... very funny

Daws Butler was the greatest!

This was such a treat to watch! Thank you so much for uploading!

“Number 1 looks too much like Yogi.” Yeah that should’ve been the hint there. Lol.

@RetroToledo RUFF & REDDY went to color broadcasts in the second year, 1958. To commemorate that, a second bird puppet, "Jose, the Tucan" with a colorful beak was added along with Rhubarb, the Parrot, and live host Jimmy Blaine.

Tom and Jerry won 4 straight Academy Awards. Not 7. Though they did win 7 Oscars overall.

The Flintstones premiered September 30, 1960. Filmation was founded in 1963, about three years after The Flintstones first aired. Hanna-Barbera was founded in 1957.

#2 - Screen Gems! And Road Runner was produced by Visicom... Oh, come on.

To be fair at one time Screen Gems was the animation studio of Columbia. Though at the time the name was used for it's television division.

William "Bill" Denby Hanna (July 14, 1910 - March 22, 2001)

Dick DeBartolo can currently be seen and heard on the weekend TWiT/radio show "The Tech Guy" every Saturday and in an audio/video podcast called "The Giz Wiz".

If Nipsey was on, why didn't he do his poem at the beginning? I know he didn't do so on every episode of every game show he was on but he should have! He was and always will be the Poet Laureate of Television! RIP Nipsey! We still and always will miss you!

Kings Dominion is aprox. 20 miles north of Richmond, in Doswell, VA. Just in case anyone wanted to go there, it's right off of I95.

Limited Animation actually began in the silent era with the Bray Studio. It was re-invented to great success with modern design by the UPA studio in the 1940s. UPA started making high concept modern art cartoons for Columbia starting in 1948 and won several Academy Awards. Because of their approach, which was more economical and intellectual, all other studios, including Disney adapted to their stylized approach. It was well suited to TV visually and economically.

Daws Butler did the voice of Yogi Bear.

2:35, contestant 2 says "Bill Hanner" lol

Right off the bat #1.

I know more about the subject than any of these three. I am surprised that Hanna didn't know that the cartoon Krazy Kat was done by King Features and the comic strip by George Herriman. And the other guy didn't know Fleischer did Popeye and Warner Brothers did Road Runner.

For a minute, I thought number 3 was Joe Barbera! LOL! I just thought he resembled him a little, but that's just me.

That was so cute and funny how Yogi found out number 1 is William Hanna and he is without a doubt smarter than the average bear.

Yes, in 1982 on the same network (CBS).

There was a game show segment in the "Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera" block in the 1980s titled "Skedaddle" that was hosted by "The Down and Dirty Dinosaurs" (actors in dinosaur suits). Children competed in stunts and won prizes if they reached a goal. It ran for eight weeks before it was dropped. Produced by Jay Wolpert who executive produced "The Price Is Right" in the 1970s and created the game shows "Double Dare" (1976-77 CBS version), "Hit Man", "Whew!", and "Blackout".

Yes they did. In fact it was called "The Dukes" which H-B co-produced with Warner Bros. Television. It aired on CBS's Saturday Morning lineup in 1983.

@RayPointer Thanks for the clarification. I remember the old Columbia/Screen Gems dancing sticks logo at the end of "The Flintstones" and "Jonny Quest" syndicated credits and thought Hanna-Barbera was a part of Columbia. I did see the Taft logo at the bottom of the "head-on orange block HB letter" logo ending for the H-B tv cartoons in the late 1960s such as "Scooby Doo", "Banana Splits", and "Wacky Races" and knew Taft's involvement then.

By the way, I just found a video special posted here called "Animation Lookback: Hanna-Barbera part 1" that looks pretty good though I haven't seen it yet since the first part is 15 minutes. It supposedly gives a history of H&B TV animation so just giving a heads up to anyone interested.

Filmation was limited animation because the studio was created specifically for Television & created their own stock footage that would be interchanged in various episodes or series. After the success of The Flintstones networks were looking for new made-for-TV cartoons & Hanna-Barbera's limited concept was the only way that it could be done affordably. The cost of a 30-minute show cost the same as a 7-min. fully animated feature.

I like my Tom and Jerry nice and violent as well. You tell 'em, Peggy!

@Gnillob802 True. Hanna-Barbera and other studios for tv animation had to come up with at least 13 half hours per series for each tv season...completed, on time, and within tv network watchdog guidelines. H-B usually had 3 or 4 tv series on each of the "big 3" networks. The logistics are different than Disney's budget with an average 90 minute movie with full length animation done annually. BTW- Hanna-Barbera Productions was a division of Columbia/Screen Gems television in the 1960s.

Sadly, Yogi's cave has been gone from King's Dominion for years.

On several occasions, Kitty has asked cartoon-related guests the same question, "Who is Chuck Jones?"

Remember...Joe Ruby and Ken Spears were Hanna-Barbera veterans striking out on their own, much like Bill and Joe HAD to do after MGM cut them loose.

Fun Fact! I dated William Hannah's grandson....lol. truth.

Shortly before the end of the MGM animation H&B composed a 6-page memo explaining limited animation for the TV market by using less of everything. They never heard back from MGM. They subsequently created their own company & sold the concept to Screen Gems starting with "Ruff and Ready" cartoons that ran 5 minutes each at $2700 (vs. $35,000 in their MGM days!). They then created Huckleberry Hound, Pixie & Dixie, Yogi Bear, Quick Draw McGraw, etc, but The Flintstones was the 1st full sitcom.

@ebf1957 It was as of 1968, 11 years after the founding of the company. Actually, they began as H-B Enterprises. They became Hanna-Barbera Productions officially in 1959.

@Gnillob802 It started three years before that. You can see the first television venture of H-B Enterprises, RUFF AND REDDY on RU-vid. That is what launched the company. Previous to that, while they were still at MGM, they had been moonlighting by doing commercials, and also did a series of animated intros to I LOVE LUCY, which were reinstated on TV LAND.

I was right about number one , he looked familiar, I have seen him before

That's not quite like it happened. While Joe Ruby and Ken Spears had been employees of Hanna and Barbera-Joe Ruby a writer, and Ken Spears a Film Editor, they were set up to compete with H-B by Fred Silverman. Ruby-Spears was later folded into H-B with the Turner and Time-Warner acquisition.

Rocky and His Friends came two years after Hanna-Barbera made the big splash with cereal sponsors Post with RUFF N' REDDY in 1957, then HUCKLEBERRY HOUND in 1958. General Mills want in on the action, and their picking up ROCKY AND HIS FRIENDS really put Jay Ward on the map.

But Gracie was credited as "Grace Stafford"

William Hanna was prematurely gray.

Bill Wendel was David Letterman's first announcer.

Ruby and Spears were both producers for Hanna-Barbera by the time they left.

@Gnillob802 Technically it started before The Flintstones as it was first utilized in Ruff & Reddy back in '57 or '58.

🐻

H&B created "limited animation" as a solution to the much lower budgets allotted to TV cartoons but its still animation. It all started with The Flintstones and has been used on TV ever since.

It seems like #2 wasn't coached very well or wasn't good with facts. Road Runner was Warner Bros. Mel Blanc did Woody Woodpecker - at least originally. I don't know if someone took over later. Blanc did that laugh at his school as a kid. For Popeye, I grew up seeing the AAP logo, but I know they didn't produce them. Fleischer Studios was the first to come to mind for Popeye while watching this video. Since AAP got some Warner Bros cartoons too, I could understand #2 mentioning AAP. Although not correct, at least their logo appeared on cartoons when shown on TV. I realize this might be old news to some, and I'm amazed I never noticed. Today was the first time I saw a similarity between Yogi Bear and Edward Norton (Art Carney) on The Honeymooners. I usually notice these things. Only took me 49 years this time.

@artytoons When the Screen Gems affiliation ended, Hanna-Barbera retained the rights to their films. Columbia was their initial distributor/syndicator under the deal set up by George Sidney, who was President of H-B and a third partner until Bill and Joe bought him out. Along with that came the end of their association with Columbia.

@RayPointer Thanks!

At the very least, I consider Rocky and Bullwinkle more complex characters than Ruff and Ready (although I agree Huckleberry Hound had the first significant crossover appeal to adults).

Who's in that Yogi Bear suit it might be Joe Barbera

Can anyone find the eppisode with the voice of Popeye Jack Mercer? Was done late 70's....would so love to see this...

@143AC That it is!!

Kitty Carlisle was such a fox.

I wonder if Daws himself is in the suit.12-27-17

No. 1 is the one, but he did the MGM cartoon and Worldvision.

@ebf1957 Yes. I think H-B was sold by Columbia to Taft in the late 1960s when they produced "Wacky Races" and "Scooby Doo". Taft's name was changed to Great American Broadcasting in the late 1980s. Turner Broadcasting purchased H-B in the early 1990s in order to add programs to the new Cartoon Network cable channel. Time-Warner bought Turner's assets not long afterwards.

were doing a play about to tell the truth with george washington and elanor roosevelt.

My father was on To tell the truth as one of the guest impersonators. I'd love to track down that video if possible. It was probably 1974 or 75. Any suggestions?

IT should have been. He was certainly still alive then.

Now you know.

Speaking of Hanna-Barbera and game shows, THE WACKY RACES was originally supposed to have a live game element. Two children were to guess the winner of each race before the cartoon was shown. Concern over the notion of underage gambling resulted in that being dropped. However, Hanna-Barbera still shared co-credit with Heatter-Quigley Productions (best known for the original HOLLYWOOD SQUARES).

The title font looks like the one used for Teen Titans Go

.....Certainly tests would mimic limited animation since there are also less of them. Limited animation is different in that the backgrounds & much of the body stays the same as opposed to just having less individual cells where the background and body changes in each cell. Though they may have done that in test sketches to save time too Anyway, the point is they were able to create fully developed characters in The Flintstones that for the first time rivaled live action shows.

I've been looking for this episode! Stupid tape accidentally recorded National Lampoon's Stupid Money and The New Newlywed Game by mistake when I tried to tape.

Luckily for his part Bill Hanna was not asked the tough questions from Russell or from Carlisle

Filmation rivaled Hanna-Barbera. But it's production values were not as high. Also Filmation was a smaller studio. Ruby-Spears became H-B's competition, although there was little difference in the look from the two studios. But H-B had more memorable characters. Who remembers the Ruby-Spears characters?

The limitation is not in the backgrounds and their changing or not changing. The backgrounds were very simplified compared to the fully rendered paintings of classic theatricals. But the stylization and simplification already was seen in theatricals by 1955. TV cartoons were produced with less than 1/4 of the drawings necessary for theatricals due to the need for fast production and limited budgets.

it's the first guy.but I have seen his picture over 30 times

@artytoons They were not really a "division" of Columbia/Screen Gems. Harry Cohn's widow (the original co-founder of Columbia) owned stock, but H-B was owned by Columbia. On the other hand, their success was tied largely to their relationship with Screen Gems. Once they were free from Columbia, they went in other directions, which started going down hill starting in 1968.

The first episode of Twilight Zone was, 'To Tell The Truth'.

It was 1961.

Sadly, Kings Dominion dumped the Hanna Barbera characters after they were bought by Cedar Fair. Peanuts characters have replaced them.

No wonder the show is just over 12 minutes, the commericals are deleted.

True, but Grace and Walter's marriage was well-known. (Also long-lived; over 50 years I think!)

@artytoons Wasn't Hanna-Barbera owned by Cincinnati based Taft Broadcasting?

Pardon me, but it WAS broadcast in color in 1958. That was when NBC started color broadcasts. HOWDY DOODY also went to color then as well. I should know, I saw these on a color television in Montgomery Ward in 1958. You see, I am old enough to know about Montgomery Ward. So you might give some credit to someone who was a witness to something that happened perhaps before you were born.

Did Hanna Barbera did the Cartoon version of The Dukes of Hazzard?

The same.

Is that the same George Sidney who directed THE HARVEY GIRLS and BYE BYE BIRDIE?

That's a pretty good analysis. However, a "feature" is 60 minutes or more. A seven minute format cartoon is a short subject.

Um, why did you type the intro we heard?

I think Jay Ward beat them to the punch on the combination of limited animation and fully developed characters with ROCKY AND HIS FRIENDS.

Bill didn't start wearing glasses until he was in his 70s.

That's why Fred Silverman set them up to compete with H-B. Next?