The Hillbilly Bears
| The Hillbilly Bears | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | William Hanna Joseph Barbera |
| Voices of | Henry Corden Jean Vander Pyl Don Messick Paul Frees |
| Theme music composer | Hoyt Curtin |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 26 |
| Production | |
| Producers | William Hanna Joseph Barbera |
| Running time | 6 minutes (per short) |
| Production company | Hanna-Barbera Productions |
| Original release | |
| Network | NBC |
| Release | October 2, 1965 – September 7, 1967 |
| Related | |
| The Atom Ant/Secret Squirrel Show | |
The Hillbilly Bears is an animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions which aired as a segment on The Atom Ant/Secret Squirrel Show from October 2, 1965 to September 7, 1967.
Overview
The Hillbilly Bears played on a social stereotype of the "hillbilly", with a gun toting, mumbling father Paw Rugg (voiced by Henry Corden) who was always "feudin" ("feudin" was usually a lethargic operation, in which the protagonists fired the same bullet back and forth from the comfort of their rocking chairs) with the neighbors the Hoppers.
Paw Rugg's voice was a mumble, splattered with a few understandable words. Particularly in the first episodes, Paw Rugg's voice was incomprehensible; his speech improved with the later episodes. His wife Maw (voiced by Jean Vander Pyl) was a homemaker who appeared as the more level-headed parent; their daughter Floral (voiced by Jean Vander Pyl) had lemon-colored fur (as opposed to the darker-colored fur of Maw, Paw and Shag); she was the southern belle and most sophisticated member of the family while Shag (the youngest and smallest of the family, voiced by Don Messick) was a troublemaker who looks up to his father. The voices and personas of Floral and Shag were nearly identical to Elroy and Judy Jetson from The Jetsons.
Episodes
Season 1 (1965-1966)
| # | Title | Airdate | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Detour For Sure | Oct-02-1965 | |
| 2 | Woodpecked | Oct-09-1965 | A woodpecker is disturbing Maw's beauty rest. Paw and Shag try to get rid of it, but it outwits them at every turn. |
| 3 | Anglers Aweigh | Oct-16-1965 | |
| 4 | Stranger Than Friction | Oct-23-1965 | |
| 5 | Goldilocks and the Four Bears | Oct-30-1965 | |
| 6 | Going, Going Gone Gopher | Nov-06-1965 | |
| 7 | Courtin' Disaster | Nov-13-1965 | |
| 8 | Picnic Panicked | Nov-20-1965 | |
| 9 | Judo Kudos | Nov-27-1965 | |
| 10 | Just Plane Around | Dec-04-1965 | |
| 11 | War Games | Dec-11-1965 | |
| 12 | Bricker Brats | Dec-18-1965 | |
| 13 | Slap Happy Grandpappy | Dec-25-1965 | |
| 14 | Pooped Pops | Jan-01-1966 | |
| 15 | Leaky Creek | Jan-08-1966 | |
| 16 | My Fair Hillbilly | Jan-15-1966 | |
| 17 | Rickety-Rockety-Raccoon | Jan-22-1966 | |
| 18 | Modern Inconvenience | Jan-29-1966 | |
| 19 | Rabbit Rumble | Feb-05-1966 | |
| 20 | Speckled Heckler | Feb-12-1966 |
Season 2 (1966)
| # | Title | Airdate | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|
| 21 | Whirly Bear | Sep-10-1966 | |
| 22 | Saucy Saucers | Sep-17-1966 | |
| 23 | Chipper Chirper | Sep-24-1966 | |
| 24 | Gettin' Paws Goat | Oct-01-1966 | |
| 25 | Buzzin' Cuzzins | Oct-08-1966 | |
| 26 | Do the Bear | Oct-15-1966 |
Cast
- Henry Corden - Paw Rugg
- Paul Frees - Claude Hopper
- Don Messick - Shag Rugg
- Jean Vander Pyl - Maw Rugg, Floral Rugg
DVD release
The episode "Woodpecked" is available on the DVD Saturday Morning Cartoons 1960's vol. 1. The episode "Picnic Panicked" is available on the DVD Saturday Morning Cartoons 1960's Vol. 2.
Other appearances
The Hillbilly Bears appeared in Yogi's Ark Lark and its spin-off series Yogi's Gang.
Paw and Maw Rugg appeared in Yogi's Treasure Hunt.
The Hillbilly Bears appeared in a Cartoon Network Shortie, "Miss Understanding," where Maw takes them on a Jerry Springer-like show due to the fact she can't understand Paw, although the audience assumes that she means she doesn't "understand" him in the sense that she doesn't know who he is anymore. This results in Paw shooting on the wall "I luv you Maw".
On the Dexter's Laboratory episode, "Chubby Cheese" an animatronic Paw Rugg is seen playing the xylophone during Chubby's song.
The Hillbilly Bears appear in the Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law episode "Guitar Control" defending their home from the SWAT team and Bear. Paw Rugg's name can also be seen in Harvey's black book in "BabySitter" and Paw can be seen using a crowbar to tear off the logo for Sebben and Sebben in "The Death of Harvey."
See also
External links
- The Hillbilly Bears - Cartoon Network Department of Cartoons (Archive)
- The Hillbilly Bears at IMDb
- The Hillbilly Bears at the Big Cartoon DataBase
- The Hillbilly Bears at Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Archived from the original on February 5, 2016.