Hoppity Hooper facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Hoppity Hooper |
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| Genre | Children's program |
| Created by | Bill Scott Chris Hayward |
| Written by | Chris Jenkyns Bill Scott |
| Directed by | Pete Burness Bill Hurtz Lew Keller |
| Starring | Uncle Waldo P. Wigglesworth, Fillmore Bear, and Hoppity Hooper |
| Voices of | Chris Allen Hans Conried Paul Frees (1-100 only) William Scott Alan Reed (1-2 only) William Conrad (101-104 only) |
| Narrated by | Paul Frees Bill Conrad Kathy Steinberg |
| Theme music composer | Dennis Farnon |
| Opening theme | "Olga Moletoad's Ride" |
| Composer(s) | Dennis Farnon |
| Country of origin | United States and Mexico |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 3 |
| No. of episodes | 52 (104 segments) (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Peter M. Piech |
| Producer(s) | Jay Ward Bill Scott |
| Editor(s) | Skip Craig |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Jay Ward Productions, P.A.T. |
| Distributor | P.A.T., Filmtel International |
| Release | |
| Original network | ABC (1964–1967) |
| Picture format | Color |
| Audio format | Mono |
| Original release | September 26, 1964 – September 2, 1967 |
Hoppity Hooper is an American animated TV show. It was made by Jay Ward and first shown on ABC on September 26, 1964. The show was produced in Hollywood, USA, and the animation was done in Mexico City.
Contents
Meet the Characters and Story
The show follows three main characters on their adventures. They live in a place called Foggy Bog, Wisconsin. Their goal is to find their fortune by trying out different jobs or plans. These often lead to funny problems and misadventures.
- Hoppity Hooper is a brave and clever frog. Chris Allen gave him his voice.
- Waldo P. Wigglesworth is a fox who sells fake medicines. He pretended to be Hoppity's long-lost uncle. Hans Conried was his voice.
- Fillmore is a bear who wears Civil War clothes. He tries to play his bugle, but not very well. Bill Scott voiced Fillmore. In the very first episode, Alan Reed was Fillmore's voice.
Each story in Hoppity Hooper was told in four short cartoons. Two parts would air in one episode, and the other two in the next. This meant one full story took two episodes to finish.
Just like other shows by Jay Ward, Hoppity Hooper used funny, pun-filled names for each part of the story. A narrator, voiced by Paul Frees and later by William Conrad, would often talk directly to the characters or the audience. The show also included other short cartoons from older series. These were Peabody's Improbable History, Fractured Fairy Tales, Aesop and Son, and The World of Commander McBragg. Later, for reruns, all four parts of a story were put together into one half-hour episode.
Show's History
The very first two episodes of Hoppity Hooper were made in 1960. In these early episodes, Alan Reed was the voice of Fillmore. However, the show wasn't picked up by a TV channel until September 1964. By then, Alan Reed was busy voicing Fred Flintstone in another TV show called The Flintstones. So, Bill Scott took over as the voice of Fillmore.
The series first aired on ABC and NBC on Saturday mornings. Later, starting in 1965, it was shown on local TV stations under a different name: Uncle Waldo's Cartoon Show.
Episode Guide
The show ran for three seasons, with 52 episodes in total. Each episode had two segments of Hoppity Hooper. Most stories were told over four segments, making 27 stories in all.
Season 1 (1964–1965)
| Episodes | Title |
|---|---|
| 1 & 2 | Ring a Ding Spring |
| 3 & 4 | Rock 'n' Roll Star |
| 5 & 6 | Diamond Mine |
| 7 & 8 | Costra Nostra |
| 9 & 10 | The Giant of Hoot 'n' Holler |
| 11 & 12 | Detective Agency |
| 13 & 14 | Olympic Star |
| 15 & 16 | Ghost |
| 17 & 18 | The Masked Martin |
| 19 & 20 | Jumping Frog Contest |
| 21 & 22 | The Traffic Zone |
| 23 & 24 | Wottabango Corn Elixir |
| 25 & 26 | Frog Prince of Monomania |
Season 2 (1965–1966)
| Episodes | Title | Parts |
|---|---|---|
| 27 & 28 | Colonel Clabber—Limburger Cheese Statue | (4 parts) |
| 29 & 30 | The Giant Cork | (4 parts) |
| 31 & 32 | Ferkle to Hawaii | (4 parts) |
| 33 & 34 | Hallowe'en | (4 parts) |
| 35 & 36 | Christmas | (4 parts) |
| 37 & 38 | Horse Race Follies | (4 parts) |
| 39 & 40 | Jack and the Beanstalk | (4 parts) |
| 41 & 42 | Granny's Gang | (4 parts) |
Season 3 (1966–1967)
| Episodes | Title | Parts |
|---|---|---|
| 43 | Golf Tournament | (2 parts) |
| 44 | The Hopeless Diamond | (2 parts) |
| 45 & 46 | The Dragon of Eubetchia | (4 parts) |
| 47 & 48 | Rare Butterfly Hunt | (4 parts) |
| 49 & 50 | Oil's Well at Oasis Gardens | (4 parts) |
| 51 & 52 | Wonder Water | (4 parts) |
Who Made the Show?
Many talented people worked together to create Hoppity Hooper.
- Producers: Jay Ward, Bill Scott
- Directors: Pete Burness, Bill Hurtz, Lew Keller
- Writers: Chris Jenkyns, Bill Scott
- Film Editor: Skip Craig
- Animation: Gamma Productions S.A. de C.V.
Voice Actors
The voices of the characters were:
- Chris Allen - Hoppity Hooper
- Hans Conried - Uncle Waldo P. Wigglesworth
- Alan Reed (episodes 1) and Bill Scott (episodes 2-52) – Fillmore Bear
- Paul Frees (episodes 1–50) and Bill Conrad (episodes 51–52) – Narrator
Home Video Releases
Hoppity Hooper was released on VHS tapes in the early 1990s. Later, some episodes were put on DVD in the 2000s. In 2008, a company called Mill Creek Entertainment released several episodes as part of big cartoon collections.
