Hokey Wolf (segments)


 * This article is about the segments. For the main title character, see Hokey Wolf''.

Hokey Wolf is a series of animated segments as part of The Huckleberry Hound Show, produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions. Airing in syndication, it served as the replacement of the Yogi Bear shorts after Yogi got his own show. It ran from 1961 and 1962, airing 28 episodes that spanned two seasons.

Much like Yogi Bear, most of the cartoons consist of Hokey Wolf and Ding-a-Ling attempting to steal food or a place to stay in. Some Hokey cartoons are also similar to the Loopy De Loop shorts, in the sense that both use Brothers Grimm fairy tale characters and stories in some plots.

Development
After it was discovered that Yogi Bear was more popular than Huckleberry Hound, the former was moved to his own series in 1961. But since Yogi was no longer on The Huckleberry Hound Show, his spot had to be replaced with a new character. Dick Bickenbach—known for drawing many other Hanna-Barbera characters like Huck, Yogi and Quick Draw McGraw—drew Hokey Wolf and Ding-a-Ling's model sheets on October 13, 1960.

Ed Benedict also drew much earlier designs of Hokey and Ding-a-Ling.

Somewhere in between early production, Hokey was originally attended to be named "Wacko Wolf". However, his name was quickly changed due to another similar looking character from "Bozo: The World's Most Famous Clown" already using the name at the time. Additionally, the second working title for the character was "Wacky Wolf". However, the name was most likely too similar to "Wacko Wolf", and it was changed to "Hokey Wolf".

The voices of Hokey and Ding-a-Ling are impressions of Phil Silvers and Buddy Hackett respectively.

Music
The music was composed by Hoyt Curtin. Curtin used an instrumental version of the song "Hail, Hail, the Gang's All Here" for the main Hokey Wolf intro.

Cast

 * Daws Butler as Hokey Wolf
 * Doug Young as Ding-a-Ling

Legacy
Reruns of the shorts were featured as part of episodes of Yogi Bear and Friends.

In the years since, Hokey Wolf (and Ding-a-ling) made several comebacks in other Hanna-Barbera series, with the two both making appearances in the film, Yogi's Ark Lark and in the Yogi's Gang TV series (although Ding-a-Ling only appeared for the title sequence), and the former notably appearing as a member of the Yogi Yahooeys in Laff-A-Lympics and making several guest appearances on Yogi's Treasure Hunt. In 1991, Hokey and Ding-a-Ling appeared in the Yo, Yogi! episodes, "Super Duper Snag" and "Polly Want a Safecracker," with Hokey voiced Matt Hurwitz and Ding-a-Ling voiced by Patric Zimmerman, Hokey also appears as the mayor of Jellystone Township, with Ding-a-Ling as his publicist.

In Adult Swim series, Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law, the two made several cameos, with Ding-a-Ling getting a starring role in the episode, "SPF," voiced by Neil Ross, he gets Harvey's help in representing him in suing Mr. Twiddle for the creation of a porn site using his name.

Hokey and Ding-a-Ling also had cameos in Hanna-Barbera's 50th: A Yabba Dabba Doo Celebration and Cartoon Network's The 1st 13th Annual Fancy Anvil Awards Show Program Special: Live in Stereo.

Hokey shorts also reran on Cartoon Network and Boomerang during the 1990s and 2000s, but have since been pulled from airing.

Recently in 2021, both Hokey and Ding-a-Ling have appeared in Jellystone!, albeit as cameos.