The Mumbly Cartoon Show

The Mumbly Cartoon Show
On-screen title card.
Network	ABC
Production company	Hanna-Barbera
Original release	September 11–December 18, 1976
Run time	30 minutes
Starring	Don Messick John Stephenson
Music composed by	Hoyt Curtin
Writer(s)	Bill Ackerman
Director(s)	Charles A. Nichols

The Mumbly Cartoon Show is an animated American television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions for ABC's Saturday morning children's programming. It ran in 1976, airing 16 episodes that spanned one season.

The show was featured as a segment of The Tom & Jerry/Grape Ape Show, specifically featured during the second season of the show, when it was eventually retitled as The Tom & Jerry/Grape Ape/Mumbly Show.

Lieutenant Mumbly works at the police station as a "dog detective" who tracks down bad guys and puts them behind bars. Mumbly's hotheaded boss, Chief Shnooker, often tells Mumbly to do the mission of bringing in the crook(s), but would later take credit for Mumbly's work.

The series never saw a home media release, and Warner Archive has made no announcements about its release. At this point in time, it is unlikely that the series will be released in any form.

Production

Development

Hanna-Barbera borrowed the design of the title character of Mumbly from the similarly named Wacky Races character Muttley, with Mumbly even using Muttley's voice actor, Don Messick for the series. It's unknown if the original intention of the character was that he was originally going to be Muttley for the series, and if Hanna-Barbera borrowed the character's design from Muttley in response to the then-ongoing copyright dispute with Heatter Quigley Inc. for the Wacky Races IP, since history of the show is scarce.

Mumbly was likely inspired by Columbo, the title character played by Peter Falk in the TV series of the same name, as the two share similar clothing and personality traits. His ability to track down criminals may have also been similar to the Droopy cartoons; specifically Dumb-Hounded and Northwest Hounded Police, both of which involve Droopy ceaselessly hounding a crook across the world.

Music

The music was composed by Hoyt Curtin.

Episodes

Episode	Original air date
1x01 "Fleetfeet Versus Flat Foot"	September 11, 1976
1x02 "The Great Hot Car Heist"	September 18, 1976
1x03 "The Magical Madcap Caper"	September 25, 1976
1x04 "The Big Breakout Bust"	October 2, 1976
1x05 "The Return of Bing Bong"	October 9, 1976
1x06 "The Super-Dooper Super Cop"	October 16, 1976
1x07 "The Big Ox Bust"	October 23, 1976
1x08 "The Great Graffiti Gambit"	October 30, 1976
1x09 "Taking Stock"	November 6, 1976
1x10 "The Littermugg"	November 13, 1976
1x11 "The Perils of the Purple Baron"	November 20, 1976
1x12 "The Fatbeard the Pirate Fracas"	November 25, 1976
1x13 "The Big Snow Foot Snow Job"	November 27, 1976
1x14 "Sherlock's Badder Brudder"	December 4, 1976
1x15 "The UFO's A No-No"	December 11, 1976
1x16 "Hyde and Seek"	December 18, 1976

Cast

• Don Messick as Mumbly
• John Stephenson as Chief Shnooker

Credits

These identical credits appeared at the end of every episode.

• Executive Producers: Joseph Barbera and William Hanna
• Directed by: Charles A. Nichols
• Creative Producer: Iwao Takamoto
• Associate Producer: Alex Lovy
• Story Editor: Ray Parker
• Associate Story: Larz Bourne
• Written by: Bill Ackerman, Don Jurwich, Larz Bourne, Joel Kane, Tom Dagenais, Dick Kinney, Alan Dinehart, Frank Ridgeway
• Recording Directed by: Wally Burr and Alex Lovy
• Story Directed by: Tom Dagenais, Howard Post, Art Scott, Don Sheppard, Paul Sommer
• Voices: Norman Alden, Alan Oppenheimer, Henry Corden, Joe E. Ross, Joan Gerber, Hal Smith, Kathy Gori, John Stephenson, Virginia Gregg, Jean Vander Pyl, Bob Holt, Janet Waldo, Allan Melvin, Lennie Weinrib, Don Messick, Frank Welker
• Production Designer: Bob Singer
• Production Supervision: Victor O. Schipek
• Graphics: Iraj Paran
• Character Design: Marty Murphy
• Musical Director: Hoyt Curtin
• Musical Supervision: Paul De Korte
• Layout by: John Ahern, Ed Benedict, Jaime Diaz, Hak Ficq, Owen Fitzgerald, Mo Gollub, Gary Hoffman, Jack Huber, Larry Huber, Alex Ignatiev, Ray Jacobs, Homer Jonas, Lin Larsen, Warren Marshall, Greg Nocon, Tony Rivera, Linda Rowley, Bob Singer, Terry Slade, Al Wilson, Donna Zeller
• Animation Supervision: Ed Barge and Bill Keil
• Animation: Carlos Alfonso, Ed Barge, O.E. Callahan, Lars Calonius, Rudy Cataldi, Steve Clark, Bob Goe, Bill Hutten, Volus Jones, Ed Love, Tony Love, Ken Muse, Margaret Nichols, Don Patterson, Juan Pina, Tom Ray, Veve Risto, Jay Sarbry, Ken Southworth, Dave Tendlar, Dick Thompson, Carlo Vinci, Xenia
• Backgrounds: John Currin, Dennis Durrell, Robert Gentle, Al Gmuer, Richard Khim, Fernando Montealegre, Bill Proctor, Marilyn Shimokochi, Dennis Venizelos
• Technical Supervision: Frank Paiker
• Checking and Scene Planning: Evelyn Sherwood
• Ink and Paint Supervision: Billie Kerns
• Xerography: Robert "Tiger" West, Star Wirth
• Sound Direction: Richard Olson, Bill Getty
• Supervision Film Editor: Chip Yaras
• Music Editors: Pat Foley and Greg Watson
• Effects Editors: Richard Allen and Terry Moore
• Negative Consultant: William E. DeBoer
• Post Production Supervision: Joed Eaton
• Camera: George Epperson, Charles Flekal, John Curtis Hall, Ron Jackson, Jerry Smith, Norman Stainback, Roy Wade, Dennis Weaver
• Production Manager: Jayne Barbera

Legacy

Despite the series being a ratings flop, Mumbly and Shnooker would still show up every now and then, such as when Mumbly would later most notably be featured in the Laff-A-Lympics TV series. Mumbly served as a replacement for Muttley, who was originally featured as the captain of the Really Rottens, though he in this series divides from his original show since he is depicted as villainous instead of lawful. Mumbly also appears in the Marvel Comics series of the same name, still with an antagonistic role. The character description for Mumbly featured in the comics reveals that he is the cousin of Muttley.

In the same year the series was going, Mumbly made a surprise guest appearance in the Dynomutt, Dog Wonder episode, "The Great Brain...Train Robbery." Mumbly also appeared for the Super Secret Secret Squirrel episode, "Agent Penny," and his name appears under a list of useless detectives in the Velma episode, "Velma Makes the List." Mumbly also appeared back in 1987, for the TV movie, Yogi Bear and the Magical Flight of the Spruce Goose, again carrying his villainous nature from Laff-A-Lympics and paired up with the Dread Baron as main antagonists of the film.

Shnooker makes non-speaking cameo appearances in the Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law episodes, "SPF" and "Juror in Court." in "SPF" specifically, he is a victim of cybersquatting.