Help!... It's the Hair Bear Bunch!
| Help!... It's the Hair Bear Bunch! | |
|---|---|
 On-screen title card. | |
| Network | CBS |
| Production company | Hanna-Barbera |
| Original release | September 11, 1971—January 8, 1972 |
| Run time | 30 minutes |
| Starring | Daws Butler Paul Winchell Bill Callaway John Stephenson Joe E. Ross |
| Producer(s) | Charles A. Nichols |
| Music composed by | Hoyt Curtin |
| Writer(s) | Joel Kane Woody Kling Howard Morgenstern Joe Ruby Ken Spears |
| Director(s) | William Hanna Joseph Barbera |
Help!... It's the Hair Bear Bunch!, also known as Hair Bear Bunch, is an American animated comedy television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions for CBS' Saturday morning children's programming. It ran from 1971 to 1972, airing 16 episodes that spanned one season.
A trio of bears, led by Hair Bear, live it up at the Wonderland Zoo, where they would outwit zookeepers, Mr. Peevly and Botch, into getting whatever their goal may be.
The entire series has been released on DVD.
Production
Development
Jerry Eisenberg drew a piece of concept art featuring earlier designs of the Hair Bear Bunch, Peevly and Botch, as well as an early title for the series entitled The Yo-Yo Bears.
Music
The music was composed by Hoyt Curtin.
- Opening theme song lyrics
In the Wonderland Zoo!
We're the certain bears who...
Stay at home every night,
Never quarrel or fight,
Ah! We don’t even bite!
So don’t yell,
Help! Help! Here come the bears,
Help! Help! Here come the bears,
Help! Help! Here come the bears,
Let’s split!
So don’t yell,
Help! Help! Here come the bears,
Help! Help! Here come the bears,
Help! Help! Here come the bears,
Let’s split!
Help! It’s the Hair Bear Bunch!
Episodes
| Episode | Original air date |
|---|---|
| 1x01 | September 11, 1971 |
| 1x02 | September 18, 1971 |
| 1x03 | September 25, 1971 |
| 1x04 | October 2, 1971 |
| 1x05 | October 9, 1971 |
| 1x06 | October 16, 1971 |
| 1x07 | October 23, 1971 |
1x08
|
October 30, 1971 |
| 1x09 | November 6, 1971 |
| 1x10 | November 13, 1971 |
| 1x11 | November 20, 1971 |
| 1x12 | November 27, 1971 |
| 1x13 | December 4, 1971 |
| 1x14 | December 11, 1971 |
| 1x15 | December 18, 1971 |
| 1x16 | January 8, 1972 |
Cast
- Daws Butler as Hair Bear
- Paul Winchell as Bubi Bear
- Bill Callaway as Square Bear
- John Stephenson as Mr. Peevly
- Joe E. Ross as Botch
Legacy
In 1974, the Hair Bear Bunch were the spotlight of Gold Key Comics' Hanna-Barbera Fun-In #13. In 1979, Hair Bear had a cameo in Marvel Comics' Laff-a-Lympics Issue #12.
The Hair Bear Bunch appear in the 2000s Jellystone! reboot on Max.
In popular culture
- In the Animaniacs segment "Back in Style," Scare Bare Crunch is mentioned to have lost ratings by adding the Warner siblings.
- In the TV pilot Welcome to Eltingville, a fight breaks out when Josh's VHS tape, which was said to have bootleg scenes of actresses, is really The Hair Bear Bunch! (as Bill points out).
Merchandise
Home media
In the UK and Ireland in 1996, several episodes were released by First Indepdendent Films on a VHS called Hair Bear Bunch!: Bumper Edition.
On October 27, 2009, Warner Home Video released the first episode on the Saturday Morning Cartoons: 1970s Volume 2 DVD.
On March 12, 2013, the entire series was released on DVD by Warner Archive Collection as Help!... It's the Hair Bear Bunch!: The Complete Series.
Comics
From 1972 to 1974, Gold Key Comics published a 9-issue run also called The Hair Bear Bunch.
Board game
In 1971, the Milton Bradley Company released a board game called The Hair Bear Bunch Game.
