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 score 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 | Number | Original air date |
|---|---|---|
| "Keep Your Keeper" | 1x01 | September 11, 1971 |
| "Rare Bear Bungle" | 1x02 | September 18, 1971 |
| "Raffle Ruckus" | 1x03 | September 25, 1971 |
| "Bridal Boo Boo" | 1x04 | October 2, 1971 |
| "No Space Like Home" | 1x05 | October 9, 1971 |
| "Love Bug Bungle" | 1x06 | October 16, 1971 |
| "I'll Zoo You Later" | 1x07 | October 23, 1971 |
| "Ark Lark" | 1x08 | October 30, 1971 |
| "Gobs of Gabaloons" | 1x09 | November 6, 1971 |
| "Panda Pandamonium" | 1x10 | November 13, 1971 |
| "Closed Circuit TV" | 1x11 | November 20, 1971 |
| "The Bear Who Came to Dinner" | 1x12 | November 27, 1971 |
| "Unbearable Peevly" | 1x13 | December 4, 1971 |
| "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" | 1x14 | December 11, 1971 |
| "The Diet Caper" | 1x15 | December 18, 1971 |
| "Kling Klong Versus the Masked Marvel" | 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
Hair Bear makes a cameo in Marvel Comics' Laff-A-Lympics story "The Ends of the Earth."
The Hair Bear Bunch appear in the Jellystone! reboot.
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).
