Hokey Wolf
- This article is about the segments. For the character, see Hokey Wolf (character).
| Hokey Wolf | |
|---|---|
 On-screen title card. | |
| Created by | William Hanna Joseph Barbera |
| Network | Syndication |
| Production company | Hanna-Barbera Productions |
| Distributor | Screen Gems |
| Original release | March 16, 1961―February 22, 1962 |
| Starring | Daws Butler Doug Young |
| Producer(s) | William Hanna Joseph Barbera |
| Music composed by | Hoyt Curtin |
| Writer(s) | Warren Foster Tony Benedict Paul Sommer Carl Kohler |
| Director(s) | William Hanna Joseph Barbera |
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.
Production
Development
After it was discovered that Yogi Bear was more popular than Huckleberry Hound, the former was moved to his own series in 1961. Because Yogi was no longer on The Huckleberry Hound Show, his spot had to be replaced with a new character for its third season. Animator Ed Benedict provided early designs of Hokey and Ding-a-Ling, while Richard Bickenbach—known for drawing many early Hanna-Barbera characters like Huck, Yogi and Quick Draw McGraw—drew a model sheet of their official designs on October 13, 1960.[1][2]
It's possible that early on, the two were going to be foxes rather than wolves, as Heritage Auction has a sketch featuring two unknown fox characters, while they believe the characters to be an early Fibber Fox, the characters resemble that of Hokey and Ding-a-Ling.[3]
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"[4]. 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 patterned after comedians 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.
Episodes
| Episode | Original air date |
|---|---|
| 1x01 | Week of March 16, 1961 |
| 1x02 | Week of March 23, 1961 |
| 1x03 | Week of March 30, 1961 |
| 1x04 | Week of April 2, 1961 |
| 1x05 | Week of April 9, 1961 |
| 1x06 | Week of April 16, 1961 |
| 1x07 | Week of April 23, 1961 |
| 1x08 | Week of April 30, 1961 |
| 1x09 | Week of May 11, 1961 |
| 1x10 | Week of May 18, 1961 |
| 1x11 | Week of May 25, 1961 |
| 1x12 | Week of May 27, 1961 |
| 1x13 | Week of June 3, 1961 |
| 1x14 | Week of June 10, 1961 |
| 1x15 | Week of June 17, 1961 |
| 1x16 | Week of July 6, 1961 |
| 1x17 | Week of July 13, 1961 |
| 1x18 | Week of July 20, 1961 |
| 1x19 | Week of July 27, 1961 |
| 1x20 | Week of August 3, 1961 |
| 1x21 | Week of August 10, 1961 |
| 1x22 | Week of August 17, 1961 |
| 1x23 | Week of August 24, 1961 |
| 1x24 | Week of August 31, 1961 |
| 2x01 | Week of September 7, 1961 |
| 2x02 | Week of February 8, 1962 |
| 2x03 | Week of February 15, 1962 |
| 2x04 | Week of February 22, 1962 |
Cast
Crossover
| Title | Number | Original air date |
|---|---|---|
| Yogi Bear: "Yogi's Birthday Party" | 1 | October 1, 1961 |
| Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law: "SPF" | 1 | January 1, 2004 |
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.
In popular culture
In other languages
| Language | Name |
|---|---|
| Brazilian | Joca e Dingue-Lingue |
| French | Garoup le Loup |
| Italian | Ugo Lupo |
| Serbian | Vuk Vučko |
| Spanish | El Lobo Hokey |
References
- ^ https://hanna-barberawiki.com/w/images/d/df/Hokey_Wolf_model_sheet.png
- ^ https://hanna-barberawiki.com/w/images/c/c7/Ding-a-Ling_model_sheet.png
- ^ "Wally Gator and Friends Early Character Development Sketches Original Art Group of 6 (Hanna-Barbera, 1959-63)". Heritage Auction. Retrieved August 29, 2024.
- ^ https://live.staticflickr.com/6123/6042535351_57f23497e0_o_d.jpg
