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The topic of this page has a wiki of its own: Yogi Bear Wiki.

Yogi Bear is a brown bear character who first appeared in The Huckleberry Hound Show. He eventually gained more popularity than Huckleberry Hound, and in January 1961, he was given his own show, The Yogi Bear Show.

The plot of most of Yogi's cartoons centered on his antics in the fictional Jellystone Park, a takeoff on the famous Yellowstone National Park. Yogi, accompanied by his best friend Boo Boo, would often try to steal picnic baskets from campers in the park, much to the displeasure of Park Ranger Smith. Yogi's girlfriend, Cindy Bear, sometimes appeared and usually disapproved of Yogi's antics.

His birthday is September 9.

History[]

Yogi Bear cartoons were first shown as a segment of The Huckleberry Hound Show in October 1958, but Yogi became so popular, he was given his own show in 1960.

The-History-of-Yogi-Bear

Yogi Bear's original title card back when he was part of The Huckleberry Hound Show

Over the years, Yogi starred in many different programs in increasingly strange locales, from heading an athletic team (in Laff-a-Lympics) to shooting for the stars (in Yogi's Space Race).

In 1988, a new series of Yogi cartoons premiered in syndication using the original format of short stories set in Jellystone Park. The rest of the week's Yogi Bear block featured reruns of Yogi's earlier cartoons.

In 2009, Warner Bros. (which now owns the rights to all H-B properties) announced that a live-action/CGI animated Yogi Bear film was in the works and the teaser trailer of Where the Wild Things Are DVD. Dan Aykroyd voiced Yogi in the film.

In 2021, Yogi Bear appeared in Jellystone!. In the series, he serves as a doctor.

Origin of Name[]

During character development, several names such as Bumpkin Bear, Yucca Bear and Huckleberry Bear were considered, but didn't quite click with either Hanna or Barbera--until the name of New York Yankees star Lawrence "Yogi" Berra came up; in time, such would be adopted.

"It ain't over till it's over."--Yogi Berra

The 16 August 1964 episode of the Yogi Bear comic strip distributed by the McNaught Syndicate plays on the Yogi Bear/Yogi Berra interconnexion[1] as part of a tie-in storyline to the feature-length film Hey There, It's Yogi Bear!

Brand Extension[]

  • In the early 1960s, there was a franchised chain of Yogi Bear's Honey-Fried Chicken restaurants.
  • Yogi Bear's Jellystone Park Camp Resorts are a nationally franchised campground chain.
  • Yogi Bear's Quakey-Shakey Van tours Southern California schools to simulate a full-scale earthquake as part of earthquake-readiness drills; such is based on Japanese earthquake-simulator vans.
  • The studio's bowling team in the early 1960s was known as "the Yogi Bears," even to the extent of Yogi's facial visage figuring prominently on team jackets.

Trivia[]

  • In 1960, The Ivy Three recorded a novelty song called "Yogi." It featured an imitation of Yogi's voice by Daws Butler, saying, "Hey, Boo-Boo," and "Yogi." It peaked at #8 on Billboard's Hot 100, and #22 on the Black Singles Chart.

Filmography[]

Television[]

Films and Specials[]

Commercials[]

  • Kellogg's commercials (1958-1962)
  • Public Service Announcement on smoking (1968)
  • Public Service Announcement on leading a healthy lifestyle (1981)
  • Public Service Announcement for the American Melanoma Foundation (1992)
  • Cartoon Network promos and advertisements (1990s)
  • MetLife - "Everyone", a 2012 commercial featuring various well-known animated characters
  • Rocket Mortgage (2018)
  • Geico - BBQ segment (2021)

Guest Appearances[]

Casting History[]

Names in Other Languages[]

Language Name
Bulgarian Мечето Йоги
Bavarian Yogi Bär
German YogiBär
Spanish Oso Yogi
Serbian Медвед Јоги (Medved Jogi)
French Yogi l'Ours
Korean 요기_베어
Italian L'orso Yoghi
Hebrew יוגי_דב
Japanese ヨギ・ベア
Portuguese Zé Colmeia

Quotes[]

  • "Hey-hey-hey!"
  • "I'm smarter than the av-er-age bear!"
  • "Hey, Boo-Boo!"
  • "How about a pic-a-nic basket"
  • "Sheesh!"

Gallery[]

Concept Art[]

References[]

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