Sunday, April 1, 2012

The Quick Draw McGraw Show


The Quick Draw McGraw Show remains one of the greatest cartoon shows ever, and certainly the most underrated cartoon show in the Hanna-Barbera library.   Quick Draw himself was a cockeyed combination of cowboy caricatures, brilliantly voiced by Daws Butler.  Unlike Huck and Yogi, whose voices were parodies of Andy Griffith and Art Carney, Quick Draw's voice was an original and one of a kind.  And the stories were provided by Mike Maltese and Warren Foster, who wrote many of the best of the Looney Tunes at Warner Bros. 

Above is a lineup of the cast from the Quick Draw series.  From left to right, that's Blabber, Baba Looey, Quick Draw McGraw, Augie Doggie with his father Doggie Daddy, and Snooper.  Snooper and Blabber were a team of "detecatives."  Baba was Quick Draw's sidekick.  But you knew that.  

The character pose is taken from an old Hanna-Barbera press release.  The background photo was taken during a family trip last month to the Grand Canyon.  Quick Draw and Baba Looey certainly fit into the terrain. 

Surprisingly,  there were some other Hanna-Barbera characters on hand at the Grand Canyon.  Near the entrance to the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park, we came upon the roadside attraction pictured below...



Um...Yabba-Dabba-Doo? 

18 comments:

  1. That's really neat, but you failed to mention el kabong!

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  2. wow hanna barbera was have a park for the Grand Canyon.

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  3. Luke, you're right, that is a terrible oversight on my part, because I LOVE ME SOME EL KABONG! What a terrific alter-ego. Ka-BONG!!

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  4. Great post! I always wondered why Quick Draw always got the short end of the stick. He's really funny. I'd even argue THE funniest of Hanna-Barbera's characters!

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  5. I just wish this series was on DVD, but there's some red tape involving the music preventing it to be released.

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    1. I wish so too, if only Warner Archive will release it not too soon.

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  6. Tom, you post alot of early HB stuff, what do you think about Rocky and Bullwinkle though?

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  7. I have been a big fan of Rocky & Bullwinkle since it began. I post Hanna-Barbera stuff mainly because I worked there for more than a decade and I have a chuck of H-B memorabilia to share. I never had the chance to work for Jay Ward on Rocky and Bullwinkle or on any of his other productions.

    But during my days at Hanna-Barbera, one of my favorite collaborators was a writer named George Atkins, who was not only one of the funniest people I ever met in my life, but who also had been the scriptwriter for a huge share of the Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoons. In fact, George wrote virtually all of "The Fractured Fairy Tales" segments.

    Perhaps more than anyone I ever met, George could make me laugh within seconds of walking in the door, sometimes with just a glance, but often with an anecdote or story that would leave listeners weeping with laughter. George Atkins is a funny, funny man.

    He wrote scripts for me on "Scooby," among other shows. He had a knack for creating instantly odd and funny incidental characters with just a simple line or two in the script.

    George moved to Mexico in the early 90's...said he could live like a king there. He also said he wanted to keep writing scripts. So I would send him assignments via fax to a tiny hotel that was in the village where he lived. Once a week, we called me from the phone in the hotel lobby and we'd talk through the script.

    I miss George! If anyone knows where he is, please post here! Would love to catch up with this hilarious comedy genius.

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  8. Say, Tom, since you mention this, did you hear about Dick Clark putting up a house he owned in Malibu for sale recently? This thing actually looks like it came right out of "The Flintstones". The entire house and every amenity inside it is completely made of stone, right down to the furniture, the appliances, and even the beds! Oh, and if you listen real carefully, you might hear the pygmy mammoth vacuum taking his frequent in-between-chores naps in the closet!

    Btw, I was wondering if you could divulge the address of the house you grew up in. I'd like to stop by and take a look at it someday.

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  9. I grew up in Metuchen, New Jersey. The house is still standing. If you'd ever like to see it, you'll need to get in touch with my brother Jim Ruegger in Metuchen.

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  10. I had no idea that Huckleberry Hound's voice was a parody of Andy Griffith but it totally makes sense! That's cool! As for the place near the Grand Canyon, I too came across a Flintstones town once years ago but it was near Lake Powell not the Grand Canyon. I don't know if it was the same place but it stands to reason it would be. Here's a link to some pics of the really cool statues.
    http://blog.milowerx.com/?p=1264

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  11. Great Flintstones statues! Thanks Mike.

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  12. I like Quick Draw as well and thanks to a friend I have every episode on DVD, just like they originally aired. I have also been to the Flintstones Park near the Grand Canyon. It is definitely geared to the younger crowd. By the way, Daws patterned Huck's voice not on Andy Griffith but on a neighbor of his wife, Myrtis, in North Carolina. He had been using the voice for cartoons back in the 1940's for Tex Avery. When Bill and Joe wanted a southern voice for Huckleberry Hound, Daws asked them what kind because he could do about seven different southern dialects. The guy was amazing. You must have some good stories, Tom, about working with him at H-B as well as stories about Mel Blanc.

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  13. Thanks for that info, Greg.

    Daws told me that Joe and Bill specifically wanted an Andy Griffith voice for Huck, so Daws did his own variation on it, which is pretty close to Andy Griffith in 1957, 58 -- the "No Time for Sergeants era. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUhChCt13Oo&feature=relateddoiogn http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-z3XvZ-lh7I

    Do you actually have dvds of entire Quick Draw episodes, with the main titles and end titles and interstitials intact? In color? If so, we need to talk! Really!

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    1. Yes and they are mostly in color. Cartoon Network, believe it or not, showed the Quick Draw shows intact with some transitioning between black and white and color for color parts not missing. They are awesome to watch.

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    2. Total envy. I wasn't even aware the transitional material still existed. I noticed there's not even a complete main title on the single Quick Draw episode that they put put out on dvd in the Saturday Morning Cartoon package recently. Do your dvds have complete main titles and end titles in color? If so, you should contact Warner Bros. Home Video and start negotiating!

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  14. Tom: You've really touched a nerve here. I have all the classic Hanna-Barbera sets on DVD, but have long lamented the absence of Quick Draw which, I am in agreement with you, provided some of HB's finest moments. What is the problem? Why haven't they come out with the Quick Draw sets?

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  15. Actually, the episodes of the three segments from The Quick Draw McGraw Show (Hanna-Barbera/Columbia Pictures, 1959-62) - Quick Draw McGraw, Snooper & Blabber and Augie Doggie & Doggie Daddy - had their scripts done by Michael Maltese.
    Warren Foster was involved in the scripts from The Huckleberry Hound Show (Hanna-Barbera/Columbia Pictures, 1958-62) and the respective segments from this show (Yogi Bear and Pixie & Dixie with Mr. Jinks).

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