Huck & Yogi Visit Hills – November 1966

Huckleberry Hound seems to be a recurring topic on this blog. I wrote about him appearing at the 1959 Ohio State Homecoming game just last month.

Well, that affable blue hound sure got around. This time, Huck and his co-star Yogi Bear were making an appearance at the Hills Department Store on Route 57. The ad above appeared in the Lorain Journal on November 10, 1966.

Although we shopped regularly at Hills, unfortunately I don't think we were there the same day Huck and Yogi were.  (We missed Alvin and the Chipmunks’ Hills visit too.)

But Hanna-Barbara’s promotional department must have had some kind of ongoing connection with Hills, because on another Saturday afternoon, I know we came home from the store with some H-B freebie stuff. I seem to recall a Punkin’ Puss hand puppet, as well as a 45 rpm record with a lame, "groovy" pop song about Yogi Bear.

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Ever since the original Huckleberry Hound series became a hit, Hanna-Barbara had costumed characters of Huck and Yogi making public appearances in support of the show (and the various toys and other items tied in with it).

An article in the Morning Call of February 27, 1960 noted, “Huckleberry Hound and Yogi Bear, in man-sized costumes, travel year around, from city to city, visiting stores. Each outfit cost $1,500 and new men are hired in each city to climb inside and play the TV animal heroes for the kids.”

Here are a few ads showing how the appearances were promoted in the newspapers.

This is an early one that apparently predated the preparation of good promotional artwork. Yogi’s got some severely dilated pupils in this ad that ran in the Boston Globe on August 23, 1959.

On the other hand, this ad (below) from the Oakland Tribune of October 30, 1959 has some excellent renderings of the duo. And they were giving away rings and sample packages of Kellogg’s Corn Flakes and OK’s too!

Here’s a nice article about a personal appearance of the pair at the Los Angeles Sportsmen’s and Vacation Show. It ran in the Los Angeles Times on April 9, 1961. Yogi looks a little stubby, more like a bear cub than a full-sized bruin.

Here’s another ad from 1961. By this time, Yogi had eclipsed Huck as the star and had his own show. You can tell because he’s headlining the ad, and now Huckleberry is referred to as his pal. This ad ran in the Daily Oklahoman on July 28, 1961.

Here’s another ad (below) featuring the costumed versions of the characters. It ran in the Newport Daily News on August 8, 1964. Gee, with chowder and clam cakes being served, maybe they should have had Squiddly Diddly there too.

Lastly, here’s another Hills ad announcing a visit by Huckleberry & Yogi to a store in Pennsylvania only a few weeks before the Lorain gig. The ad ran in the Evening Standard in Uniontown, Pennsylvania on October 19, 1966.

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Wonder what the Huckleberry Hound costume looked like in color? You can see a couple of them on this early album cover.

By the way, we had one of those Huck Halloween masks!