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Hanna-Barbera Characters From the 60s

Some of Hanna-Barbera's more well-known cartoon characters from the 1960s were based upon real-life actors. According to the Museum of Broadcast Communications, characters in the "The Flintstones" were modeled after characters on The Honeymooners. Art Carney's character from the same show inspired Yogi Bear. Perhaps it's part of the reason why they're so enduring and why many people still enjoy and recognize these cartoon characters from the '60s today.
  1. Fred Flintstone

    • With a run lasting from 1960 to 1966, "The Flintstones" was one of the first cartoon sitcoms to gain popularity with adults. The show was set in prehistoric Bedrock, and Fred Flintstone was the Flintstone family patriarch. He was always having a tough time with his angry boss, Mr. Slate. Fred's patient wife, Wilma, dealt with Fred's temper and ran the Flintstone household. Fred was a loud-mouth, and his brazen and cheerful catchphrase, "Yabba dabba do!" was known in households across the country.

    George Jetson

    • Airing from 1962 to 1963, "The Jetsons" was set in a fictional futuristic world, the Jetsons were a family that lived in 3000 A.D. in the Skypad Apartments in Orbit City. The apartments, as well as the whole city, rested sky high on adjustable columns, and George Jetson, the family's breadwinner, only worked three hours a day -- a heavy workload for George consists of pushing a button for a whole hour. George Jetson and his family provided a positive and imaginative look at the future, in contrast with other science fiction programs of the time that left viewers with a bleak view of what was ahead.

    Yogi Bear

    • Star of The Yogi Bear Show, which first aired in 1961, Yogi was a picnic-basket snatching, scheming bear who lived in Jellystone National Park with his sidekick, Boo Boo Bear. His silly picnic-basket stealing antics often would land him in hot water with park-protecting Park Ranger Smith, and though Yogi's hunger-driven schemes hardly worked in his favor, his catchphrase was, "I'm smarter than the average bear!"

    Top Cat

    • Top Cat aired from 1961 to 1962, and starred the animated feline Top Cat, also known as T.C. He's a greedy cat who's always scheming ways to fatten his wallet, and his schemes involve his gang of junkyard cats. Clever and somewhat lazy, Top Cat usually manages to trick and ripoff his gang as well as Officer Dibble, the cop who wants to evict the cat gang from their alley. Like many other Hanna-Barbera cartoons, Top Cat aired for only one season.

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