Y is for You Asked For It and The Yogi Bear Show #atozchallenge

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STATEMENT THAT APPEARS AT THE BEGINNING OF ALL A-Z 2016 PAGES:

Welcome to the A-Z Classic TV Shows Theme Songs and Intros! Last year I did an A-Z Musical Tour of My Life and featured tons of classic rock music. I had so much fun with it that this year I decided to present classic television shows theme songs and intros. These are shows that I remember from my youth during the 60s and 70s…with the occasional 80s show thrown in. Each show is introduced with information (gathered primarily from my favorite go-to for info, Wikipedia) or associated memories, followed by a video of the TV show’s theme song intro. At first glance, the posts may seem long because of the number of videos included but it’s really laid out in a way that will enable you to scroll through and read, watch or hear just what you want and then either move on to the next A-Zer or linger and go back in time with all the fun theme song intros you’ll find here. Please leave a comment and share your favorite classic TV shows. By all means, bookmark my blog so you can come back! I hope you enjoy my collection. Now, let’s get started with…

Y is a tough letter for TV shows. The most classic Y show that I could think of was the show from the 50s called You Asked for It:

Y is for You Asked for It:

You Asked for It was a human interest television show created and hosted by Art Baker. Initially titled The Art Baker Show, the program originally aired on American television between 1950 and 1959. Later versions of the series were seen in 1972, 1981, and 2000.

On the show, viewers were asked to send in postcards describing something that they wanted to see on television, such as the reenactment of William Tell shooting an apple off his son’s head. (1950 US national archery champion Stan Overby performed the feat, shooting an apple off his assistant’s head.)

The show was originally broadcast live, so some of the riskier propositions took on added elements of danger and suspense. A segment where animal trainer and stuntman, Reed Parham wrestled a huge, deadly anaconda, for example, nearly became disastrous until assistants interceded with guns drawn, visibly unnerving host Art Baker.

The program was named The Art Baker Show, after the series creator and host. In April 1951, the show’s title was changed to You Asked for It. Originally airing on the DuMont Television Network from December 29, 1950 to December 7, 1951, it moved to ABC, where it remained until the end of its original run on September 27, 1959. The show was sponsored by Skippy Peanut Butter and Studebaker Automobiles.

Art Baker hosted the show, until early 1958, when Jack Smith took over for the remaining 20 months. Later in the 1981 remake of the show, Rich Little hosted. Here is a clip of a 1981 episode:

Here’s a 7 minute segment from 1953, reuniting the Our Gang kids, 25 years later:

 

 

And of course there’s that classic cartoon character Yogi Bear!

Y is for The Yogi Bear Show:  “Hey Boo-Boo, Let’s grab that pic-a-nic basket!” I used to impersonate Yogi Bear saying that line. What a classic!

The Yogi Bear Show is an animated television series and the first incarnation of Hanna-Barbera’s Yogi Bear series about the misadventures of picnic basket stealing bear Yogi in Jellystone Park. The show debuted in syndication on January 30, 1961 and ran for 33 episodes until January 6, 1962 and included two segments, Snagglepuss and Yakky Doodle. The show had a two-year production run.

Yogi Bear’s popularity led to many spinoff incarnations, feature movies and specials that starred the character.

yogi-bear-yogi-bear-18746703-800-1204

Characters:

Yogi Bear

Yogi Bear (voiced by Daws Butler impersonating Art Carney) and Boo Boo Bear (voiced by Don Messick) reside in Jellystone Park and would often try to steal picnic baskets while evading Ranger Smith (voiced by Don Messick). Yogi also has a relationship with his girlfriend Cindy Bear (voiced by Julie Bennett).

Boo-Boo Bear

Yogi’s childlike sidekick who tries (and never succeeds) to warn Yogi that “Mr. Ranger” wouldn’t like Yogi to steal picnic baskets. He only wears a blue bowtie.

Ranger Smith

The head ranger who argues with Yogi stealing picnic baskets. He wears a traditional ranger costume.

Cindy Bear

Cindy Bear (voiced by Julie Bennett) is the girlfriend of Yogi Bear. She speaks with a pronounced Southern accent, and carries a parasol.

Here’s a video (18 minutes) containing the 1961 Yogi Bear Show Intro plus sponsor messages, commercials and bumpers utilizing Yogi, Snagglepuss and Yakky Doodle. If you just want to see the Yogi Bear Show intro, you’re in luck because that’s at the very beginning of this video:

 

Y was a tough letter. What Y shows can you think of? What are your favorite TV shows, past and present?

 

 

 

 

 

 

46 thoughts on “Y is for You Asked For It and The Yogi Bear Show #atozchallenge”

    • You’re allowed to not like Yogi. He’s not for everybody… 🙂
      I’ll have to check into Prime Minister…

      Thanks for coming by today!

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    • Oh I bet that would make it neat, living so close to Yellowstone. My favorite was Boo Boo.
      Thanks for stopping by Mary

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  4. Hi, Michele!

    Y might have been a tough letter for you, but you nailed it for a 100 year old boomer like me because I watched both of these shows! I had forgotten all about You Asked For It, sponsored by Skippy Peanut Butter and Studebaker cars. Watching the series with my parents is one of my earliest childhood memories. Borrowing from Ripley’s Believe It Or Not, You Asked For It was the forerunner of modern TV reality shows like Fear Factor and Survivor. I remember that Wm. Tell reenactment by the crack shot archer. I didn’t find the wrestling match with the chimp to be amusing because it looked like the chimp wanted to be anywhere else but in the ring with that goof ball. The whole thing smacked of animal exploitation bordering on abuse, something to which I am vehemently opposed. I continue to be astounded by the TV commercials of those early years of television. Often delivered live, they were typically long, drawn out, rambling and awkward. As he stacked those jars of Skippy into a store display pyramid, Art Baker stumbled through his pitch as if he was making it up as he went along. I love how he used the words “stale” and “rancid,” to describe what Skippy peanut butter was NOT. If I had written the ad copy, I would instead have emphasized the product’s freshness, aroma, flavor and “spreadability” rather than implanting those negatives in the minds of viewers. Art’s script also implied that an unhappy customer returning a jar of stale or rancid peanut butter to the store had to be a “she” because shopping for the family’s groceries was ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS a woman’s job. RIght, Debbie the Doglady? 🙂

    I was a regular viewer of Yogi Bear, the cartoon character inspired by baseball great Yogi Berra. The cartoon, produced by animation studio Hanna-Barbera, was sophisticated and “adult” enough to keep me entertained. The same can be said of other H-B cartoon series which included Huckleberry Hound, Quick Draw McGraw and The Flintstones.

    Thanks for the boomer era memories, dear friend Michele!

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    • Aw, Huckleberry Hound and Quick Draw McGraw: I forgot about those! I remember them so fondly.
      I’m so glad that you are familiar with You Asked For It! I didn’t think anyone would remember that show! Re: using animals in shows: I’m so glad that nowadays when animals are used, there is a team of people onsite to ensure the safety and emotional well-being of the animals. That didn’t happen back then. People didn’t view animals back then the way we do now. And especially in movies, more and more they are using CG technology instead of live animals. Al Pacino was involved in a show called Luck a few years back which was a show about the world of horseracing and the race track. He pulled the plug on the series because too many horses were getting injured in the making of the show and it never ended up airing. I respected him so much for that.

      That’s funny about Art Baker’s ad-lib sponsor messages! Yep, sounds like they needed a new copywriter! That’s how I started out in my advertising career btw, did you know that?

      Glad my post today brought back some good memories for you!
      Thanks for stopping by Shady…

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  9. I loved watching Yogi Bear and Boo-Boo. I didn’t watch much of You asked for it although I vaguely remember some episodes. I would add Your Show of Shows to the list. Carl Reiner is the last one still standing from that show (that was on the air)

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  10. Yogi Bear is the only one that shares our blog pages today. Can you believe only one more day? I’m anxious to see what if any we have the same of.
    I watched Yogi only sporadically. You Asked For It is new to me. Good find. That was pretty interesting.

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    • Thanks Jeffrey. I only have one show for tomorrow. There was only one show that I ever saw that started with Z. Another tough letter. Will be anxious to see what you came up with! One more day…and then we have BOTB….then we start the road trip! But it’s so much less intense that’s for sure…

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      • I probably should start thinking of a new battle. But I probably won’t till Sunday.
        I am not very happy with Z, but I did find three Z TV shows, and 3 more commercials. Z is a poor letter to go out on. I say next year we do the alphabet backwards.

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        • I agree! Z is definitely not a great letter to go out on. But i bet we’re certainly not the only ones to think that. I don’t think people really expect much from Z. I’m burned out anyway so I don’t even care really. Ha! 🙂

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    • Oh how fun!!! I haven’t been on a picnic in so long. It’s too stinkin’ hot to go on a picnic here in the summer time. Now winter: that’s a great time to go picnicking…

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    • oh you saw the black & white version with Art Baker then. Very cool. I only remember the one hosted by Rich Little.
      Thanks for coming by Alana!

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    • I hated this letter! And Z as well. Jeffrey thinks it’s a bad way to go out. I agree. He thinks we should do the alphabet backwards next time. Lol. That probably wouldn’t be a bad idea except I think I’d get lost. I’m not good at counting backwards… 🙂
      See you tomorrow for our final round. Are you doing BOTB on the 1st?

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      • Funny you should say that. I did visit somebody who was doing that very thing. A clever poet: http://rhymetime24.blogspot.ca/
        I’m skipping this BOTB. The turnout for the last one was so meagre and this one will probably be even less. Pleading blogger burnout! 😛 Plus, I prefer not to be online much on the weekends. Having to post every Saturday this month was too much already! It’s often busy client-wise and the hubby needs some attention, too. 🙂 We love spending that time together because he works Mon.-Fri. Can you believe we’re almost done??! YAY! BTW, did you read that the Reflections post date is May 9? At least that gives us a little time to recover.

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        • Where did you get the info about the Reflections post? I’m on the a-z mailing list but haven’t seen anything about it. Is there already a signup list? If I’m way down the list again, I’m not even going to bother signing up. I’m tired of this already.
          I totally understand about not doing the BOTB. Wonder if I should bail too? I already have mine scheduled but it sucks when no one comes to check it out. Hopefully you’ll come by to vote anyway…

          I totally agree that you should spend time with your hubby and get some good rest. This really does wear one out. I had a no show today. Pissed me off. I sat around waiting for this client to show up and then she texted me 50 minutes after she was supposed to be here that she wasn’t coming. Arrrgh. I usually confirm the day before via email or text but I forgot because I was too busy doing A-Z visits. It doesn’t happen often but when it does, it really irritates me. So rude!

          Have fun this weekend! See you tomorrow…for the crappy letter Z… 🙂

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          • I don’t think the Reflections post has a sign -up list, at least I don’t remember doing that. Anyway, Damyanti mentioned it in her Tuesday post: http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/2016/04/victory-lap-at-atozchallenge.html

            The turnout for BOTB is sure to be sparse. Even normal Sundays aren’t that great. Maybe people will catch up with it during the week. I’ll check it out after the weekend 🙂

            No shows are so aggravating and yes, totally rude! 😦 A couple of times when that happened, I phoned the person and they said; “Oh, didn’t I tell you, we’re not going?” GRRRR!

            My letter Z is up – a very cute breed! 🙂 Have a good night.

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          • My mistake. I went back and checked last year. There is a sign-up list for the Reflections post, but it comes out on the day and you’re supposed to add your link after you’ve published the post.

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