Happy Earth Day from Yogi Bear and His Hanna-Barbera Pals! |

THIS LAND IS OUR LAND: THE YOGI BEAR ENVIRONMENTAL ALBUM
Kid Rhino Records R4 71422 (Cassette Only)

Released in 1993. Executive Producer: Richard Foos. Producers: Bill Mumy and Richard Haimer. Associate Producer: Mary Mueller. Project Supervisors: Faithe Raphael and John Sperling. Art Direction: Geoff Gans. Design: Jim Whitney. Mastered by Bob Fisher. Text Excerpts from 50 Simple Things Kids Can Do to Save the Earth (1989 Edition). Illustration by Scott Shaw!

Voices: Greg Burson (Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound, Snagglepuss, Quick Draw McGraw, George Jetson), Penny Singleton (Jane Jetson), Henry Corden (Fred Flintstone), Frank Welker (Barney Rubble), and Tony Pope (Boo Boo, Ranger Smith).

Original Songs: “Yabba-Dabba-Doo It,” “Don’t Waste the Water,” “Run from Mr. Ranger,” “A Rainbow Rainbow World,” “Camping Out Tonight” by Robert Haimer and Bill Mumy; “Smarter Than the Average Bear,” “The Cause-and-Effect Song,” “Our Planet Earth” by Bill Mumy and Laura Renee Raty.

Cover Songs: “This Land is Your [Our] Land,” by Woody Guthrie; “Rocky Mountain High” by John Denver and Mike Taylor; “Sunshine On My Shoulders” by John Denver, Mike Taylor, and Dick Kniss.

When Hanna-Barbera’s classic short cartoon characters were first reunited specifically for a TV series, the result was Yogi’s Gang (1973), an ABC network presentation steeped in the requirements imposed by numerous factions that both restricted and imposed upon the creative process. Nevertheless, the resilient people at Hanna-Barbera managed to produce an entertaining and memorable series, nothing like the original cartoons, but still offering viewers the original cast voices as the beloved characters, many of them getting chances to shine on occasion. Yogi’s Gang proved that an assemblage of favorite friends was viable and that these creations were forever “relevant.”

The nineties ushered in a wave of new Hanna-Barbera recordings, mostly due to Earl Kress proving their viability with the albums he produced for Rhino Records. The results were eclectic, just as many Hanna-Barbera recordings were in the sixties.

This Land is Our Land: The Yogi Bear Environmental Album is one of the most unique and notable albums of this era. It combines Yogi and his cohorts with characters from The Flintstones and The Jetsons. As a group, they all sing Woody Guthrie’s “This Land is Your Land” (changing “your” to “our”) and Mumy and Haimer’s “Don’t Waste the Water.”

Being Yogi’s album, he and Boo-Boo get the most tracks, with an occasional assist from Ranger Smith. For the most part, this is the “fine, upstanding citizen” Yogi that he became in the seventies, but one song does allow him to showcase his rascally side called “Run from Mister Ranger.” Fred (Henry Corden) and Barney (Frank Welker) duet on the anti-pollution tune, “Yabba Dabba Do It.” Perhaps most historic is a rare duet between Jane and George Jetson entitled “Our Planet Earth.” Penny Singleton plays Jane for the last time she would voice her signature animated character on a commercial recording.

It can be a challenge to sing in a character voice, especially one known so well as Yogi Bear, but Greg Burson does an admirable job. He also tackles the voices of Huckleberry Hound, Quick Draw McGraw, Snagglepuss, and the especially challenging voice of George Jetson. A Daws Butler protégé, Burson assumed the role for The New Yogi Bear Show in 1988. He had some serious personal problems, which need not be listed here, and passed away in 2008.

Another Daws Butler student—and longtime Disneyland Records read-along actor—was Tony Pope, who voices Ranger Smith and Boo-Boo. Tony had a promising career (the Furby toy, the English dub of Akira, to name a few) and a lovely family with fellow voice actor Pat Lentz. Pope passed away after complications from leg surgery in 2004 at the age of 56.

The Yogi Bear Environmental Album was produced by Bill Mumy and the late Robert Haimer. The former schoolmates also produced The Dinosaur Album: A Musical Adventure Through the Jurassic Age for the Kid Rhino label. The duo gave the world the Doctor Demento classic, “Fish Heads” (yummmm) as “Barnes and Barnes,” the video for which was named one of the 100 Best Videos of All Time.

Mumy, of course, was one of the most prolific child actors in entertainment history, indelible in such episodes as “It’s a Good Life” on The Twilight Zone and “Bang! You’re Dead” on Alfred Hitchcock Presents, as well as the iconic “Danger! Danger!” Will Robinson on Lost in Space.

While Mumy continued to act on occasion, most notably in the sci-fi series Babylon 5 as well as animation voice work, including Scooby Doo, Animaniacs and Batman: The Animated Series. Most of all, he enjoyed another prolific career as a composer/musician. He released a number of his own pop albums, and for kids, he wrote over 100 songs for the Disney Channel series Adventures in Wonderland, for which he was nominated for an Emmy. My own kids grew up listening to Mumy’s album, Kiss My Boo-Boo (featuring a fresh version of “Fish Heads”), which he dedicated to his children.

Children’s audio cassettes had virtually replaced vinyl records during this period. Several albums and read-alongs were never issued in any other format. Rhino must have planned a CD that never materialized because there is a CD-sized insert included with the package, which also offered a packet of marigold seeds. The tall CD box format was a short-lived phase in packaging cassettes and CDs because many store shelves were still limited to bins and shelves built for LPs. The tall box made it possible for display in LP fixtures. Sometimes, the overpackaging of CDs and cassettes resulted in some pushback from environmentalists. This Yogi cassette box was, however, made of recycled materials. Yogi was always in the ranger’s hair from filching pic-a-nic baskets, but he was no hypocrite.