Hoppity Hooper

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hoppity Hooper was an animated television series produced by Jay Ward in 1964, originally broadcast on ABC and later syndicated under the name "Uncle Waldo."

The recurring characters were Hoppity Hooper, a frog, voiced by Chris Allen; "Uncle" Waldo P. Wigglesworth, a fox, voiced by Hans Conried; Fillmore, a bear, voiced by Bill Scott; and the narrator, Paul Frees.

Fillmore and Waldo bore a distinct resemblance to Calvin and the Colonel, another bear-and-fox team who had a series a few years earlier.

Each story consisted of four short cartoons, one aired at the beginning and end of two series episodes. Interspersed were recycled second features from the earlier series The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show and Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales (the latter not produced by Ward but animated by the same company, Gamma Productions), like Peabody's Improbable History, Fractured Fairy Tales, Mr. Know-It-All, and The World of Commander McBragg.

One of the best-remembered stories is "The Traffic Zone," a parody of The Twilight Zone in which the characters were transformed into vegetables.

Another episode featured this exchange:

  • British gent: "My name is Baddeley-Bent with a hyphen."
  • Hoppity: "Gee, that's too bad."