Audiences who flocked to see the latest entry in the Mission: Impossible franchise last weekend (The Final Reckoning) could see that being a secret agent is a dangerous gig.
As death-defying as Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt character is, he never had to do all that he does with a bushy tail – Secret Squirrel blazed that trail — and did his own stunts, too!
Hanna-Barbera’s parody of the secret agent/spy genre, which exploded in popularity in the sixties thanks to the James Bond films, celebrates its 60th anniversary later this year. Secret Squirrel, decked out in his white trench coat and peering out through eye holes in his purple fedora, was the picture of the prototypical spy, and his adventures are the stuff that Saturday morning memories are made of.
“Super spies like James Bond, and hapless detectives, like Inspector Clouseau, were at the top of their popularity in the mid-sixties,” said Funtastic World of Hanna and Barbera host and Hanna-Barbera: The Recorded History author, Greg Ehrbar. “1965 gave us Get Smart, a spoof; The Wild, Wild West, a western James Bond; the original Avengers imported from Britain with the breakthrough Emma Peel played by Diana Rigg; and Honey West, an American version of The Avengers. Kids loved the genre, so Hanna-Barbera gave us a gadget-laden squirrel fighting super villains that was perfect for cartoons.”
The character made his first appearance in the one-hour, prime-time special, The World of Secret Squirrel and Atom Ant, which aired on NBC on September 12, 1965. This was a promotional special for the two new Saturday morning series that would be debuting that fall on the network as Hanna-Barbera’s first animated series created especially for Saturday morning.
A combination of live-action and animated sequences, the special prominently featured Bill Hanna and Joseph Barbera. In the special, they even arrive at their studio in grand style by helicopter. The show allowed audiences at home to get to know the two men who would be the most successful players in television animation for decades to come.
“It was Hanna-Barbera’s first primetime network special,” said Greg. “Like 1964’s syndicated Here Comes a Star, which introduced Magilla Gorilla, it offered a chance to see Bill, Joe, and their studio onscreen. Their first animated prime time network special came a year later — Alice in Wonderland, or “What’s a Nice Kid Like You Doing in a Place Like This?”
The Secret Squirrel Show debuted on October 2, 1965 (preceded by The Atom Ant Show). It centered on the title character, “Agent 000,” who reports into a secret agency headed by Double-Q. He accepts his missions and heads off with his sidekick, Morocco Mole.
With writing from animation legends, such as Michael Maltese, Warren Foster, Tony Benedict, and Dalton Sandifer, Secret Squirrel offered some creative and sharp situations and satire.
In addition to exaggerated spy gadgets, like a car that could fold into a suitcase and the ability to disguise himself as anyone or anything, Secret Squirrel could open his trenchcoated to reveal every type of tech from a rocket to a miniature TV set.
Then, there were the outlandish villains that ranged from Yellow Pinkie (a clever take on Bond’s Goldfinger), performed by Paul Frees in a great Sydney Greenstreet imitation, and the Masked Granny, a kindly grandma in disguise (voiced by Jean Vander Pyl) who came equipped with a knitting bag of tricks.
A color guide used by the cel painters on SECRET SQUIRREL
As was standard for Hanna-Barbera series of this era, The Secret Squirrel Show comprised three cartoon-short length segments. In addition to Secret Squirrel, there was Squiddly Diddly, which told of the misadventures of the title character. This squid resides at the Bubbleland theme park and constantly causes trouble for Chief Winchley, who is in charge of the park.
Another segment of the show was Winsome Witch. On Greg’s H-B podcast, Jean Vander Pyl’s son Roger DeWitt recalled Winsome Witch as one of her favorite voices other than Wilma Flintstone. Well-meaning but prone to mishaps, Winsome Witch has the distinction of being the first female lead character in an animated TV series.
In addition to Vander Pyl, a cast of some of animation’s greatest voice actors brought these colorful characters to life, including none other than Mel Blanc as Secret Squirrel, with Paul Frees, bringing his renowned Peter Lorre impersonation to Morocco Mole. “Frees recorded a Spike Jones version of “My Old Flame” using the Lorre impression,” Greg added. “On Jones’ radio show, the real Lorre faced off with Frees in person!”
Frees also voiced Q, as well as Squiddly Diddly, and John Stephenson voiced Chief Winchley. Other voices on the show included stalwarts like Don Messick, Henry Corden, Allan Melvin, and Janet Waldo.
Later in the season, NBC combined the three-cartoon series into the six-cartoon, hour-long Atom Ant/Secret Squirrel Show. Greg continues: “When the shows were separated again for NBC’s 1966 lineup, Atom Ant lasted another season, but Secret Squirrel was trounced by the double-punch of a new Hanna-Barbera series, Frankenstein, Jr. and The Impossibles, and the first Rankin/Bass Saturday morning series, The King Kong Show. The Hillbilly Bears cartoons became part of The Banana Splits Show in 1969, and when The Banana Splits and Friends came to syndication in the late seventies, both the Atom Ant and Secret Squirrel shows returned as part of the package.”
A re-boot surfaced in 1993, Super Secret Secret Squirrel, as part of the 2 Stupid Dogs show. In addition to a re-design, the characters were now voiced by Jess Harnell as Secret Squirrel and Jim Cummings as Morocco Mole.
Still, sixty years later, the original Secret Squirrel Show stands as a great example of what Hanna-Barbera did best: holding a mirror up to pop culture and bringing it to life for kids on Saturday morning.
Michael Lyons is a freelance writer, specializing in film, television, and pop culture. He is the author of the book, Drawn to Greatness: Disney’s Animation Renaissance, which chronicles the amazing growth at the Disney animation studio in the 1990s. In addition to Animation Scoop and Cartoon Research, he has contributed to Remind Magazine, Cinefantastique, Animation World Network and Disney Magazine. He also writes a blog, Screen Saver: A Retro Review of TV Shows and Movies of Yesteryear and his interviews with a number of animation legends have been featured in several volumes of the books, Walt’s People. You can visit Michael’s web site Words From Lyons at: 
“Heroes to the rescue!”
I loved “Secret Squirrel” during the few years that it ran on Saturday mornings. I didn’t see it again until, fifteen or so years ago, a friend gave me a DVD of every “Secret Squirrel” cartoon as recorded off Boomerang, and I found that I loved it just as much forty-odd years later. It had much the same humour as the later seasons of “The Flintstones”, with which it ran contemporaneously, and which was likewise replete with spy parodies and sendups of Hollywood tropes. In fact, there was an episode in which a mad scientist created robot duplicates of Secret Squirrel, just as an alien invader had done to Fred in “Ten Little Flintstones”.
Unfortunately that DVD deteriorated faster than any other I’ve ever owned. Within a few years it began to freeze and skip, and now it won’t load at all. I’ll have to see if Warner Archive is still offering the series for sale.
Secret Squirrel, Atom Ant and their cohorts were something of a last hurrah for the funny animal format that had dominated Hanna-Barbera’s product for nearly a decade. In 1966 “Space Ghost” made its debut, heralding a wave of action/adventure cartoons that I loved just as much, if not more. Then came all those meddlesome mystery-solving kids. By the late ’70s, Captain Caveman would be pulling gadgets that could solve any problem out of his body hair, just as Secret Squirrel had from his trench coat. And didn’t George Jetson, like Secret, have a flying car that could fold up into a briefcase?
Though Mel Blanc voiced many of the headliner characters at Warner Brothers–Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, Daffy Duck, Foghorn Leghorn, Sylvester, etc.–in his career at Hanna-Barbera he chiefly voiced supporting characters or sidekicks such as Barney Rubble, Hardy Har Har, Droopalong Coyote, or Bubba McCoy, or a nasty boss such as Mr. Spacely in the Jetsons. Secret Squirrel is one of the few headliner roles that Mel took on for HB, and as always acquitted himself well. He could be a master of understatement, which is one of his primary techniques in voicing Secret Squirrel. His matter-of-fact delivery, taking extraordinary gadgetry or implausible scenarios in stride, is reminiscent of both Sean Connery and Roger Moore (although the latter of course wouldn’t take over the Bond role until nearly a decade later).
As a kid in the first grade, I couldn’t get enough of Secret Squirrel and eagerly looked forward to Saturday mornings. Though I took delight in both Secret Squirrel and Atom Ant, it was the squirrel with his amazing gadgets and gizmos and his faithful sidekick Morocco Mole that really won my heart.
Of course, as an adult fan of classic film I now appreciate the sly vocal references to Peter Lorre and Sidney Greenstreet, but these went over my head when I was five years old. This is the genius of Hanna-Barbera cartoons, particularly in the early years–combining adult humor with childlike whimsy so as to appeal to different age groups at the same time. And to a kid, it didn’t matter who was being imitated as long as the characters were fresh and funny.
Frederick Wiegand, Mel Blanc did voice a couple of headlining Hanna-Barbera characters later on, like Captain Caveman and Speed Buggy. But you’re right in saying he mostly played HB sidekicks like Sneezly Seal. Mel used his “natural” talents for Sneezly, Spacely, Barney Rubble and the rest…unlike at Warner Brothers where many of his voices (Tweety, Daffy, Speedy, Porky) were sped up.
Great tribute, Michael! I loved both Secret Squirrel and Atom Ant (And I remember that hour-long prime-time special, that introduced them. I think it ended with Secret and Atom taking off in Bill and Joe’s helicopter.)
I even had a lunch box with Secret Squirrel on one side and Atom Ant on the other. (Probably the best thing about first grade was having that luchbox!) I remember my Mom taking me to several different stores before we scored one- I’m thinking that particular lunch box was a hot seller in the Fall of ’65…
I recalled Atom Ant and Secret Squirrel going into syndication in 1970 as components of the Banana Splits and Friends package. That’s where I got caught up to speed with them.
I grew up with the 90’s Secret Squirrel and, don’t flame me for this, I actual prefer his voice in those cartoons over Mel Blanc.
I’ll be waiting forever that feature about an old and lonely Morocco Mole played by Bill Murray…
I want a complete home media release of SuperSecretSecretSquirrel, dangit! This time in GOOD quality, that “volume 1” DVD-R had horrible interlaced to Hell picture, worse than free TV rips one can find easily.
Warner Archives had the entire original series on DVD for a while. They don’t anymore, but there are legit versions still on Amazon for around $25. As far as the sequel series, you can find all 13 episodes on Internet Archive in real good quality.