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.
“Sunshine on My Shoulders” – Yogi and Boo-Boo
Mister Ranger is gonna like this. The John Denver hit is sung by Jellystone Park’s famous residents.
GREG EHRBAR is a freelance writer/producer for television, advertising, books, theme parks and stage. Greg has worked on content for such studios as Disney, Warner and Universal, with some of Hollywood’s biggest stars. His numerous books include Mouse Tracks: The Story of Walt Disney Records (with Tim Hollis). Visit 
Mumy also starred in Chuck Jones’ animated feature film adaption of the book “The Phantom Tollbooth” (1970).
I believe you are thinking of another famed child actor of the 60s – Butch Patrick (most famously of “The Munsters”).
D’oh! I Just realized that thirty minutes ago.
A rarity offered by this album is the opportunity to hear Penny Singleton singing in character as Jane Jetson. I believe Jane sang on at least one episode of the original Jetsons series, but her voice was clearly dubbed. While Penny’s singing is not particularly spectacular, just the fact that she sings at all as the character is worth the listen.
Another plus that this album offers is to prove that even in the post-Daws Butler era, the characters could still be brought to life vocally with a genuine regard for their original personalities. This recording shows and perpetuates an appreciation for these Hanna-Barbera icons.
And welcome back, Greg!
Thanks, Frederick! You’re in the new Hanna-Barbera book, you know.
Jane’s singing in the “Miss Solar System” segment was provided by B.J. Baker, who also sang for Wilma and Betty, as well as Nancy Kwan in Flower Drum Song. Penny Singleton was on in years in 1993 and did give the song (and all her fans) her all, but she was a magnificent singer in the classic movie days. Here are the songs from the most musical of all the Blondie movies: [CLICK HERE!]
As for the careful casting of actors who cared, Hanna-Barbera was the first studio to create a “quality control” department for character voices, eight years before Disney began their Character Voice department and the “official voices” were designated.
Thanks for the book recognition, Greg! I was honored and delighted to see my name in print–in four places, no less! I hope there will be future such “collaborations!”
This is the first I’ve heard of the H-B “quality control” department but I’m glad they initiated it. Clearly it paid off in this instance at least.
I’m sure you realize without my writing it that these posts are much appreciated. “Animation Spin” is something I savor every time one occurs. Best wishes always!
I wonder why Tony Pope filled in for Don Messick as Boo Boo and Ranger Smith. Messick was still active then, and he voiced them the following year in “Yogi the Easter Bear”.
When I was a kid, there was no person on Earth (or elsewhere) I wanted to be more than Billy Mumy. He was in the coolest show on television, he had exciting adventures in outer space with monsters and pretty girls every week, and he could sing and play the guitar. Some years later, my sister asked me to drive her and her friends to a Shaun Cassidy concert, and I flat out refused. No way. The very idea. It turned out that Bill Mumy was playing guitar in Cassidy’s band, and I could have had a front row seat! I’ve been kicking myself about that for nearly fifty years.
Never cared for that inane “Fish Heads” song, though.
Perhaps because of the rigours of touring with a band, Mumy dislikes traveling today, and therefore he has declined all invitations to appear at fan events in Australia, where “Lost in Space” still has a large and devoted following and is fondly remembered by my generation. But he’s always very polite in his refusals.
Mumy’s daughter Liliana has numerous voice credits in animation, including the role of Roxy, the Fairy of Animals, in the Nickelodeon dub of Season 4 of Winx Club. Roxy has a reduced role in Season 5, which, like “Yogi’s Ark”, has a pointed (though less heavy-handed) environmental message, as the pollution in Earth’s oceans turns Prince Tritannus of Andros into an evil, powerful mer-monster. Liliana turns in a very fine performance in the dub, which is more than can be said for future Academy Award nominee Ariana Grande, who was all wrong for the part of the scheming Princess Diaspro.
By the way, Greg, I got tired of waiting for an autographed copy of your book to become available, so I went ahead and ordered an unsigned one. So now you’re just going to have to come to Australia and sign it for me. Bring Bill Mumy with you when you do.
Hi Paul,
Sorry about the book. Someday maybe I’ll go down under and sign it. Thanks for buying it!
It took a while before we could arrange to sell it autographed. For those who would still like an autographed copy, please visit gregovision.com
“Yogi’s Gang” looks like a direct outgrowth of a “Saturday Superstar Movies” episode, “Yogi’s Ark Lark”. Always suspected most of the “Movies” were pilots, or at least experiments.
One difference was that “Ark Lark” had a new human character as captain of the ark, with Yogi and company joining his search for the Perfect Place. He was absent from “Gang”, so the ark was filled entirely with HB animals.
Yogi’s Gang, along with The Brady Kids, were series sold by Saturday Superstar Movie pilots. It was an excellent way to have an anthology for kids and also either test the ratings of concepts or just “burn off” a pilot that ABC had passed on.