![\"YogiSmarterLP-600\"](\"http:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/YogiSmarterLP-600.jpg\")
\nUnder the lengthy title \u201cHow to Be A Better-Than-The-Average Child Without Really Trying,\u201d Golden\u2019s faux Yogi offers musical tips on coping with our lives.<\/p>\n\n
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Hanna-Barbera\u2019s Released in 1962.<\/strong> Executive Producer: Arthur Shimkin. Script & Songs: Bill Hanna, Joe Barbera, Joan Lamport, Jackie Reinach. Arranger\/Conductor: Jim Timmens. Running Time: 36 minutes.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Voices:<\/strong> Frank Milano (Yogi Bear, Boo-Boo, Ranger Smith); Dottie Evans (Cindy Bear); Mike Stewart (Soloist). Popeye and Olive might seem a better fit for such songs than Yogi, as his main appeal (at least in his early cartoons) was as a nonconformist. Children\u2019s records that taught pro-social lessons were common almost as long as records existed, though. Yogi was at his peak of popularity in the early \u201860s, so combining positive lessons with his persona must have appealed to parents, though kids would probably be most drawn to the themes on side two.<\/p>\n The \u201cHow to Be\u201d songs come to a conclusion, with a finale reprise, when the albums still has about ten minutes left of playing time. It then shifts into theme songs from Hanna-Barbera cartoons, all recorded in New York by Golden artists, just like the Yogi songs. The main appeal of the themes is that they are each about two minutes long, allowing for verses and even complete refrains that were never used on the actual cartoons. The best one is probably \u201cTop Cat\u201d because Jim Timmens\u2019 light jazz style is a nice setting for the music, even though it\u2019s a far cry from Hoyt Curtin\u2019s spectacular Hanna-Barbera \u201cJetson Jazz\u201d arrangements. But even the \u201cTouch\u00e9 Turtle\u201d theme is fascinating because so little of it is part of the cartoon version, and all one can hear of \u201cLippy The Lion\u201d in the cartoon is the very last line. At least these themes are given a permanent document in sound because of Golden.<\/p>\n Jackie (aka Jacqueline) Reinach, who worked with composer Joan Lamport on the script–and the songs that were not Hanna-Barbera themes–was a veteran of children\u2019s television for decades until her passing in 2000. She worked with such legends as Fran Allison, Shari Lewis, wrote several albums for Golden (Show and Tell, Introduction to Music<\/em>), but found her biggest success with public TV\u2019s The Letter People puppet series and especially the multi-million-selling book series, \u201cSweet Pickles.\u201d<\/p>\n GIVE A LITTLE LISTEN<\/strong>
\nYOGI (The Better-Than-The-Average) BEAR:
\n\u201cHow To Be A Better-Than-The-Average Child Without Really Trying!\u201d<\/strong>
\nGolden Records LP-90 (12\u201d 33 1\/3 RPM \/ Mono) <\/p>\n
\n\u201cHow to Be\u201d Songs:<\/strong> \u201cYogi Bear is Better\/You Can Be a Better Child\u201d (Based on the TV Theme); \u201cHappy As a Clam,\u201d \u201cEverybody Makes Mistakes,\u201d \u201cGet Neat,\u201d \u201cDoodlin\u2019 and Dawdlin\u2019,\u201d \u201cDon\u2019t Do Unto Others What You Don\u2019t Want Done to You,\u201d \u201cTake a Little Care,\u201d \u201cA Little This, A Little That,\u201d \u201cSo Many Rules!\u201d \u201cThere\u2019s a Reason for the Rules,\u201d \u201cParents Are People, Too.\u201d
\nTV Theme Songs:<\/strong> \u201cTop Cat,\u201d \u201cWally Gator,\u201d \u201cDum Dum,\u201d \u201cTouch\u00e9 Turtle,\u201d \u201cLippy the Lion and Hardy Har Har.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n![\"Wally](\"http:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Wally-Gator-Golden-Record-400.jpg\")
<\/a>This LP is a complete concept album with ten extra minutes added after it\u2019s done. All of side one and most of side two contains ten songs themed to \u201cHow to Be A Better-Than-The Average-Child Without Really Trying\u201d<\/em> (a twist on the then-recent Broadway hit, How to Suceed in Business Without Really Trying<\/em>). The songs themselves are pleasant but could necessarily Yogi-specific; they could just as easily be performed by a generic chorus or another set of popular characters\u2014just like the songs that Jack Mercer and Mae Questel recorded for Golden Records<\/a> about health, safety, friendship and manners.<\/p>\nFrank Milano sang and\/or narrated a number of Golden Records in the early \u201860s, voicing Golden\u2019s faux Yogi, Boo-Boo and Ranger Smith on two albums. He also narrated the original \u201cPoky Little Puppy\u201d Little Golden book and record set and provided voices, animal noises and vocal effects for classic TV shows like Mister Peepers and Rootie Kazootie, as well as the voice of Mr. Wizard the Lizard on TTV\u2019s Tooter the Turtle<\/em> cartoons, Dottie Evans was a familiar, if often uncredited, studio singer who recorded two half-albums with Art Malvin (The Carol Burnett Show<\/em>) and Robert Harter (The Daydreamer<\/em><\/a>) as \u201cThe Tootlepipers,\u201d which appeared on the flip sides of RCA\u2019s Shirley Temple versions<\/a> of Disney\u2019s Bambi<\/em> and Dumbo<\/em>. She also was part of the Golden Singers in the Jim Timmens days and part of several ensembles for mostly budget-level records. One album worth looking into–if you enjoy vintage \u201850s\/\u201960s sound records–is \u201cWhen Christmas Comes To Our House<\/a>,\u201d which was released under several titles including \u201cChristmas Holiday Time is For Children\u201d on labels like Waldorf, Grand Award and Color Tone. She also did a series of Space Songs<\/em> albums with children\u2019s balladeer Tom Glazer.<\/p>\n
\nIntroduction \u2013 \u201cYogi Bear is Better\u201d<\/em>
\nHanna, Barbera and Curtin\u2019s Yogi Bear Theme was adapted (by Jackie Reinach and Joan Lamport) into this song to set the stage for Golden\u2019s album of \u201cGood Do-Bee\u201d songs for Yogi and friends.<\/p>\n