{"id":34135,"date":"2017-06-27T00:01:28","date_gmt":"2017-06-27T07:01:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/?p=34135"},"modified":"2020-01-26T19:58:52","modified_gmt":"2020-01-27T03:58:52","slug":"a-tribute-to-bill-danas-hanna-barbera-cartoon-records","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/index.php\/a-tribute-to-bill-danas-hanna-barbera-cartoon-records\/","title":{"rendered":"A Tribute to Bill Dana’s Hanna-Barbera Cartoon Records"},"content":{"rendered":"

In addition to classic comedy writing and performing, Bill Dana also left a legacy of cartoon magic with two albums he recorded for Hanna-Barbera’s short-lived label.<\/p>\n\"\"\n

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The Flintstones and Jose Jiminez in
\nTHE TIME MACHINE<\/strong>
\nHanna-Barbera Records Cartoon Series HLP-2052 (12 33 1\/3 RPM \/ Mono) <\/p>\n

Executive Producers:<\/strong> William Hanna, Joseph Barbera. Producer\/Writer\/Director: Charles Shows. Music: Hoyt Curtin, Ted Nichols. Editor: Dan Finnerty. Engineers: Richard Olsen, Bill Getty. Art Direction: Harvard Pennington. Hand Lettering: Robert Schaefer. Cover Art: Tony Sgroi, Fernando Arce. Running Time: 36 minutes<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Voices:<\/strong> Bill Dana (Snoopy<\/del> Jose); Henry Corden (Fred Flintstone, General Brass, Nero, Indian); Daws Butler (Barney Rubble, Dr. Werner Von Green, Marc Antony, Christopher Columbus, Benjamin Franklin); Don Doolittle (Confucius, Opening Narrator).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Stories about time travel have a tendency to become trapped by the period of their origin. This album is a prime example, as perhaps the most dated of the entire Hanna-Barbera Cartoon Series. There is no attempt to disguise the year, rather, were told its 1966 several times during the adventure.<\/p>\n

\"\"On this record, H.G. Wells gadget-style time machine is replaced by a NASA rocket ship at Cape Kennedy, which breaks exceeds the speed of light and breaks the time barrier (which also happened on a 1966 CBS sitcom called It’s About Time<\/em>, which had some cool animated titles<\/a>). There are also references to LBJ and TV commercials slogans, like “Put a Tiger in Your Tank”. Antony and Cleopatra are mistaken for Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor (impressively impersonated with only two lines by the wondrous Janet Waldo) from the 1962 movie.<\/p>\n

Those of us who continue to swoon over the comic tang of Hanna-Barbera Records are already familiar with such mid-sixties references. What makes the Jose Jiminez Time Machine<\/em> album locked in its time is Jose Jiminez (which, for some reason, was spelled Jimenez almost everywhere else but on this album). <\/p>\n

The story is better explained by others, so I’d rather Mark Evanier lead you to more info<\/a>, including an interview with comedy historian Kliph Nesteroff. Jose was one of those comic characters–like Ed Grimley or The Church Lady and countless others that go back beyond Vaudeville, that take on a life of their own and become crowd pleasers, often to the point of eclipsing the performer inside them. Jose became problematic as a stereotype and Dana’s intention was always to entertain, not to hurt anyone, so he discontinued the character in 1970.<\/p>\n

But four years earlier, Jose was still making appearances on sitcoms, variety shows and on stage. Dana also tried to make Jose into a cartoon character. Jim Korkis mentions one such attempt with Jack Kinney in one of his superb Animation Anecdotes<\/a> posts. <\/p>\n\"\"\n

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In March of the same year that Hanna-Barbera released The Time Machine<\/em> LP, Paramount released a Modern Madcap<\/em> theatrical short called I Want My Mummy<\/em> which may be the only time Jose was ever animated. Jerry Beck recalls:<\/p>\n

Jose just didn’t cut it as an animated character. The Paramount short is pretty darn poor and hasn’t been seen since. It wasn’t even shown on Nickelodeon when they had the package of Paramount theatricals they used to run on Cartoon Kablooey and Weinerville, perhaps not wanting to take a chance that Jose might offend Hispanic people. It was co-written by Dana and cartoonist Howard Post, who was running the studio at the time. Post started production on the film but he was abruptly replaced by veteran animator Shamus Culhane. That might explain some of the film’s crudeness. Or maybe not. This was Culhane’s first credit for Paramount as a director–not a good start–in a job he’d hold for a year and a half before being replaced himself by Ralph Bakshi. That’s Bob McFadden doing all the other character voices.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n