Hat’s All Folks

This may be the most important post that I ever write. Also the most rigorously academic, and in 10 years probably the most read. We have recently gotten the Boomerang streaming app so that we have all of the stuff I already own conveniently playable from the Apple TV.  Currently my son’s favoritest thing to watch is Magilla Gorilla so to stretch it out we’ve been watching a lot more of the Hanna Barbera productions that I remember watching growing up. They aren’t all on the app itself, so I’ve had to dig things out. As we’ve been going through I noticed how many of the characters’ personas are summed up in their clothes. Well, really hats.  Many times their uniform is just a hat and a tie. We all know this, but I thought it was a great idea to consolidate them here, try and figure out what kind of hat it is, and, since the library recalled ALL of my checked out books and has yet to reshelve them so I can check them out again, a good way to keep up a word count weekend while not dissertating.  And these are just from the Hanna-Barbera Universe

Magilla Gorilla (1964)
Magilla is marked by his bowler hat, bowtie, suspenders, trousers, and shoes. He is one of the only anthropomorphic Hanna Barbera animal characters who wears shoes which is probably one of those brilliant animation decisions because gorilla feet are basically another set of hands to draw.

Huckleberry Hound (1958)
Huck is portrayed on his ID card in a bowtie and what looks like a type of summer straw boater style hat. This had is rarely shown in cartoons, but appears often in his comics.

The title cards, and various character stories Huckles-berry takes on shows that he really wears a lot of hats.

Yogi Bear (1958)
Yogi is basically Art Carney’s Ed Norton character living in Jellystone Park, only sans vest (and pants, and shirt…). It is only natural that Yogi wears a porkpie had with the front (and sometiems back) brim pushed up. This seems to be a style of hat that many in the Hanna Barbera universe favor.

Wally Gator (1962)
Wally shops at the same hat store as Yogi, but has shaken off the tie for matching cuffs and collar.

Wally is currently one of the 6′ Funkos used to advertise their wacky wobbler series

Peter Potamus (and So-So) (1964)
Before Peter was sending things to Harvey Birdman Attorney at Law, he wsa traveling around the world, and sometimes through time, in his magical balloon with his pal So-So the monkey. It only makes sense that Peter is attired as the excplorer should with khaki jacket and pith helmet. So-So might have a delivery, or bus-boy cap(?)

Lippy the Lion (and Hardy Har-Har) (1962)
The jungle goes a little more rugged formal with Lippy the Lion’s top hat. It’s seen better days, but his hat and vest are matched by his sidekick’s (a laughing hyena named Hardy Har-Har, (HA)) porkpie hat, collar and bowtie.

Quick Draw McGraw (and Baba Looey) (1959)
Tapping into the old west phenom of the post war period Queeks Draw (as Baba calls him) has a red cowboy hat, a blue bandana around his neck, a gun belt, and spurs. Baba wears a sombrero with holes cut for his ears and a sand or tan colored bandana.  When need arises the mysterious El Kabong appears, in a black cape, and a sombrero cordobés a la Zorro. Welding a large acoustic guitar which he brandishes with skill that would make Pete Townshend envious.

Snooper and Blabber (1959)
It wasn’t just westerns that made for good television during this period. The detective drama was another sure bet. And airing on the Quick Draw McGraw Show were the gumshoes Snooper and Blabber. Trench coats, naturally, and the head detective Super Snooper wearing the deerstalker (Sherlock Holmes) cap, and BlabberMouse donning the more traditional fedora.

Punkin’ Puss and Mushmouse and The Hillbilly Bears (1964)
Moving into the foothills for some real unidentifiable headgear come Punkin’ Puss, Mushmouse and the Hillbilly Bears. The Hillbilly Tom and Jerry ran with Magilla Gorilla (so did Ricochet Rabbit and Drop-A-Long) while the bears were part of the Atom Ant/Secret Squirrel Show (they’ll be down on the end as type honorable mentions. Given these trends, and not counting Floral Rugg’s (you didn’t know you could make puns like that did you?) obviously city imported pillbox hat and Ma’s humble bonnet, looks like there is only one haberdashery in the tristate area of Appalachia.

Touche Turtle and Dum-Dum (1962)
While Touche wears a musketeer type chapeau from the 17th century, his sidekick Dum-Dum has the Ed Norton/Yogi Bear/Wally Gator porkpie catalog but with a billowing feather. Just as well as Touche sees adventure all over time and geographic location.

Hokey Wolf (and Ding-A-Ling) (1960)
Hokey and Ding-boy are both wolves who are a specesial (that’s species-ial) revival concurrent with Yogi Bear. Hokey is fitted out of the same Hanna-Babera hatbox as many of the others here, along with a collar and bowtie. While his smaller companion wears a bowler, what is possibly a sleeveless turtleneck, and a black vest. 

Top Cat (1961)
The indisputable leader of the gang wears a porkpie with ear slot modifications and a vest.

Atom Ant (1965)
A child of the atomic age, this savior of those in needs is one of the only superheroes I know who wears a helmet.

Secret Squirrel (and Morocco Mole) (1965)
A few of the above have hat modifications to make room for their ears, but Secret Squirrel has a boonie hat with eye holes. That is the outside, inside there are lasers, and claws, and hands, and missiles, and robots, and… His ever loyal sidekick Morocco Mole wears a smoking jacket, an ascot, and a fez.

Squiddly Diddly (1965)
Rounding out the Atom Ant/Secret Squirrel show was aspiring musician and resident of Bubbleland, Squiddly Diddly in his trademark little sailor’s outfit and white bucket cap.

Dick Dastardly and Muttley (1968, 1969)
Wrapping up this madhattery is Dick Dastardly, a phenomenal villain who went from his racing coat and cap in 1968’s Wacky Races to the flying cap of the Vulture Squadron in Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines in 1969. Which really rolls in well with Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (1965) and Those Daring Young Men in Their Jaunty Jalopies (1969).

This could just go on and on until I ran out of Hanna-Barbera productions, and it all started by watching Magilla Gorilla and Huckleberry Hound with my son. There really isn’t a way to wrap up listicles of this nature so, just join us next time!

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