Black Women in HB cartoons

[mammy2shoesfan]

Was there ever a Black Female character lead in any HB cartoon. The only black female characters I ever remember evening being in a HB cartoon was Val from Josie and The Pussy Cats and that black girl on the Captain Caveman and the Teen Angles and if you look at both charaters they were bascially the same person. Sort of like Fred and Alan lol.

[HannaBarberaFan]

For the Record: The gal from CAPTAIN CAVEMAN & The TEEN ANGELS was named DEE-DEE SKYES , & voiced by VERNEE' WATSON (Later to gain fame in the ABC TV series "CARTER COUNRTY")

[AarHan3]

For the Record: The gal from CAPTAIN CAVEMAN & The TEEN ANGELS was named DEE-DEE SKYES , & voiced by VERNEE' WATSON (Later to gain fame in the ABC TV series "CARTER COUNRTY")
At the time, she was already a regular on Welcome Back Kotter (ABC, 1975-79).

[Steve Carras]

Was there ever a Black Female character lead in any HB cartoon. The only black female characters I ever remember evening being in a HB cartoon was Val from Josie and The Pussy Cats and that black girl on the Captain Caveman and the Teen Angles and if you look at both charaters they were bascially the same person. Sort of like Fred and Alan lol.
Those are two that I can think of:Vernee Watson(-johnson) did the voice for Dee Dee while some chick named Barbara Pariot voiced Val (and for completists, the singing was Patrice Holloway).

[magicjac]

The only black female Hanna-Barbera characters I can think of are Val from "Josie & The Pussycats" and one of the teen angels on "Capatin Caveman & The Teen Angels", which have both already been mentioned.

[Hypestyle]

well--- there's the RICKETY ROCKET crew-- but that was produced by Ruby-Spears, right..:D
"urban" themed toons were virtually nonexistent in the 80's, except for Fat Albert.. then in the 90's, HB was merged with WB, so the designation isn't exact now...

[STARTOUNZ]

Yeah. Valerie and Dee Dee are about the only African-American characters regularly featured on H-B shows. The best thing about them was that they were the smartest of their respective groups.


well--- there's the RICKETY ROCKET crew-- but that was produced by Ruby-Spears, right..:D
"urban" themed toons were virtually nonexistent in the 80's, except for Fat Albert.. then in the 90's, HB was merged with WB, so the designation isn't exact now...:o Ugh. Don't remind me about Venus. She was slutty, ugly, and her voice was unbearable. In fact, Rickety Rocket was an awful show with horrible stereotypes. A few months ago, Boomerang had it paired with Speed Buggy on its schedule and it seemed to be an obvious ripoff of the latter series.

And you're right. Fat Albert was about the only cartoon series that was dominated by black characters. But that was a Filmation series. In fact, black male H-B characters are much more scarse than female characters. About the only show that had male regulars was the Super Globetrotters in the early 70's. Of course, that series was itself crappy and not that memorable. Some might count Hong Kong Phooey as one of few series that featured a black actor (the late Scatman Crothers) regularly voicing a character. Of course, he was playing a karate-kicking crimefighting dog. It was in the 80's that a black character or two could be seen like in some of the Scooby-Doo shorts. But we could give due credit to Ruby-Spears for introducing some regular black characters on their shows that premiered in the same decade. Mr. T was one of the few leads in his self-titled show, which had quite a diverse cast. Among the regulars were Woody (African-American), Kim (Asian), Jeff, Robin and her brother Spike (all Caucasian). Among the recurring cast were Courtney (also African-American) and Carlos (Mexican). R-S also had Turbo Teen which featured wise-cracking smart guy Alex as sidekick to the lead character, who after becoming an accidental subject to a fusion experiment, had the ability to transform into his car when exposed to heat. Alex was his best friend and could make repairs as well as make a few jokes.

Since Fat Albert, there wasn't a black-dominated show until WB's Static Shock that debuted this decade. This, of course, is based on a comic book, but it did have a diverse cast and was one of the rare shows where the Caucasian best friend (Richie/Gear) is the sidekick. This season marks the debut of Da Boom Crew, which so far looks like an urban version of shows like Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh. Not overall impressive and could be better IMO. Hopefully in the future, we could have more black-dominated animated shows or at least a few more positive black characters like Static, Dee Dee, and Valerie. They don't necessarily have to be the stereotypical "urban" type. Just those that regular people of any ethnicity can relate to in terms of personality and respect, like the characters on the the big 80's hit The Cosby Show, among the few positive black shows on prime time.

[mammy2shoesfan]

I have no memory of Rickety Rocket but I do remeber Plasticman. Once I get my direct tv account back in good standing I'm going stay tuned to Boomerang to try to catch Rickety Rocket to see whats that about.

[FuriousFreddy99]

And you're right. Fat Albert was about the only cartoon series that was dominated by black characters.
"The Jackson 5ive" as well...

[mammy2shoesfan]

I remeber the Jackson 5. They need to stop hiding that show and put it out in some form weather DVD, or back on tv or somthing and for fun bring back the Brady Kids and Happy Days.

[Teo]

There was the Gary Coleman Show as well in the late 70s too that I don't think been mentioned yet. His female sidekick/boss/dispacher was a white girl.

---
Gunnm

[Steve Carras]

There was the Gary Coleman Show as well in the late 70s too that I don't think been mentioned yet. His female sidekick/boss/dispacher was a white girl.

---
Gunnmctually Coleman's cartoon show first appeared in 1982,not the seventies (back when he sitll had some DIFFERENTY STROKES).

[Howard Fein]

It's understandable how she could be overlooked, but there was a black regular in CASPER AND THE ANGELS. This show, which has to be one of the more bizarre character revivals, aired one 13-episode season on NBC in 1979-80. Assisting the Ghost were two police women, Minnie and Maxie. I forget which one was black and which one was white, but Vernee Watson and Julie McWhirter did their voices.

Apparently the huge success of the previous season's POPEYE revival led H-B to acquire another character originated from outside sources- in this case, Famous/Paramount. The POPEYE revival worked remarkably well considering the network-mandated curtailing of violence inherent in the series- even with such foreign elements as H-B SFX and Curtin score. (That Jack Mercer reprised his trademark role and had a hand in the scripts helped as well.) The CASPER revival looked to exploit two popular fads of the times: STAR WARS and CHARLIE'S ANGELS. This was a very incompatible format for a character known primarily for his one-joke premise- i.e. making friends. To make matters worse, the infamous H-B laughtrack was imposed here:rolleyes: to even worse effect than it was used six years earlier in YOGI'S GANG.

She may not be a woman, and it may no longer technically be an H-B series, but :dexter: was tormented by two recurring friends of:deedee:. Mee-Mee was black, and Lee-Lee was Chinese. (It appears that the producers were making fun of the politically correct notion that a group of friends must be perfectly racially mixed.:yawn: ) Mee-Mee's dialogue as voiced by Cree Summer(?) often bordered on the stereotypical. At least twice she's said "Whatchoo talkin' 'bout, Girlfriend?"

[Wally West]

What about Fat Albert?

[STARTOUNZ]

^Fat Albert was already mentioned. See the above posts.


I remeber the Jackson 5. They need to stop hiding that show and put it out in some form weather DVD, or back on tv or somthing and for fun bring back the Brady Kids and Happy Days.Forget The Brady Kids! That cartoon was awful. It was among the first I hated watching as a kid. But I do remember Fonz and the Happy Days Gang. That series was more enjoyable. It featured Fonzie (of course), his dog Mr. Cool, with Ralph, Richie, and Cupcake, the girl from the 25th century who took the gang on their adventures with her screwed up time machine. She had a darker skin tone, but I'm not sure if she was black, let alone human. This is in question since she had magic powers as screwed up as her time machine. So there's that possibility that she was an alien who had an interest in Earth's history and brought the guys along as guides (by accident of course). :rolleyes: This is one series I'd like to see on Boomerang, or at least get on DVD. :)

[Hypestyle]

It's understandable how she could be overlooked, but there was a black regular in CASPER AND THE ANGELS. This show, which has to be one of the more bizarre character revivals, aired one 13-episode season on NBC in 1979-80. Assisting the Ghost were two police women, Minnie and Maxie. I forget which one was black and which one was white, but Vernee Watson and Julie McWhirter did their voices.

Apparently the huge success of the previous season's POPEYE revival led H-B to acquire another character originated from outside sources- in this case, Famous/Paramount. The POPEYE revival worked remarkably well considering the network-mandated curtailing of violence inherent in the series- even with such foreign elements as H-B SFX and Curtin score. (That Jack Mercer reprised his trademark role and had a hand in the scripts helped as well.) The CASPER revival looked to exploit two popular fads of the times: STAR WARS and CHARLIE'S ANGELS. This was a very incompatible format for a character known primarily for his one-joke premise- i.e. making friends. To make matters worse, the infamous H-B laughtrack was imposed here:rolleyes: to even worse effect than it was used six years earlier in YOGI'S GANG.
Oh, man.. :D this is the show with Harry Scary, or was that....:confused:

man.. the 70's was space fever.. yogi's space race.. partridge family in space.. i can only guess what the pitch meetings were like...

[Steve Carras]

It's understandable how she could be overlooked, but there was a black regular in CASPER AND THE ANGELS. This show, which has to be one of the more bizarre character revivals, aired one 13-episode season on NBC in 1979-80. Assisting the Ghost were two police women, Minnie and Maxie. I forget which one was black and which one was white, but Vernee Watson and Julie McWhirter did their voices.

Dianne McCannon (could this be 1970s-ALLY McBEAL 1990s veteran DYAN CANNON under a different name so as not to use her celebritty status in selling her character) and I think you';re right, Julie McWhirter (who in any case did the ghost) did the white one and I too can't recall WHICH was WHICH. The Ed Wynn sounding Harry Scarey of couse was John Stephenson.

Simulatenousl;y there was CAPTAIN CAVEMAN .Mel Blanc as the Cavey and I DO know which was which and who voiced whom here-and who had what caharcter traits..:D-a brown haied Brenda (Marilyn Schfreffler,RIP), a black chick named Dee Dee (Vernee Watson) and a blonde bimbo named Taffy (Laurel Page,,a late 70s-mid 80s faovorite0. That aired on LAUGH A LYMPICS--discussed elsewhere.

[Merilee]

Not exactly on the topic, but if you remember Mark from 'Speed Buggy' was Asian! One of the few male minorities that played a leading part in the 70's.
Merilee
:cool:

[STARTOUNZ]

Not exactly on the topic, but if you remember Mark from 'Speed Buggy' was Asian! One of the few male minorities that played a leading part in the 70's.
Merilee
:cool:I don't think Mark was Asian. If he were, he would have more resembled the kids on Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan. What was funny though was the fact that he had a much darker skin tone when Speedy and the gang guest starred in one of the 1-hour Scooby-Doo movies (1973).

[Merilee]

Yeah, maybe so, maybe he was Native-American. But he was one of the first minority male characters to have a leading role in an animated series.
Merilee
:cool:

[STARTOUNZ]

Yeah, maybe so, maybe he was Native-American. But he was one of the first minority male characters to have a leading role in an animated series.
Merilee
:cool:
Sorry, Mark wasn't Black, Asian, Native American or any other minority. He was just an average white guy.

[MultiMEDEA]

Since it seems the topic's kinda segued into minority apperances in H-B toons I wanted to mention Emergency+4. Randy Mantooth's character Paramedic John Gage starred in that one and he's Native American. I think it was an H-B toon; it was done in their style.

And even tho it's a Filmation toon, Star Trek had Nichelle Nichols' Lt. Uhura. She certainly had a starring role.

Let's not forget Hadji from Jonny Quest (1964), another H-B toon.

[Steve Carras]

Since it seems the topic's kinda segued into minority apperances in H-B toons I wanted to mention Emergency+4. Randy Mantooth's character Paramedic John Gage starred in that one and he's Native American. I think it was an H-B toon; it was done in their style.

.While it WAS done a la Hanna-Barbera, EMERENCY, before anyone steps in here, was by Fred Clavert Productions (an offshoot of the versatile< HB like Ken SNyder/Pantomimke Pictures--hbe started off with his most known show, the Jay Ward-like ROGER RAMJET (1965) then had Hanna Barbara style shows HOT WHEELS, based on the MATTEL toy, which caused the FCC to kick it off TV just as they'd done to Ed Graham Productions/Format Productions's LINUS THE LIONHEARTED(1964-69)), and SKYHAWKS, an original property..)..

But despite this largely HB style the voices were VERY different (as ROGER RAMJET';s were fromthe Ward toons), for Ken Snyder--though RR used Hanna-Barbera voices like Gary owens as Roger,plus Joan Gerber and Dick Beals, plus costars Bob Orbogast and David ketchum would be in later HB shows in minor support roles. (But SKYHNAWKS and HOT WHEELS! used future Rubyt-Spears actor melinda Casey,along with Ken Snyder/.H-B regulars Casey kasem, Bob Arbogast and Susan Davis[minor play in 1970s])(A few others were featured in HOT WHEELS and SKYHAWKS)

As for EMERGENCY coproducer with Universal and NBC (now linked) Fred Calvert, (the connection with Snyder that I made, as mentioned, being that Calvert/Farm,house,also producer of I AM THE GREATEST about Mahuammad Ali,and starring his voice),was Fred Calvert was a credited employee with Snyder) it used the original cast, somehting HB would do do, but the young blonde gilr, Carol,,was voced by a short lived voice actress never heard in HB (Sarah kennedy, who appears on some concurrent DePatie-Freleng shows like THE ODDBALL COUPLE [1975-1976, ABC-TV] and BAILEY'S COMETS [19763-1974, NBC-TV]}.She seemed to be DFE's answer to H-B's JOSIE costar Jackie Joseph (the stalkiing voice for drummer blonde "Melody" when CHeryl Ladd wasn't singing for her!), but as we can sdee from EMERGENCY! PLUS FOUR, Sarah kennedy had other talents,;like doing a straight voice.

I haven't seen EMERGENCY plus 4 for, or 4, a :) long time.

BTW I think Merilee's right about Mark (glad to reply to the cutest female Sundance kid!) of SPEED BUGGY being Asian, he sure looked it. (NOT trying to be racist!)

BTW off topic, but yesterday was my birthday;today';s Donny Osmond's (and of course, Rankin-Bass did a cartoon of the Osmonds in 1971).

[Merilee]

Oh, Happy Birthday!! Here's an answer from the cutest Sundance Kid (blush) though, I don't think I am, really! Tee,hee.

Well, thanks for the compliments! Oh, did you check out my fanfic on 'The Story Board'? Hope you do! It centers on her! :)

Merilee
:cool:

[rodineisilveira]

While it WAS done a la Hanna-Barbera, EMERENCY, before anyone steps in here, was by Fred Clavert Productions (an offshoot of the versatile< HB like Ken SNyder/Pantomimke Pictures--hbe started off with his most known show, the Jay Ward-like ROGER RAMJET (1965) then had Hanna Barbara style shows HOT WHEELS, based on the MATTEL toy, which caused the FCC to kick it off TV just as they'd done to Ed Graham Productions/Format Productions's LINUS THE LIONHEARTED(1964-69)), and SKYHAWKS, an original property..)..

But despite this largely HB style the voices were VERY different (as ROGER RAMJET';s were fromthe Ward toons), for Ken Snyder--though RR used Hanna-Barbera voices like Gary owens as Roger,plus Joan Gerber and Dick Beals, plus costars Bob Orbogast and David ketchum would be in later HB shows in minor support roles. (But SKYHNAWKS and HOT WHEELS! used future Rubyt-Spears actor melinda Casey,along with Ken Snyder/.H-B regulars Casey kasem, Bob Arbogast and Susan Davis[minor play in 1970s])(A few others were featured in HOT WHEELS and SKYHAWKS)

As for EMERGENCY coproducer with Universal and NBC (now linked) Fred Calvert, (the connection with Snyder that I made, as mentioned, being that Calvert/Farm,house,also producer of I AM THE GREATEST about Mahuammad Ali,and starring his voice),was Fred Calvert was a credited employee with Snyder) it used the original cast, somehting HB would do do, but the young blonde gilr, Carol,,was voced by a short lived voice actress never heard in HB (Sarah kennedy, who appears on some concurrent DePatie-Freleng shows like THE ODDBALL COUPLE [1975-1976, ABC-TV] and BAILEY'S COMETS [19763-1974, NBC-TV]}.She seemed to be DFE's answer to H-B's JOSIE costar Jackie Joseph (the stalkiing voice for drummer blonde "Melody" when CHeryl Ladd wasn't singing for her!), but as we can sdee from EMERGENCY! PLUS FOUR, Sarah kennedy had other talents,;like doing a straight voice.

I haven't seen EMERGENCY plus 4 for, or 4, a :) long time.

BTW I think Merilee's right about Mark (glad to reply to the cutest female Sundance kid!) of SPEED BUGGY being Asian, he sure looked it. (NOT trying to be racist!)

BTW off topic, but yesterday was my birthday;today';s Donny Osmond's (and of course, Rankin-Bass did a cartoon of the Osmonds in 1971).São Paulo - SP, Brazil, December 10, 2004 (15 days remaining to the Christmas).

Hello, Steve Carras!

When I read your commentaries about the series Hot Wheels and Skyhawks (both produced by Pantomime Pictures in 1969) on your message, I could notice that two members from Hanna-Barbera made the character design to these two series. Alex Toth made the character design to Hot Wheels; while Doug Wildey (who created Jonny Quest for HB) did the Skyhawks visual conception.
And, how much to the Roger Ramjet (produced by Pantomine Pictures/Snyder-Koren Productions in 1965) voice cast, we cannot forget that Dave Ketchum (very reminded as the Agent 13 on the Get Smart series [1965-70]) made also scripts to the Hanna-Barbera cartoons on the 70's.
Well, this was what I've had to report here.
Ciao!

Cheers from this faithful friend who always writes 4 U,

Rodinei Campos da Silveira
Meet me on my e-mails: mailto:rodinei@starmedia.com (rodinei@starmedia.com), mailto:rodineic@excite.com (rodineic@excite.com), mailto:rodineisilveira@bol.com.br (rodineisilveira@bol.com.br) and mailto:rcsbrasil@mort.zzn.com (rcsbrasil@mort.zzn.com). God bless you!

;)