The Hanna-Barbera studios found a way to make cartoons cheaply and quickly enough to begin to fill the maw which was the new-found centerpiece of American society -- the television. In 1965 there debuted two of the more entertaining Hanna-Barbera efforts -- Atom Ant and The Secret Squirrel Show. The former picked up on the spanking new desire for superheroes birthed by the Silver Age revival and the latter took a swing at the super-spy genre which had burst onto the scene since the debut of James Bond in Dr. No. Both shows have are of their time and make full use of the sleek animation style that the H -B boys were kicking out.
After their debut in 1965 as two independent shows the programs were combined after as the Atom Ant / Secret Squirrel Show. The shows still have the wonderful early H-B character and styling that worked so magnificently on classics like Huckleberry Hound, Yogi Bear and so many more. Supporting Atom Ant was Precious Pupp and The Hillbilly Bears while Squiddly Diddly and Winsome Witch backed up Secret Squirrel.
Atom Ant gave us the classic adventures of the smallest supehero who bides time in his ant hole home waiting for menaces to appear so he can rush out to the cry of "Up and at'em Atom Ant!" He is voiced by Morris Morris of Earnest T. Bass fame. Precious Pupp offers up a hip old lady who has a snickering dog (shades of Mutley) who always has the last laugh at folks and critters who plot against him. The Hillbilly Bears are stereotype Southern hicks made up of Pa, Ma, Floral and Shag. It's mumbling Pa who gets most of the attention and most of the abuse. The show rated one lone comic book published in late 1965 and dated Janurary 1966.
Secret Squirrel was assisted in his spying mishaps by the usually calm yet nervous Morocco Mole who sound sounded like Peter Lorre. Squiddly Diddly was yet another animal who lived a comfortable life in a human zoo, this time a sea show and who dreams of a different life. He often escapes to only run back to the life he loathed. Winsome Witch gives us a charming confident witch who just wants to make friends and is not afraid to use magic to get her way. Secret Squirrel got a one-shot comic later in the year dated October 1966.
These are two rock solid shows with all of the six animated features performing well. It's fun to watch either Atom Ant or Secret Squirrel and know that like as not all of the cartoons will entertain and often surprise. Neither show made the impact of some other 60's shows but I fondly remember them and was more than happy to add them to my library when they became available on DVD some years ago.
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I remember watching Atom Ant as a kid as well as Batfink. There used to be a Sunday TV show called Glen Michael's Cartoon Cavalcade, which broadcast shows like Fearless Fly, and the two named above - as well as others. Their TV appearances weren't restricted to Cartoon Cavalcade though, as they were sometimes used separately as fillers between other TV shows.
ReplyDeleteI saw them on Saturday mornings in the heyday of cartoons for kids at that time. It was a bonanza of kid programming which I loved long after I was supposed to have outgrown it.
DeleteFYI Don Messick was also the voice of Atom Ant near the end of the show's run; Howie Morris had a huge fight with Joe Barbera and never worked for H-B again for almost 20 years after the incident was long forgotten.
ReplyDeleteThat's unfortunate indeed. I Morris on H-B Legend of the Super-Heroes show just a few days back and he was hilarious. I guess that might've been comeback perhaps.
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