A look at an H-B soundtrack album from the nineties PLUS some exciting Hanna-Barbera news for a happy new year.
HANNA-BARBERA’S CHRISTMAS SING-A-LONG
Kid Rhino Records WRC-1-540 (stereo/mono) Compact Disc/Cassette
Released in 1991. Executive Producers: William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. Producer: Robin Frederick. Musical Directors: Hoyt Curtin. David Lamb. Music Supervisors: Joanne Miller, Paul DeKorte. “Kid Rhino” Illustration by Scott Shaw! Running Time: 23 minutes.
Voices: Daws Butler (Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound, Quick Draw McGraw, Augie Doggie); Don Messick (Boo-Boo); Henry Corden (Fred Flintstone); Mel Blanc (Barney Rubble); John Stephenson (Doggie Daddy); Paul DeKorte, Sue Allen, Ida Sue McCune, John Richard Bolks, Darlene Lawrence, Edie Lehmann, Marilyn Powell, Michael Redman, and Andrea Robinson. (Vocalists).
Original Songs: “Hey Now (The Hanna-Barbera Christmas Sing-A-Long)” by William Hanna, Joseph Barbera, and David Lamb; “Comin’ Up Christmas Time,” “Making a Big To-Do,” “Cindy’s Mistletoe Song,” “Hope,” by William Hanna, Joseph Barbera, and Hoyt Curtin; “A Brand-New Kind of Christmas Song” by William Hanna, Joseph Barbera, Hoyt Curtin, and John Bradford. (Additional Vocalists include Paul DeKorte, Sue Allen, Ida Sue McCune, John Richard Bolks, Darlene Lawrence, Edie Lehmann, Marilyn Powell, Michael Redman, Andrea Robinson, and Carl Anderson.)
Classic Christmas Songs: “Jingle Bells” by James Lord Pierpont; “Deck the Halls” (Traditional) with lyrics by Thomas Oliphant; “We Three Kings” by John Henry Hopkins, Jr.; “O Holy Night” by Adophe Adam and John Sullivan Dwight. Vocalists include Carl Anderson, Ramona Caywood, David Lamb, Nancy Bryan, Carrie Higgins, Bethany James, Kara N. Lamb, and Licia T. Rester.
Just as Hanna-Barbera Productions had its own “HBR” record label in the sixties, the company also had a VHS video division in the late eighties and nineties. Some of the cartoon collections have reached DVD, Blu-ray, and streaming. Still, a few were only released on VHS, including early cartoons starring Mr. Jinks, Pixie and Dixie, Augie Doggie and Doggie Daddy, and later series like the amusing Posse Impossible.
Veteran Hanna-Barbera artist Scott Shaw! provided the character art for the interior and song folio. He also created the Kid Rhino character in the top left and redesigned the Rhino character for the label.
A few videos bore the stamp of Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera themselves, including a “personal favorites” series and a holiday-themed program made just for VHS in which they appeared on screen, decorating a home with a few adorable kids. The video, Hanna-Barbera’s Christmas Sing-A-Long! was part of the “Super Stars” series and included a lyric folder. Like Disney’s DTV music video segments, the songs were accompanied by archival Hanna-Barbera animation from various films and TV episodes. For the carols, clips were culled from Hanna-Barbera’s video series, The Greatest Adventure: Stories from the Bible, a series that became an obsession for Barbera. He spent years trying to sell it to networks, sponsors, and syndicators before producing it direct-to-video with great success. The voice cast was laden with prestigious names, including James Earl Jones, Ed Asner, Gavin MacLeod, James Whitmore, Vincent Price, Dean Jones, and even Helen Hunt, daughter of H-B voice director Gordon Hunt. A pristine version is currently streaming on various services.
Rhino Records, with the help of H-B historian Earl Kress, was releasing some truly landmark recordings in the nineties including theme songs and background music never before available on commercial CDs and cassettes. New albums were also part of the mix, combining the classic and the newly minted.
Kid Rhino gave special attention to Hanna-Barbera’s Christmas Sing-A-Long album, first packaged in an oversized gift box that also boasted a lyric folder. The album contains stereo music created for the VHS production as well as songs from previous H-B animated specials and films. These include “Comin’ Up Christmas Time” first heard in Casper’s First Christmas (1979), “Hope,” “Making a Big To-Do,” and “Cindy’s Mistletoe Song” from Yogi’s First Christmas (1980), and “A Brand-New Kind of Christmas Song” from A Flintstone Christmas (1977). These songs popped up from time to time in other specials as well.
The disc (and cassette) is rather brief and the first thing one notes is the absence of John McCarthy’s two songs from the classic “Christmas Flintstone” original series episode in which Alan Reed sings for Fred. It’s most likely a licensing issue since the CD songs are from roughly the same era and contracts changed over the decades. But thanks to Earl Kress, the songs are included on Rhino’s indispensable album, The Flintstones: Modern Stone-Age Melodies.
GIVE A LITTLE LISTEN
“Hanna-Barbera’s Christmas Sing-A-Long”
Most music streaming services, including Spotify, currently feature the entire album:
Available for Pre-Order: Greg’s new Hanna-Barbera book!
Talk about a labor of love. This book is the result of intense (and delightful) research as well as decades of enjoyment that can also soon be yours as well.
HANNA-BARBERA: THE RECORDED HISTORY, FROM MODERN STONE-AGE TO MEDDLING KIDS tells the comprehensive story of the partnership of Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera in the thirties, the creation of Tom and Jerry, the establishment of Hanna-Barbera Productions, and development of countless characters, shows, and features from last century to this one.
It’s all told through the perspective of hundreds of Hanna-Barbera recordings, starting with “The King Who Couldn’t Dance” from Anchors Aweigh in 1945 to the Tom and Jerry movie soundtrack in 2021. It’s loaded with interviews, never-before-published facts, and behind-the-scenes revelations.
Tim Matheson, the original voice of Jonny Quest, Young Samson, and Jace of Space Ghost, wrote the forward and Leonard Maltin wrote the introduction. It has the stamp of approval from our own Jerry Beck, music historian Jon Burlingame, and Bob’s Burgers creator Loren Bouchard.
The publication date of Hanna-Barbera: The Recorded History is currently August 15, but you can order it now from Amazon, Barnes and Noble or directly from the University Press of Mississippi (the publisher of the still-in-print Mouse Tracks: The Story of Walt Disney Records). This is going the be UPM’s “Year of Hanna-Barbera” because you can also pre-order Hanna and Barbera: Conversations, edited by Kevin Sandler and Tyler Williams (pictured at right) from UPM, Amazon, or Barnes and Noble too.
Here’s a holiday idea. When the original Star Wars was released in 1977, there was little or no fun stuff to buy or give as presents that holiday season. So, Kenner Toys printed a little catalog. Even though the merchandise would not ship until 1978, people wrapped up the catalog itself and gave it as an “anticipation” gift, much like giving a magazine or streaming subscription is done today. If the spirit moves you, simply click on the images of the front covers of either or both books and print them out for your gift-giving pleasure!
And as Tiny Tim observed, “God bless us, everyone.”
