L to R: Fillmore, Waldo P. Wigglesworth, and Hoppity Hooper
Hoppity Hooper is an American animated television series produced by Jay Ward, and sponsored by General Mills, originally broadcast on ABC on September 26, 1964.
The three main characters were Hoppity Hooper, a plucky frog, voiced by Chris Allen; Waldo P. Wigglesworth, a fox who hawked patent medicine, voiced by Hans Conried, who posed as Hoppity's long-lost uncle in the pilot episode; and Fillmore, a bear wearing Civil War clothes and (poorly) playing his bugle, voiced by William Scott (with Alan Reed portraying the character in the pilot). The stories revolved around the three main characters, who lived in Foggy Bog, Wisconsin, seeking their fortune together through different jobs or schemes, usually ending in misadventure.
In 1966, repeats aired concurrently in syndication as Uncle Waldo's Cartoon Show. A number of folks online confuse Uncle Waldo to be the original Series as it was never seen as Hoppity Hooper (apart from the episode title card) since its run on ABC.
Hoppity Hooper contains examples of:
- Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal: While his friends are more typical half-dressed cartoon animals, Hoppity himself is a frog wearing only a bowtie.
- Alliterative Name: Hoppity Hooper and Waldo P. Wigglesworth.
- Amicable Exes: Waldo and Susan, for a bit, in Costra Nostra.
- Art Shift: In the first story, "Ring-a-Ding Springs," episodes 1, 3 and 4 were animated in Mexico at Gamma Studios. Episode 2 was animated in-house at Ward's studio and the contrast in styles is jarring. Episode 2 also had background music as where the other three didn't.
- Awesome Anachronistic Apparel: Fillmore is (half-)dressed in an American Civil War uniform.
- Beary Friendly: Fillmore is a bear and one of Hoppity's two friends.
- The Cameo:
- Boris Badenov appears briefly in "Colonel Clabber" and "Oil's Well at Oasis Gardens". "Bullwinkle and Dudley Do Right makes a brief cameo in Rare Butterfly Hunt"
- Dudley Do-Right makes a brief appearance in "Detective Agency".
- Cartoon Cheese: The "Colonel Clabber" has a Limburger Cheese Statue, complete with wavy stink lines.
- Dreadful Musician: Fillmore really does not know how to play that bugle.
- Either/Or Title: Similar to Rocky and Bullwinkle, every cliffhanger ended with the narrator telling viewers to tune in for the next episode with these.
- "Eureka!" Moment: When Waldo got an idea, he'd make several funny poses, accompanied by mechanical sound effects.
- Genius Ditz: Fillmore is so stupid he can confuse a grenade for a pineapple despite the ticking... but he can also build a fully-functioning atomic-powered corkscrew.
- Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal: Waldo, Fillmore and most of the supporting cast fall into this category: wearing jackets and hats, and sometimes shoes and neckwear (Waldo wears spats but no shoes). Hoppity himself is an Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal, as he wears only a bowtie- though he did wear a sweater without pants, once.
- Halloween Episode: In the aptly named episode "Halloween", Waldo, Fillmore and Hoppity get stuck in a haunted town called Ware and spend the night in a Haunted House full of supernatural creatures.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: Waldo & Fillmore.
- Innocent Blue Eyes: In The Limburger Cheese Statue, Hoppity is said to have these.
- Interactive Narrator: Like most of Jay Ward's works, Hoppity Hooper includes one.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Waldo, if Jumping Frog Contest shows anything.
- Just Like Robin Hood: Parodied and inverted in "The Masked Martin" story where Waldo tries to capture the Masked Martin, who stole from the poor and gave to the rich.
- Medium Awareness: In the bumper for scenes from next week's show, Hoppity animates and photographs the sequence by himself before he loads the film into a projector and turns it on. (Doesn't matter that he forgets script, layout, voice recording and backgrounds.)
- Monumental Theft: "Colonel Clabber—Limburger Cheese Statue" features a villain who is stealing the world's great landmarks and having them transported to his estate because he is unable to travel to see them.
- Mole Men: The "Diamond Mine" episodes, featuring mole people who bump into each other and fall down so much they've evolved springs in their tails to bounce back up again.
- Ms. Fanservice: Susan, of course.
- Psycho Ex-Girlfriend: Susan Swivelhips, with Waldo.
- Railroad Tracks of Doom: A plot point in 2 episodes:
- In "Wattabango Corn Elixer", Waldo's truck is headed towards a train crossing with a train passing through it. They manage to drive through an open boxcar and make it out.
- "Detective Agency" has the wagon getting stuck on the railtracks with a train on their tail. Hoppity manages to switch a track diverting the train, which manages to chase Dudley Do-Right (another Jay Ward property) on a handcar.
- Snake Oil Salesman: Waldo P. Wigglesworth hawks patent medicines of dubious effectiveness.
- Sucks at Dancing: Waldo. He didn't win Square of the Year in Ghost for nothing.
- Think of the Censors!: In the first story arc ("Ring-A-Ding Springs"), a hitman fires his gun at Hoppity and misses due to Hoppity's wild hopping. After running out of bullets, the hitman comments "I'd have a line here, but it would only get censored!"
- Vague Age: Hoppity. Before he met Waldo, he was implied to live on his own, and Waldo has called him fully-grown before. But on the other hand, Hoppity is very childish, has a high pitched voice, and has said he's not old enough to get married.
- Who's on First?: Waldo and Fillmore have their moment in Halloween. Hoppity points it out, even yelling it himself.
- World of Pun: Like all of Jay Ward's works, Hoppity Hooper runs on this.
