by G. Jack Urso
Animation
powerhouse Hanna-Barbera dominated Saturday morning cartoons in the 1960s and
1970s. While producing dozens of shows, they all shared a very similar
animation style. Yet, Hanna-Barbera was also capable of extending itself beyond
the strictures commercial television required to create some very wild and
wonderful short pieces, available here from the Aeolus 13 Umbra YouTube channel.
The first
example is a circa 1969 Fanta soda commercial with Peter Max and Yellow Submarine-inspired imagery, showing
Hanna-Barbera was capable of a bit more than the steady fair of similar-looking
Saturday morning cartoons it produced at the time. The exact year of the
commercial is a little unclear. Some sources cite an approximate date range from 1968
through the early 1970s. I went with 1969 for a couple reasons. A well-sourced
Wikipedia list (which I usually loath citing) of Hanna-Barbera commercials puts
it there and since Yellow Submarine
itself (which clearly influenced the commercial’s storyline) wasn’t released
until July 1969 in the UK, and Dec. 1969 in the U.S., it seems unlikely a
commercial influenced by its style could have been produced prior to 1969, though early 1970 could be possible.
A second example
from Hanna-Barbera is not a commercial, but rather a psychedelic anti-drug public
service announcement (PSA). Like the Fanta commercial, various sources place it
in an approximate circa early 1970s release, but the aforementioned list on
Wikipedia cites 1969. With an animation style not dissimilar to the Fanta
commercial, I suspect the same production team may be responsible for both. What
is unique about this commercial is that there is no narration or text on
screen. The visuals alone are expected to convey the message.
The advantage of
adopting visuals that echo a new and popular animation style is that it
immediately connects with the young demographic. The disadvantage of such an
approach is that visual fads and trends in popular culture can quickly become
dated, shortening the shelf-life of such productions. Nevertheless, these two
wonderfully wild psychedelic productions give us a glance into the era and show
that Hanna-Barbara was capable of more than a steady stream of talking animals
and “those meddling kids” cartoons.
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