Yogi, The Easter Bear

Premiered April 3, 1994.

"Easter is a celebration.  It celebrates Springtime, with life starting anew.  It also happens to be the start of Camping Season. 
-Yogi Bear

It's Easter morning in Jellystone State Park and Ranger Smith (Don Messick), the park's chief ranger, is busy preparing for the annual Easter Jamboree.  In addition to celebrating the holiday, this event also marks the beginning of camping season.

Ranger Smith has prepared Easter baskets and ordered a truckload of candy for the buses for of children that are attending the jamboree.  Smith himself plans to dress up as the Easter Bunny.  

The ranger is under a lot of pressure, because the Supreme Commissioner (Ed Gilbert) of state parks will be arriving any minute with his grandchildren.  The commissioner doesn't suffer fools and has a history of shutting down state parks he doesn't like.  Smith believes his career will end if anything goes wrong.

The ranger tells Yogi Bear (Greg Burson), Jellystone's most notorious food thief, to stay away from the Easter Jamboree.  Smith threatens to send Yogi to a circus in Siberia if he causes any trouble. 

Yogi ignores Smith's threats, steals his Easter Bunny costume and eats all of the Easter candy.  

The ranger then chases Yogi all over Jellystone and the bunny suit is wrecked in the process.  It looks like Yogi has ruined everything.  The children will have no Easter candy and Ranger Smith has reached the end of his rope and decides to send Yogi to Siberia.

Yogi's friend Boo-Boo (Messick) feels bad for Ranger Smith says he and Yogi will make things right by bringing the real Easter Bunny to the jamboree.  They visit the Grand Grizzly (Gilbert)...

...who tells them to look for "the big ears in the sky" if they want to locate the Easter Bunny.

When Yogi and Boo-Boo arrive at the Easter Bunny's HQ, they find it ransacked and empty.  Boo-Boo sees "Help Me" spelled out in jelly beans, which makes them believe the Easter Bunny is in danger.  Fortunately, they find a trail of jelly beans and hope it will lead them to the Easter Bunny. 

The Easter Bunny (Rob Paulsen) has been captured by gangsters named Paulie (Charlie Adler) and Earnest (Jeff Doucette).  Paulie owns a factory that makes fake plastic Easter Eggs.  The gangsters plan to steal the Easter Bunny's eggs so that the world will be forced to buy Paulie's fake eggs.

Boo-Boo and Yogi free the Easter Bunny and pay a visit to the Easter Henhouse, home of the Magical Chicken, who lays eggs for the Easter Bunny.  

She is capable of laying chocolate, cream, candy and regular eggs.  They plan to bring these eggs to the Easter Jamboree and save the day.  However, they'll have to get away from Paulie and Ernest, who are in hot on their tails!

Will Yogi, Boo-Boo and the Easter Bunny reach Jellystone in time to save Easter?  Will Ranger Smith get fired?  

J.A. Morris says:

This is a generally enjoyable special.  Yogi Bear cartoons were a staple of my childhood and I've always enjoyed the Hanna-Barbera characters.  It was fun to watch these familiar characters interact with the Easter Bunny and (SPOILER ALERT) save Easter.  

This version of the Easter Bunny is a likeable character.  He's accidentally injured by Yogi several times, but never loses his optimistic outlook.  However, there's a bit too much going on in Yogi, The Easter Bear.

For starters, it's 46 minutes long, or an hour long with commercials.  I felt that a lot of the dialogue was there to fill time rather than move the story along.  For instance, when Paulie tells the Easter Bunny about his plans for plastic eggs, he rants for several minutes about it.  This could've taken one sentence to cover.  There are other scenes that feel dragged out to pad the running time.

There are also a bit too many subplots that don't add a lot.  Ranger Smith says he doesn't believe in the Easter Bunny because he never got what he wanted on Easter.  Later, the Easter Bunny recognizes Smith's name when it's mentioned and says "he never believed in me."  What came first?  The disbelief or the lack of the desired Easter candy?

On a more positive note, the voice actors in Yogi, The Easter Bear all deliver solid performances.  Don Messick was the original voice for both Boo-Boo and Ranger Smith and he does a great job.  This special turned out to be the last time Messick voiced the characters.  Greg Burson is good as Yogi Bear and Charlie Alder provides a great, manically evil voice for Paulie.  Legendary comic actor Jonathan Winters has a small role as Ranger Mortimer.  

Yogi easily fools Ranger Mortimer (Jonathan Winters) into letting him have Easter candy.

The animation also looks great.  The script has some good lines that are (probably) aimed at adults.  

Yogi, The Easter Bear is recommended to all Yogi Bear fans.  As we've mentioned here before, there aren't a lot of Easter specials (compared to other holidays) so it's nice to find something else to watch this time of year.  I think there's a great 25-30 minute special here buried in the over-long scenes and distracting sub-plots.  

J.A. Morris' rating:

2 and a half Easter eggs.

RigbyMel says:  

Yogi The Easter Bear is an agreeably goofy Easter special.  Even though Yogi is his own worst enemy in the story, he does work hard to try to make up for his mistakes.  (Even if sometimes the hard work is reluctant.) 

As J.A. Morris says above, there is way too much going on in this special and the multiple subplots weigh it down a bit, preventing it from being a true classic.   

That being said, it's always fun to see Yogi in action antagonizing Ranger Smith and the Easter Bunny and Easter Chicken are cute. The voice work is great too! 

I also find it interesting that the special is set on Easter itself rather than the days leading up to Easter as is more typical for this sort of holiday entertainment.  I guess the Easter Bunny being snatched by the gangsters held up his delivery schedule? 

While this is not a holiday special for the ages, it's certainly festive and worth sharing with new Yogi fans or fans of long standing.

RigbyMel's rating: 

2 Easter eggs

The Shirley Temple Show: "Babes In Toyland"

Thanks to Joanna Wilson of Christmas TV History for today's guest review.  Joanna has written multiple books about Christmas television and film. Any of her books would make a nice Christmas gift for holiday TV fans.  Her most recent book is called A  Is For Akron, an A to Z list of things to see & do in Akron, OH.  Joanna has been a friend and inspiration to this blog for years.

Yes - THAT Shirley Temple had a TV show! 

Christmas is certainly a time of nostalgia.  Most of us reflect back to simpler times, especially to our childhoods, when Christmas was still filled with fantasy, magic, and life lived at a slower pace.  With this in mind, I'd like to share about an often overlooked Christmas episode of the TV anthology series Shirley Temple's Storybook.  The 1960 episode "Babes in Toyland" was created during the second season after the series had changed its name to The Shirley Temple Show--but it's the same series.  Most installments of the family-friendly series were a re-telling of popular fairy tales or children's literary classics. "Babes in Toyland" however is an hour-long adaptation of the 1903 operetta by Victor Herbert.

In this 1960 episode, a now grown Shirley Temple introduces and narrates the story accompanied by her own children.
Left to right:  Charlie Black, Jr., Lori, and Linda Susan.

The 1960 TV adaptation is a comedy version of Babes in Toyland and is loaded with music and dancing.  The story is a familiar one--youngsters Alan and Jane are being looked after by their mean and nasty Uncle Barnaby who wants to cash-in on the children's generous inheritance.  Barnaby decides he desires their money sooner, rather than later, and hires three cutthroat thieves to set the innocent children adrift in a leaky boat.

Uncle Barnaby (Jonathan Winters) is a greedy, nasty man.  However, Winters' comedy style of mugging for the camera deflects a great deal of  what could potentially be a frightening story. 

The adventure story continues when the children survive the open seas and wash up on nearby shores.  Alan and Jane are discovered by the gypsy witch Floretta and find themselves among friends with the band of dancing gypsies. That is, until Floretta sells knowledge of the children's whereabouts to Uncle Barnaby.  Alan and Jane escape and run into the frightening Spider Forest, eventually entering Meantown.

Jane and Alan (foreground) arrive at the gypsy camp where there is much dancing and merrymaking.

Jane and Alan are jailed in Meantown, accused of the crimes of smiling, niceness, and kindness!

The nasty residents of Meantown find a way to jail the youngsters in the center of town.  Once again, Alan and Jane escape just one step ahead of Floretta, Uncle Barnaby, and his three bumbling henchmen.  The next stop on Alan and Jane's flight is the kingdom of Toyland, where all the toys for Christmas are made.  The children feel happy and safe amongst the land of the dancing toys and ask the royal Master Toymaker if they can stay forever.

To avoid being recognized by Uncle Barnaby, the children hide in plain sight as a dancing ballerina and wooden toy soldier during the Toyland Parade. 

The king likes the children, however Floretta, Uncle Barnaby, and his minions arrive in Toyland to take Alan and Jane back home.  In the end, the Master Toymaker and the gypsy witch stand up for the children and Uncle Barnaby's evil scheme is thwarted.

In the end, the cast gathers to sing "Toyland," the most recognizable and still popular song from the original operetta. 

You may already be familiar with other filmed adaptations of the operetta Babes in Toyland.  The most noteworthy include the 1934 movie starring comedians Laurel & Hardy which has since been re-issued under the title March of the Wooden Soldiers. Walt Disney created his own version in 1961 starring Annette Funicello and Tommy Sands. Let's not forget the surreal 1986 TV movie version starring Drew Barrymore and Keanu Reeves. And, in 1997 an animated version was created featuring the voice talents of Jim Belushi, Lacey Chabert, Christopher Plummer, and Charles Nelson Reilly.  Most of the adaptations alter the story quite a bit from the original plot.  However, I think the best adaptations are the ones that feature the original music by Victor Herbert and Glen MacDonough.

While imprisoned in Meantown, Jane sings "Go To Sleep, Slumber Deep,"  to her brother Alan,  another song from the operetta. 

Shirley Temple's "Babes in Toyland" features the best of the original Herbert compositions including "Toyland," "Go to Sleep, Slumber Deep," "I Can't Do the Sum," and "March of the Toys."  In addition to these familiar Babes in Toyland tunes, the 1960 episode features numerous shorter musical performances.  This is an asset in an hour long program which allows for more performances to be included while preventing slow, drawn out segments.  The program also squeezes in two major dance sequences--the gypsy camp scene and the Toyland parade at the end--which makes this Christmas TV variety program even more entertaining. 

Can you recognize Shirley Temple under the fake nose and chin, gray wig and kercheif, and long pointy finger nails?  She's Floretta, the gypsy witch.

Recognize these comedic actors' faces?  Left to right:Joe Besser, Jerry Colonna, Carle Ballantine.  Center is Jonathan Winters, of course.

Even if you're not already familiar with the music from Babes in Toyland, you will be impressed with the stellar ensemble cast in this 1960 musical comedy.  Not only does Hollywood icon Shirley Temple introduce and narrate this adventure story, but she also stars in it as Floretta, the fortune-telling gypsy witch.  The evil Uncle Barnaby is played by Jonathan Winters.  The three bumbling cutthroats--Gonzales, Gonzorgo, and Rodrigo--are played by Jerry Colonna, Carl Ballantine, and Joe Besser, respectively.  And, the children, Alan and Jane, are played by Michel Petit and Angela Cartwright.

Jane and Alan lost in the Spider Forest.  Jane is played by actress Angela Cartwright, who was also on The Danny Thomas Show in 1960.  Later, she would appear in the TV series Lost In Space--and sing in the movie musical The Sound Of Music.

An added bonus--keen viewers may be able to spot animatronic fantasy figures--just like the kind that used to fill department store window displays at Christmas time--in the background of the Toyland scenes.

In addition to the music, dancing, and amazing cast, I think 1960's Babes in Toyland has something else going for it. The production was staged live which means the camera captures the authentic performances as they occur--and a few unpredictable moments as well. For example, the boat scene includes Petit nearly knocking over the ship's mast to which he is bound.  You can also see the boom microphone above the actors' heads in several shots. Although the camera moves a bit more slowly than we are used to, and the sets are often flat backdrops, I'm still caught up in the fantasy and adventure of the storytelling and music.  I love the more simple production values of this 1960 TV episode.  The lack of CGI elements isn't a weakness but rather its strength--a reminder of simpler times when entertainment included the viewers' imagination.  At Christmas time when I want to feel nostalgic, it's comforting to watch a program that also makes me feel nostalgic for quality Christmas entertainment.

Yes--Babes in Toyland is available for viewing on DVD.