{"id":32278,"date":"2019-11-15T06:49:38","date_gmt":"2019-11-15T11:49:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=32278"},"modified":"2019-12-28T22:04:30","modified_gmt":"2019-12-29T03:04:30","slug":"the-bootleg-files-yogi-bear-and-the-three-stooges-meet-the-mad-mad-mad-dr-no-no","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2019\/11\/15\/the-bootleg-files-yogi-bear-and-the-three-stooges-meet-the-mad-mad-mad-dr-no-no\/","title":{"rendered":"The Bootleg Files: Yogi Bear and the Three Stooges Meet the Mad, Mad, Mad Dr. No-No"},"content":{"rendered":"

BOOTLEG FILES 709:<\/strong> \u201cYogi Bear and the Three Stooges Meet the Mad, Mad, Mad Dr. No-No\u201d (1966 spoken-word album).<\/p>\n

LAST SEEN:<\/strong> On YouTube.<\/p>\n

FORMAT RELEASE:<\/strong> As a long-playing vinyl album.<\/p>\n

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS:<\/strong> Out of print for many years.<\/p>\n

CHANCES OF SEEING A CD RELEASE:<\/strong> Not likely.<\/p>\n

This week\u2019s column is different from the others because the focus is not on a film or a television production. Instead, we are revisiting a record album that combines the personalities of pop culture icons into a jolly spoof of mad scientist movies. Indeed, it is a major shame that this offering was only captured on vinyl and not on film.
\n<\/p>\n

The album in question is the 1966 \u201cYogi Bear and the Three Stooges Meet the Mad, Mad, Mad Dr. No-No.\u201d Despite the title, there nothing here that resonates as a James Bond parody or as a riff on multi-mad Stanley Kramer slapstick epic (which, of course, included the Three Stooges in a hilarious cameo as too-patient firemen). Yogi Bear got top billing over the Three Stooges because this was a Hanna-Barbera Records release \u2013 the trio made a series of novelty music records following their career reboot in 1959, but this was the first spoken-word record featuring their input.<\/p>\n

The half-hour-plus record begins with a pop tune called \u201cYogi Bear\u201d that fetes the irrepressible bruin as being \u201cthe toast of the town\u201d and a \u201clovable clown,\u201d but this is the only song featured here. The plot kicks in with a meeting of the rangers at Jellystone Park concerning the long-running problem of Yogi Bear escaping from the park\u2019s confines. (Boo-Boo Bear is absent from this endeavor.) One of the rangers exclaims that he received a telegram from Washington \u2013 another ranger unhelpfully asks, \u201cGeorge?\u201d \u2013 that orders the rangers to keep Yogi from running away. The telegram is signed \u201cLBJ \u2013 head man, chief and boss.\u201d<\/p>\n

The rangers feel flummoxed that Yogi is constantly outsmarting them \u2013 the long-exasperated Ranger Smith is not part of this gathering \u2013 but they feel they have the answer to their woes via the arrival of three new rangers from Washington. Yup, the new rangers are Moe, Larry and Curly-Joe. (During the story, Curly-Joe occasionally gets called Curly \u2013 something that should make rabid Stooges addicts apoplectic.) The Stooges offer assurances that Yogi\u2019s bad-bear behavior will not be tolerated.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t worry, we\u2019ll keep seven eyes on him,\u201d says Curly-Joe. Moe becomes irate and asks, \u201cHow do you get seven eyes?\u201d Curly-Joe confidently explains that the two eyes per Three Stooges results in seven eyes. This brings a face-slap from Moe, who lectures, \u201cAny child knows that two times three equals eight, you kindergarten dropout!\u201d<\/p>\n

At this point, Yogi Bear (voiced by Daws Butler) turns up and is surprised to find the Three Stooges in Jellystone Park. When Yogi learns the visitors\u2019 mission, he promises to join Runaway Bears Anonymous \u201cand become a new bear.\u201d When the Stooges inform Yogi they are moving into his cave, Yogi borrows a dime from the Stooges for a telephone booth call to a costume shop to buy a little old lady disguise. Of course, the Stooges get fooled by Yogi dressed in elderly woman drag and escort him out of the park. <\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know how to thank you,\u201d says the disguised bear. \u201cThat\u2019s easy \u2013 just say \u2018thank you,\u2019\u201d exclaims Larry, which generates a Moe slap. Of course, the Stooges become suspicious of this senior after parting ways \u2013 Curly-Joe comments how the little old lady didn\u2019t look like she shaved in a week. <\/p>\n

The Stooges search for Yogi in the woods outside of the park, but a thunderstorm disrupts their effort. Yogi is miles away from the park and is lost. In an odd but amusing segment, Yogi has a full two-person (two-bear?) conversation with himself about his dilemma. The bear comes upon a strange house with iron bars on the window and a barbed wire fence. Inside the house, Dr. No-No and his dimwitted assistant Fang discuss the scientist\u2019s Molecule Mixing Machine that changes animals into different beasts. Dr. No-No is eager for a human to experiment upon. <\/p>\n

Fang escorts Yogi inside and the visitor is grateful. \u201cThat storm is enough to give somebody penicillin,\u201d he says. Dr. No-No introduces himself and self-identifies as Dr. No\u2019s uncle. \u201cI taught him every dirty trick he knows,\u201d he laughs. <\/p>\n

Dr. No-No and Fang tie Yogi to the Molecule Mixing Machine with the goal of turning him into a chicken. \u201cI hope this works,\u201d Fang says. \u201cWe haven\u2019t had any eggs around here in days.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the first half of the record comes to a close, a narrator questions whether Yogi will be turned into a chicken and if the Three Stooges will rescue. \u201cTurn over to the flip side and find out,\u201d the narrator says. <\/p>\n

Back in the day, the listener would have to go to the phonograph and manually turn the record over, putting the phonograph needle into the groove to hear the second part of the album. Needless to say, the Stooges locate Yogi while Dr. No-No has devious plans for the investigative trio. What happens next? Well, I\u2019d rather not go into depth because there are some nicely silly surprises and it would be a nasty spoiler to call out the story\u2019s surprising twists.<\/p>\n

In listening to \u201cYogi Bear and the Three Stooges Meet the Mad, Mad, Mad Dr. No-No,\u201d it is obviously a Hanna-Barbera production \u2013 if only from the heavy use of the stock music that is easily recognizable from the studio\u2019s cartoon soundtracks and Daws Butler\u2019s nutty character voice acting. And despite a few slap sound effects, the Stooges\u2019 trademark violence is kept to a minimum \u2013 or, in this case, a bear minimum. (Sorry, I couldn\u2019t resist.) Since this was obviously meant for the kiddie set, extreme sound effects of Stooges-worthy pummeling was out of the question.<\/p>\n

But the strangest thing about this production is the question of why this concept was aimed at the spoken-word record genre and not adapted into a TV special. Hanna-Barbera already had a history of putting Hollywood stars in its shows \u2013 think of Tony Curtis and Ann-Margret on \u201cThe Flintstones\u201d \u2013 and a few years later the studio would include the Three Stooges and other icons in collaboration with Scooby Doo. Mostly likely, the Stooges did not share the screen with Yogi because of \u201cThe New Three Stooges\u201d cartoon series produced by Cambria Studios was running on television at the same time. With the Stooges\u2019 images licensed to Cambria Studios, Hanna-Barbera could only settle on their voice acting for a record.<\/p>\n

It doesn\u2019t appear that \u201cYogi Bear and the Three Stooges Meet the Mad, Mad, Mad Dr. No-No\u201d was very popular \u2013 the Stooges did not make another album and Yogi was never used again on a spoken-word recording. The production was never reissued on any other format \u2013 most likely because of the licensing rights to the Three Stooges\u2019 images \u2013 but unauthorized digital recordings have been uploaded to YouTube<\/a>. <\/p>\n

For fans of the Three Stooges and Yogi Bear, this sweet little oddity is a happy, harmless romp that is deserving of new listeners of all ages \u2013 especially when enjoying a pic-a-nic basket lunch!<\/p>\n

IMPORTANT NOTICE: While this weekly column acknowledges the presence of rare film and television productions through the so-called collector-to-collector market, this should not be seen as encouraging or condoning the unauthorized duplication and distribution of copyright-protected material, either through DVDs or Blu-ray discs or through postings on Internet video sites.<\/p>\n

Listen to \u201cThe Online Movie Show with Phil Hall\u201d<\/a> on SoundCloud, now in its fourth season.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BOOTLEG FILES 709: \u201cYogi Bear and the Three Stooges Meet the Mad, Mad, Mad Dr. No-No\u201d (1966 spoken-word album). LAST SEEN: On YouTube. FORMAT RELEASE: As a long-playing vinyl album. REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: Out of print for many years. CHANCES OF SEEING A CD RELEASE: Not likely. This week\u2019s column is different from the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":32279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1513],"tags":[2352,219,444,1742,2351],"class_list":["post-32278","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bootleg-files","tag-album","tag-comedy","tag-hanna-barbera","tag-three-stooges","tag-yogi-bear"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32278","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32278"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32278\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32482,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32278\/revisions\/32482"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}