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Yakky Doodle is a fictional character created by Hanna-Barbera Productions. Yakky's name is an obvious takeoff of Yankee Doodle.

History[link]

Yakky Doodle (voiced by Jimmy Weldon to sound similar to Donald Duck) is an anthropomorphic duck who lives with his best friend Chopper the bulldog. Yakky is always one to run into danger when it's most expected. This usually comes in the form of the show's main antagonist Fibber Fox or secondary villain Alfy Gator. Chopper defends his "Little Buddy" fiercely, and is always ready to pound Fibber or any other enemy into oblivion if necessary. Yakky's tendency to put himself in great danger never draws a rebuke from Chopper, who presumably enjoys his protective role. One of Yakky's repeated line is "Are you my mama?" One of Yakky's favorite songs he loved to sing, in a few episodes, was "Ta-ra-ra Boom-de-ay".

The "template" for Yakky was Quacker, a similar duckling character voiced by Red Coffee, who'd appeared in a number of classic Tom and Jerry cartoons, debuting in 1950's "Little Quacker." Weldon, a former kids' show host and ventriloquist, had based this character on his "partner" Webster Webfoot. The same design was also used for a duckling in Pixie and Dixie and Mr. Jinks Episode 48 "A Wise Quack" and as a blue duckling in Yogi Bear Episode 2 "Slumber Party Smarty" and Episode 18 "Duck in Luck".

Yakky debuted on the "Gone To The Ducks" episode of the "Augie Doggie and Doggie Daddy" segment of The Quick Draw McGraw Show. He later had his own segment on The Yogi Bear Show in 1961.

Main characters[link]

Besides Yakky, the main characters in his cartoons are:

• Chopper (voiced by Vance Colvig impersonating Wallace Beery): A bulldog who always protects Yakky from harm. If he thinks that the only way to do this is to send Yakky away, he's willing to pretend he isn't the duckling's friend anymore; otherwise, he's the best friend Yakky has. Although he acts tough, in some ways he can be just as childlike as Yakky, such as when he wished he could fly like a bird. Chopper's repeated line is "Now, ain't that cute", as well as saying "Now close your eyes, Yakky. You shouldn't oughta see what I'm going to do to this fox/cat" before beating up the Fibber or the cat. Another repeated quote is when Chopper feels guilty of having to turn Yakky away, and hopes that he didn't "hurt his feelings".

• Fibber Fox (voiced by Daws Butler impersonating Shelley Berman): A fox who first tried to use Yakky as a "bargaining chip" to get the chickens from a henhouse that Chopper was guarding; since then, he's been fixated on catching and eating Yakky, at one point saying that he now hates chicken and wants duck instead. He shows cunning in his plans, most of which are intended to get Chopper out of the way so he can have a clear run at Yakky. For all his predatory behavior, however, he may not be able to eat Yakky. In one episode, he finds that he just can't bring himself to cook or otherwise harm the little duckling, or even let another fox eat him.

• The Cat (voiced by Daws Butler and also impersonating Shelley Berman): An unnamed cat, who is an indirect kin to Fibber Fox, who also had a similar objective to eat Yakky. However, he often gets punished by Chopper or by the mistress of the house.

• Alfy Gator (voiced by Daws Butler impersonating Alfred Hitchcock): A fat blue alligator who tries to capture Yakky because his gourmet guidebook recommends roast duck. He tends to be verbose while setting his traps, probably as an imitation of Hitchcock's introductions on the TV show Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Also taken from that show is Hitchcock's silhouette & outline routine, which Alfy imitates in most of the cartoons he's in. One time he found himself competing with Fibber to catch Yakky, but the two predators eventually agreed to work together to capture the duck (the cartoon ended during the final chase, but presumably Yakky got away).|

[edit] Episode list (Yogi Bear Show)

Other appearances[link]

• Yakky Doodle makes an appearance in Snooper and Blabber, Episode 31 "De-Duck-Tives".

• In 1972, Yakky (voiced by Walker Edmiston) was one of the dozens of characters to appear in the TV-movie Yogi's Ark Lark (which was part of The ABC Saturday Superstar Movie).

• Yakky Doodle only had three non-speaking cameo appearances (The Envy Brothers, Captain Swipe, Mr. Sloppy) in the subsequent series Yogi's Gang.

• In the late 1970s, Yakky Doodle appeared on Laff-A-Lympics, as a member of Yogi's team. He would often team up with Grape Ape.

• In Yogi Bear's All Star Comedy Christmas Caper, Yakky Doodle (alongside Magilla Gorilla and Wally Gator) was unable to help Yogi Bear and his friends locate J. Wellington Jones.

• In 1987, Yakky & Chopper appeared at the start and end of the episode "Snow White and The 7 Treasure Hunters" on Yogi's Treasure Hunt.

External links[link]

• Yakky Doodle's Toonopedia page

Jimmy Weldon (born September 23, 1923) is an American voice actor, ventriloquist, and former television host.

He is best known as the voice of the Hanna-Barbera cartoon character Yakky Doodle the little Duck and the host and ventriloquist in the locally-produced television series, "The Webster Webfoot Show".

History[link]

[Born Ivy Laverne Shinn on September 23, 1923 in Dale, Texas. Jimmy suggests you read his book, "GO GET 'EM, TIGER!" to learn WHY he changed his name to Jimmy Weldon.]

[He began his career in 1946 as a disc jockey at KWCO, the radio station which began its operations shortly after he returned home following WWII. Yes, Jimmy was the first announcer hired at this new radio station.]

[While there, he developed a character named Webster Webfoot, a little duck who visited him while Jimmy was playing record requests from listeners calling in. Often they just wanted to talk to little Webster. They thought Webster was someone other than Jimmy and so he became an important part of Jimmy's disc jockey presentations.]

[Two years later, Jimmy (and Webster) moved to Duncan, Oklahoma, where they performed on another 250 watt AM Station, KRHD for two more years. The big 50,000 Watt radio station, WFAA in Dallas, Texas recruited Webster and Jimmy as entertainers and Webster became a REAL PERSON on television on April 4, 1950 on The Webster Webfoot Show, produced locally by station WFAA-TV.]

[They moved to California on September 5, 1952 to KCOP-TV, Channel 13, in Hollywood and continued their television careers. During an appearance at a middle school in Brentwood, Jeff Chandler and Randolph Scott collected the tickets from the children and parents who came to see the show. These two movie stars made Jimmy feel very lucky indeed when they commented, "Our children think more of little Webster than they do OUR movie careers." Also, Ralph Edwards was there and in 1955 he gave Webster and Jimmy the positions as co-hosts of a new children's television program titled FUNNYBONERS, a junior version of his famous "Truth or Consequences" radio and television shows.]

[In 1956 Jimmy and Webster moved to Fresno, California which began a career in the San Joaquin Valley at KFRE-TV Channel 12. This was interrupted, however, when NBC executives called them to New York to replace Shari Lewis on the "HI, MOM" Show on the NBC Flagship Station, WRCA-TV, Channel 4. [Return to the book to find out why Jimmy and Webster were not New York people.]

[In 1959 Channel 13 in Hollywood once again became their television home.]

[In 1961 Jimmy and Webster were called back to the San Joaquin Valley. They continued performing their show on KJEO-TV Channel 47 in Fresno, California throughout the 1960s. During this time, Jimmy and Webster also did TV shows in Salinas and Bakersfield, California flying their airplane from City to City for those shows.]

[It was thanks to Webster's voice that he earned the voice-over for the Hanna-Barbera cartoon character, Yakky Doodle. Many of the odd animal sounds were also performed by Jimmy. Jimmy also was the voice of Solomon Grundy on Hanna-Barbera's show "Challenge of Super Friends." Jimmy has also made numerous television appearances in acting on shows such as Dragnet, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Waltons, Dallas, and Diff'rent Strokes. He also continues to do voice-overs for various television shows and cartoons.]

[Jimmy Weldon has also played some supporting characters on the popular radio drama, "Adventures in Odyssey", and Mail at Upin & Ipin classic serials and TV series. He is currently a member of the Premiere Speakers Bureau and is promoting his own motivational book, "GO GET 'EM, TIGER!", which has sold 30,000 copies via his Internet website and is available at Amazon.com.]

External links[link]

• Jimmy Weldon's Official Website