Yogi Bear wandered away from Jellystone Park to join us here at Sun City Peachtree!  He must have sniffed out the “pic-a-nic” some residents were having.  He is a grizzly bear after all, and when there’s food around, a hungry grizzly bear will find it!

Not your typical bear, Yogi can be seen stylin’ a green hat and white collar with a green tie.  Hanna-Barbera Productions made sure he looked his best when they debuted the bear in 1958 as a supporting character in The Huckleberry Hound Show.  The fashionable bear became so popular that he was even more popular than Huckleberry Hound!  As a reward, he got his own show in 1961.

Like many Hanna-Barbera characters, Yogi’s personality and mannerisms were based on a popular celebrity.  Yogi was inspired by Art Carney’s Ed Norton character on The Honeymooners.

The plot of most of Yogi’s cartoons centered on his antics in the fictional Jellystone Park, which is based on Yellowstone National Park.  The bear’s sidekick, Boo-Boo Bear, would accompany him on his frequent quests to steal picnic baskets from the campers at the park.  That didn’t sit well with Ranger Smith, the park ranger, and Yogi’s girlfriend, Cindy Bear didn’t approve of his behavior either.

It didn’t matter what Ranger Smith or Cindy thought, though.  As Yogi would say, “I’m smarter than the av-er-age bear!”

Yogi had other catchphrases, too, such as “Hey, Hey, Hey!”  My favorite was, “Hey there, Boo-Boo!”

Watch for Yogi at a “pic-a-nic” near you!