Another Huckleberry.

Like Disney, Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera had combined live action with animation several times, in the movies "Anchors Aweigh," "Dangerous When Wet," and "Invitation To The Dance,' as well as the TV special "Jack And The Beanstalk."

But "The New Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn" was the first time they'd done it for a regular series. Huck, Tom Sawyer, and Becky Thatcher were played by live actors, as were Aunt Polly, Mrs. Thatcher, and Injun Joe.
All the other characters were animated.

This show aired on Sunday evenings from 1968-69, just before "The Wonderful World Of Disney." Hence, I mistakenly believed the two series were sister shows. NOT! The young trio had run-ins with sorcerors, mad scientists, and pirates. In addition, there were villains who seemed to be animated versions of Injun Joe, each of whom had chains on their wrists just like him.

I remember seeing "Castle Of Evil" during the show's network run, and cheering when they rode off on their horse, Thunderbolt. But he, Pegasus, and Crusher the dog were never seen again after their respective episodes. Makes you wonder, huh?

Then, on a Sunday night when my family and I went out to dinner, we came just in time for the end of "The Conquistador Curse," and saw the kids walking off. My little brother, who was only four at the time, said, "Awww, we missed it!" In other words, the series made quite an impact on me and my siblings. When I saw the show again in the late '70's, I was happy as could be. Unfortunately, since the film is too old to restore, this show may never be released on DVD. I guess it's safe to say the kids made it back to Hannibal, MO, since the closing credits show the three young lead actors standing on the deck of the riverboat seen in the opening, and waving to the audience. It was like they were saying, "Have no fear, all you Hanna-Barbera fans out there! We're back, safe and sound!"

By coincidence yesterday, I saw an old black and white movie about Huck, starring the late Mickey Rooney in the title role. This film showed Huck playing hookey, hanging out at the creek with his schoolmates, and smoking a pipe! H-B obviously considered all this taboo for a prime-time family show, hence the adventure/fantasy/sci-fi format.

Trivia Question 3: In the episode, "Hunting The Hunter," Huck, Becky, and Tom were put on trial by a group of talking animals. Which one was the lawyer?

Answer: The fox.

The sequence where Gene Kelly danced with a talking Jerry Mouse in the 1945 "Anchors Aweigh" took two months to film and animate and cost $100,000.
Esther Williams swam in a pool with Tom and Jerry in the 1953 "Dangerous When Wet".
Gene Kelly danced again with animated characters in 1956's "Invitation to the Dance" in which Kelly played Sindbad the Sailor.

Gene Kelly interacted with the cartoon giant in the tv "Jack and the Beanstalk" special.

It was innovative to have such live-action actors interacting with animated characters for a weekly tv show. The H-B "Huck Finn" took a page from the tv series "The Time Tunnel" with Huck (Michael Shea), Tom Sawyer (Kevin Schultz), and Becky Thatcher (Lu Ann Halsam) entering a cave to get away from the pursuing Injun Joe (Ted Cassidy in live action and cartoon voice) and hitting a time warp where the kids ended up in various time periods in history with bad guys with Injun Joe's voice and likenesses kept appearing.

The series aired on NBC Sunday nights at 7pm in 1968 and ran for one season. The costs of combining live action actors and animation probably were too costly to create a second season.
Reruns were syndicated as part of the "Banana Splits" weekday series in the 1970s.

The Mickey Rooney film was probably faithful to the novel. The original Mark Twain novel was controversial with Huck's truancy, those in the South objecting to Jim the runaway slave who befriended Huck and Tom and some segments describing the murder and mutilation of some young boys by Injun Joe.