Lippy the Lion and Hardy Har Har is an American animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions, and aired as one of the three segments of the syndicated show The Hanna-Barbera New Cartoon Series, the other two being Wally Gator and Touché Turtle and Dum Dum. The segment stars the titular anthropomorphic lion and hyena duo in a series of goofy misadventures.

History

Lippy the Lion (voiced by Daws Butler impersonating Joe E. Brown ) and Hardy Har Har the hyena (voiced by Mel Blanc) first appeared in The Hanna-Barbera New Cartoon Series on September 3, 1962, along with Wally Gator and Touché Turtle and Dum Dum. Mel Blanc used the same voice, personality and expressions for Hardy Har Har that he used playing the postman on the Burns and Allen radio show. Their cartoons revolve around ever-hopeful Lippy's attempts to conduct a get-rich-quick scheme, with reluctant Hardy serving as a foil. Whatever the consequences were to Lippy's schemes, Hardy ends up getting the worst of it — a fact he always seems to realize ahead of time, with his moans of "Oh me, oh my, oh dear". Although the intro shows them in a jungle setting proper for such beasts, most of the cartoons' stories take place in an urban setting. Since then, the duo have been infrequently included in the cast of Hanna-Barbera's ensemble shows (e.g., Yogi's Gang). They are no longer constantly pursuing Lippy's get-rich-quick schemes, but their personalities were unchanged: Lippy is still the smiling optimist, Hardy the moaning pessimist.

List of episodes

Voice cast

NOTE: Before the series regained its popularity among Hanna-Barbera fans, websites describing the series claimed that Mel Blanc left the series after 18 episodes, with Daws Butler taking over the role of Hardy as well as Lippy for the remaining 34 episodes. This is untrue, however – Mel Blanc voiced Hardy in all 52 episodes. This confusion likely came about because a prototype Hardy Har Har first appeared in a Snooper and Blabber cartoon several years before, in which he was voiced by Butler.

Home media

The show's first episode, "Sea-saw", is available on Saturday Morning Cartoons 1960's Vol. 2. On July 9, 2019, Warner Archive released Lippy the Lion and Hardy Har Har: The Complete Series on DVD in region 1 as part of their Hanna-Barbera Classic Collection.

Other appearances