Peter Potamus

Peter Potamus is an animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera and first broadcast on September 16, 1964. (Early promotional materials for the series carried the title Peter Potamus and his Magic Flying Balloon, but that title never appeared on screen.)

Premise
Peter Potamus was a syndicated series divided into three segments; one of Peter Potamus and So-So, one of Breezly and Sneezly, and one of Yippee, Yappee and Yahooey. Peter Potamus was a companion series to Magilla Gorilla, and both series premiered in first-run syndication before being picked up by ABC-TV in 1964. At that time, the Breezly and Sneezly segment was swapped with Ricochet Rabbit & Droop-a-Long, a segment on the Magilla Gorilla show. After the ABC run ended in 1965, cartoons from the Magilla Gorilla and Peter Potamus shows were syndicated together.

The original Peter Potamus series can occasionally be seen on the cable TV channel Boomerang, often as part of its anthology series Boomerang Zoo. During the original run of the cartoon (1964), at the end of each episode, the closing song ended with the phrase: "And there he goes Peter Potamus, our ideal" (The Ideal toy company was the sponsor of the television series. A similarly subtle sponsor reference appeared in the Magilla Gorilla theme song lyrics: "He's really ideal").

Peter Potamus
It featured Peter Potamus the Hippopotamus (voiced by Daws Butler impersonating Joe E. Brown) and his sidekick, So-So the monkey (voiced by Don Messick). Peter was big, purple, and friendly. Episodes generally consisted of Peter and So-So exploring the world in his time-traveling hot air balloon. When faced with a certain situation, Peter uses his Hippo Hurricane Holler technique to blow away his opponents.

Breezly and Sneezly
A Polar bear named Breezly Bruin (voiced by Howard Morris) and his droopy friend Sneezly the seal (voiced by Mel Blanc) do various plans to break into the local army camp for various reasons while trying to stay one step ahead of the army camp's leader Colonel Fuzzby (voiced by John Stephenson).

Yippee, Yappee, and Yahooey
Three dogs named Yippee (voiced by Daws Butler), Yappee (voiced by Hal Smith), and Yahooey (voiced by Doug Young) work as guards for their king (voiced by Hal Smith).

Voice cast

 * Daws Butler - Peter Potamus and Yippee
 * Don Messick - So-So
 * Howard Morris - Breezly Bruin
 * Mel Blanc - Sneezly
 * John Stephenson - Colonel Fuzzby
 * Hal Smith - Yappee and the King
 * Doug Young - Yahooey

Other appearances

 * Peter Potamus and So So appeared in Yogi's Ark Lark and its spin-off series Yogi's Gang.
 * Peter Potamus guest starred in some episodes of Yogi's Treasure Hunt.
 * Peter Potamus made a cameo appearance in The Good, the Bad, and Huckleberry Hound as a captain of a boat to Tahiti.
 * Peter Potamus appeared in teenager form in the early 1990s series Yo Yogi, where he was voiced by Frank Welker. He and So-So were shown to own a plant store at Jellystone Mall called Peter Potamus' Plant Palace. In "Tricky Dickie's Dirty Trickies," he is shown to be allergic to goldenrods.
 * Peter Potamus and So-So were seen as animatronics in the Dexter's Laboratory episode "Chubby Cheese" during Chubby's song sequence.
 * Potamus was also a recurring character on Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law, where he is voiced in a Brooklyn accent by Joe Alaskey and later voiced by Chris Edgerly. In it, he is a sexually charged hippo and a lazy, sleazy lawyer who is forever obsessed with strippers and sandwiches working at the Sebben & Sebben law firm with Harvey Birdman. Peter has the trademark phrase, "Did you get that thing I sent you?" Starting with episode 6 of season 3, Return of Birdgirl, Peter's hands were changed to stumps.

Home Media releases
There's yet to be a DVD release of the complete series from Warner Archive. The episode "Fe Fi Fo Fun" is available on the DVD Saturday Morning Cartoons 1960s Vol. 1. The episode "Wagon Train Strain" is available on the DVD Saturday Morning Cartoons 1960's Vol.2. The Episode Cleo Trio Is On The DVD Hanna Barbera 25 Cartoon Collection part of The Best Of Warner Bros. series.

Production Credits

 * Produced and Directed by: William Hanna and Joseph Barbera
 * Story: Warren Foster, Michael Maltese, Tony Benedict, Harvey Bullock, Harvey Marshall, R. S. Allen, Joanna Lee, Barry E. Blitzer, Barney Phillips
 * Story Direction: Alex Lovy, Paul Sommer, Lewis Marshall, John Freeman, Art Davis
 * Associate Producer: Alex Lovy
 * Featuring the Voices of: Daws Butler, Don Messick, Howard Morris, Mel Blanc, John Stephenson, Doug Young, Hal Smith
 * Story Supervision: Arthur Pierson
 * Other Voices: Bea Benaderet, Julie Bennett, Herschel Bernardi, Walker Edmiston, Verna Felton, Gerry Johnson, Paul Frees, Ginny Tyler, Nancy Wible, Ge Ge Pearson, Jean Vander Pyl, Janet Waldo, Jimmy Weldon, Hans Conried, June Foray, Vance Colvig
 * Musical Direction: Hoyt Curtin
 * Animation: Edwin Aardal, Robert Bentley, Jack Ozark, Art Davis, George Goepper, Anatole Kirsanoff, Chuck Harrington, Jerry Hathcock, William Keil, Harry Holt, Ed Love, Tony Love, Lefty Callahan, Dick Lundy, C.L. Hartman, Kenneth Muse, Casey Onatis, George Germannetti, Emil Carle, Lou Kachivas, Larry Silverman, Bernard Posner, John Boersema, Don Patterson, Ray Patterson, Irv Spence, Fred Wolf, Carlo Vinci, Don Williams, Allen Wilzbach, Grant Simmons, Ed Parks, Harvey Toombs, Jack Carr, Jack Parr, Don Schloat, George Nicholas, George Kreisl, Don Lusk, Hugh Fraser, Bob Carr
 * Animation Direction: Charles A. Nichols
 * Layout: Jerry Eisenberg, Nick Panesis, John Wilson, Dick Bickenbach, Noel Tucker, Noel Quinn, C. L. Hartman, Z.T. Jablecki, Hi Mankin, Moe Gollub, Walter Clinton, Iwao Takamoto, Willie Ito, Warren Tufts, Lance Nolley, Steven Nakagawa, Bob Singer, Bill Perez, Tony Sgroi, Jack Huber, Alex Ignateiv, Dan Noonan, Bruce Bushman, Brad Case, Homar Jonas
 * Background: Fernando Arce, Bob Gentle, Rene Garcia, F. Montealegre, Art Lozzi, Bob Caples, Richard H. Thomas, Neenah Maxwell, Ron Dias, Paul Julian, Anthony Rizzo, Lee Branscombe, Bob Abrams
 * Production Supervision: Howard Hanson
 * Camera: Charles Flekal, Roy Wade, Frank Parrish, Frank Paiker, Norman Stainback, Cliff Shirpser
 * Film Editing: Warner Leighton, Don Douglas, Greg Watson, Joseph Ruby, Kenneth Spears
 * The Peter Potamus Show
 * Copyright C MCMLXIV-V Hanna Barbera Productions
 * RCA Sound Recording
 * This Picture Made Under the Jurisdiction of IATSE-IA Affiliated with A.F.L.-C.I.O.
 * A Hanna-Barbera Production