The Ruff and Reddy Show

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

The Ruff and Reddy Show was the first production of the Hanna-Barbera studio and the very first network cartoon made specifically for Saturday morning. It premiered December 14, 1957 on NBC.

Ruff was a kitten and Reddy a dog, and together they got involved in clandestine escapades involving anything from alien invasions to swamp pirates to treasure plunderers. In some adventures, they are assisted by Professor Gismo, a kindly old scientist. Taking a cue from Crusader Rabbit, it was serialized with 13 episodes making up a story arc and four story arcs making up a season. They were seen as features of the network show which had live action segments. The first run (1957–60) was hosted by Jimmy Blaine, the second run (1962–64) had Captain Bob Cottle in the host segments. The first run also featured cartoons from Columbia's theatrical short subjects.

Ruff and Reddy, which was all but rejected by Columbia Pictures president Harry Cohn (he was overruled by Columbia's financial officer, John Mitchell--the studio bankrolled and distributed the series), was sponsored by General Foods (maker of Post cereals) and was a modest success. Hanna-Barbera would achieve runaway success a year later with The Huckleberry Hound Show.

Tropes used in The Ruff and Reddy Show include:
  • Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal: The titular heroes.
  • Butt Monkey: Reddy. Noble but not too bright.
  • The Cameo: Ruff and Reddy appeared briefly in 1972's Yogi's Ark Lark (the pilot to Yogi's Gang), and Ruff cameoed in a 1986 episode of Yogis Treasure Hunt.
  • Captain Obvious: Like many serialized cartoons of the time, Ruff And Reddy had a narrator with a penchant for describing virtually everything going on in the episode.
  • Catch Phrase: Captain Greedy's "I'll boil them in oil!"
  • Comic Book Adaptation: Ruff and Reddy appeared in 12 issues from Dell Comics, starting with Dell Four Color Comics #937 (adaptation of the Pint-Sized Pachyderm story arc). The first eleven issues were drawn by Harvey Eisenberg, the last issue was drawn by Pete Alvarado.
    • Professor Gismo is a central figure in the Marvel Comics special Laff-A-Lympics publication "The Man Who Stole Thursdays" (summer, 1978). Ruff and Reddy are seen in a framed picture on Gismo's wall in a panel.
  • Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Reddy. He may be dense and a little chicken at times, but when it comes to Ruff and anyone weaker than its antagonizer, he'll step up to the plate.
  • Cute Kitten: Ruff.
  • Dastardly Whiplash: Scary Harry Safari.
  • Dogs Are Dumb: Reddy isn't the sharpest tool in the shed.
  • Keep Circulating the Tapes: Pirated episodes recorded off Boomerang are making the round in on-line sales. Warner Home Video entertained the idea of releasing the entire series on DVD but chose against it, seeing as how the Huckleberry Hound and Yogi Bear DVD sets sold so poorly. In contrast, even fewer people over the last 30 years know who Ruff and Reddy were.
  • Mythology Gag: The name Quick Draw McGraw appears on a note nailed to a sheriff's door in an episode involving a ghost town and missing sheep. Also, the cave boy Ubble-Ubble (Chickosaurus story arc) was said to be the inspiration for Bamm-Bamm on The Flintstones.
  • Rhymes on a Dime: Many "next episode" titles fall into this.
  • Sdrawkcab Name: The first story arc, "Planet Pirates," had our heroes taken to a planet Professor Gismo called Muni-mula, which is backwards for "aluminum," the substance of which the planet is made.
  • Shorter Means Smarter: Ruff is clearly the brains of the outfit. Also, Prof. Gismo is almost as short as Ruff.
  • The Smart Guy: Ruff. And Professor Gismo sometimes.
  • Talking to Himself: Daws Butler and Don Messick provide all character voices.
  • Those Two Bad Guys: Killer and Diller, "the Terrible Twins from Texas". They'd be reused and renamed in the Yogi Bear cartoon "Big Brave Bear".
    • Also, Captain Greedy and his stooge, Salt Water Daffy.
  • Ur Example: Of the Saturday Morning Cartoon.
  • What Happened to the Mouse?: At the end of the Chickosaurus story arc, Professor Gismo adopts cave boy Ubble-Ubble. In the Prof's ensuing appearances on the show, we never see or hear of Ubble-Ubble again.
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