Where To Watch
Did you know there was a Huckleberry Hound Club?
Unfortunately, the club is not currently accepting new members.
The Huckleberry Hound Show achieved a lot of firsts for cartoons on television. It was the first cartoon to win an Emmy, and it was the only cartoon to win an Emmy until A Charlie Brown Christmas won in 1965. It was the first half-hour cartoon television show. But, most memorably for many fans, it was one of the first cartoons with a box top fan club.
In previous years, radio shows had used box top programs as a way to engage fans while also driving up business for their sponsors. Fans would send in a box top and some money, and in return they get an official toy from their favorite show, like how in A Christmas Story Ralphie got the decoder pin from the Little Orphan Annie radio program. The Huckleberry Hound Show was sponsored by Kellogg's cereals, so a box top program that encouraged the show's fans to eat more cereal made sense.
The Huck Hound Club was born. In some episodes of The Huckleberry Hound Show, Huck told the audience about the club and how they could sign up for it. Let's take a look at all the fun details of the club.
Roll call
The club begins with Huckleberry Hound doing the roll call of all the members, including Yogi Bear and Boo Boo.
Roll Call
Boo Boo sleeps through roll call, which gets Huck thinking about how to get more engaged members in the club.
Breaking the fourth wall
Huckleberry Hound then breaks the fourth wall and says, "Say, friend, how 'bout you join all of us as a charter member of my Huck Hound Club?"
Instructions for membership application
Fans who wanted to join the club had to take a box top from one of two flavors of Kellogg's cereal and mail it with fifteen cents to the P.O. box on the image.
Official club button
Members were guaranteed an official red and blue club button.
Other membership items
Other membership items included an Official Charter Membership Card and a personal letter from Huckleberry Hound.
The letter
Each member of the fan club received a letter from Huckleberry Hound, here's a snippet of what the letter said:
"Howdy Friend,
This is yore ole pal, Huckleberry Hound, sayin' thanks heaps for yore application askin' to join me 'n Yogi and all our TV gang - Pixie, Dixie, Mr. Jinks and Boo Boo - in our new, fun-type Huck Hound Club. Consider yourself voted in to our happy group... P.S. Yogi says to remind you to keep watchin' us every week on TV like y'always do."
Pictures
Charter members also got two color pictures, one of Huck and one of Yogi and Boo Boo. The Huckleberry Hound picture says "Lots o'luck! Yore ol' pal, Huck" and the other one says "The best to you! Yogi Bear (and Boo Boo too)".
Special Secret Offer
In addition to all the other membership goodies, there was a special secret offer for members only. Based on our research, the Special Secret Offer appears to be an official Huck Hound Club Better Breakfast Scorecard, which included a pledge to eat a healthy breakfast every morning and keep a daily breakfast record in the scorecard. Upon completing the scorecard, fans could send it in with another box top and fifteen cents for a Huck Hound Club ring!
In conclusion
Though short-lived, the Huck Hound Club was ahead of its time and certainly more fun than the average club.
Additional promotions
If joining the club felt like too much of a commitment, The Huckleberry Hound Show also featured an option where fans could mail in a box top and fifty cents in exchange for a Yogi Bear mug AND a Huckleberry Hound cereal bowl. In today's money, that would be about five dollars, but still, a bowl and a mug for $5 is a pretty good deal!
