Personality
Like many Hanna-Barbera characters, Yogi's personality and mannerisms were based on a popular celebrity of the time. Art Carney's Ed Norton character on The Honeymooners was said to be Yogi's inspiration; his voice mannerisms broadly mimic Carney as Norton. Norton, in turn, received influence from Borscht Belt and comedians of vaudeville.
Yogi's name is commonly seen as a nod to the famed baseball star Yogi Berra. The plot of most of Yogi's cartoons centered on his antics in the fictional Jellystone Park, a takeoff on the famous Yellowstone National Park. Yogi, accompanied by his constant companion Boo-Boo Bear, would often try to steal picnic baskets from campers in the park, much to the displeasure of Park Ranger Smith. Yogi's girlfriend, Cindy Bear, sometimes appeared and usually disapproved of Yogi's antics.
The name "Jellystone Park" and the concept of a hungry bear who steals campers' food was a theme of an MGM animated short titled Barney's Hungry Cousin which had debuted in 1953.
Read more about this topic: Yogi Bear
Famous quotes containing the word personality:
“It is the personality of the mistress that the home expresses. Men are forever guests in our homes, no matter how much happiness they may find there.”
—Elsie De Wolfe (1865–1950)
“A personality is an indefinite quantum of traits which is subject to constant flux, change, and growth from the birth of the individual in the world to his death. A character, on the other hand, is a fixed and definite quantum of traits which, though it may be interpreted with slight differences from age to age and actor to actor, is nevertheless in its essentials forever fixed.”
—Hubert C. Heffner (1901–1985)