In a way, DePatie-Freleng's short-lived Hoot Kloot series was an attempt to replicate the success of The Inspector nearly a decade earlier, only with the setting changed from France to the American West.
Hoot himself (Bob Holt) was a send-up of Dodge's on-screen sheriff (Joe Higgins, ex-The Rifleman), who was starring in a series of ads that would later land him a gig on Hee Haw. His talking horse, Fester, was a knock-off of Gunsmoke deputies Chester Goode (Dennis Weaver, McCloud) and Festus Haggin (Ken Curtis), the latter of whom was still on duty by this point.
John W. Dunn wrote all 17 shorts, released between 1973-4, and sources say these shorts eventually turned up as part of NBC's Pink Panther package, though I can't recall ever seeing them until years later.
"As The Tumbleweed Turns", released in April 1974, has Hoot being asked by a railroad to evict a familiar looking widow. Hazel Shermet is credited as the widow, doing a mimic of June Foray's Granny from the Sylvester & Tweety shorts. Holt does all the other voices.
Rating: C.
2 comments:
My first introduction to Hoot Kloot was on TNT's Wild World of Shorts. I watched some of the syndicated Pink Panther packages on various local stations, but I don't recall seeing Hoot in any of them.
I didn't see him in syndicated packages, either.
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