Another animated offering from Jay Ward, the creator of Rocky and Bullwinkle, was The Adventures of Hoppity Hooper , about a frog who hang out with a troublemaking fox and a bear. Hoppity had appeared on TV before, as part of The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, but he got his own cartoon series in 1964.

The frog debuted on The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show in the late 50s, as part of a segment called “Fractured Fairy Tales.” Using the classic fairy tale “The Frog Prince” as inspiration, Jay Ward injected the story with his unique brand of humor. Ward’s collaborator, Bill Scott, saw great potential in the little frog—who was named Filburt at the time—and a pilot was soon written titled “The Green Hopper.” The title was changed a few times before the creative team settled on Hoppity Hooper.

Included in that pilot episode were Hoppity’s companions: a cunning fox (is there any other kind of fox in cartoonland?) named Waldo Wigglesworth, who was a self-proclaimed professor and expert on all things, and Fillmore the bear, who had a fondness for bugle playing. The two were on the run in the wilds of Wisconsin, trying to elude the local sheriff. Waldo and Fillmore hid out in Hoppity’s home and convinced the frog that they were his uncle and cousin, respectively. The two con artists took advantage of Hoppity’s good nature and Hoppity never questioned what exactly a fox and a bear were doing in his family tree. Another character introduced in the pilot was Susan Swivelhips, Waldo’s girlfriend, whose voice sounded just like Mae West. And with a last name like that, Susan was destined to turn some heads.

Every episode of Hoppity Hooper contained two segments of a four-part story, much like the format of Rocky & Bullwinkle. There were other Ward creations packaged in The Adventures of Hoppity Hooper as well, like “Fractured Fairy Tales,” “Peabody’s Improbable History” and “Commander McBragg.”

The animation was similarly choppy to other Ward series but the wisecracks and one-liners never stopped coming. In the tradition of Rocky & Bullwinkle, Hoppity Hooper appealed to children and adults alike, mixing zany adventures with clever and funny dialogue.