Jimmy Weldon played my least-favourite Hanna Barbera character, Yakky Doodle. Mr. Weldon is not at fault; he did a fine job. It’s just that I always rooted for Fibber Fox to finally rid the world of any noisy, alternately hyper-and-self-pitying ducks. However, Mr. Weldon is still with us at age 85 and making public appearances. Observe a portion of a story from the Inland Daily Bulletin, dated last Monday, the 24th:
Pomona Lions program to feature cartoon voice artist Jimmy Weldon
POMONA - The Pomona Host Lions meeting has invited the public to attend a special program Sept. 3 featuring motivational speaker and TV "voice" Jimmy Weldon.
Weldon, best known for his cartoon character voices, most notably Yakky Doodle in Hanna-Barbera's "Yogi Bear" and "Webster Webfoot," has a reputation of being entertaining and inspirational.
Weldon is the last living character voice of the original "Yogi Bear" cartoon program. He has also acted in numerous television shows, such as "The Waltons," "Dallas," "Alfred Hitchcock Presents," "Diff'rent Strokes" and "Dragnet."
His book, "Go Get `Em Tiger," has sold more than 30,000 copies.
What surprises me more than Mr. Weldon’s spunk and good cheer is the statement he is the last surviving voice from the Yogi Bear Show. That strikes me as uncertain. Yes, there’s Doug Young, who is quite alive and well in Washington State, but his work was on Huckleberry Hound (as Ding-a-ling on the Hokey Wolf segment) and Quick Draw McGraw (as Doggy Daddy). But I don’t know whether the story’s scribe, Mr. Weldon or the Pomona Lions Club is assuming or knows for certain that the voice of Cindy Bear, Julie Bennett, is no longer with us.
I’ve not been able to find anything on-line about her passing away, though I’ve discovered an incorrect date of birth. So if anyone knows one way or another about Miss Bennett (whose ursine character, unfortunately, is probably my second least-favourite), your friendly Yowp would like to know.
And I’m sure Mr. Weldon will forgive me for not asking for permission to link to his web site. It’s the least I can do for wanting Fibber Fox to make a meal of one of his most famous characters.