Any1 remember the Hoot Cloot cartoons?

[Brandon Pierce]

This is a cartoon I remember watching a LONG time ago on TNT along with the Pink Panther cartoons. For those who don't remember this cartoon I'll try to trigger the memory.
Hoot Cloot was a cartoon about a short guy called "Sheriff Cloot" who was always bragging how he's the best sheriff that ever lived, and how he could catch every criminal (yeah, right. Judging by the episodes I recorded on tape, that seems unlikely). Sheriff Cloot also had a horse called Fester who was old and had arthritus, and thus he couldn't run. He could only walk SLOOOOOOOOOOWWWLY. Many of the cartoons that I remember seeing revolved around Cloot trying to come up with all sorts of ridiculous ways to get his horse to run faster. In one cartoon he even traded it in for a fast horse (which looked suspiciously like the horse from Pinto Pink.
Anyway, who here remembers this cartoon? Am I the only one here who does? Am I the only one on earth who has copies of these cartoons on tape?

[J Lee]

I may have one or two copies on some old tape in the back room somewhere...

The Hoot Cloot character was based on the redneck southern sheriff character that was used in a number of TV commericals for Dodge in the early 1970s (ads that would later help spawn a more famous variation, done by Jackie Gleason in "Smokey and the Bandit"). And of course, the horse's voice was a takeoff on Walter Brennan, even if his name was a takeoff on Marshal Dillon's deputy Festus in "Gunsmoke."

D-FE had a number of their first string directors like Arthur Davis handle some of the shorts, while later entries in the series were handed off to second-line units. AFAIK, the cartoons were never shown on network; they made their US debut in syndication and on stations like WTBS and TNT.

[Sogturtle]

Siiiiiiiiigh... Right off the top of my noggin, I believe I have all of the Hoot Kloot (yes with a "K") cartoons malingering on tape in various drawers in my room. Also have several original Hoot Kloot +/- horse drawings and cels here and about... I have a section of wall for nothing but production cels of the great cartoon characters on horseback (Bugs, Daffy, the Pink Panther with original watercolor background, and...Hoot Kloot ).

There was a grand total of 17 Hoot Kloot toons made, and indeed the bulk of them were directed by several of DePatie-Freleng's best directors. It breaks down like this, Gerry Chiniquy (6), Sid Marcus (2), and Hawley Pratt (2). Later a couple (okay, total of 3) by Art Leonardi or Roy Morita (now that's second string). Perversely enough the HK cartoons were the only D-FE theatrical shorts to ever resort to this... The final cartoons of the series (four to be exact) were actually contracted out and made in Britain by the Halas & Batchelor studio, though on stories from John Dunn (tracks recorded here). The English made ones are by my estimate easily the weakest in the series (blame Bob Balser and Durwood Bonaye, the H & B directors!)

[lislebartman]

I remember seeing those...I didn't find them funny in the least...

Now, what about "Roland and Ratfink"?

[absolutpaul]

I have a tape of 5 Roland and Ratfink cartoons. They're mildly funny, but since the voices changed for almost every cartoon the characters never come into sharp focus, other than being "good" and "bad". Although I crack up whenever I see that Husky dog punch Ratfink in the face in Sweet and Sourdough ("He's husky all right!")

[Sogturtle]

Originally posted by lislebartman
I remember seeing those...I didn't find them funny in the least...

Now, what about "Roland and Ratfink"?

Depends on what you want to know about "Roland and Ratfink"... (A seldom seen favorite of mine)

[nakak]

Hi. Yes, I remember "Hoot Kloot" cartoons when it ran on Cartoon Network. I have the last episode on VHS somewhere, and I'm still looking for more episodes. So if you have any more, just PM or email me.

[Steve Carras]

Hi. Yes, I remember "Hoot Kloot" cartoons when it ran on Cartoon Network. I have the last episode on VHS somewhere, and I'm still looking for more episodes. So if you have any more, just PM or email me.

So the ol' redneck originated in an ad..

Anyway, Bob Holt did the majority of the voices (died in 1985).