Snooper and Blabber

History

Snooper and Blabber are a detective duo consisting of a cat and a mouse who work together at the Super Snooper Detective Agency. Daws Butler provided the voices for both characters, though the first four cartoons featured Elliot Field as the voice of Blabber Mouse. The stories were written by Michael Maltese. The pair later appeared in other Hanna-Barbera shows such as Scooby's All-Star Laff-A-Lympics and Yogi's Treasure Hunt.

Snooper is the one in charge on their cases, while Blabber, whose name is a pun on "blabbermouth" and is not related to the Merrie Melodies character Little Blabbermouse, follows his orders. Snooper's voice was inspired by Ed Gardner's character Archie from the 1940s radio program Duffy's Tavern. Blabber has a lisp, which is why he calls his partner "Shnooper." This series was unusual for featuring a cat and mouse who were not enemies.

Snooper often contacts his unseen agent Hazel, who is known to own a pet parakeet. Some of their cartoons introduced early versions of other Hanna-Barbera characters, including Snagglepuss and Hardy Har Har.

Other appearances

Snooper and Blabber first turned up in the 1972 TV-movie Yogi's Ark Lark, which aired as part of The ABC Saturday Superstar Movie and also served as the pilot for Yogi’s Gang. They later appeared in the 1982 special Yogi Bear's All Star Comedy Christmas Caper. The duo went on to pop up in several Hanna-Barbera cartoon series. They showed up on The Yogi Bear Show for Yogi’s birthday party.

They were members of Yogi’s team on Laff-A-Lympics. They became regulars on Yogi's Treasure Hunt. In Yo Yogi!, Snooper was voiced by Rob Paulsen and Blabber by Hal Smith; here, Snooper worked as a celebrity detective and Blabber ran the "Crooks 'n' Books Store" at Jellystone Mall. In the Super Secret Secret Squirrel segment of 2 Stupid Dogs, in the episode "Agent Penny," Rob Paulsen voiced Snooper again and also took on the role of Blabber.

Snooper made a quick cameo without Blabber in the 1988 TV-movie The Good, the Bad, and Huckleberry Hound. The pair appeared in DC Comics' Deathstroke/Yogi Bear Special #1 as captured animals alongside other Hanna-Barbera characters. They also showed up in a Wacky Races episode titled "The Wacky Always Races Twice," playing two of Professor Bella's thugs. In the series Jellystone!, Snooper was voiced by Georgie Kidder and portrayed as female, while Blabber was voiced by Bernardo de Paula and given facial hair; Blabber also lost his lisp in this series.

Snooper and Blabber were listed in the Velma episode "Velma Makes a List." They appeared in numerous comic books and even had their own title from Gold Key Comics, which lasted only three issues from 1962 to 1963. In the mid-1960s, the duo starred in two LP albums from Hanna-Barbera Records. One was James Bomb, a James Bond-style adventure featuring songs like "Dr. Oh No" and "Gold Pinky."

The other was Monster Shindig, where Snooper and Blabber investigate a loud party thrown by The Gruesomes; Paul Frees voiced Snooper and June Foray voiced Blabber on that record. In the Robot Chicken season 3 episode "Ban on the Fun," they appeared in the "Laff-A-Munich" skit. They confronted the Great Fondoo, who was holding groceries after the Really Rottens had killed most of the Yogi Yahooeys. Snooper asked Fondoo, "Do you know why we're here?"