It's So Hanna-Barberaesque

Tom and Jerry are into another of their chase episodes when, for some reason, Tom gets seriously distracted to the point of his stumbling down the stairs of a subway station, stopping just short of the ticket vending machine.

On the remote shore of a lake somewhere in northern Minnesota's lakes country in the face of rather obvious mugginess, a most unlikely pair of diver crews were camping in close proximity as part of a summer's diving escapades, though wholly unplanned all the while.

As in the ursine diver duo of Emmy Lou and Jenny Lee camping out next to The Three Wolves (as in Hokey Wolf, Loopy De Loop and Mildew Wolf), along with the Divin' Wolf Pups (Bon-Bon, Loopy's nephew, and Ding-a-Ling, Hokey's rather faithful compadre). Both likely had campervans to ensure some semblance of self-sufficiency, yet you could imagine the camaradierie between these most unlikely diver teams, never mind that it was SCUBA or snorkelling as the diving media of choice.

And to think it all started one muggy afternoon when Jenny Lee emerged out of the water alongside the Divin' Wolf Pups after quite a fascinating SCUBA session as led to depths of as much as 30 feet, which had Hokey Wolf, leader of the Three Wolves diver club, asked "And pray, who exactly IS this diving bear in our midst?"

Emmy Lou was quick to respond "That's my cousin, Jenny Lee ... we happen to be quite good divers ourselves of the ursine kind!"

Hokey, in his trademark Sgt. ERnie Bilko goloss, made the introduction: "After all, my ursine gals, we happen to be THe Three Wolves, perhaps the greatest trio of lupine divers ever known--I, Hokey Wolf, happen to be the leader and majordomo of our diving confraternity lupine!"

Loopy De Loop chimed in: "I happen to be 'ze good wolf,' none other than Loopy De Loop; I can be rather proficient in diving, which in no way impacts upon my charm factor with the aquatic life!"

"And I happen to be Mildew Wolf," thus replying, "more or less the comic relief of this confraternity, or reasonable facsimile thereof!"

Emmy Lou continued: "Jenny Lee and I ourselves happen to be rather exceptional divers ourselves; we picked up the diving bug, as it were, one winter down in Florida--the Keys, I believe it was, and we took a few diving lessons in SCUBA and snorkelling--and boy, were we hooked on diving!"

"Make no mistake," Hokey Wolf glibly responded, "we wolves just couldn't help but discover our inner sea wolves, as it were, through diving! We were originally with Peter Potamus' company, but in due time, the fans started liking us all the more, we decided to go our way in the diving confraternity!"

Mildew Wolf chimed in: "And make no mistake about it; we wolves can't help but enjoy DIVING, and in a good way, at that!!"

"Point taken, Mildew!" chimed in Hokey in his leadership role. "And among diver groupies, we happen to have quite the respect, charm, admiration!!" [pause] "And let me introduce my juvenile diver partners, the Divin' Wolf Pups!" (Bon-Bon and Ding-a-Ling introducing themselves.) And after quite the conversation stretching well into the supper hour--

"How about we all go into the water for a sunset dive, wolves and bears together? Such is certainly bound to be interesting!!"

"What else could be more interesting?" remarked Jenny Lee, with her mentrix Emmy Lou nodding approval.

And you can just picture what ensued underwater once the "golden hour" ensueth ...

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"I do declare. I've heard of turning swords into plowshares, but the idea of turning poison into perfume is--well, rather surprising!"

The "why and wherefore" behind Whiz Bang Days, explained

Heavens to Captain Marvel ... just recently, your favourite cartoon characters from the Hanna-Barbera characters were gathered in Robbinsdale, Minnesota, just outside Minneapolis even ... and basically being part and parcel for their annual celebration, Whiz Bang Days by name. And in case you're asking, some background:

Back in the Spanish-American War, the Philippine Insurrection and World War I, a common vehicle of ordinance was the "Whiz Bang" mortar, named for the sounds it made from discharge and impact. Such doubtless inspiring Capt. Willard H. Fawcett, a Canadian-born newspaper correspondent who saw service in the Spanish-American and First World Wars. And returning from the latter to Robbinsdale, "Captain Billy," as he was fond of calling himself, began compiling a modest little sheet of bawdy humour and stories which he initially hoped would be a source of amusement to Robbinsdale-area war veterans.

That shell became the inspiration for its name, Capt. Billy's Whiz Bang, whose slogans included "Explosion of Pedigreed Bull" and "Farmyard Fun and Filosophy." The initial run of 5,000 copies, according to legend, after giving several copies to close war buddies, were sold to several hotel newsstands in Minneapolis, and at 25¢ a copy, sold out rather quickly. And before long, the bawdy humour, mixed with some ethnic jokes which nowadays would not be considered kosher, halal even, hypermasculine poetry and typographic erratum from newspapers around the country, quickly earned a following, in time selling as many as 300,000 copies a month ... and in the zenith of the Oklahoma oil boom, one of the boom towns took the name "Whiz Bang City," proof of the magazine's sheer popularity.

Not to mention the end-of-year Winter Annual, a double-sized volume of the best jokes and poetry from past issues and new material.

And before long, Captain Billy would use the profits from Capt. Billy's Whiz Bang to build Breezy Point Resort on Pelican Lake north of Brainerd as a retreat for such Hollywood and Broadway celebrities as made the acquaintenance of the boy from Robbinsdale who made good, putting Robbinsdale on the map, eventually launching several other magazines such as True Romance, Mechanix Illustrated, Hollywood and numerous others, eventually including comic magazines and paperback novels. As for the Whiz Bang, such would continue until 1936, eventually done in by the likes of such upstart humor magazines like The New Yorker and Esquire, essentially copying the formula behind Whiz Bang ... but without much in the way of pooutside advertising. its circulation being built on word of mouth for the most part.

"Captain Billy" "himself" died of a heart attack in 1940, aged 54, and is burled in Minneapolis' Lakewood Cemetery.

Such is the legacy as Robbinsdale pays homage unto every summer.

By this time, we're heading to Glenwood, for the Waterama therein. So watch this space, and stay tuned even--or is it "cartooned"?

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