Ruff and Reddy

Ruff and Reddy, which ran on Saturday mornings from 1957 to 1960, is a cartoon of some historical importance. Produced by Hanna-Barbara, it was the cartoon that demonstrated that the limited animation technique (less cels per second of animation) was practical and proved that made-for-TV animation would be a regular thing.

Ruff was the cat and the brains of the pair. Unlike real life cats, he wasn't evil, but a steadfast friend to Reddy, the dog. Reddy, by the way, was equally loyal, but somewhat lacking in the brains department.

Their half-hour show featured three Ruff and Ready segments per episode, with each 13 episodes making up a single storyline. So, though primarily a comedy, the show depended a lot on generating a mild sense of real danger, along with cliffhanger endings to make sure the kids kept tuning in each week.

Dell Comics' adaptation of the show started with three appearances in the Four Color anthology before the two buddies spun off into their own book for a nine issue run. (That book was numbered 4 through 12 because--as was common with Dell--the Four Color appearances were retroactively counted as part of the series.)

Four Color #981 (April-June 1959) contained Ruff and Reddy's second set of comic book adventures. The writer is uncredited, but the book was fortunate in getting Harvey Eisenberg (once described as the "Carl Barks of Hanna Barbara comics") to draw the stories.

The issue starts out with an absolutely delightful 11-pager titled "Ruff and Ready and the Teeny Genie." The two friends are out in the desert, following a map that should take them to the lost city of Bagdaddy-O, which is said to be full of treasure.

What I like about Eisenberg's art is how he maintains the comedic ambiance in a story, but also mixes in that sense of real danger that is an equally important element to the story. When Ruff and Reddy are caught in a sandstorm, the danger they are now in does indeed seem real.

Fortunately, they survive the storm, which also uncovers the ruins of Bagdaddy-O. No treasure is to be found, but a small lantern, when rubbed, produces a tiny genie!

Unfortunately, the genie is barely more than a toddler--he's a mere 2.5 million years old and doesn't quite have the hang of magic yet. When the two friends ask for water, he inadvertantly transports them to the middle of  a shark-infested ocean. Each successive try to get them someplace safe only lands them in another dangerous spot.

In the end, he manages to get them back to Bagdaddy-O and conjure up a fortune in treasure. But, after the little genie goes back into the lamp to take a nap, Ruff and Reddy realize that they never wished for a way to get their treasure back to civilization. Reddy, though, now has the genie's magic manual and is pretty sure that he can conjure up a way home himself.

What could possibly go wrong?

It's a great little story, structuring a series of sincerely funny gags around a plot that put the protagonists in real danger. Eisenberg's art catches the personalities of the characters and the ambiance of the universe in which they live, and enlivened the gags. Ruff and Reddy are not the best remembered of Hanna Barbara's many Saturday morning TV characters, but they have earned their important spot in the history of animation.

The story is available to read online HERE.

Next week, we'll return to Lost Valley again to see how Hutec is working out as Turok and Andar's new partner.