Marc Levy sent me the following…
I hope you are doing well. I had a question for you about a sports subject. I know you don't follow sports at all, but there's an interesting crossover into the world of animation.
As you may or may not know, yesterday marked the 100th birthday of the late Yogi Berra. If you don't know the name, Berra was a catcher with the New York Yankees from the mid-1940's until the early-1960's, and a Hall-of-Fame inductee. While he is considered by most baseball fans to be one of the greatest catchers of all time, for the general public, he is probably known more for his "unique" aphorisms (e.g., "It ain't over 'til it's over," "It gets late early around here," etc.).
While clicking around his name online, I found myself on the Yogi Bear Wikipedia page, and read the following: "Yogi's name was similar to that of contemporary baseball star Yogi Berra, who was known for his amusing quotes, such as 'half the lies they tell about me aren't true.' Berra sued Hanna-Barbera for defamation, but their management claimed the similarity was just coincidence. Berra withdrew his suit, but the defense was considered implausible."
Given your history with Hanna-Barbera, I was wondering if you had any insight into this.
Sure. Yogi Berra never sued over the bruinification of his name — and hey, I think I just invented a new word there. Since I have no history with Mr. Berra, I can't speak to his motives for not suing but I'd guess he decided it just wasn't worth the trouble or maybe he thought he'd look like a bad guy or a bad sport taking down a beloved childrens' character. And by the way, I know enough about baseball to know who he was.
But he never sued and I'm pretty sure that lawyers advised Joe Barbera to never admit that anything like that wasn't just coincidence. There were lots of similar celebrity references in H-B shows…and of course, a few shows (and voices) were pretty damned close to other famous shows or other famous folks. Lawyers often tell you to deny, deny, deny, no matter what.
At some point, I believe it was reported that Mr. Berra said something like "I was going to sue but then I realized my first name wasn't Yogi, it was Lawrence!" And at some point, I believe it was reported that Mr. Barbera said something like "He was going to sue us but then he realized that his first name wasn't Yogi, it was Lawrence!" It wouldn't surprise me if one or both of those quotes was true…but there was never any lawsuit.
And you reminded me of the last TV show I ever worked on for Hanna-Barbera, which was one of those experiences that had me quoting the great Moss Hart, who once said, "In my life, I have had many successes and many failures. The successes were for all different reasons but the failures were all for the same reason — I said yes when I meant no."
I said yes when I was asked to write and story-edit a series called Yogi's Treasure Hunt, the premise of which would be that Yogi and all his friends (Snagglepuss, Huckleberry Hound, Augie Doggie, Hokey Wolf, Snooper and Blabber, etc.) would be dashing about the planet in each episode, trying to beat certain evildoers to locate and claim some exotic, valuable treasure. I said yes because I had (and still have) a great affection for the early H-B characters voiced by Daws Butler, and Daws — a man I dearly loved — would be doing all those voices for the series.
I should have said no because I didn't like the premise of the show and the money offered for my services was very, very low. I used to pride myself in not turning down something that looked like fun and/or a chance to do something good just because the money was low. Eventually though, I learned that if what they'll pay for the writing is bad, so is what they'll spend on the other elements of the show. Which can easily make the project not very much fun and not very good.
But I said yes, struggled through a couple of scripts and then butted heads with Mr. Barbera — I never could bring myself to address him as "Joe" — over the whole project. I wrote a script he thought was all wrong for the series he had in mind. It was about a rush to find that episode's great treasure…a magical jewel which causes the bearer to be able to sing and mesmerize the masses so he or she can fill stadiums with devout hypnotized fans. The first of many things he didn't like about it was that I named the magical jewel "The Neil Diamond."
Mr. B (that, I could call him) said, "I don't like puns on celebrity names" and I instantly replied, "You mean like Yogi Bear?" He gave me one of those "You bastard" grins and we had a nice heart-to-heart/man-to-man/boss-to-employee conversation which led indirectly to me deciding to leave the show and the studio a day or two later. I don't think anything I wrote for Yogi's Treasure Hunt ever made it to air.
But I departed on good terms and Mr. B was very nice to me whenever I saw him after that, including offering me several projects that, if I hadn't had better alternatives, might have lured me back. When I reflect on my decision to put Hanna-Barbera behind me, I find myself thinking of another quote I like, this one from a lyric by Hal David. It's the one that goes, "Knowing when to leave may be the smartest thing that anyone can learn." I also think of that lyric any time someone mentions Neil Diamond.
