This is a recreation of the premier of Hanna-Barbera's first venture into television, RUFF N' REDDY, which first aired on NBC Saturday December 14, 1957 at 10:30 a.m. Originally broadcast in black and white, color broadcasts were initiated 10 months later. This is a basic assembly of what the show consisted of minus the live studio segments with host, Jimmy Blaine and the parrot puppet, Rhubarb. A second bird puppet, Jose, the Tucan was added to enhance the color broadcasts.
Hanna and Barbera invested their own money in starting what was originally called H-B Enterprises, which became Hanna-Barbera Productions in 1959. But for their first venture, Screen Gems, the television arm of Columbia Pictures only allowed them $2,700 to produce each cartoon--less than 1/10 of what their MGM budgest were. This came down to $540-$675 per minute. In spite of the limitations of money and animation, the show was done cleverly with exiting serialized adventures. The show ran for three years and 156 episodes.
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