1964: Peter Potamus Sets Sail

The purple hippopotamus known as Peter and his first mate, So-So sailed on his “magic flying balloon” for the first time on this day in 1964. The Peter Potamus Show was a first-run syndication show before ABC picked it up in January 1966. Instead of a half-hour program featuring one cartoon, the show featured three. The first was set aside for the star of the show. Voiced by Daws Butler, Peter would travel the world and time with So-So (Don Messick). When he got into trouble, he would use his Hippo Hurricane Holler to blow his opponents. Away. The second show featured Breezly the polar bear (Howard Morris) and his buddy Sneezly the Seal (Mel Blanc) who would frequently break into an army camp up north. The final segment belonged to three dogs named Yippee, Yappee and Yahooey (Doug Young, Hal Smith and Daws Butler) aka The Goofy Guard. Working together similar to The Three Musketeers, they attempted to keep a king safe. (Wikimedia/Warner Bros.)