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50 free Hanna-Barbera trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
When MGM shut its cartoon unit in 1957, the two men behind Tom and Jerry rented space on Charlie Chaplin's old lot and started making cartoons for television at a tenth of their old budget. A coin toss put Hanna's name first. Within five years Hanna-Barbera had an Emmy for Huckleberry Hound, prime time's first animated sitcom in The Flintstones, and a Space Age mirror image in The Jetsons; a decade later it was turning out two-thirds of all Saturday-morning cartoons and was nicknamed the General Motors of animation. These 50 questions run from Jellystone Park to Orbit City: Yogi's picnic baskets, Top Cat's alley, Jonny Quest, Wacky Races, Scooby-Doo's original title, the Smurfs' record run, the Honeymooners lawsuit that never happened, the limited-animation tricks Chuck Jones called "illustrated radio", and the Turner deal that built Cartoon Network. Easy questions stick to the famous families; the expert tier asks about sponsors, sale prices, head writers and the studio's digital ink-and-paint system. Every answer is cited to a page we checked, with a short explanation so you learn something even when you miss.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which cat-and-mouse duo did Hanna and Barbera create at MGM before founding their studio?
Tom and Jerry
Seven of their Tom and Jerry shorts won Oscars, though the statuettes went to producer Fred Quimby.
Q 02In what year was the Hanna-Barbera studio founded?
1957
It opened one year after MGM closed its animation studio, in rented offices on the old Charlie Chaplin lot.
Q 03How was it decided that Hanna's name would come first in the studio's name?
A coin toss
Columbia boss Harry Cohn took an 18% stake in the new H-B Enterprises and supplied working capital.
Q 04What was Hanna-Barbera's first animated television series, premiering in 1957?
The Ruff and Reddy Show
Its five-minute episodes had to be made for $3,000 each, against $35,000 for a Tom and Jerry short.
Q 05Which Hanna-Barbera series was the first cartoon to win an Emmy?
The Huckleberry Hound Show
Kellogg's sponsored it; its Yogi Bear segment proved so popular that Yogi got his own show in 1961.
Q 06Which Hanna-Barbera series was the first animated show to air in prime time?
The Flintstones
It premiered on ABC on September 30, 1960 and ran six seasons, a prime-time record until The Simpsons.
Q 07Bedrock's first family was loosely based on which live-action sitcom?
The Honeymooners
Jackie Gleason considered suing but did not want to be "the man who yanked Fred Flintstone off the air".
Q 08Who provided the voice of Barney Rubble for most of the original run?
Mel Blanc
Blanc, the Looney Tunes legend, also voiced Dino; Alan Reed was Fred and Jean Vander Pyl was Wilma.
Q 09Who voiced Fred Flintstone in the original series?
Alan Reed
Fred was drawn to resemble both Reed and Jackie Gleason; Henry Corden took over the role after Reed's death.
Q 10What is the name of Fred and Wilma's pet dinosaur?
Dino
Hoppy is the Rubbles' hopparoo; the Great Gazoo is the exiled alien from the final season.
Q 11Where does Fred Flintstone work?
Slate Rock and Gravel Company
He operates a bronto-crane, a Brontosaurus used as an excavator.
Q 12From which planet does the Great Gazoo come?
Zetox
Harvey Korman voiced the exiled alien, who could be seen only by Fred, Barney and the children.
Q 13Where do the Jetsons live?
Orbit City
Its Googie-style buildings stand on adjustable columns to stay above the pollution below.
Q 14Who is George Jetson's boss?
Q 21Top Cat was created as a parody of which sitcom?
The Phil Silvers Show
Arnold Stang's T.C. began as a Phil Silvers impression until the sponsor complained it was paying for Stang.
Q 22Which policeman hounds Top Cat's gang?
Officer Dibble
Charles Dibble, voiced by Allen Jenkins, mostly wants the cats to stop using his police-box phone.
Q 23Who created Jonny Quest for Hanna-Barbera?
Doug Wildey
The comic artist drew on Doc Savage, Tintin and Tom Swift for the studio's first realistic adventure show.
Cosmo Spacely
Spacely Space Sprockets' great rival is Cogswell Cogs; George works an hour a day, two days a week.
Q 15The Jetsons was the first programme broadcast in colour on which network?
ABC
Only a handful of ABC stations could show colour in 1962; the original run was just 24 episodes.
Q 16Who voiced Astro the dog on The Jetsons and Scooby-Doo's original voice?
Don Messick
Messick was one half of Hanna-Barbera's great voice duo with Daws Butler.
Q 17Where does Yogi Bear steal picnic baskets?
Jellystone Park
It is a play on Yellowstone; Ranger Smith is the long-suffering park authority.
Q 18Yogi Bear's personality and voice were based on which Art Carney character?
Ed Norton
Art Carney's Norton was the model; Yogi also claims to be "smarter than the av-er-age bear".
Q 19Which voice actor played Yogi Bear from his debut until 1988?
Daws Butler
Butler also voiced Huckleberry Hound, Quick Draw McGraw and Elroy Jetson.
Q 20Which cereal company sponsored The Yogi Bear Show?
Kellogg's
Barbera pitched Huckleberry Hound to 45 Kellogg's executives in Chicago — the first show he had ever had to sell.
Q 24Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! premiered on which network in 1969?
CBS
It was meant to be a non-violent answer to parent groups upset by the mid-1960s superhero cartoons.
Q 25Which duo created Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!?
Joe Ruby and Ken Spears
They joined the studio as film editors and later founded rival Ruby-Spears Enterprises in 1977.
Q 26What was Scooby-Doo's working title before the name changed?
The Mysteries Five
It was then called Who's S-S-Scared? before the musical-group angle was dropped.
Q 27Hanna-Barbera's share of Saturday-morning cartoons earned it what nickname?
The General Motors of animation
In one year the studio produced nearly two-thirds of all Saturday-morning cartoons.
Q 28Which company bought Hanna-Barbera in 1966 for $12 million?
Taft Broadcasting
The sale was delayed a year by a lawsuit from Harry Cohn's heirs over their 18% stake.
Q 29Which company bought Hanna-Barbera in 1991 and used its library to launch Cartoon Network?
Turner Broadcasting System
Disney's Michael Eisner later said not buying Hanna-Barbera was his biggest regret.
Q 30On what date did Cartoon Network launch?
October 1, 1992
It was the first 24-hour all-animation channel, built on Hanna-Barbera's 3,000 half-hours.