Ugo Lupo

Ugo Lupo Hanna & Barbera

Original title: hockey wolf
Characters: Ugo Lupo, Ding-A-Ling Lupo
Production: Hanna and Barbera
Regia: William Hanna, Joseph Barbera

Country: USA
Year: 1961
Gender: Comedian / Adventure
Episodes: 28
Duration: 7 minutes
Recommended age: Children from 0 to 5 years old

Ugo Lupo (original title Hokey Wolf) is an animated TV series created in 1960 by the well-known duo Hanna & Barbera. Of the cartoon - whose original title is 'Hokey Wolf' - only two series were created, finished in the USA in 1961.
In Italy it had rather limited success, due to the airing of the series many years after its creation. The series has been broadcast frequently on Mediaset networks for some years; to date it is broadcast in full by Italia Uno, at 8.35am, in the cartoon space dedicated to children.

Ugo Lupo is - as the name implies - a wolf, who was chosen by the American networks to supplant another successful character. 'Hanna & Barbera', or L'Yogi bear.
Ugo is a rather rogue character, who with great cunning tries to swindle peasants and farmers, putting in place plans devised in every detail. Her usual outfit includes a purple hat, with a black horizontal band, and a nice black bow tie, tied on a white collar; otherwise he wears no further clothes.
Ding to Ling
Companion of thefts is Ding a Ling, the smallest wolf, who comes in a red hat, green shirt and black mini vest. 'Disciple' of Ugo, hangs totally on his lips, but often he himself finds the brilliant idea to guarantee the success of the plans.

Ugo Lupo and Ding a Ling Hanna & Barbera

Here are the details of some of the plots episodes most significant of the cartoon.

'trick or treat'is the first ever episode of the cartoon. Born as a pilot episode, it was broadcast for the first time in September 1960. Ugo Lupo, after being captured by a hunter with a fox trap, invites his prey to stop for dinner, then leaving him free, thanks to the cunning by Ding a Ling.

The second episode of the series, called 'Ugo Lupo', from the name of the protagonist, is a reinterpretation of the tale of the 'Three little pigs'. Ugo, on a hunt with his young friend, runs into the little pigs and tries to scare them first, and then make them their prey. The three will be saved, paradoxically, by the 'Big Bad Wolf', their archenemy in the well-known children's story.

Successful, funny and well thought out episode, also in animation, is the sixth of the first series 'Capture the pullet', in which a chicken farmer programs a robot to capture the wolf; with the help of Ding a Ling, Ugo will be able to unmask the robot and reprogram it against its own creator.

'Little Hokey', the tenth episode of the cartoon series, sees Ugo Lupo's antagonists as a gang of thieves, who try to take possession of a stolen painting, which they had hidden in the wolf's den some time before. Ugo Lupo, with the help of the inevitable Ding in Ling, calls the police and arrests the criminals.

In the eleventh episode, set at the zoo, Ugo Lupo, pitying a lion in a cage, tries in every way to bring him fresh meat, given his long period of forced fasting. To succeed in his aim he is forced to adopt a tactical and ingenious disguise: he wears the clothes of a zoo manager to access the poor animal's cage without attracting attention.

In the penultimate episode of the first series, Ugo Lupo meets a German shepherd, whose job is to look after the sheep of the local shepherd; Ugo Lupo asks the dog to teach Ding to Lang his movements, to be able to steal a lamb from the pasture itself. The results of the operation will be, to Ugo's disappointment, really unsatisfactory.

Ugo Lupo Hanna & Barbera

'The shortest film ever'opens the second season dedicated to the deeds of the wolf Ugo and his faithful companion Ding a Ling; to catch some sheep they create a short film in which a shepherd dog groups all the sheep in the fold; the attempt to catch some succulent prey is, however, extinguished in the bud: the shepherd and his faithful dog notice the trap that the two wolves are setting up, and manage to unmask them. The hunt of the two thus ends in nothing.

The eighteenth episode of the series centers on the exploits of a little Indian who is instructed by his father, a tribal chief, on how to catch a wolf. To make him happy, the young apprentice sets out on the trail of some prey and manages to capture the unfortunate Ugo Lupo; Ugo is taken to the village, where he begins to arouse the interest of the whole tribe, for his bizarre behavior and not very suitable for a wolf.

'The magic bean'is the last episode of the cartoon starring Ugo Lupo. Our hero accidentally causes a beanstalk to grow out of proportion, towering above the clouds. At the end of the tree is a castle, inhabited by an evil giant and his ferocious dog. Having made full loot in the castle, the two wolves escape from the clutches of the two shady and dangerous enemies, managing to definitively cut down the bean tree. www.cartonionline.com

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