The Quick Draw McGraw Show, Hanna-Barbera's third cartoon television production, debuted in syndication in the fall of 1959, sponsored by Kellogg's. The series starred an anthropomorphic cartoon horse named Quick Draw McGraw, voiced by Daws Butler, following the success of Ruff and Reddy and The Huckleberry Hound Show. Each episode featured three cartoons - one starring Quick Draw McGraw and his sidekick Baba Looey, another featuring the father-son duo Augie Doggie and Doggie Daddy, and a third with cat and mouse detectives Snooper and Blabber.
Michael Maltese, the renowned writer, crafted most of the episode stories for this series. The show's distribution rights have changed hands multiple times over the years, with Screen Gems, Rhodes Productions, Taft H-B Program Sales, Worldvision Enterprises, Turner Broadcasting, and now Warner Bros. Television (following their 1996 acquisition of Turner) all overseeing syndication at various points. After airing on Cartoon Network until 2000, the series now primarily airs on Boomerang, Cartoon Network's sister channel, as well as on Teletoon Retro in Canada and occasionally on the Infinity channel in the Middle East.
The animated character Quick Draw (voiced by Daws Butler) was typically depicted as a sheriff in segments set in the American Old West. He was often accompanied by his deputy, a Mexican burro named Baba Looey (also voiced by Daws Butler, with the name a play on Desi Arnaz's song "Babalu"). Although technically the sidekick to Sheriff Quick Draw, Baba Looey was frequently portrayed as the more intelligent of the duo, sometimes realizing a trap or danger that Quick Draw failed to notice, though his desperate attempts to warn his partner often went unheeded.
The masked vigilante "El Kabong" was the alter ego of the character Quick Draw. As El Kabong, Quick Draw would dramatically swoop down on a rope, unleashing the war cry "KABOOOOOONG!" or "OLAYYYYEEEE!" before striking his foes on the head with an acoustic guitar, which he affectionately referred to as a "kabonger." This signature move produced a distinctive "kabong" sound and often resulted in the guitar being destroyed. El Kabong's introduction proclaimed him as "the bravest of all the heroes in legend and song."
Trivia:
All 45 of his cartoons that originally aired between 1959 and 1962 were written by Michael Maltese, known best for his work at the Warner Bros. cartoon studio.
The cartoon was one of six TV shows to win an Emmy Award in 1960.
In the Spanish-dubbed version as El Kabong was called "El Caba-Zorro" or "El Relámpago".
Quick Draw McGraw occasionally appeared in other Hanna-Barbera productions including 1973's Yogi's Gang, 1977-1978's Laff-a-Lympics, a celebrity roast honoring Fred Flintstone on the TV special Hanna-Barbera's All-Star Comedy Ice Revue (1978) and the 1979 TV special Casper's First Christmas and in an episode from the short lived 1978 series Yogi's Space Race.
On the cartoon's soundtrack, the "kabong" sound effect was produced by a foley artist striking the detuned open strings of a cheap acoustic guitar. (Without any of the obvious cartoon theatrics, this would also be reprised by several professional wrestlers, most notably Jeff Jarrett and The Honky Tonk Man, referred to then either under El Kabong's name or as the "Acoustic Equalizer").
Quick Draw's dog Snuffles made a special guest appearance on an episode of Johnny Bravo in which Johnny follows a woman who he mistakes for his mother. In the episode, Snuffles is assigned by the police to help find Johnny - provided, of course, he is given doggy snacks along the way.
During the closing sequence when Baba Louie falls off the stagecoach and the strongbox falls on his head, Quick Draw asks Baba if he is all right. Baba answers, in a low voice, "Sawright!". This was a direct reference to the ventriloquist Senor Wences, who while performing his act would open a box and ask a bodyless head if he was all right. The head would reply, in a low voice, "Sawright!", and Senor Wences would then slam the box shut, just like the strongbox slammed shut on Baba Louie after he answered Quick Draw. Senor Wences often appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show in the 1950s, while the Quick Draw McGraw show was on.
Quick Draw was the mascot for Sugar Smacks in the early 1960s.
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Quick Draw McGraw is an anthropomorphic horse and sheriff in a series of short films set in the Old West. Quick Draw was often accompanied by his deputy, a Mexican burro called Baba Looey. Voiced by Daws Butler.
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