The Lippin' Louis Show

The Lippin' Louis Show was an American Animated series created by Michael Avery, months before the closure of the theatrical cartoon division. The show premiered on NBC on September 8, 1959, and was the first television production produced by DG Productions, inc. The entire run was sponsored by General Mills, inc. In 1964, syndication rights for the show were granted by Worldvision Enterprises, inc. along with the entire DG Television Cartoon library.

Sypnosis
The show stars the eponymous dog, voiced by Bill Scott, who has a personality based off of Junior from "Of Mice and Men" and he would go on misadventures as he takes on different occupations. Sandwiched in between Lippin' Louis segments is one Chasin' Cheetah short, which focuses on the eponymous feline, voiced by Daws Butler, as he tries to get to his goal by means of chasing down their foes or trying to escape from two hunters, voiced by Bill Scott.

Format
The show is formatted as a three-shorts program with in-between interstitials, each with their individual story that disconnects from another story. Initially, a third segment would be about human characters based in fairytale times, but due to budget constraints, only two recurring segments were only made.

Development
Because of the success of The Huckleberry Hound Show, Michael Avery wanted to cash in on Hanna-Barbera's success by creating something that could help rejuvenate the animation business for DG Productions. Much like Huck, Avery wanted to have an anthropomorphic dog as the main protagonist, but to prevent copyright infringement, the dog has a lower IQ than its competitor and is given a shirt and yellow fur. A test pilot for the show was conceived in December 1958 to see how the cartoon will work in the world of television, but was completely different in that it takes most humor from the Screwloose Dog theatrical cartoons. President Daniel A. Gomez rejected the pilot, but offered Avery another chance by toning down some of the violence in another test pilot in June of the following year. The result was one short, called "Hair-Brained Dog," albeit with a different design provided by Avery himself.