His character design is confusing. My first glance, I thought he might be a Protestant preacher, with the plain clothes and the bowtie. But then his clothes are also too large, implying they're hand-me-downs, and that he's either a charity case or a younger type expected to grow into stuff. Maybe he's a whiny brat? If so, he's drawn so haggard and world-weary.
We wouldn't even know his name if he hadn't shown up on this jigsaw puzzle toy from 1981, which helpfully included an index to all these characters. His only "animated" appearance is as an extra in the 1983 pastiche Daffy Duck's Fantastic Island. The timeline would indicate that he's not part of the ill-starred Seven Arts revival, which saw only two new characters, none of whom included Hyram.
Presumably this high-quality image, suitable for photographing, existed at some point. And that it was labeled well enough for whatever employee made this toy to include it. (Or did he not have a name, and the toymaker just made one up on the spot?) And how did he wind up in the Fantastic Island movie? Was he part of some reference file?
Who created him? What was his pitch? Was he a throw-away idea or did he have some longer story? Is he a possum? Or something else? Is he an ersatz Pogo character? We will almost certainly never know.
And is he in the public domain? If he doesn't have any provenance, how can anyone prove that he's not? He certainly predates Berne 1988.
The Novelty of the Golden Fantastic
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in reply to @xinjinmeng's post:
For some reason, when I look at him, I feel like he's a refugee from a Hannah-Barbera property that never got off the ground.
Possibly. 🤔 The WB-Seven Arts era hired Alex Lovy away from Hanna-Barbera in 1967, then he created the very HB-esque Cool Cat. But Hyram's design is just a little more complex than HB designs were. Of course, he never actually passed into the production stage so who knows. I remain fascinated that somehow he got inked and painted onto a cel.
I guess I get a mildly Hillbilly Bears vibe from his design, but I think you're right about his look being a bit more complex than most HB characters.
Also, today I learned about Alex Lovy. Huh!
The Classic Cool Cat design is absolutely superior to the modern mascot character.
By 1980, Warner Brothers revived its studio under Friz Freleng, and Hyram and co. have big Depatie-Freleng energy. I have to wonder if John Dunn was involved somehow. Mystery!
Maybe a reference to the witch hunts? It might have a little Hannah-Barbera but it does match the WB vibes. Pretty cool!