Remembering Plush Shirt Tales
Hardee's sold more than Mushroom 'n Swiss Burgers
The 1980s were a golden age for Saturday morning cartoons. There were cartoon series based on movies, sitcoms, and even video games. Shirt Tales is (I believe) unique as the only Saturday morning cartoon series based on a line of greeting cards.
In 1980, Hallmark introduced the Shirt Tales on a series of greeting cards. Each card featured one character, each with a message on his or her shirt. The line of cards proved to be so popular that in 1982, Hanna-Barbera created a cartoon series based on the five primary characters: Rick Raccoon, Tyg Tiger, Digger Mole, Pammy Panda, and Bogey Orangutan. In the second season of the show, Kip Kangaroo (voiced by Nancy Cartwright) joined the crew. In the show, the Shirt Tales were secret crime fighters (why not), but their real claim to fame was that the messages on their shirts changed depending on what they were thinking. Shirt Tales ran for two seasons with a total of 23 episodes (each episode consisted of two 11-minute adventures).
It wasn’t McDonald’s, but Hardee’s that won the Shirt Tales license in 1983. Hallmark had already capitalized on the popularity of the characters by releasing Shirt Tales drinking glasses and figurines, but Hardee’s giveaways were tied to the success of the new NBC cartoon. Instead of drinking glasses or trinket toys, Hardee’s decided to give away Shirt Tales plush animals. The giveaway consisted of the five characters from the show’s first season, and each plush had his or her name printed on the front of their shirt.
Shirt Tales was more popular with girls than boys, and offering stuffed animals was a great decision. My sister was a big fan of the Shirt Tales, and these plush offerings ensured that we would be eating Hardee’s once a week for at least five weeks in a row. She owned the dolls for many years, long after the show was cancelled in 1985.
In 2014 the complete series was released on DVD. I purchased the series for as a gift for my sister but when it arrived I couldn’t resist opening it and watching those old cartoons again. I blamed it on Bogey Orangutan.