I liked most of the 1964 Hanna-Barbera feature, Hey There, It's Yogi Bear. What I didn't like from the moment I first saw it at the Picwood Theater in West L.A. were the musical numbers in which Yogi (Daws Butler) and Boo Boo (Don Messick) were dubbed with voices that were neither Daws nor Don. Even at age 12, I could tell the difference and I felt cheated.
The one musical number I really enjoyed therefore was this one which featured neither Yogi nor Boo Boo. It's the "St. Louie" number performed by a bunch of anonymous bears. The speaking voices you'll hear at the beginning are Mel Blanc and Don Messick but when the bears sing, that's a group of singers who called themselves Jonah and the Wailers. Who were they? Beats the heck outta me. There have apparently been a lot of groups over the years who've gone by that name but I know of no reference for whoever was going by that moniker in '64.
The great Warner Brothers director Friz Freleng worked without credit on the storyboard for Hey There, It's Yogi Bear and since he was known for doing jazzy dance numbers in his cartoons, some have assumed this scene is his handiwork. I have it on good authority that it was devised after Friz left the project and that it's mainly the work of Jerry Eisenberg and Willie Ito. It runs less than two minutes and it's very catchy…