In 1958, Hanna Barbera decided to throw its hat into the cartoon mouse ring with the introduction of mouse-buddies Pixie and Dixie as part of their Huckleberry Hound show.

You may remember the series best by the popular catchphrase it spawned, "I hate those meeses to pieces," which became the oft-uttered sentiment of Pixie and Dixie's cat-nemesis, Mr. Jinks. Mr. Jinks (and Dixie) were performed by cartoon voice titan Daws Butler, while Pixie was played by the incomparable Don Messick.

Though they never took off quite like some of the other pop culture mice we've come to revere, Pixie and Dixie were beloved in their day--and not only survived the entire Huckleberry Hound 57-episode run, but wound up outlasting the series and reappearing in several other Hanna Barbera animated specials. They also went cross-genre with comic books from Gold Key and Dell during the '60s and a Little Golden Book in 1961.