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Hooray! I think it's time for Yahay! Name History: Yahay! (first era; 1972-1977) Yahay! Productions (1977-2006) Yahay! (second era; 2006-present) Short History: Yahay! was founded in 1972 by animator Joe Oriolo and former NBC executive Burt Hecht. Earlier that year, Oriolo and Hecht purchased the American rights to Osamu Tezuka's animes, after NBC's deal with Tezuka expired. Yahay! was established to produce and distribute the English dubs of said animes. Its first project was The Princess Knight, the English dub of the 1967 anime Ribbon no Kishi. The company would expand to distribute and dub content from other anime studios (notably Toei Animation and Tatsunoko Production) and some European studios. Yahay! would later produced its own content in 1977, changing its name to Yahay! Productions to reflect this. The company would expand to home video in 1983, where the company began using its own rating system for video releases, which it continued to use until 2006. Joe Oriolo passed away in 1985 at the age of 72 while Burt Hecht retired in 1987, leaving Joe's son Mark to lead the studio, emphasizing in-house productions rather than outside properties. Its deal with Tezuka, which helped establish the studio ended in 1991. Mark Oriolo agreed to sell majority ownership of Yahay! Productions to Lark International in 1996, a company ran by various PBS affiliates. During the acquisition, the company began making most (but not all) of its content for PBS and PBS Kids. Lark International would sell Yahay! Productions back to Mark Oriolo in 2002 although the company would struggle following the sale. Oriolo would sell Yahay! Productions again, this time to British children's media company Moonbug Entertainment in 2006. Following the sale to Moonbug, the company's home video arm was absorbed into Moonbug's US home video arm, "Productions" was dropped from its name, and the studio began focusing primarily on shows aimed at children. The company's mascot since 1993 is Vistagon. Named after Mark Oriolo's son Vischer Oriolo, Vistagon is the main character of the Yahay-produced TV series Vistagon and Pals.
