Huggy Bear
| Character | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Huggy Bear, Huggy Bear Brown |
| Occupation: | bartender, entrepreneur, not a pimp |
| Relationships: | dated Miss Treasure Chest, suggested that Detective Joan Meredith may be his future wife |
| Fandom: | Starsky and Hutch |
| Other: | |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Huggy Bear, last name Brown, is a character in Starsky & Hutch. He is Starsky and Hutch's bartender, snitch and, importantly, close friend.
The Huggy Awards are named after Huggy.
Impact
In an interview transcribed in a 1998 Black Bean Soup, Antonio Fargas, the actor who portrayed Huggy Bear, says: "At the time, it was considered hip to have one or two black actors on your series, and I was lucky enough to be one of those."
Huggy's notorious "hip" and "urban" way of speaking has made him a symbol of badly-written black characters of the time. He is frequently referenced in humorous contexts like the TV Tropes article on "Jive Turkeys"[1] but also in impassioned rants about African American media stereotypes. Captain Dobey, another African-American character on the show, didn't draw the same fire. At the same time, many people appreciate Huggy for being a sympathetic and fairly major black character at a time when these were few and far between on television.[2]
A Pimp? A Thief?
Many mainstream articles and comments by mundanes refer to Huggy as a pimp and/or thief. While the canon Huggy is shown as having a variety of dubious (often foolish) means of employment, there is no proof he dabbled in anything more than passing on information and turning a blind eye to others' petty crimes. Huggy, in fact, was shown to have a fairly robust sense of right and wrong, something that was illustrated in canon a number of times.
The fanon Huggy Bear plays out much like the canon Huggy Bear. He is often portrayed as a good friend willing to assist Starsky and Hutch while balancing his need to survive in his world on the street.
Example Fanworks
- The Waiting Room by K. Hanna Korossy, Starsky and Hutch stand vigil
- Huggy Under Fire by Hutchlover (What happened to Huggy Bear's Bar & Grill? Why was there a break between Huggy's two bars?)
- Superfly, a Huggy-focused vid by T.M.
- Any Major Dude by Melanie R The Pits #2 (Huggy's first meeting with the dynamic duo and how The Pits got its name. Huggy's first thought on seeing Starsky and Hutch together was that somehow they seemed like a matched pair, end he couldn't figure out why.)
Fanfic Pairings
Huggy Bear doesn't get a lot of action in fanon. He is sometimes paired with Mardean Rigger, sometimes with Turquet, and a few times with Starsky and with Hutch. The latter is usually a secondary pairing in a primarily Starsky/Hutch story.
- Take It Out in Trade by Paula Smith in the zine, Code 7 #4 (paired with Hutch)
- Liaisons by Cyn (paired with Hutch)
- An Even Tighter Closet by Rosemary C. (paired with Turquet)
- A Beautiful Mess by Kaye (Starsky)
- Huggy's Dark Secret by Alleycat (paired with Starsky)
- Possession's End by Debs (paired with Hutch)
Some Huggy Meta
Fanart
interior art for Pushin' the Odds by T.J. Burnside
inside art from The Pits #2. Art by Signe Landon.
inside art by Ruth Kurz from Three Eleven
inside art from Code 7, Take It Out in Trade, art by Maureen B., story by Paula Smith
cover of S and H
on the cover of One Shot: Captain Dobey, Starsky, Hutch, and Huggy.
inside art from an S and H in 1979, by Connie Faddis
art from Distant Shores showing both Captain Dobey and Huggy. J. Jones was one of the few fanartists to draw Huggy and Captain Dobey.
Fannish Resources
References
- ^ Jive Turkey on TV Tropes (Accessed August 26, 2010)
- ^ Unfortunately, one might argue that that time hasn't really ended...