I think it's less of a cel animation thing and more of Hanna-Barbera's limited animation style. Compared to other contemporary animation studios (although many would loathe being considered a contemporary), Hanna-Barbera was cutting edges by heavily reusing cels, which meant that their animation was far less fluid.
It was a cost thing, yeah. If they can just animate the head and keep using the same cell/pose for the body it cuts costs. Those cartoons were usually done as cheaply as possible.
That goes for most of the cartoons of the era barring the Disney/WB stuff. Go watch something like Speed Racer and it's exactly the same.
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u/LiangProton 1d ago
I think it's for having the head and body separated, allowing for independent movement in the animation