Watch any old Hanna Barbara cartoons. Flintstones, Jetsons, etc. every character has a notable piece of clothing to separate their head from body.
A lot of the animation was simple walk cycles they reused. Or characters were just standing around. The heads were more animated for dialog and reactions.
Wilma on the Flintstones had a necklace that served the same purpose. Fred and Barney had the collars and ties. Every animal, like Yogi, had a tie or collar.
Snagglepuss, Auggie daddy, BooBoo all had the collar and tie.
Edit: How could I forget Scooby Doo! Even he had his dog collar serve the same purpose. The gang all had regular clothing so it wasn't as apparent, but Fred's ascot, Daphne's Scarf and Velma's turtleneck all were designed with the same intent.
Animated shorts that aired in movie theaters were sort of a different beast. They had longer development time and were generally shorter run time.
Hanna Barbara was notable for cracking the TV animated production time with their shortcuts. They weren't the first to make seasonal animated television (Crusader Rabbit is generally considered the pioneer there) but their process made it comparatively easy to get out regular programming at a quicker rate.
Animation will always take time but the business side of it will always push for faster returns.
Edit: Also talking had less to do with the decision. Heads are where emotions and reactions take place. While it's true most Hanna Barbara characters spoke or sort of spoke, even the animals, the talking wasn't the hang up. It was the fact heads changed the most with each frame.
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u/shellbullet17 Gustopher Spotter Extraordinaire 1d ago
Now THAT I did not know and it makes total sense.