Three Story Mouse

Looks like someone had a mite too much cheese...

"What's Up, 'Doc'?"

In a previous blog post, I paid light tribute to some forgotten, short-lived stars Walter Lantz produced in the late 1950's (again when their animation style and budget starting a slow spiral downwards for TV Animation), namely "Windy and Breezy".
So here's another interesting tale of what seemed like another "copycat" plan slowly turned into something different altogether.
When Hanna-Barbera brought out "The Huckleberry Hound" show for television, the "new crew" at Walter Lantz seemed as if they wanted to try their own version of Pixie & Dixie and Mr Jinks. So in 1959, they brought out Hickory, Dickory, and Doc - as you can guess, the mice were Hick and Dick and Doc became the cat - along with an unknown, stereotypically brute of a bulldog to make the classic "Dog -> Cat -> Mice" scenario.

Unfortunately, unlike Warren Foster at the time when he took over the second season of Huckleberry Hound, it seemed that the writers must have had considerable trouble trying to make the most of this formula, namely keeping Hick and Dick involved within the plot. Unsurprisingly, Doc the Cat and the unnamed bulldog (briefly named "Cecil" in one short) took up most of the stardom very early. So it came to pass that Hick and Dick were eventually booted out of their own series, allowing Doc to go solo.
Who can blame them? From what I've seen of the first three cartoons - "Space Mouse", "Mouse Trapped" and "Witty Kitty" - the crews constantly get Hick and Dick's chipmunk-like voices mixed-up with one another, and they didn't really show much personality to begin with. Heck, their final cartoon only granted them 15 seconds of on-screen stardom before they faded away completely...unless you counted the numerous items of merchandise they appeared in afterward.
Plus, really, Pixie and Dixie Hickory and Dickory never stood a chance with Paul Frees (ever a winner with even the most obscure of characters) voicing Doc, the sophisticated, charming, witty fellow of an alley cat. In fact, had Frees not voiced Doc at the time - his brilliant, upper-class tones to give the cat more character - then he would never have had the chance at all to earn himself 5 more cartoons to follow.

What came as a nice surprise was seeing the bulldog developed overtime. Later becoming Champ (voiced by Dal McKennon), a retired boxer, who became Doc's loyal dogs-body, often involved in Doc's schemes to get ahead in life. This, I feel, was a great twist on the samey "Cat vs. Dog" theme being churned out long before. With Champ's muscles and natural loyalty, and Doc's Shakespearian acting charm, this was one series I was sorry to see end as a short-lived one.
Weren't these guys even granted their own comic strip when their theatrical career ended, like so many others before...?
Nevertheless, with gifted directors like Alex Lovy and Jack Hannah to make the most of the studio's limited animation, it just goes to show how far one can go when you try to be different instead of another cookie-cutter money maker stint. Least that's how I see it, anyway.


And for your pleasure, here's a couple of Doc cartoons (minus mice!) for you to enjoy =D

Yoinks-a-Plenty!

From the same production company who brought us "Tom and Jerry Kids", Don Jurwich, Jerry Eisenburg and Jim Ryan pitched a one-off short as part of the What A Cartoon Series back in the 90's - namely Yoink of the Yukon, featuring the wonderful talents of Rob Paulsen and Charles Adler.

Flower Entries

These pieces have recently been entered in a competition to design a new sign for the local pub. While The Florist Arms is more-or-less a club now, it always pays to do a little history on the old places ;)
"The Florist" earned its name back in the Victorian era from a flower nursery that used to be based nearby. Hence the rather flowery themes included. Wish me luck!

"Three Wing Fling" - Windy and Breezy

When Walter Lantz's studios reopened in the 1950's, it was clear their animation and design quality undertook a massive overhaul for cost efficient needs - something not unlike Hanna-Barbera's look when they brought out "The Hucklebery Hound Show" in 1958 for television.
...and like many studios then, right up to today, it seemed that Walter Lantz would follow the "pirate" way and create semi-similar characters based by other people's creations.

 Take, for instance, Yogi Bear and Boo-Boo. They started out the same time as Huckleberry Hound a long while before gaining their own show, yet almost the exact same time - 1957 - Walter Lantz brought to us Windy and Breezy.

Windy & Breezy first starred in a Woody Woodpecker short "Fodder and Son" before being given a short-lived series lasting for about 4 cartoons, their last outing in 1959. Unlike Yogi, these two were father and son - although in similar vein to Andy Panda and Pop (also by Lantz), it was the dad who stole the show and pretty much the screentime.

Had it not been for writer Homer Brightman and VA legend Daws Butler, these two probably wouldn't have made it as far as they did. Sure, they're not the most renown cartoon bears in animation history, but for those who do remember them here's a little taster of memory lane:

Strike a Pose

Brushing up on me pose drawings - from looney to sorta-realistic.

Real Life studies and comic books played a part in these =)

Ant and Aardvark

I will not deny that I adore DePatie Freleng's "The Ant and the Aardvark". Two Johns immediately come to mind that made this series so memorable:

John Byner - top comedian and impressionist at the time, supplying the vocals for both title characters (Aardvark was Jackie Mason and Ant become Dean Martin).

John Dunn - DFE's top writer and storyboard guy. Literally wrote for at least 97% of DFE's cartoons, this series included. He had a obscure, original sense of humour which thankfully rubbed off on the rest of the writing team during his time.


And of course, a present-day "John" we should give thanks for - John Over - for maintaining the original surreal wackiness of the series (and more!) in their recent opening under "Pink Panther and Pals". Although Pinky is always on-screen, WHY is it neither Ant nor Aardvark are never ever mentioned or seen in the adverts on TV, I ask you???


So yeah, this was another "drawn from memory" sketch during my holiday. A combo of their original designs and their modern day appearance in PP&P. I highly recommend seeing both the original and present day shorts for a proper Laugh-Out-Loud cartoon.