Old-time celebrities in WB cartoons

[Koxinga]

They aren't shown as often as the standards featuring Bugs Bunny et al. nowadays, but Warner Brothers came out with several cartoons in the 30s and 40s satirizing big celebrities of the day. I can recognize some figures like Frank Sinatra (ohhh! Fraaankie!) and Bing Crosby, but others are unfamiliar. One in particular has always baffled me: there's some dusky, bug-eyed Italian guy with a bushy moustache that always says, "Ohhhh yes!" and then some witty comment on a situation. (At least I assume that he's the stereotype of a Italian or some other Mediterranean type.) Can anyone tell me who this guy was?

I remember one cartoon where there this guy was portrayed as a little worm with a moustache who goes down into a river on a fishing hook and has a fight with a crab. He loses the fight and is pulled up by the fisherman, who turns out to be the Italian guy himself, who says, "Ohhh yes! Embarassing, isn't it?" Even if you don't know who he was, does anyone at least remember this cartoon?

DHR

[ThufferinThuccotash]

From the Warner Brothers Cartoon Companion (http://www.kartoon.net/collection/wbros/eowbcc-c.html)

COLONNA, JERRY (1905-1987)

Character actor -- emphasis on character! -- distinguished by a walrus-like mustache, pop-eyed expression, and complete zaniness. Colonna was a long-time sidekick of Bob Hope as a supporting player in his radio, television, and USO shows. Colonna himself is caricatured in a number of cartoons. Two cartoons directed by Freleng feature a little worm character with the Colonna mustache and eyes, and a Colonna-like voice. These are The Wacky Worm (1941) and Greetings Bait (1943). Colonna himself makes an appearance at the end of Greetings Bait as the fisherman. Colonna also makes an appearance in Hollywood Steps Out (Avery, 1941), doing a Yehudi shtick. Caricatures of Colonna and Hope also appear in Hollywood Canine Canteen (McKimson, 1946) doing their Professor Colonna routine from Hope’s Pepsodent radio show. Bugs Bunny does Colonna imitations in What’s Cookin’ Doc? (Clampett, 1944), in which Bugs is saying hello to various Hollywood stars off-screen at the Academy Awards ceremony, as well as in The Unruly Hare (Tashlin, 1945), where Bugs, in a Colonna-like accent, invites Elmer Fudd to "have some cheese, rat!" Daffy Duck, in Plane Daffy (Tashlin, 1944) and The Wise Quacking Duck (Clampett, 1943) and the title character in The Hep Cat (Clampett,1942) both do Colonna-like turns in announcing "Aahh! Something new has been added!", as does Private Snafu in Booby Traps (Clampett, 1944). A whole jury of Colonnas acquits Daffy Duck, the Mustache Fiend in Daffy Doodles (McKimson, 1946). Colonna inspired a huge number of catch-phrases, many of which worked their way into Warner Brothers cartoons.

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TT

"Believe those who seek the truth.
Doubt those who find it." --Andre Gide

[Koxinga]

Wow, that's quite a link. It explains a lot of characters and catch phrases that I hadn't even thought to wonder about. Thanks, TT.

DHR

[Doug Bowe]

Cecil Adams is mentioned under "drowning."

[pmh]

Wow Doug, and I thought I had no life. ;)