While reading this thread (What’s Opera, Doc turning fifty), I wondered if I could start a similar discussion, by asking The Teeming Millions to share their love for their favorite less-well-known WB cartoon characters.
Bugs, Daffy, Elmer, Porky, The Roadrunner, Sylvester, and Tweety are the ones I’d consider the WB A-list.
I don’t want to ask about them.
I’m not even thinking of the B-list characters: Foghorn Leghorn, Pepe Le Pew, Speedy Gonzalez, Wile E. Coyote, nor Yosemite Sam.
Nope, still too popular.
I want to ask about the characters who showed up for one or two cartoons. Or maybe a longer running character, but one who existed only as a foil for one of the other characters, such as the dog that Foghorn Leghorn was always in opposition with, or the poor black cat that always ended up having to fight off Pepe’s affections. Michigan J. Frog is a classic example of this kind of WB cartoon character.
Personally, my favorite is Gossamer. Though a lot of that is simply that I find Gossamer is a pretty complimentary charicature of myself: the size, the fearsome appearance, the hair all over (even if not that bright red), and especially the fear of people.
ETA: Whoops, forgot to adjust the title there. :smack:
The kids watching the Road Runner on TV. You, where one kid wants to be a p-sychiatrist when grows up. Or maybe a p-sychoanalyst. The other one wants to be the Road Runner.
I like the little eggheaded genius chicken from the Foghorn Leghorn episodes. I feel myself sympathizing more and more with Foggy as I try to impress the young kids with some outdated cool trick or knowledge, only to have them roll their eyes at my obsolesence.
I used to love Monty the English Sparrow, and his moronic stepson, Beaky Buzzard. Laugh riot, that.
In a similar vein, my dad always thought the the three bears cartoon(s?) were hysterical. The scene when Junior Bear tries to strop the straight razor to give his dad a birthday shave, only to have most of the blade fall out, leaving a horrible, jagged mess, used to tickle my dad. I’ll always smile thinking about that.
The three bears were who I was going to nominate. And there must be something about being a dad that makes you really appreciate “A Bear for Punishment”, the cartoon you mentioned, which is about the Father’s Day from Hell. (Apparently Michael Maltese and Chuck Jones were inspired by the disastrous attempts of their own children to give them Father’s Day treats.)
I’ll go with the Witch Hazel (?) who leaves behind a cloud of bobby pins when she zips off screen and who gleefully cackled at the irony of being called “mother” by Bugs.
Hassan, from Ali Baba Bunny. Bugs and Daffty a tunneling underground and, but for a left turn at Albuquerque, end up in a cave in Baghdad loaded with treasure. Hassan is the guard of the cave and can’t figure out the magic words to open the cave door.
Marvin the Martian. Granted, he’s remembered as a ‘star’ nowadays, but when Warner Bros. cartoons featuring him were originally released, he didn’t even have a name. He was just ‘the Martian.’
Forgot to mention (and time elapsed, so I coudn’t edit my post.)
I always got a kick out of Grannie. And while I normally hated ‘Tweety Bird’, I loved his Dr. Jeckyll/Mr. Hyde alter-ego - the monster Tweety. (Does that count as a seperate character?)
