Some of the non-talking animals are favorites. The bull. The dragon. The instant Martians.
I was going to say Gossamer as well (although I didn’t know that was its name). So I’ll toss in Rocky and Mugsy.
The two extraordinarily polite British gophers were pretty funny as well.
I like Pete Puma, too.
“How many lumps do you want?”
“Oh, t’ree or four . . .”
Wasn’t Pete Puma’s manner of speaking a direct mimickry of the character “Crazy Guggenheim” from the Jackie Gleason Show?
I like the abominable snowman, Hugo. He reminds me of me when I am taken out of my natural northern surroundings and am put into the unnatural heat of the South. As I stand there melting all I can think to say is “gosh it’s hot.”
And he’s the one who says “I’m gonna hug him and pet him and call him George!”
Hey! No one has mentioned my favorite second-line character: Claude the Cat
He’s the one whose family gets a puppy and Claude spends the cartoon trying to get rid of it, only to do himself in.
I love how he sticks to the ceiling when scared - and when he falls back down, he gets about an inch form the floor, then his whole body rotates to get him paws-down, then he lands…
I also like the puppy - especially the “yada-yada-yada” sounds Mel Blanc makes when the puppy gets tangled up in his own ears and he shakes himself loose - but Claude is tops!
Claude the Cat was also imaginatively victimized by Hubie and Bert, the two mice who apparently hailed from the lower east side.
Yep - I tried to get back into my thread to mention them - the one where they bolt aquariums to the windows to get Claude to think he is under water is HI-larious…
And the one where Hubie and Bert get into the cheese factory and have too much cheese is a classic, too - they eat so much that they can’t eat anymore and realize that their lives no longer have meaning. So they are ready to die but they can’t get Claude to eat them because he is suspicious of any mice that would give themselves up willingly…too funny.
Does this one end with Claude going to the Bulldog in the neighborhood, begging that the dog put Claude out of his misery - with nearly identical results?
Pure Gold.
Thanks for the responses, everyone!
I love Ralph Phillips! I always thought that he influenced Calvin and Hobbes quite a bit.
That’s the one!! An all-time fave…with the dog working the adding machine trying to get all inconsistencies to add up…
Oh yeah. That’s right.
“But Deeeeeeeeeeear! It’s Faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaather’s Daaaaaay!”
That line used to crack my mom up. 
I don’t have a favorite, so I’ll go with my grandmother’s: Cecil Turtle.
Can anyone tell me which cartoon this is? I saw it only once and it didn’t have any of the familiar characters. It was wildly funny. I’m pretty sure it was Loony Tunes. I can only give sketchy details:
A cat is up to shenanigans, possibly trying to catch a mouse. A dog, possibly the protector of the mouse – or maybe just because the cat keeps accidentally running into him – grabs the cat and punishes him, each time it happens with a different punishment. All the punishments have names, and the cat has obviously been through them all many times because he is familiar with each one.
The dog will announce “It’s ‘Happy Birthday’ for you this time,” meaning a punishment he has named ‘Happy Birthday,’ in which he speedily sets a table with tablecloth, birthday cake, party hat for the cat, etc. He seats the cat, and the candles are, of course, firecrackers, which blow up as the cat tries to blow them out.
While the dog carries the cat to the table and places him in the chair, the cat keeps screaming, “No! Not ‘Happy Birthday.’ Not 'Happy Birthday! Anything but ‘Happy Birthday!’” He is wildly struggling until the dog ties him in the seat, at which time he becomes suddenly totally resigned to his fate, with a forlorn look on his face.
I would like to see this cartoon again, just because I laughed so much the only time I saw it, many years ago.
That’s called It’s Hummer Time (for the hummingbird the cat chases), but I can’t find a full clip on YouTube, just the Happy Birthday sequence.
I spoke too soon! I found it on another site.
It’s Hummer Time (full short)
You posted the same URL twice. Dang ol’ clipboard! 