I have a rather cloudy and vestigial memory of an old cartoon from my childhood in the mid to early 1960’s.
In fact, all I remember is the title, and not even all of that.
For some reason I think this cartoon may have appeared on the Captain Kangaroo show. But don’t let this throw you off, because I’m not sure about that either.
In fact, I’m not sure about much of anything except the fact that not being able to identify this cartoon has been driving me crazy for years. In fact, everyone I’ve ever asked has told me I imagined it, and I’m not sure I didn’t.
So here it is.
I seem to recall a cartoon starring _______ and his faithful dog, Faithful Dog.
That’s all I remember. Nothing else. I don’t remember the name of the protagonist, only that he had a faithful dog named Faithful Dog. Needless to say it is one of my oldest memories, and it’s so foggy, I’m not even sure it is a real memory.
You might be thinking of “Tom Terrific” which featured Mighty Manfred, the Wonder Dog. It was indeed shown on Captain Kangaroo, possibly for many years. It was animated in a really cheap black-and-white outline style, where Tom Terrific was a stick figure wearing a funnel on his head who could change his physical shape at will. His nemesis was Crabby Appleton (“He’s rotten to the core!”).
You beat me to it, tracer. I had just typed up the following:
You might be recalling the “Tom Terrific” cartoon series on the Captain Kangaroo show. Tom Terrific was a little boy superhero with an upsidedown funnel on his head. His sidekick was “his ever faithful dog Mighty Manfred the Wonder Dog,” and the two of them worked together to foil criminals.
According to what I read, Tom Terrific was one of two Terrytoons comic series. The other one was “Lariat Sam,” who policed the Wild West with his horse Tippy Toes.
I very vaguely remember both cartoons, having been an avid watcher of the Captain Kangaroo show in my early childhood. Do a web search on these various names, and you’ll find plenty about them posted and hosted by the pop-culture-nostalgia crowd.
The only thing I’ve come up with is that in the Dudley Do-right episode lists on the net, there is one called “Faithful Dog”. I think this is the episode in which he makes a pet of a wolf, mistaking it for a dog. I don’t recall if he actually calls it “Faithful Dog”, but it would make sense because, as already mentioned, he calls his horse “Horse”. I watch DD regularly on the Cartoon Channel because it’s a hoot, so if I see it, I’ll report back. (I just saw a caption that read “Dudley Do-right played by Fenton Fagg”! Talk about politically incorrect!)
It has seemingly every obscure and popular cartoon in America from the 1940s to the present–hundreds of 'em. It looks hep, too!
Here’s a passage:
“In addition to the live-action and puppet segments, Captain Kangaroo broadcast several Terrytoons animated shorts, including Tom Terrific, the adventures of a boy who could turn himself into anything, and his partner Mighty Manfred the Wonder Dog.”
Yes, Dudley Do-Right’s wolf was named “Faithful Dog,” usually shortened to “Dog.” He was a nasty beast and not used very often, so I think you’re remembering somebody else’s Faithful Dog.