Buddy (Looney Tunes)
| Buddy | |
|---|---|
| Leon Schlesinger Productions character | |
 The opening card used in 1934, with Buddy introducing one of his cartoons | |
| First appearance | Buddy's Day Out (Looney Tunes, 1933) |
| Last appearance | "The Warners' 65th Anniversary Special" (Animaniacs, 1994) |
| Created by | Tom Palmer |
| Voiced by | Bernard B. Brown (1933–1934)[1] Jack Carr (1934–1935) Jackie Morrow (1934–1935)[2] Tommy Bond (1935)[1] Jim Cummings (1994) |
| In-universe information | |
| Species | Human |
| Gender | Male |
| Nationality | American |
Buddy is an animated cartoon character in the Looney Tunes series by Leon Schlesinger Productions. He was the second star of the series, after Bosko.
History
[edit]Buddy was created after animators Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising severed their relations with producer Leon Schlesinger. Without his animators and Bosko, the star character they had taken with them, Schlesinger was desperate to build his own studio and maintain his contract with Warner Bros. He recruited several animators from other studios, among them Tom Palmer of Walt Disney Animation Studios. Schlesinger told his new employees to create a star character for the studio, and Palmer created Buddy in 1933, with his first film Buddy's Day Out released on September 9.[3]
The character had a troubled beginning, as Warner Bros. refused to accept his first two cartoons, resulting in Friz Freleng being called in to re-edit and condense them into a single short.[citation needed] In the book Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons, animator Bob Clampett is quoted as describing Buddy as "Bosko in whiteface".[4] Despite these initial problems, Buddy would go on to be the studio's linchpin character for the next two years.[5]
Music dominates in Buddy's world. The characters add visuals to the soundtrack and participate in gags. Buddy is usually accompanied in his films by his flapper girlfriend, Cookie, and his dog, Towser. The character would go on to star in 23 short films from 1933 to 1935, before he was retired to make way for a new character called Beans the Cat. Beans became the third Looney Tunes star, though later on replaced by the more popular Porky Pig. Buddy's voice was most of the time performed by animator Jack Carr.
Buddy had various designs throughout the course of his career. Initially, the character was a younger boy with trousers, a polo shirt, and a large cap, as seen in Buddy's Day Out. In Buddy's Beer Garden, he was redesigned by Earl Duvall into a young man wearing a jacket with a small bow tie and long pants. Friz Freleng gave the character another design, which was nearly identical to Duvall's except he is smaller and does not wear a jacket. Ben Hardaway later redesigned Buddy to look more like his predecessor, Bosko.
Reception
[edit]Buddy is widely considered to be the worst character in the Looney Tunes franchise. In That's All, Folks! The Art of Warner Bros. Animation, Steve Schneider describes Buddy as "a creature of limitless blandness," and calls Buddy's Day Out "a nondescript adventure spree." Schneider says that "probably the best of the run is his farewell film, Buddy the Gee Man", but "about the most that can be said for Buddy is that he is distinctly forgettable."[6]
Filmography
[edit]| Film | Release date |
|---|---|
| Buddy's Day Out | September 9, 1933 |
| Buddy's Beer Garden | November 18, 1933 |
| Buddy's Show Boat | December 9, 1933 |
| Buddy the Gob | January 5, 1934 |
| Buddy and Towser | February 24, 1934 |
| Buddy's Garage | April 14, 1934 |
| Buddy's Trolley Troubles | May 5, 1934 |
| Buddy of the Apes | May 26, 1934 |
| Buddy's Bearcats | June 16, 1934 |
| Buddy's Circus | August 25, 1934 |
| Buddy the Detective | September 15, 1934 |
| Viva Buddy | September 29, 1934 |
| Buddy the Woodsman | October 20, 1934 |
| Buddy's Adventures | November 17, 1934 |
| Buddy the Dentist | December 15, 1934 |
| Buddy of the Legion | January 9, 1935 |
| Buddy's Theater | February 8, 1935 |
| Buddy's Pony Express | March 9, 1935 |
| Buddy in Africa | April 13, 1935 |
| Buddy's Lost World | May 18, 1935 |
| Buddy's Bug Hunt | June 6, 1935 |
| Buddy Steps Out | July 6, 1935 |
| Buddy the Gee Man | August 24, 1935 |
Modern appearances
[edit]- Buddy appears in the Animaniacs episode "The Warners' 65th Anniversary Special", voiced by Jim Cummings. This version is a former colleague of the Warner siblings Yakko, Wakko, and Dot, who were created to make his cartoons more interesting. After being dropped in favor of the Warners, Buddy found work as a nut farmer in Ojai, California.
- A collection of animation cels from Buddy's Day Out is the focus of a 2010 episode of History Detectives.[7]
References
[edit]- ^ a b Scott, Keith (2022). Cartoon Voices from the Golden Age, 1930-70. BearManor Media. ISBN 979-8-88771-010-5.
- ^ "Radio Round-Up: 'Wanna Buy A Duck?' JOE PENNER" Archived 2020-09-25 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 2020-07-05.
- ^ Beck, Jerry; Friedwald, Will (1989). Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: A Complete Illustrated Guide to the Warner Bros. Cartoons. Henry Holt and Co. p. 21. ISBN 0-8050-0894-2.
- ^ Maltin, Leonard (1987). Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons (Revised ed.). Plume. p. 228. ISBN 0-452-25993-2.
- ^ Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. p. 58. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
- ^ Schneider, Steve (1988). That's All, Folks! : The Art of Warner Bros. Animation. Henry Holt and Co. pp. 40–41. ISBN 0-8050-0889-6.
- ^ "Looney Tunes on PBS History Detectives | Cartoon Brew". Archived from the original on March 23, 2012. Retrieved November 20, 2011.
