For today's Saturday Morning Cartoons, I found a good one in Pantry Panic, starring Woody Woodpecker. Woody Woodpecker is a rather interesting character here. His personality in the earlier cartoons is more like a demented Daffy Duck. That is especially important since Woody was created by Ben "Bugs" Hardaway, a Leon Schlesinger Productions storyboard artist who was responsible for creating a prototype version of Bugs Bunny in Happy Rabbit and Porky's Hare Hunt. In 1940, Hardaway joined the Walter Lantz Productions, where he created the famous woodpecker. Even more interesting is that the first four Woody cartoons--Knock Knock, Woody Woodpecker, The Screwdriver and Pantry Panic--were first voiced by Mel Blanc before he accepted an exclusive contract with Leon Schlesinger Productions. Ben Hardaway then provided the voice for Woody between 1942 to 1949. So there is some fascinating history behind this wacked-out woodpecker.
Let's get into the Pantry Panic with Woody. From YouTube:
Saturday, September 08, 2007
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