Woody Woodpecker: The Screwball Character’s Rise, Fall, and Legacy

The rugby, the footy, the horses, the golf, the

ga. Students, whatever you're a fan of, fuel

your passion for sport with a little help from

Vodafone X. Switch today and never miss a moment

with Sky Sports Mobile TV and 20 gigs of 4G data

for just 20 euro top -up plus 100 minutes of

calls and unlimited tax. Now that's more fuel

for more fun. Search Vodafone X now. For full

terms, conditions and limitations, including

our fair usage policy, see Vodafone .ie Chief

Quimby here, and your assignment is to listen

to Tooncast. Hello and welcome to the sixty -second

episode of Tooncast brought to you by the Geekcast

Radio Network. I am your host, EFG, and Mike,

and today I'm joined as usual with Kevin, Professor

Bossgate, and Doug Thompson. Hello. Howdy. How

are you? I am fan -frickin -tastic. Yeah. And

today, we're going to be talking about Woody

Woodpecker. Well, the cartoon was great. The

theme song sucks. We'll get into that. But anyway,

how are you, sir? I'm good and excited to be

talking about another classic cartoon character.

Yes. Let's get right into this gear lesson, then.

All right. The Woody Woodpecker is an animated

cartoon character, an anthropomorphic acorn woodpecker

who appeared in theatrical short films produced

by the Walter Lantz Animation Studio and distributed

by Universal Pictures. Though not the first of

the screwball characters that became popular

in the 1940s, Woody is perhaps the most indicative

of the type. Woody was created in 1940 by storyboard

artist Ben Bugs Hardaway, who had previously

laid the groundwork for two other screwball characters,

Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, at the Warner Brothers

Cartoon Studio in the late 30s. Woody's character

and design would evolve over the years from an

insane bird with an unusually garish design to

a more refined looking and acting character in

the vein of the later Chuck Jones version of

Bugs Bunny. Woody was originally voiced by prolific

voice actor Mel Block who was succeeded by Ben

Hardaway and later by Grace Stafford who was

the wife of Walter Lance. Lance produced theatrical

cartoons longer than most of his contemporaries,

and Woody Woodpecker made a staple of Universal's

release schedule until 1972, when Lance finally

closed down his studio. The character has been

revived since then only for special productions

and occasions, except for one Saturday morning

cartoon, the new Woody Woodpecker show for the

Fox network in the late 1990s, early 2000s. That's

the theme that I... I'm sorry to interrupt you,

but that's the theme I remember. I gotta look

that up. Woody Woodpecker cartoons were first

broadcast on television in 1957 under the title,

The Woody Woodpecker Show, which featured Lance

Cartoons. Book ended by new footage of Woody

and live action footage of Walter Lantz. in which

he described the behind the scenes of what goes

into making a cartoon. Woody has a motion picture

star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on 7 ,000

Hollywood Boulevard. He also made a cameo alongside

many other famous cartoon characters in the 1988

film Who Framed Roger Rabbit. So technically

there's been two series of Woody Woodpecker on

TV. One in 1957 and one in 1999. So that does

it for the history lesson. What do you remember

about Woody? I remember new adventures more.

or not new adventures, the new Woody Woodpecker

show, because wasn't that the one with Chilly

Willie? Chilly Willie wasn't that one. I don't

know if he appeared in the first one or not.

But yeah, I don't know which one I saw more.

I think I actually remember the old one more,

just because in 99 and 2000 I was doing other

things. Too busy? I was going to college. Graduated

and doing other stuff. I don't know but But I

do remember watching the old one and and he just

that that trademark laugh I just I used to do

that laugh all the time. I Used to love doing

that. I actually think I like Woody Woodpecker

more than a lot of the Looney Tunes characters

Just because I thought he was hilarious Well,

Woody is essentially Daffy Duck except he's a

woodpecker And that's what makes them fun because

it can peck people in the head and he has a cool

laugh God You know, I think the most earliest

version of this that I have ever seen and it's

not really It's not really woody but I Remember

seeing this design in a Tom and Jerry cartoon

with a woodpecker Or I think Jerry saved the

woodpecker and he would always go go after Tom

every time Tom tried to hurt Jerry or something

like that. So yeah, I don't know. I think the

two, between the 50s version and the 1999 version,

I think they're very similar. If there was ever

a true retake on an old cartoon, I mean, it was

this one. They didn't change much. I mean, obviously,

the voice actors are different, and they had

different time periods, so they're going to be

a little bit different. It's almost spot -on

as far as the same type of show the same type

of humor It's full series are equally as good

to me Yeah, oh, yeah, I watched them. I watched

per on purpose I watched some of the old ones

back -to -back against some of the new ones and

You could have told me that they were the same

show almost yeah, I agree. You know I agree I

I Really liked You know the For the majority

I liked them both, but I don't know I see it's

this is another one of those shows like the Flintstones

and the Jetsons and all that this is one of those

shows that was rerun in the 80s that I Remember

watching it and remember thinking that it was

part of 80s TV. So The the two shows the the

original Woody and then the new Woody They kind

of blend together for me a little bit. Yeah That's

understandable. I think it does for you know

because there was nothing that was on when we

were actually like in our heyday of watching

cartoons so you know you saw some of the other

ones, but you weren't necessarily like a Humongous

man, and then you see the new ones and yeah,

you're right it all kind of blends together to

a point Yes, yes it does So I guess we can go

on to the the voice cast here Again, from 1940

to 41, Woody was voiced by Mel Blank. Actually,

the first three are all voices for Woody. Yeah,

all this whole first thing is all Woody. Yeah.

So basically, but in the first series that was

on TV, it was Gray Stafford, and in the most

current series, it was Billy West. Yeah. Basically,

Blank originated the voice in a characterization

similar to his Daffy Duck minus the lisp with

the recording slightly sped up to give a higher

pitched tone to the voice. That practice would

continue with other voice artists. Mel Blank's

the one that's famous for it. Billy West is the

one that most people probably have heard do it

in the new Woody Woodpecker show. They don't

what the hell they don't list chili Willie on

this as though I couldn't I couldn't find him

anywhere So I don't know if he was on this one

or not. I specifically remember chili Willie

cartoons with with Woody Woodpecker. Yeah Maybe

it was them I don't know but basically we have

a we have a variety of characters that appeared

on the on the show and we'll give you the voice

actor that does it in the newest series and the

voice actors that did it back in the day. And

the voice actors that did it back in the day,

holy shitballs. Excuse my language. But there's

some good voice actors that were involved in

the Woody Woodpecker shows. Wally Walrus was

done by Billy West, I guess, in the most recent

version. And then Hans Conreid in the old version.

Buzz Buzzard was done by Mark Hamill, Jim Cummings,

and Dallas McKinnon. Okay, I don't even remember

half these characters, so Not Head was done by

E .G. Dailey in June 4A. Wow. Winnie Woodpecker

was done by Trash McNeil and B .J. Ward. Hmm.

Splinter. Hey, wait, what's a mutant rat doing

in this cartoon? It's not that Splinter. Trash

McNeil and Makea Futterman? Wow, what a horrible

last name to be saddled with. Yikes. Miss Meanie

was Andrea, wow, not Andrea Romano, Andrea Martin.

Papa Panda was Rip Taylor. Andy Panda was Dosbert,

Walter Tetley, and Sarah Burr. Miranda Panda

was Grace Stafford. Space Mouse was Johnny Coons.

And Charlie, whoever the fuck Charlie is, was

done by Paul Freeze. As far as the old cartoon

goes, just harking back to my list at BTV for

the most famous or most prominent male voice

actors before the 1980s, Dallas McKennan was

on that list. Obviously, Mel Blanc was on that

list. Dawes Butler was on that list. Paul Fries

was on that list. And they're all on this show.

And I think Hans Connery got an honorable mention.

So it had a good cast back in the day. And then

you look at it today, Billy West, Jim Cummings,

Trace McNeil, BJ Ward. that's not a bad list

of people either no no it's not I don't know

any of these other characters though so you're

not gonna be able to ask me for a favorite or

least favorite character my favorite character

is Woody Woodpecker yeah I don't remember any

others yeah well I remember Winnie and I kind

of remember Wally Walrus but I don't really remember

I don't remember most the other ones either and

like I said Splinter I think I would recognize

Buzz Buzzard but that's about it yeah Getting

into the behind -the -scenes segment, the series

was produced by Norman E. Gluck and Walter Lantz.

It was directed by Sid Marcus, Robert Owen, Paul

J. Smith, Tex Avery. Jack Hanna, Walter Lantz,

Alex Lowy, Dick Lundy. So as far as the writing

credits, Tex Avery is the only name that I really

recognize. Yeah. And the producers. These are

the new series now. OK. Yeah. I don't recognize

any of them. Other than Walter Lance and maybe

Alan Zazalov I would recognize, but no. I don't

recognize any of those people. Yeah, me neither.

Alright, I'll read this first part, and then

when you get down to some of my notes on books

and censorship crap, but uh, as Lance was, oh

well, we're in the actual show now, people, sorry.

Fuck, it was the first time I fucking forgot

and god knows how long to say, now it's time

for the actual show, holy fuck. As Lance was

struggling financially, Woody's longevity was

secured when he made the jump to television in

the Woody Woodpecker show on ABC. The half -hour

program consisted of three theatrical Woody shorts,

followed by a brief look at cartoon creation

hosted by Lance. It ran from 1957 to 58 and entered

syndication until 1966. It was later revived

by NBC in 1970 and again in 1976. In addition,

the Woodpecker was no longer dishing out abuse

to his foes, but was instead on the receiving

end. The first notable short to feature Woody

as the straight man was 1961's Frankenstymied.

Wow. Woody's popularity had been based on his

manic craziness, and by 1961 this had all but

been eliminated in favor of a more serious Woody,

one that was trying to do good. This was due

in part to Woody's large presence on television,

which meant Lance had to meet the stringent rules

against violence for children's television. Basically,

Woody Woodpecker was a phenomenal character for

theatrical shorts and stuff like that. And the

reason we haven't really had any big time popular

success television series with Woody Woodpecker

is because TV people won't let Woody Woodpecker

be Woody Woodpecker. The censorship demons basically

come out and ruin Woody Woodpecker and that's

why when we see him on TV he's usually not as

good as what he was in those shorts. I'm giving

some examples. First to go by... Walter Lance

didn't like this. I mean, this is kind of one

of the bones that he had with television people,

because he didn't think he was doing anything

wrong. But one of the first to go were all scenes

involving drinking. There was a besotted horse

and an inebriated mouse that were seen kind of

going, weaving to and fro, but the scenes showing

them getting drunk were cut out, which rendered

their behavior kind of odd and pointless. You

couldn't really understand why they were doing

it. Also, anything involving sex was taken out,

so there was a dancing harem girl in one episode

that was removed and actually made Walter Lance

take the whole short out and not let it air on

TV. No animal could be shown kissing a human

character. This is stuff that you saw in Bugs

Bunny, but because this was sponsored by Kellogg's,

Kellogg's censorship was a little bit harsher

than whatever Bugs Bunny was having. They also

cut out a tobacco -spitting grasshopper. They

had to change the title of one of the cartoons

from three blind mice to three lazy mice. So,

I mean, they just basically removed so much that

it took a lot away. The one thing that got through,

one questionable bit that slipped by the Kellogg

sensors, on the very first Woody Woodpecker show,

the climactic cartoon segment featured a close

-up of a lengthy unpaid hotel bill. One of the

room service entries was a large dollar amount

for cocaine. They didn't catch that, so it stayed

in there. Basically, the point is that Woody

Woodpecker was not necessarily the most censor

-friendly cartoon ever made. When it came to

the TV show, they had to do so much editing and

cutting of stuff that was deemed not appropriate

by Kellogg's that it took away from the show

a lot. I don't know. I would like to see some

of those old bits, though. Yeah, that would be

kind of funny as hell. Well, they even did something

similar with the new series. The new series hit

a time when violence was the big thing. And they

actually made it so Woody Woodpecker couldn't

be shown pecking people in the head with his

beak. Yeah. Which is his trademark. So they cut

that out of the new Woody Woodpecker show so

you would never see that, even though that's

something he always did in the old shorts. Yeah.

Damn censors. Yeah, exactly. I guess we can,

as much as it pains me, we can move into the

music segment. The music was done by Walter Green,

Frank Marcells, Eugene Podnany. and Clarence

Wheeler, the uh, and I guess the new version,

the original music was done by Thomas Chase.

Um, I'd like to find a copy of the new Woody

Woodpecker show theme. I can't, well, I can't

find it on the website that I normally get the

themes from, but uh, the original theme, oh my

god. Just kill me. There you go. Shut up. Just

kill me now cuz it's not what I thought it was

I thought it was gonna be It's upbeat but he

doesn't actually say anything he just keeps doing

what the old Kevin just did and this Well, yeah,

I know I I get that don't get me wrong But I

just thought it was something completely different

than what it is and it's like Like last week's

Heathcliff theme rocks, this week Woody Woodpecker

sucks. Yeah, basically. It's like pecking your

eyes out. Yeah, it is kind of. Or, you know,

pecking your ears off or something. Actually

a lot of theme songs from back in the day were

very good. Well, Looney Tunes was good, and Mary

Melodies was good, and all that stuff, but...

Yeah, but I mean like some of these specific

ones, they just, the theme song was kind of more

of an afterthought. Seems like. Yeah. Anyways.

Um, going into the legacy segment here, um, wow.

88, huh? Garfield's not nowhere on the list,

but Woody Woodpecker got 88. So that means he

can time travel now, right? IGN, bastards. The

next stuff is more impressive, I think. Woody

was number 46 on TV Guide's list of the 50 greatest

cartoon characters of all time in 2002 and 2003.

He came in at number 25 on Animal Planet's list

of the 50 greatest movie animals in 2004. The

character has been referenced and spoofed in

many later television programs, among them The

Simpsons, American Dad, South Park, Fairly Odd

Parents, Family Guy, and Seinfeld. I'll take

the Simpsons and I'll take Seinfeld. Every other

one of those fucking shows can kiss my ass. Family

Guy's awesome. Family Guy sucks. Family Guy's

one of the best. That was the worst Star Wars

spoof I have ever seen in my entire life. Which

one? The Family Guy one. There's more than one.

The one where they're doing Star Wars when they

go down the garbage chute. Oh. It wasn't that

bad. It was horrible. Family Guy's awesome. Woody

Woodpecker is the mascot. It was fucking stupid.

Woody Woodpecker is a mascot for the Universal

Studios theme parks. In 1998, Woody appeared

on the nose of the Williams Formula One team,

and in 2000, he became the official team mascot

of the Honda motorcycle racing team. A balloon

featuring the character has long been a staple

of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. And Woody

once made a cameo appearance in a 1995 Pepsi

commercial with Shaquille O 'Neal. In 2007, Universal

Studios Home Entertainment released the Woody

Woodpecker and Friends Classic Cartoon Collection,

a 3 -disc DVD box set, a compilation of Walter

Lantz cartoons. The first 45 Woody Woodpecker

shorts, from Knock Knock to The Great Who Did

It, or Dude Did It, were presented in the box

set in chronological order of release, with various

Chilly Willy, Andy the Panda, Swingin' Symphonies,

and other Lance shorts. Now, I gotta go back

to Chilly Willie because, again, I remember Chilly

Willie being mixed in with, it's kinda like what

we were talking earlier about the cartoons of

this era having three shorts, like you'd have,

you know. Unfortunately, Underdog is the only

one I can think of, but you have Underdog, Tennessee

Tuxedo, and then one other one. So I remember,

and I looked up Chilly Willie on Wiki, and apparently

he had his own show as well, but I remember them

including it with Woody Woodpecker. So anyway,

shorts also included the Woody Woodpecker and

Friends Classic Cartoon Collection Volume 2,

including the next 45 Woody Woodpecker cartoons,

Termites from Mars through Jittery Jaster. was

released in 2008. A vanilla best -of release,

entitled Woody Woodpecker Favorites, was released

in 2009, which contained new -to -DVD material.

Plans for the further releases, as well as Region

1 DVD release of the new Woody Woodpecker show,

are currently on hold, although the 1999 series

has received VHS and DVD releases outside of

North America, and is available for viewing on

Hulu. So the classic stuff's out there on DVD

for you to get. New stuff, not so much yet. Yeah,

which sucks. But since the classic ones just

came out in the last two years, you know, you

should be seeing them. Oh, it's actually the

last three years. Well, yeah, 2007, 2008, so

we should be seeing something else probably soon.

Yeah. Who knows? Maybe not. Maybe they didn't

sell well enough, who knows? Maybe it was too

much laughing. Too much theme songs for people.

For a second there, you, uh, you almost sounded

like, uh, Louis, uh, the swan trumpeting his

swan there. That's what I meant to sound like.

This is Dr. Wily, and I will destroy Mega Man

while listening to Tooncast! Did you know that

Justin Bieber is actually Webster in a girl suit?

Did you know that Teddy Ruxpin's friend Grubby

is actually a tapeworm? Did you know that Gargamel

is really a cat lady? Did you know that Billy

Zane is the only man to ever be Chuck Norris?

If you didn't know any of these things, then

you should be currently listening to Chicken

Pop Pod Retro Comedy Podcast. Catch it at chickenpoppod

.com I see a new episode of Tooncast coming this

week. What about Tooncast? So, final thoughts

on Woody Woodpecker? Woody Woodpecker to me is

a great example of classic cartoon. You know,

he was cartoons before we had cartoons. You know,

old school people, that's what they saw when

they went to the theater and instead of previews

they got to see some Woody Woodpecker shorts

before they were double feature and what not.

So, you know, he represents a... a piece of American

history, basically. I think he's a great character,

especially in his original form, when he's allowed

to be violent and be adult -type cartoon. I love

his laugh. I used to do that laugh all the time.

And actually, the ones that I was watching in

preparation for this record were very easy to

watch still today. Granted, some of the animation

is old school looking, and some of it's whatever.

As far as the gags and the humor and his voice

acting and his look and everything is spot -on

easy to watch and I think Woody Woodpecker is

like Looney Tunes is just kind of timeless. You

can just watch those over and over and he you

know it's not like a lot of cartoons these days

where you know maybe 20 -30 years from now nobody's

gonna be able to sit through that or like a lot

of the stuff that came out in the 70s. I mean,

this is just something that anyone can enjoy

if they had a chance to watch it. Unfortunately,

it's not out there a lot for people to watch,

but I enjoy Woodpecker. He's not my favorite

cartoon character of all time or anything like

that, but I enjoy him. Well, I mean, it is out.

I mean, at least there's at least... You know

two sets. Yeah, that's true. You know I mean

there's classic. It's Woody Woodpecker and Friends

classic Volume one and volume two so I mean at

least you know at least the original series is

out there. Yeah Yeah, so Yeah, you know and I

agree with you what well he is it's not hard

to watch and Woody is a great character You know

he's not that easily forgettable, but you know

still I don't think... If you want, like you

said, the cartoon violence or the old cartoon

type of Looney Tunes things, but in a slightly

different format with Woody, yeah, go for this.

And it has kind of stood the test of time, but

I don't know. It's okay. It's not like... It's

not like a cartoon that I would watch all the

time. Yeah. Unfortunately. So thank you for joining

us here on Tooncast. There are some ways you

can get in contact with us or leave feedback

for the show. Visit the website geekcastradio

.com. Join the forums, productonempire .com slash

nexus. Leave the show's feedback in iTunes. Please

do this. Follow us on Twitter. GCR and Tooncast

is the show. Twitter minus TF2 and Mike. What

is your Twitter? Basque. Become a fan on Facebook,

search Geekcast Radio Network. We hope you enjoyed

this episode of Tooncast and wish you would join

us next time when we'll be reminiscing on Richie

Rich. And yes, I know Richie Rich, the Richie

Rich cartoon has gone through several different

titles, but just to simplify it, it's Richie

Rich, dammit. For now, I am TF2 and Mike with

Optimus Solo from BehindTheVoiceActors .com.

Thank you for listening, until next time. You're

listening to Tooncast. Richie Rich has got the

Midas touch And the heart of solid gold Richie

never will forget his pals Friendship can't be

undersold Just a little kiss from Gloria Richie

starts a crush and quits Dollardy, we reckless

tidy do. Here's a way to love Richie Rich. Chappie,

Ed, Wizzy, next for the man. Thunder Cadbury's

the best. Maid Iona, she has nerves of steel.

Maid of money, you're the best! So far Bascom

is a highway king. Richie is a little bitch.

Everybody's ready for some fun. Come on, let's

join Richie. Red!