Elmer the Great Dane is a Walter Lantz

Walter Lantz

Walter Benjamin Lantz was an American cartoonist, animator, film producer, and director, best known for founding Walter Lantz Productions and creating Woody Woodpecker.-Early years and start in animation:...

 character in the Oswald the Lucky Rabbit

Oswald the Lucky Rabbit

Oswald the Lucky Rabbit is an anthropomorphic rabbit and animated cartoon character created by Ub Iwerks and Walt Disney for films distributed by Universal Pictures in the 1920s and 1930s...

 cartoon series. The character's name is most likely a reference to Elmer, the Great

Elmer, the Great

Elmer, the Great is a 1933 drama directed by Mervyn LeRoy, starring Joe E. Brown and Patricia Ellis. Joe E. Brown plays Elmer Kane, a rookie ballplayer with the Chicago Cubs whose ego is matched only by his appetite. Because he is not only vain but naive, Elmer's teammates take great delight in...

, a 1933 film.

Concept

When Universal's then biggest cartoon star Oswald the Lucky Rabbit was declining in popularity, Lantz decided to come up with new characters to keep the shorts running. One of these characters was a great dane which they named Elmer, and was cast as Oswald's pet dog. The inspiration for character came from the fact that Lantz was a fanatic in great danes.

Black-and-white period

Elmer made his screen debut in Elmer the Great Dane (1935) and was originally the pet dog of Oswald, back when the rabbit was still black-furred. Although Oswald was drastically remodelled into an all-white character that year, Elmer was not changed in any way. Two years later, he was joined by Doxie Dachsund who also became Oswald's dog.

Elmer, along with Doxie, made his last regular appearance in Soup to Mutts (1939).

Guest appearances in the colored period

Viewers probably thought Elmer was history when he left the screen in 1939 and that his owner followed in 1943. But a strange twist took place only fourteen years later.

Elmer was pulled out of retirement and made a guest appearance in Wrestling Wrecks (1953). There, he was recast as the dog of Woody Woodpecker.

He would still show up more than a decade later in the Halloween special Spook-A-Nanny (1964). This time, he was redesigned with a smaller head and a larger nose.

List of appearances

• "Elmer The Great Dane" (04/29/1935)
• "Doctor Oswald" (12/30/1935)
  - later reissued as "Dr. Oswald"
• "Beachcombers" (10/5/1936)
• "Gopher Trouble" (11/30/1936)
• "The Playful Pup" (07/12/1937)
• "Firemen's Picnic" (08/16/1937)
  - cameo only
• "Tail End" (04/25/1938)
• "Problem Child" (05/16/1938)
• "Soup To Mutts" (01/09/1939)
• "Wrestling Wrecks" (07/20/1953)
• "Spook-A-Nanny" (10/??/1964)

See also

• List of Walter Lantz cartoons
• List of Walter Lantz cartoon characters