King Leonardo and his Short Subjects
Encyclopedia
King Leonardo and his Short Subjects was an animated cartoon
series released in 1960 by Total Television
(which would later rename itself Leonardo Productions after the main character of this show), sponsored by General Mills
.
impersonating Sheldon Leonard
), who was the inept yet well-meaning king
of the fictional African nation of Bongo Congo. Leonardo was assisted in his adventures by a mild-mannered skunk
named Odie Cologne aka "Odio Cologne" (voiced by Allen Swift
impersonating Ronald Colman
), an ironic play on "Eau de Cologne
".
King Leonardo's incompetent brother Itchy (voiced by Swift) attempts to overthrow Leonardo and rule the kingdom himself along with his friend, gangster and leader Biggie Rat (voiced by Beck impersonating Edward G. Robinson
). Biggie would often employ the help of an evil German inventor named Professor Messer (voiced by Beck, whose character's last name is German for "Knife") and even obtain help from Biggie's sister Carlotta.
Episodes of "The King and Odie" that were exclusive to Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales
had Biggie Rat and Itchy Brother employed by Mr. Mad (voiced by Norman Rose
), a mad scientist
with a domineering personality (easily cowing even the strong-willed Biggie) and his own nefarious plans for Bongo Congo, not to mention a creepy echoing voice. The title was a play on a king ruling over his "subjects", along with the common term "short subjects" for cartoons and other films whose duration is just a few minutes.
Early in the series' NBC
run, selected Columbia Pictures theatrical cartoons were aired on the program, some featuring The Fox and the Crow
and Li'l Abner
.
These shorts were added to fill time when production on the early shows was delayed. The Columbia cartoons previously had been featured during NBC showings of Hanna-Barbera's Ruff and Reddy and were not included in subsequent syndicated versions of the series.
, which premiered in 1963. The following year, Total TV launched its most popular series, Underdog. When Underdog premiered in 1964, it featured repeats of The Hunter, while The Hunter's former spot on the Tennessee Tuxedo program was filled by repeats of Tooter Turtle.
Another segment of the original King Leonardo show was Twinkles (an orange elephant), which simultaneously appeared as a feature on Jay Ward's Rocky and his Friends [over Ward's objections; after a brief period, it was seen on King Leonardo exclusively]. The title character served as the mascot of Twinkles Cereal, a product of the show's chief sponsor, General Mills
. The 90 second Twinkles segments continued to air in syndicated reruns of the show during the 1960s, which were presented in a 15-minute format under the title The King and Odie, but were later phased out after a fireman character replaced the elephant as the cereal's mascot. The segments also appeared during some NBC network rebroadcasts of Underdog. The Twinkles segments were not included when King Leonardo And His Short Subjects was syndicated in a half-hour format during the 1980s.
King Leonardo and his Short Subjects was part of NBC's Saturday morning lineup until 1963.
The animation for the show's early segments was produced by TV Spots, with later episodes by Gamma Productions
, the same Mexico-based studio that did much of the work for Jay Ward Productions
. For this reason, and due to shared sponsorship by General Mills, Gamma has often been associated with both Total Television Productions and Jay Ward Productions. TV Spots was primarily a producer of animated commercials, but also was contracted for some segments of Rocky and his Friends for Jay Ward Productions.
In reruns, Total Television shorts often have been packaged alongside Jay Ward cartoons. Despite similar limited-animation styles, they were two separate studios.
King Leonardo, despite its earlier episodes repackaged for syndication as The King and Odie during the mid-1960s, never attained the popularity of Total Television's other series, Underdog and Tennessee Tuxedo, and is hardly ever aired on television today. Beginning in 2006, the Black Family Channel
aired this show on its BFC Kids TV programming block until the channel's demise a year later. Syndicated episodes can be viewed on the In2TV website. The characters of this show were also featured in an eight-issue comic book
produced by Dell Comics
and Gold Key
.
Animated cartoon
An animated cartoon is a short, hand-drawn film for the cinema, television or computer screen, featuring some kind of story or plot...
series released in 1960 by Total Television
Total Television
Total Television was an American animation studio responsible for many well known American Saturday Morning cartoon television animated series.-History:...
(which would later rename itself Leonardo Productions after the main character of this show), sponsored by General Mills
General Mills
General Mills, Inc. is an American Fortune 500 corporation, primarily concerned with food products, which is headquartered in Golden Valley, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis. The company markets many well-known brands, such as Betty Crocker, Yoplait, Colombo, Totinos, Jeno's, Pillsbury, Green...
.
Characters and story
The show focused on Leonardo the lion (voiced by Jackson BeckJackson Beck
Jackson Beck was an American actor best known as the announcer on radio's The Adventures of Superman and the voice of Bluto in the Famous era Popeye theatrical shorts.-Career:...
impersonating Sheldon Leonard
Sheldon Leonard
Sheldon Leonard was a pioneering American film and television producer, director, writer, and actor.-Biography:...
), who was the inept yet well-meaning king
Monarch
A monarch is the person who heads a monarchy. This is a form of government in which a state or polity is ruled or controlled by an individual who typically inherits the throne by birth and occasionally rules for life or until abdication...
of the fictional African nation of Bongo Congo. Leonardo was assisted in his adventures by a mild-mannered skunk
Skunk
Skunks are mammals best known for their ability to secrete a liquid with a strong, foul odor. General appearance varies from species to species, from black-and-white to brown or cream colored. Skunks belong to the family Mephitidae and to the order Carnivora...
named Odie Cologne aka "Odio Cologne" (voiced by Allen Swift
Allen Swift
Ira Stadlen , known professionally as Allen Swift, was an American voice actor, known for playing characters including Simon Bar Sinister and Riff-Raff on the Underdog cartoon show...
impersonating Ronald Colman
Ronald Colman
Ronald Charles Colman was an English actor.-Early years:He was born in Richmond, Surrey, England, the second son and fourth child of Charles Colman and his wife Marjory Read Fraser. His siblings included Eric, Edith, and Marjorie. He was educated at boarding school in Littlehampton, where he...
), an ironic play on "Eau de Cologne
Eau de Cologne
Eau de Cologne or simply Cologne is a toiletry, a perfume in a style that originated from Cologne, Germany. It is nowadays a generic term for scented formulations in typical concentration of 2-5% essential oils. However as of today cologne is a blend of extracts, alcohol, and water...
".
King Leonardo's incompetent brother Itchy (voiced by Swift) attempts to overthrow Leonardo and rule the kingdom himself along with his friend, gangster and leader Biggie Rat (voiced by Beck impersonating Edward G. Robinson
Edward G. Robinson
Edward G. Robinson was a Romanian-born American actor. A popular star during Hollywood's Golden Age, he is best remembered for his roles as gangsters, such as Rico in his star-making film Little Caesar and as Rocco in Key Largo...
). Biggie would often employ the help of an evil German inventor named Professor Messer (voiced by Beck, whose character's last name is German for "Knife") and even obtain help from Biggie's sister Carlotta.
Episodes of "The King and Odie" that were exclusive to Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales
Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales
Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales is a popular, semi-educational animated cartoon TV series that originally aired on CBS from 1963 to 1966. It was produced by Total Television, the same company that produced the earlier King Leonardo and the later Underdog, and primarily sponsored by General Mills...
had Biggie Rat and Itchy Brother employed by Mr. Mad (voiced by Norman Rose
Norman Rose
Norman Rose was an actor, film narrator and radio announcer whose velvety baritone was often called "the Voice of God" by colleagues...
), a mad scientist
Mad scientist
A mad scientist is a stock character of popular fiction, specifically science fiction. The mad scientist may be villainous or antagonistic, benign or neutral, and whether insane, eccentric, or simply bumbling, mad scientists often work with fictional technology in order to forward their schemes, if...
with a domineering personality (easily cowing even the strong-willed Biggie) and his own nefarious plans for Bongo Congo, not to mention a creepy echoing voice. The title was a play on a king ruling over his "subjects", along with the common term "short subjects" for cartoons and other films whose duration is just a few minutes.
Other segments
Each half-hour episode of King Leonardo consisted of five animated segments. Each half-hour included a two-part King and Odie cliffhanger story, with other characters featured in between:- Tooter TurtleTooter TurtleTooter Turtle was a cartoon about a rather dopey-looking turtle who first appeared on TV in 1960, as a segment, along with The Hunter , as part of the King Leonardo and His Short Subjects program.Tooter debuted on NBC, on Saturday, October 15, 1960, and ran for 39 original episodes through July...
: The adventures of a turtleTurtleTurtles are reptiles of the order Testudines , characterised by a special bony or cartilaginous shell developed from their ribs that acts as a shield...
(voiced by Swift to sound similar to Mortimer SnerdEdgar BergenEdgar John Bergen was an American actor and radio performer, best known as a ventriloquist.-Early life:...
) who has Mr. WizardMagician (fantasy)A magician, mage, sorcerer, sorceress, wizard, enchanter, enchantress, thaumaturge or a person known under one of many other possible terms is someone who uses or practices magic that derives from supernatural or occult sources...
the LizardLizardLizards are a widespread group of squamate reptiles, with nearly 3800 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica as well as most oceanic island chains...
(voiced by Sandy BeckerSandy BeckerGeorge Sanford Becker , who was known professionally as Sandy Becker, was a television announcer, actor, and comedian who hosted several popular children's programs in New York City...
) transport him to various settings only to realize he was better off at home. - The Hunter: A Southern-accented crime-fighting bloodhoundBloodhoundThe Bloodhound is a large breed of dog which, while originally bred to hunt deer and wild boar, was later bred specifically to track human beings. It is a scenthound, tracking by smell, as opposed to a sighthound, which tracks using vision. It is famed for its ability to discern human odors even...
(voiced by Kenny DelmarKenny DelmarKenneth Howard "Kenny" Delmar was an American actor active in radio, films, and animation.-Radio:...
) often chases after an evil foxFoxFox is a common name for many species of omnivorous mammals belonging to the Canidae family. Foxes are small to medium-sized canids , characterized by possessing a long narrow snout, and a bushy tail .Members of about 37 species are referred to as foxes, of which only 12 species actually belong to...
simply named the Fox (voiced by Ben Stone). The Hunter's personality was similar to that of Delmar's earlier radio character Senator ClaghornSenator ClaghornSenator Beauregard Claghorn of Charleston, South Carolina, was a popular radio character on the "Allen's Alley" segment of The Fred Allen Show beginning in 1945...
(the inspiration for character Foghorn LeghornFoghorn Leghorn and The Barnyard DawgFoghorn Leghorn is a character that appears in the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons for Warner Bros. He was created by Robert McKimson, and starred in 28 cartoons between 1946 and 1963 in the Golden Age of American animation...
).
Early in the series' NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
run, selected Columbia Pictures theatrical cartoons were aired on the program, some featuring The Fox and the Crow
The Fox and the Crow
The Fox and the Crow are a pair of anthropomorphic cartoon characters created by Frank Tashlin for the Screen Gems studio. The characters, the refined but gullible Fauntleroy Fox and the streetwise Crawford Crow, appeared in a series of animated short subjects released by Screen Gems through its...
and Li'l Abner
Li'l Abner
Li'l Abner is a satirical American comic strip that appeared in many newspapers in the United States, Canada and Europe, featuring a fictional clan of hillbillies in the impoverished town of Dogpatch, Kentucky. Written and drawn by Al Capp , the strip ran for 43 years, from August 13, 1934 through...
.
These shorts were added to fill time when production on the early shows was delayed. The Columbia cartoons previously had been featured during NBC showings of Hanna-Barbera's Ruff and Reddy and were not included in subsequent syndicated versions of the series.
Later appearances
After King Leonardo and his Short Subjects ended, one season's worth of new segments of "The King and Odie" and "The Hunter" continued to be produced and aired on Total TV's Tennessee Tuxedo and His TalesTennessee Tuxedo and His Tales
Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales is a popular, semi-educational animated cartoon TV series that originally aired on CBS from 1963 to 1966. It was produced by Total Television, the same company that produced the earlier King Leonardo and the later Underdog, and primarily sponsored by General Mills...
, which premiered in 1963. The following year, Total TV launched its most popular series, Underdog. When Underdog premiered in 1964, it featured repeats of The Hunter, while The Hunter's former spot on the Tennessee Tuxedo program was filled by repeats of Tooter Turtle.
Another segment of the original King Leonardo show was Twinkles (an orange elephant), which simultaneously appeared as a feature on Jay Ward's Rocky and his Friends [over Ward's objections; after a brief period, it was seen on King Leonardo exclusively]. The title character served as the mascot of Twinkles Cereal, a product of the show's chief sponsor, General Mills
General Mills
General Mills, Inc. is an American Fortune 500 corporation, primarily concerned with food products, which is headquartered in Golden Valley, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis. The company markets many well-known brands, such as Betty Crocker, Yoplait, Colombo, Totinos, Jeno's, Pillsbury, Green...
. The 90 second Twinkles segments continued to air in syndicated reruns of the show during the 1960s, which were presented in a 15-minute format under the title The King and Odie, but were later phased out after a fireman character replaced the elephant as the cereal's mascot. The segments also appeared during some NBC network rebroadcasts of Underdog. The Twinkles segments were not included when King Leonardo And His Short Subjects was syndicated in a half-hour format during the 1980s.
King Leonardo and his Short Subjects was part of NBC's Saturday morning lineup until 1963.
The animation for the show's early segments was produced by TV Spots, with later episodes by Gamma Productions
Gamma Productions
Producciones Animadas Gamma S.A. was a Mexican animation studio that served as an animation house for cartoons produced by Jay Ward and Total Television. Founded in 1959 as Val-Mar Studios, it was set up to do animation production for Rocky and His Friends...
, the same Mexico-based studio that did much of the work for Jay Ward Productions
Jay Ward Productions
Jay Ward Productions was an Amercian animated television cartoon series production company, founded in 1949 by American animator Jay Ward. It made extensive use of limited animation techniques....
. For this reason, and due to shared sponsorship by General Mills, Gamma has often been associated with both Total Television Productions and Jay Ward Productions. TV Spots was primarily a producer of animated commercials, but also was contracted for some segments of Rocky and his Friends for Jay Ward Productions.
In reruns, Total Television shorts often have been packaged alongside Jay Ward cartoons. Despite similar limited-animation styles, they were two separate studios.
King Leonardo, despite its earlier episodes repackaged for syndication as The King and Odie during the mid-1960s, never attained the popularity of Total Television's other series, Underdog and Tennessee Tuxedo, and is hardly ever aired on television today. Beginning in 2006, the Black Family Channel
Black Family Channel
Black Family Channel was a network for African American families and the only black-owned and operated cable television network...
aired this show on its BFC Kids TV programming block until the channel's demise a year later. Syndicated episodes can be viewed on the In2TV website. The characters of this show were also featured in an eight-issue comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
produced by Dell Comics
Dell Comics
Dell Comics was the comic book publishing arm of Dell Publishing, which got its start in pulp magazines. It published comics from 1929 to 1973. At its peak, it was the most prominent and successful American company in the medium...
and Gold Key
Gold Key
In fiction, a gold key is a special token granting access to and control of a mythical or ultra-private or secret bank account or vault, such as a Swiss bank account. In reality, the key is often a code word and accounts are not completely anonymous....
.
Cast
- Jackson BeckJackson BeckJackson Beck was an American actor best known as the announcer on radio's The Adventures of Superman and the voice of Bluto in the Famous era Popeye theatrical shorts.-Career:...
- Leonardo, Biggie Rat, Professor Messer - Allen SwiftAllen SwiftIra Stadlen , known professionally as Allen Swift, was an American voice actor, known for playing characters including Simon Bar Sinister and Riff-Raff on the Underdog cartoon show...
- Odie Cologne, Itchy, Duke, Earl, Tooter Turtle, Narrator ("The King and Odie") - Sandy BeckerSandy BeckerGeorge Sanford Becker , who was known professionally as Sandy Becker, was a television announcer, actor, and comedian who hosted several popular children's programs in New York City...
- Mr. Wizard - Kenny DelmarKenny DelmarKenneth Howard "Kenny" Delmar was an American actor active in radio, films, and animation.-Radio:...
- The Hunter, Narrator ("The Hunter") - Ben Stone - The Fox, Officer Flim Flanigan
- Norman RoseNorman RoseNorman Rose was an actor, film narrator and radio announcer whose velvety baritone was often called "the Voice of God" by colleagues...
- Mr. Mad, Narrator (several 1963 episodes of "The King and Odie") - Delo States - various female and children's voices
- George S. IrvingGeorge S. IrvingGeorge S. Irving is an American actor, known primarily for his character roles on Broadway. Born George Irving Shelasky in Springfield, Massachusetts, he made his debut in the original 1943 production of Oklahoma!, only to be drafted days later to serve in World War II...
- Narrator ("Twinkles"), various voices
Catch phrases
- King Leonardo - "Confound it, that's the most unheard of thing I ever heard of!"
- Odie Cologne - "Ah, Sire!"
- Biggie Rat - "Dig me?"
- Itchy Brother - "Yeah, Big, I dig."
- The Hunter - "That's a joke, son."
- Tudor Turtle - "Please, Mr. Wizard; it's what I want to be" and "Help, Mr. Wizard!"
- Mr. Wizard - "Drizzle, Drazzle, Druzzle, Drome; time for zis one to come home" and "Be just vhat you is, not vhat you is not. Folks vhat do zis are ze happiest lot."