Tom Slick is the cartoon star of a series of shorts that aired within the half-hour, animated television series George of the Jungle

George of the Jungle

George of the Jungle was an American animated series produced by Jay Ward and Bill Scott, who created The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show. The character George was inspired by the legend of Tarzan. It ran for 17 episodes on Saturday mornings from September 9 to December 30, 1967, on the American TV...

(ABC

American Broadcasting Company

The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

, 1967). It was the work of Jay Ward Productions

Jay Ward

J Troplong "Jay" Ward was an American creator and producer of animated television cartoons. He produced animated series based on such characters as Crusader Rabbit, Rocky & Bullwinkle, Dudley Do-Right, Peabody and Sherman, Hoppity Hooper, George of the Jungle, Tom Slick, and Super Chicken...

, the creators of Rocky & Bullwinkle and other satiric animated characters.

The premise

Freckled, all-American racecar-driver Tom Slick (voiced by Bill Scott

Bill Scott

William John "Bill" Scott was an American voice actor, writer and producer for animated cartoons, primarily associated with Jay Ward and UPA.-Career:...

 using a similar voice to Dudley Do-Right

Dudley Do-Right

Dudley Do-Right, created by Alex Anderson, is the eponymous hero of a segment on The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show which parodied early 20th century melodrama and silent film in the form of the Northern genre....

) competes in various races with his trusty vehicle, the Thunderbolt Grease-Slapper. He is accompanied by his girlfriend Marigold (voiced by June Foray

June Foray

June Foray is an American voice actress, best known as the voice of many animated characters...

) and his elderly mechanic Gertie Growler (voiced by Bill Scott

Bill Scott

William John "Bill" Scott was an American voice actor, writer and producer for animated cartoons, primarily associated with Jay Ward and UPA.-Career:...

). A recurring antagonist

Antagonist

An antagonist is a character, group of characters, or institution, that represents the opposition against which the protagonist must contend...

 is the evil Baron Otto Matic (voiced by Paul Frees

Paul Frees

Paul Frees was an American voice actor and character actor.-Biography:He was born Solomon Hersh Frees in Chicago...

), and the Baron's stupid lackey Clutcher (voiced by Daws Butler

Daws Butler

Charles Dawson "Daws" Butler was a voice actor originally from Toledo, Ohio. He worked mostly for Hanna-Barbera and originated the voices of many famous animated cartoon characters, including Yogi Bear, Quick Draw McGraw, Snagglepuss, and Huckleberry Hound.Daws Butler trained many working actors...

 impersonating Frank Fontaine

Frank Fontaine

Frank Fontaine was an American comedian and singer.Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, he is best known for his appearances on television shows of the 1950s and 1960s, including The Jackie Gleason Show, The Jack Benny Show, and The Tonight Show.One of his earliest appearances was on the radio show,...

), whom the Baron had a penchant for hitting across the head with a monkey wrench

Monkey wrench

The monkey wrench is an adjustable wrench, a later American development of eighteenth century English coach wrenches. It was popular in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries but is now used only for heavier tasks, having been mostly replaced by the lighter and sleeker shifting adjustable or...

. Seventeen six-minute episodes were made.

Tom Slick in the comics

In comic books, Tom Slick appeared as a backup feature in Gold Key Comics

Gold Key Comics

Gold Key Comics was an imprint of Western Publishing created for comic books distributed to newsstands. Also known as Whitman Comics, Gold Key operated from 1962 to 1984.-History:...

's two-issue
George of the Jungle title (1969).