Woody Woodpecker
Encyclopedia
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 Bros. cartoon studio
in the late 1930s. 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 Blanc
, who was succeeded by Ben Hardaway and later by Grace Stafford
, wife of Walter Lantz
.
Lantz produced theatrical cartoons longer than most of his contemporaries, and Woody Woodpecker remained a staple of Universal's release schedule until 1972, when Lantz finally closed down his studio. The character has been revived since then only for special productions and occasions, save for one new Saturday morning cartoon
television series, The New Woody Woodpecker Show
, for the Fox Network
in the late 1990s/early 2000s.
Woody Woodpecker cartoons were first broadcast on television in 1957 under the title The Woody Woodpecker Show
, which featured Lantz cartoons bookended by new footage of Woody and live-action footage of Lantz. Woody has a motion picture star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
on 7000 Hollywood Boulevard. He also made a cameo alongside many other famous cartoon characters in the 1988
film Who Framed Roger Rabbit
.
Woody Woodpecker and friends are also icons at the PortAventura Park
in Salou, Spain. Brought to the park by Universal Studios
, Woody and friends remain there despite Universal no longer having a financial stake in the park.
According to Walter Lantz
's press agent
, the idea for Woody came during the producer's honeymoon
with his wife, Gracie
, in Sherwood Lake, California. A noisy woodpecker
outside their cabin kept the couple awake at night, and when a heavy rain started, they learned that the bird had bored holes in their cabin's roof. As both Walter and Gracie told Dallas attorney Rod Phelps during a visit, Walter wanted to shoot the thing, but Gracie suggested that her husband make a cartoon about the bird, and thus Woody was born. The story is questionable, however, since the Lantzes were not married until after Woody made his screen debut. Also, their story that the bird's cry inspired Woody's trademark "Ha-ha-ha-HAA-ha!" is also questionable, as Mel Blanc had already used a similar laugh in earlier Warner Bros. cartoons such as Elmer's Candid Camera
.
Woody Woodpecker first appeared in the film Knock Knock on November 25, 1940. The cartoon ostensibly stars Andy Panda
and his father, Papa Panda, but it is Woody who steals the show. The woodpecker
constantly pesters the two panda
s, apparently just for the fun of it. Andy, meanwhile, tries to sprinkle salt
on Woody's tail in the belief that this will somehow capture the bird. To Woody's surprise, Andy's attempts prevail, and Woody is taken away to the funny farm
— but not before his captors prove to be crazier than he is.
The Woody of Knock Knock was designed by animator Alex Lovy
. Woody's original voice actor, Mel Blanc
, would stop performing the character after the first four cartoons to work exclusively for Leon Schlesinger Productions
(Later renamed Warner Bros. Cartoons
), producer of Warner Bros.
' Looney Tunes
and Merrie Melodies
. At Schlesinger's, Blanc had already established the voices of two other famous "screwball" characters who preceded Woody, Daffy Duck
and Bugs Bunny
. Ironically, Blanc's characterization of the Woody Woodpecker laugh had originally been applied to a Bugs Bunny prototype, in shorts such as the aforementioned Elmer's Candid Camera, and was later transferred to Woody. Blanc's regular speaking voice for Woody was much like the early Daffy Duck
, minus the lisp. Once Warner Bros. signed Blanc up to an exclusive contract, Woody's voice-over work was taken over by Ben Hardaway, who would voice the woodpecker for the rest of the decade. To complete the connection full circle, Hardaway, who had also worked under Schlesinger at Warner Bros., was the designer of the Bugs Bunny prototype that Blanc supplied the aforementioned laugh for. Haradaway's nickname around Termite Terrace (the ramshackle building where the Looney Tunes were originally produced) was "Bugs," and the bunny prototype's first model sheet was labeled "Bugs' Bunny"--the apostrophe was later dropped.
Audiences reacted well to Knock Knock, and Lantz realized he had finally hit upon a star to replace the waning Oswald the Lucky Rabbit
. Woody would go on to star in a number of films. With his innate chutzpah and brash demeanor, the character was a natural hit during World War II
. His image appeared on US aircraft as nose art
, and on mess halls, and audiences on the homefront watched Woody cope with familiar problems such as food shortages. The 1943 Woody cartoon The Dizzy Acrobat
was nominated for the 1944 Academy Award for Best Short Subject (Cartoons)
, which it lost to the MGM Tom and Jerry
cartoon The Yankee Doodle Mouse
.
Animator Emery Hawkins
and layout artist Art Heinemann streamlined Woody's appearance for the 1944 film The Barber of Seville
, directed by Shamus Culhane
. The bird became rounder, cuter, and less demented. He also sported a simplified color scheme and a brighter smile, making him much more like his counterparts at Warner Bros.
and MGM
. Nevertheless, Culhane continued to use Woody as an aggressive lunatic, not a domesticated straight man or defensive homebody, as many other studios' characters had become. The follow-up to The Barber of Seville, The Beach Nut
, introduced Woody's chief nemesis Wally Walrus
.
short Flying Jalopy. This cartoon is played much like a Woody Woodpecker short, right down to the laugh in the end. It also features a bad guy
named "Ben Buzzard" who bears a strong resemblance to Buzz Buzzard
, a Lantz character introduced in the 1948 short Wet Blanket Policy
who would eventually succeed Wally Walrus
as Woody's primary antagonist.
In 1947, contract renewal negotiations between Lantz and Universal (now Universal-International) fell through, and Lantz began distributing his cartoons through United Artists
. The UA-distributed Lantz cartoons featured higher-quality animation, the influence of Dick Lundy (the films' budgets remained the same). Former Disney animators such as Fred Moore and Ed Love
began working at Lantz, and assisted Lundy in adding touches of the Disney style to Woody's cartoons.
and Ramey Idriss wrote "The Woody Woodpecker Song", making ample use of the character's famous laugh. Kay Kyser
's 1948 recording of the song, with Harry Babbitt
's laugh interrupting vocalist Gloria Wood, became one of the biggest hit singles of 1948. Other artists did covers, including Woody's original voice actor, Mel Blanc
. Lantz first used "The Woody Woodpecker Song" in the 1948 short Wet Blanket Policy
, and became the first and only song from an animated short subject to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Song. Lantz soon adopted the song as Woody's theme music, and due to the song's popularity, Woody Woodpecker fan clubs sprang up, theaters held "Woody" matinées, and boys got the "Woody Woodpecker" haircut.
"The Woody Woodpecker Song" and the Woody Woodpecker cartoons made extensive use of Woody's famous laugh, upsetting the man who created it, Mel Blanc. (The laugh, in a different recording, was first used for the seminal Bugs Bunny prototype character in Elmer's Candid Camera
). Although Blanc had only recorded four shorts as the voice of Woody, his laugh had been recorded as a stock sound effect, and used in every subsequent Woody Woodpecker short up until this point. Blanc sued Lantz and lost, but Lantz settled out of court when Blanc filed an appeal. While Lantz would stop using Blanc's Woody Woodpecker laugh as a stock effect in the early 1950s, Blanc's voice would be heard saying "Guess who?" at the beginning of every cartoon for the duration of the Woody Woodpecker series.
Beginning with the 1950 feature film Destination Moon
, which featured a brief segment of Woody explaining rocket propulsion, Woody's voice was taken over for this and following films by Lantz's wife, Grace Stafford
. According to the Lantzes, Stafford slipped a recording of herself into a stack of audition tapes, and her husband chose her without knowing her identity. Lantz also began having Stafford supply Woody's laugh, possibly due to the court case with Mel Blanc. Nevertheless, Stafford was not credited for her work at her own request until 1958 with the film Misguided Missile
, as she felt audiences might reject a woman doing Woody's voice. Stafford also did her best to tone down the character through her voice work, to appease Universal's complaints about Woody's raucousness.
Lantz signed again with Universal (now Universal-International) in 1950, and began production on two Woody Woodpecker cartoons that director Dick Lundy and storymen Ben Hardaway and Heck Allen had begun before the 1948 layoff. These shorts have no director's credit, as Lantz claimed to have directed them himself (despite the fact it has been speculated to be directed by another). Puny Express
, released by Universal-International in 1951, was the first to be released, followed by Sleep Happy
. These shorts marked a departure from the dialogue-driven shorts of the past. Though Stafford now voiced Woody, her job was limited, as Woody (as well as the rest of the characters) rarely spoke in the first dozen or so shorts. It was because of these shorts that Woody became very popular outside the English-speaking world
, thanks to the lack of a language barrier (The Pink Panther
shorts of the 1960s and 1970s would also enjoy worldwide popularity due to this pantomime
luxury).
Nine more Lantz-directed Woody cartoons followed, before Don Patterson
became Woody's new director in 1953. The bird was redesigned once again for these new cartoons, this time by animator
LaVerne Harding
. Harding made Woody smaller, cuter, and moved his crest forward from its original backwards position (although Woody had sported this look since 1947, as seen in the still from Wet Blanket Policy above). (The small Lantz Studios logo seen at the start of every cartoon—Woody as an armored knight on horseback carrying a lance
—continued to display Woody with his old topknot for a while.) For 1955's The Tree Medic
, one last makeover was given to the woodpecker, making Woody's eye a simple black dot and taking away the green/hazel iris he'd had since his beginnings. However, Woody's eyes were not changed in the cartoon's intros, and they remained green for the rest of the shorts' production run. During this time, the intro was changed as well. Instead of having Woody's name on screen and Woody pecking a hole in the screen to introduce himself, Woody would peck his way onto the screen, say "Guess who?", peck his name on either a brown or gray wood background, and flop around the screen laughing.
By 1955, Paul J. Smith
had taken over as primary director of Woody's shorts, with periodic fill-in shorts directed by Alex Lovy and Jack Hannah
, among others. With Smith on board, the shorts maintained a healthy dose of frenetic energy, while the animation itself was simplified, due to budget constraints.
In addition to Lantz's wife Grace Stafford providing Woody's voice, which returned the cartoon to being more dialogue-driven again, voice talents during this period were generally split between Dal McKennon
and Daws Butler
. This era would also introduce several of Woody's recurring costars, most notably Gabby Gator (voiced by Daws Butler
in an Ozarks voice, a slightly different southern dialect than he used for Huckleberry Hound
). Gabby first appeared in Everglade Raid
(then known as "Al I. Gator"). Other films paired Woody with a girlfriend, Winnie Woodpecker (voiced by June Foray
), and a niece and nephew, Splinter and Knothead (both voiced by June Foray
). Other antagonists that Woody has dealt with were Ms. Meany (voiced by Grace Stafford
) and Dapper Denver Dooley
(voiced by Dallas McKennon
).
on ABC
. The half-hour program consisted of three theatrical Woody shorts followed by a brief look at cartoon creation hosted by Lantz. It ran from 1957 to 1958 then 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 foils, but was instead on the receiving end. The first notable short to feature Woody as a serious, put-upon character was 1961's Franken-Stymied. 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, a straight man who was trying to do good. This was due in part to Woody's large presence on television, which meant Lantz had to meet the stringent rules against violence for children's television. Though the cartoons continued in production until 1972, they were a definite notch lower than the predecessors of the 1940s and 1950s.
Woody continued to appear in new theatrical shorts until 1972, when Lantz closed his studio's doors due to rising production costs. His cartoons returned to syndication in the late 1970s. Lantz sold his library of Woody shorts to MCA
/Universal
in 1985. Universal repackaged the cartoons for another syndicated Woody Woodpecker Show in 1987. A year later, Woody made a brief cameo in Who Framed Roger Rabbit
, voiced by Cherry Davis, near the end of the film. In 1995, Woody appeared in a Pepsi
commercial with NBA
star Shaquille O'Neal
.
Woody Woodpecker reappeared in the Fox Kids
series The New Woody Woodpecker Show
, which ran on Saturday mornings
from 1999 to 2002. For this series Woody's appearance was redesigned to look more like his mid-1940s look instead of the classic look he had sported for years afterward. To that effect, his crest was pushed back and his eyes were once again made green. Winnie Woodpecker, who had debuted in Real Gone Woody
in 1954, became a semi-regular character as Woody's primary love interest. Like Woody, Winnie received a redesign that made her look almost exactly like Woody did from 1947 until 1972, with the obvious differences being that she was a female woodpecker and had blue eyes. Woody's primary antagonist was Wally Walrus, who became Woody's neighbor (Woody lived in a tree house in Wally's backyard). Buzz Buzzard often made appearances, as did Ms. Meany and several other older characters.
Woody and Winnie both appear as costumed characters at Universal Orlando, Universal Studios Japan
, Universal Studios Hollywood
and Universal Studios Singapore
.
.
were good friends. Woody Woodpecker makes a cameo in nearly every film that Pal either produced or directed—for example, during the 1966 sequence in The Time Machine
, there is a brief shot of a little girl dropping her Woody Woodpecker doll as she goes into the air raid shelter. In Doc Savage-The Man of Bronze Grace Stafford is seen in a cameo carrying a Woody Woodpecker doll.
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 on many later television programs, among them The Simpsons
, American Dad!
, South Park
, The Fairly OddParents
, Family Guy
, Seinfeld
and Flash Toons
The Beach Boys
' 1967 album Smiley Smile
featured a song entitled "Fall Breaks and Back to Winter (Woody Woodpecker Symphony)". Also, the first song on the 2007 Dan Deacon
album Spiderman of the Rings
is entitled "Wooody Wooodpecker" and makes extensive use of the character's trademark laugh.
Woody Woodpecker is the mascot for the Universal Studios Theme Parks. In 1998 and 1999, 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
.
Woody Woodpecker is also the patron saint of the computer science program at Chalmers University of Technology.
and Chilly Willy
cartoons as bonuses. A few were widely released on VHS in the mid-1980s by Kid Pics Video, an American company of dubious legality, which packaged the Woody cartoons with bootlegged Disney
cartoons. In the early 2000s, a series of mail-order Woody Woodpecker Show VHS tapes and DVDs were made available by mail order through Columbia House
. However, following complaints about censorship (the cartoons included featured varying amounts of censorship, from restored and intact prints to severely cut TV edits), the series ended after fifteen volumes rather than the planned twenty.
In 2007, Universal Studios Home Entertainment
released The Woody Woodpecker and Friends Classic Cartoon Collection, a three-disc DVD boxed set compilation of Walter Lantz "Cartunes". The first forty-five Woody Woodpecker shorts—from Knock Knock
to The Great Who-Dood-It
—were presented on the box set in chronological order of release, with various Chilly Willy, Andy Panda, Swing Symphonies, and other Lantz shorts also included. The Woody Woodpecker and Friends Classic Cartoon Collection: Volume 2, including the next forty-five Woody cartoons—Termites from Mars
through Jittery Jester
—was released in 2008. A plain-vanilla best-of release, titled Woody Woodpecker Favorites, was released in 2009, which contained no new-to-DVD material. Plans for further releases, as well as a 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
.
Apart from authorized releases, the Woody Woodpecker cartoon most widely available on legal home video is Pantry Panic
, as that cartoon has fallen into the public domain
.
Other Countries
Blanc 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.
and Illumination Entertainment
, the creators behind the 2010 animated hit, Despicable Me
, have a plan to make a feature film based on Woody Woodpecker. John Altschuler and Dave Krinsky are in talks to develop a story.
, PlayStation 2
, PC
, Game Boy Color
and Game Boy Advance
.
Mattel
purchased the rights for a Woody Woodpecker Intellivision
game, and Grace Stafford recorded new dialog for the game, but it was neither completed nor released.
Additionally, a series of pachinko
games has been released in Japan by Maruhon
.
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
, an anthropomorphic acorn woodpecker
Acorn Woodpecker
The Acorn woodpecker is a medium-sized woodpecker, 21 cm long with an average weight of 85 g.-Description:...
who appeared in theatrical short films produced by the Walter Lantz
Walter Lantz Studio
Walter Lantz Productions was an American animation studio. It was in operation from 1928 to 1948 and then 1950 to 1972 and was the principal supplier of animation for Universal Studios, now part of the media conglomerate NBC Universal.-History:...
animation studio
Animation studio
An animation studio is a company producing animated media. The broadest such companies conceive of products to produce, own the physical equipment for production, employ operators for that equipment, and hold a major stake in the sales or rentals of the media produced...
and distributed by Universal Pictures
Universal Studios
Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....
. Though not the first of the screwball
Screwball comedy film
The screwball comedy is a principally American genre of comedy film that became popular during the Great Depression, originating in the early 1930s and thriving until the early 1940s. It is characterized by fast-paced repartee, farcical situations, escapist themes, and plot lines involving...
characters that became popular in the 1940s, Woody is perhaps the most indicative of the type.
Woody was created in 1940 by storyboard
Storyboard
Storyboards are graphic organizers in the form of illustrations or images displayed in sequence for the purpose of pre-visualizing a motion picture, animation, motion graphic or interactive media sequence....
artist Ben "Bugs" Hardaway
Ben Hardaway
Joseph Benson "Ben/Bugs" Hardaway was a storyboard artist, animator, voice actor, gagman, writer, and director for several American animation studios during the The Golden Age of Hollywood animation. He was sometimes credited as J.B. Hardaway, Ben Hardaway, Buggsy Hardaway, and B. Hardaway.While...
, who had previously laid the groundwork for two other screwball characters, Bugs Bunny
Bugs Bunny
Bugs Bunny is a animated character created in 1938 at Leon Schlesinger Productions, later Warner Bros. Cartoons. Bugs is an anthropomorphic gray rabbit and is famous for his flippant, insouciant personality and his portrayal as a trickster. He has primarily appeared in animated cartoons, most...
and Daffy Duck
Daffy Duck
Daffy Duck is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons, often running the gamut between being the best friend and sometimes arch-rival of Bugs Bunny...
, at the Warner Bros. cartoon studio
Warner Bros. Cartoons
Warner Bros. Cartoons, Inc. was the in-house division of Warner Bros. Pictures during the Golden Age of American animation. One of the most successful animation studios in American media history, Warner Bros. Cartoons was primarily responsible for the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies theatrical...
in the late 1930s. Woody's character and design would evolve over the years, from an insane bird
Bird
Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
with an unusually garish design to a more refined looking and acting character in the vein of the later Chuck Jones
Chuck Jones
Charles Martin "Chuck" Jones was an American animator, cartoon artist, screenwriter, producer, and director of animated films, most memorably of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts for the Warner Bros. Cartoons studio...
version of Bugs Bunny. Woody was originally voiced by prolific voice actor Mel Blanc
Mel Blanc
Melvin Jerome "Mel" Blanc was an American voice actor and comedian. Although he began his nearly six-decade-long career performing in radio commercials, Blanc is best remembered for his work with Warner Bros...
, who was succeeded by Ben Hardaway and later by Grace Stafford
Grace Stafford
Gracie Lantz , also known by her stage name Grace Stafford, was an American actress and the wife of animation producer Walter Lantz. Stafford is best known for providing the voice of Woody Woodpecker from 1950 until 1972.-Career:Grace appeared in feature live action films from 1935, Dr...
, wife of 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:...
.
Lantz produced theatrical cartoons longer than most of his contemporaries, and Woody Woodpecker remained a staple of Universal's release schedule until 1972, when Lantz finally closed down his studio. The character has been revived since then only for special productions and occasions, save for one new Saturday morning cartoon
Saturday morning cartoon
A Saturday morning cartoon is the colloquial term for the animated television programming that has typically been scheduled on Saturday mornings on the major American television networks from the 1960s to the present; the genre's peak in popularity mostly ended in the 1990s while the popularity of...
television series, The New Woody Woodpecker Show
The New Woody Woodpecker Show
The New Woody Woodpecker Show is an animated television series based on the original cartoon by Walter Lantz, produced by Universal Animation Studios and aired from 1999 until 2002 on FOX and YTV...
, for the Fox Network
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
in the late 1990s/early 2000s.
Woody Woodpecker cartoons were first broadcast on television in 1957 under the title The Woody Woodpecker Show
The Woody Woodpecker Show
The Woody Woodpecker Show is a long-running 30-minute American television series mainly composed of animated cartoon escapades of the world-famous woodpecker and other Walter Lantz characters including Andy Panda, Chilly Willy, and Inspector Willoughby released by Walter Lantz Productions...
, which featured Lantz cartoons bookended by new footage of Woody and live-action footage of Lantz. Woody has a motion picture star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Hollywood Walk of Fame
The Hollywood Walk of Fame consists of more than 2,400 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along fifteen blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, California...
on 7000 Hollywood Boulevard. He also made a cameo alongside many other famous cartoon characters in the 1988
1988 in film
-Top grossing films :- Awards :Academy Awards:* Act of Piracy* Action Jackson, starring Carl Weathers, Craig T. Nelson, Vanity, Sharon Stone* The Adventures of Baron Munchausen* Akira* Alice...
film Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Who Framed Roger Rabbit is a 1988 American fantasy-comedy-noir film directed by Robert Zemeckis and released by Touchstone Pictures. The film combines live action and animation, and is based on Gary K. Wolf's novel Who Censored Roger Rabbit?, which depicts a world in which cartoon characters...
.
Woody Woodpecker and friends are also icons at the PortAventura Park
PortAventura
PortAventura is a theme park and a resort in Salou, Catalonia, Spain; on the Costa Daurada , approximately an hour drive south of Barcelona. It attracts around 3 million visitors per year making it the most visited theme park in Spain. PortAventura Park is also the 6th most visited theme park in...
in Salou, Spain. Brought to the park by Universal Studios
Universal Studios
Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....
, Woody and friends remain there despite Universal no longer having a financial stake in the park.
Early years
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:...
's press agent
Press agent
A press agent, or flack, is a professional publicist who acts on behalf of his or her client on all matters involving public relations. Press agents are typically employed by public personalities and organizations such as performers and businesses...
, the idea for Woody came during the producer's honeymoon
Honeymoon
-History:One early reference to a honeymoon is in Deuteronomy 24:5 “When a man is newly wed, he need not go out on a military expedition, nor shall any public duty be imposed on him...
with his wife, Gracie
Grace Stafford
Gracie Lantz , also known by her stage name Grace Stafford, was an American actress and the wife of animation producer Walter Lantz. Stafford is best known for providing the voice of Woody Woodpecker from 1950 until 1972.-Career:Grace appeared in feature live action films from 1935, Dr...
, in Sherwood Lake, California. A noisy woodpecker
Woodpecker
Woodpeckers are near passerine birds of the order Piciformes. They are one subfamily in the family Picidae, which also includes the piculets and wrynecks. They are found worldwide and include about 180 species....
outside their cabin kept the couple awake at night, and when a heavy rain started, they learned that the bird had bored holes in their cabin's roof. As both Walter and Gracie told Dallas attorney Rod Phelps during a visit, Walter wanted to shoot the thing, but Gracie suggested that her husband make a cartoon about the bird, and thus Woody was born. The story is questionable, however, since the Lantzes were not married until after Woody made his screen debut. Also, their story that the bird's cry inspired Woody's trademark "Ha-ha-ha-HAA-ha!" is also questionable, as Mel Blanc had already used a similar laugh in earlier Warner Bros. cartoons such as Elmer's Candid Camera
Elmer's Candid Camera
Elmer's Candid Camera is a 1940 Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Chuck Jones, and first released on March 2, 1940 by Warner Bros.. It marks the first appearance of Elmer Fudd Elmer's Candid Camera is a 1940 Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Chuck Jones, and first released on March 2, 1940 by...
.
Woody Woodpecker first appeared in the film Knock Knock on November 25, 1940. The cartoon ostensibly stars Andy Panda
Andy Panda
Andy Panda is a cartoon character who starred in his own series of animated cartoon short subjects produced by Walter Lantz. These "cartunes" were released by Universal Pictures from 1939 to 1947 and United Artists from 1948 to 1949. The titular character is an anthropomorphic cartoon character, a...
and his father, Papa Panda, but it is Woody who steals the show. The woodpecker
Woodpecker
Woodpeckers are near passerine birds of the order Piciformes. They are one subfamily in the family Picidae, which also includes the piculets and wrynecks. They are found worldwide and include about 180 species....
constantly pesters the two panda
Panda
Panda or Panda bear most often refers to:*Giant panda, an animal in the Bear familyPanda may also refer to:*Red panda, the only living member in the Ailuridae family-In biology:* Species related to the Giant panda...
s, apparently just for the fun of it. Andy, meanwhile, tries to sprinkle salt
Salt
In chemistry, salts are ionic compounds that result from the neutralization reaction of an acid and a base. They are composed of cations and anions so that the product is electrically neutral...
on Woody's tail in the belief that this will somehow capture the bird. To Woody's surprise, Andy's attempts prevail, and Woody is taken away to the funny farm
Psychiatric hospital
Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental hospitals, are hospitals specializing in the treatment of serious mental disorders. Psychiatric hospitals vary widely in their size and grading. Some hospitals may specialise only in short-term or outpatient therapy for low-risk patients...
— but not before his captors prove to be crazier than he is.
The Woody of Knock Knock was designed by animator Alex Lovy
Alex Lovy
Alex Lovy was an American animator, who spent the majority of his career as an animator and director at Walter Lantz Productions, later being a producer at Hanna-Barbera, and also supervising the cartoon unit at Warner Bros...
. Woody's original voice actor, Mel Blanc
Mel Blanc
Melvin Jerome "Mel" Blanc was an American voice actor and comedian. Although he began his nearly six-decade-long career performing in radio commercials, Blanc is best remembered for his work with Warner Bros...
, would stop performing the character after the first four cartoons to work exclusively for Leon Schlesinger Productions
Warner Bros. Cartoons
Warner Bros. Cartoons, Inc. was the in-house division of Warner Bros. Pictures during the Golden Age of American animation. One of the most successful animation studios in American media history, Warner Bros. Cartoons was primarily responsible for the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies theatrical...
(Later renamed Warner Bros. Cartoons
Warner Bros. Cartoons
Warner Bros. Cartoons, Inc. was the in-house division of Warner Bros. Pictures during the Golden Age of American animation. One of the most successful animation studios in American media history, Warner Bros. Cartoons was primarily responsible for the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies theatrical...
), producer of Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
' Looney Tunes
Looney Tunes
Looney Tunes is a Warner Bros. animated cartoon series. It preceded the Merrie Melodies series and was Warner Bros.'s first animated theatrical series. Since its first official release, 1930's Sinkin' in the Bathtub, the series has become a worldwide media franchise, spawning several television...
and Merrie Melodies
Merrie Melodies
Merrie Melodies is the name of a series of animated cartoons distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures between 1931 and 1969.Originally produced by Harman-Ising Pictures, Merrie Melodies were produced by Leon Schlesinger Productions from 1933 to 1944. Schlesinger sold his studio to Warner Bros. in 1944,...
. At Schlesinger's, Blanc had already established the voices of two other famous "screwball" characters who preceded Woody, Daffy Duck
Daffy Duck
Daffy Duck is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons, often running the gamut between being the best friend and sometimes arch-rival of Bugs Bunny...
and Bugs Bunny
Bugs Bunny
Bugs Bunny is a animated character created in 1938 at Leon Schlesinger Productions, later Warner Bros. Cartoons. Bugs is an anthropomorphic gray rabbit and is famous for his flippant, insouciant personality and his portrayal as a trickster. He has primarily appeared in animated cartoons, most...
. Ironically, Blanc's characterization of the Woody Woodpecker laugh had originally been applied to a Bugs Bunny prototype, in shorts such as the aforementioned Elmer's Candid Camera, and was later transferred to Woody. Blanc's regular speaking voice for Woody was much like the early Daffy Duck
Daffy Duck
Daffy Duck is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons, often running the gamut between being the best friend and sometimes arch-rival of Bugs Bunny...
, minus the lisp. Once Warner Bros. signed Blanc up to an exclusive contract, Woody's voice-over work was taken over by Ben Hardaway, who would voice the woodpecker for the rest of the decade. To complete the connection full circle, Hardaway, who had also worked under Schlesinger at Warner Bros., was the designer of the Bugs Bunny prototype that Blanc supplied the aforementioned laugh for. Haradaway's nickname around Termite Terrace (the ramshackle building where the Looney Tunes were originally produced) was "Bugs," and the bunny prototype's first model sheet was labeled "Bugs' Bunny"--the apostrophe was later dropped.
Audiences reacted well to Knock Knock, and Lantz realized he had finally hit upon a star to replace the waning 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...
. Woody would go on to star in a number of films. With his innate chutzpah and brash demeanor, the character was a natural hit during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. His image appeared on US aircraft as nose art
Nose art
Nose art is a decorative painting or design on the fuselage of a military aircraft, usually located near the nose, and is a form of aircraft graffiti....
, and on mess halls, and audiences on the homefront watched Woody cope with familiar problems such as food shortages. The 1943 Woody cartoon The Dizzy Acrobat
The Dizzy Acrobat
The Dizzy Acrobat is the eighth animated cartoon short subject in the Woody Woodpecker series. Released theatrically on May 21, 1943, the film was produced by Walter Lantz Productions and distributed by Universal Pictures.-Plot:...
was nominated for the 1944 Academy Award for Best Short Subject (Cartoons)
Academy Award for Animated Short Film
The Academy Award for Animated Short Film is an award which has been given by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as part of the Academy Awards every year since the 5th Academy Awards, covering the year 1931-32, to the present....
, which it lost to the MGM Tom and Jerry
Tom and Jerry
Tom and Jerry are the cat and mouse cartoon characters that were evolved starting in 1939.Tom and Jerry also may refer to:Cartoon works featuring the cat and mouse so named:* The Tom and Jerry Show...
cartoon The Yankee Doodle Mouse
The Yankee Doodle Mouse
The Yankee Doodle Mouse is a 1943 American one-reel animated cartoon. It is the eleventh Tom and Jerry short produced by Fred Quimby, and directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, with musical supervision by Scott Bradley and animation by Irven Spence, Pete Burness, Kenneth Muse and George Gordon...
.
Emery Hawkins
Emery Hawkins was an American animator who worked at many studios during the golden age of animation, including Disney, Screen Gems, Walter Lantz, Warner Bros., and UPA. His most famous work is undoubtedly the Woody Woodpecker cartoons that he worked on during the 1940s...
and layout artist Art Heinemann streamlined Woody's appearance for the 1944 film The Barber of Seville
The Barber of Seville (cartoon)
The Barber of Seville is the 10th animated cartoon short subject in the Woody Woodpecker series. Released theatrically on April 22, 1944, the film was produced by Walter Lantz Productions and distributed by Universal Pictures.-Plot:...
, directed by Shamus Culhane
Shamus Culhane
James "Shamus" Culhane was an American animator, film director, and film producer.Culhane worked for a number of American animation studios, including Fleischer Studios, the Ub Iwerks studio, Walt Disney Productions, and the Walter Lantz studio. He began his animation career in 1925 working for J.R...
. The bird became rounder, cuter, and less demented. He also sported a simplified color scheme and a brighter smile, making him much more like his counterparts at Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Cartoons
Warner Bros. Cartoons, Inc. was the in-house division of Warner Bros. Pictures during the Golden Age of American animation. One of the most successful animation studios in American media history, Warner Bros. Cartoons was primarily responsible for the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies theatrical...
and MGM
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio
The Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio was the in-house division of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer motion picture studio in Hollywood, California during the Golden Age of American animation, responsible for producing animated short subjects to accompany MGM feature films in Loew's Theaters...
. Nevertheless, Culhane continued to use Woody as an aggressive lunatic, not a domesticated straight man or defensive homebody, as many other studios' characters had become. The follow-up to The Barber of Seville, The Beach Nut
The Beach Nut
The Beach Nut is the 11th animated cartoon short subject in the Woody Woodpecker series. Released theatrically on October 16, 1944, the film was produced by Walter Lantz Productions and distributed by Universal Pictures...
, introduced Woody's chief nemesis Wally Walrus
Wally Walrus
Wally Walrus is a fictional animated cartoon character who appeared in several films produced by Walter Lantz Productions in the 1940s and '50s....
.
The post-war woodpecker
Woody's wild days were numbered, however. In 1946, Lantz hired Disney veteran Dick Lundy to take over the direction chores for Woody's cartoons. Lundy rejected Culhane's take on the series and made Woody more defensive; no longer did the bird go insane without a legitimate reason. Lundy also paid more attention to the animation, making Woody's new films more Disney-esque in their design style, animation, and timing. Lundy's last film for Disney was the Donald DuckDonald Duck
Donald Fauntleroy Duck is a cartoon character created in 1934 at Walt Disney Productions and licensed by The Walt Disney Company. Donald is an anthropomorphic white duck with a yellow-orange bill, legs, and feet. He typically wears a sailor suit with a cap and a black or red bow tie. Donald is most...
short Flying Jalopy. This cartoon is played much like a Woody Woodpecker short, right down to the laugh in the end. It also features a bad guy
Villain
A villain is an "evil" character in a story, whether a historical narrative or, especially, a work of fiction. The villain usually is the antagonist, the character who tends to have a negative effect on other characters...
named "Ben Buzzard" who bears a strong resemblance to Buzz Buzzard
Buzz Buzzard
Buzz Buzzard is a fictional animated cartoon character who appeared in several films produced by Walter Lantz Productions in the 1940s, '50s, and 70’s.-History:...
, a Lantz character introduced in the 1948 short Wet Blanket Policy
Wet Blanket Policy
Wet Blanket Policy is the 29th animated cartoon short subject in the Woody Woodpecker series. Released theatrically on August 20, 1948, the film was produced by Walter Lantz Productions and distributed by United Artists. The title is a play-on-words about a type of insurance policy.- Plot...
who would eventually succeed Wally Walrus
Wally Walrus
Wally Walrus is a fictional animated cartoon character who appeared in several films produced by Walter Lantz Productions in the 1940s and '50s....
as Woody's primary antagonist.
In 1947, contract renewal negotiations between Lantz and Universal (now Universal-International) fell through, and Lantz began distributing his cartoons through United Artists
United Artists
United Artists Corporation is an American film studio. The original studio of that name was founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charles Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks....
. The UA-distributed Lantz cartoons featured higher-quality animation, the influence of Dick Lundy (the films' budgets remained the same). Former Disney animators such as Fred Moore and Ed Love
Ed Love
Edward H. Love was an American animator who has worked at various studios during the golden age of animation. He is well known for his work at Disney , MGM , Walter Lantz , and his work on television shows such as Yogi Bear and The Flintstones.Love won a Golden Award at the 1984 Motion Pictures...
began working at Lantz, and assisted Lundy in adding touches of the Disney style to Woody's cartoons.
"The Woody Woodpecker Song"
In 1947, Woody got his own theme song when musicians George TibblesGeorge Tibbles
George Tibbles was a screenwriter, contributing to TV series such as Leave it to Beaver, Date with the Angels, The Munsters, Alice, Family Affair and Who's the Boss?...
and Ramey Idriss wrote "The Woody Woodpecker Song", making ample use of the character's famous laugh. Kay Kyser
Kay Kyser
James Kern Kyser was a popular bandleader and radio personality of the 1930s and 1940s.-Early years:He was born in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, the son of pharmacists Paul Bynum Kyser and Emily Royster Kyser. Editor Vermont C. Royster was his cousin...
's 1948 recording of the song, with Harry Babbitt
Harry Babbitt
Harry Babbitt was an American singer and star during the Big Band era. Born in St. Louis, Missouri, he joined the Kay Kyser band in 1938. With Kyser he recorded several hits in his rich baritone...
's laugh interrupting vocalist Gloria Wood, became one of the biggest hit singles of 1948. Other artists did covers, including Woody's original voice actor, Mel Blanc
Mel Blanc
Melvin Jerome "Mel" Blanc was an American voice actor and comedian. Although he began his nearly six-decade-long career performing in radio commercials, Blanc is best remembered for his work with Warner Bros...
. Lantz first used "The Woody Woodpecker Song" in the 1948 short Wet Blanket Policy
Wet Blanket Policy
Wet Blanket Policy is the 29th animated cartoon short subject in the Woody Woodpecker series. Released theatrically on August 20, 1948, the film was produced by Walter Lantz Productions and distributed by United Artists. The title is a play-on-words about a type of insurance policy.- Plot...
, and became the first and only song from an animated short subject to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Song. Lantz soon adopted the song as Woody's theme music, and due to the song's popularity, Woody Woodpecker fan clubs sprang up, theaters held "Woody" matinées, and boys got the "Woody Woodpecker" haircut.
"The Woody Woodpecker Song" and the Woody Woodpecker cartoons made extensive use of Woody's famous laugh, upsetting the man who created it, Mel Blanc. (The laugh, in a different recording, was first used for the seminal Bugs Bunny prototype character in Elmer's Candid Camera
Elmer's Candid Camera
Elmer's Candid Camera is a 1940 Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Chuck Jones, and first released on March 2, 1940 by Warner Bros.. It marks the first appearance of Elmer Fudd Elmer's Candid Camera is a 1940 Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Chuck Jones, and first released on March 2, 1940 by...
). Although Blanc had only recorded four shorts as the voice of Woody, his laugh had been recorded as a stock sound effect, and used in every subsequent Woody Woodpecker short up until this point. Blanc sued Lantz and lost, but Lantz settled out of court when Blanc filed an appeal. While Lantz would stop using Blanc's Woody Woodpecker laugh as a stock effect in the early 1950s, Blanc's voice would be heard saying "Guess who?" at the beginning of every cartoon for the duration of the Woody Woodpecker series.
Later films
Financial problems within United Artists during the aftermath of the Paramount case caused financial problems within the studio, and by the end of 1948, Lantz had to shut his studio down. The Lantz studio did not re-open again until 1950, by which time the staff was severely downsized.Beginning with the 1950 feature film Destination Moon
Destination Moon (film)
Destination Moon is an American science fiction feature film produced by George Pal, who later produced When Worlds Collide, The War of the Worlds, and The Time Machine. Pal commissioned the script by James O'Hanlon and Rip Van Ronkel...
, which featured a brief segment of Woody explaining rocket propulsion, Woody's voice was taken over for this and following films by Lantz's wife, Grace Stafford
Grace Stafford
Gracie Lantz , also known by her stage name Grace Stafford, was an American actress and the wife of animation producer Walter Lantz. Stafford is best known for providing the voice of Woody Woodpecker from 1950 until 1972.-Career:Grace appeared in feature live action films from 1935, Dr...
. According to the Lantzes, Stafford slipped a recording of herself into a stack of audition tapes, and her husband chose her without knowing her identity. Lantz also began having Stafford supply Woody's laugh, possibly due to the court case with Mel Blanc. Nevertheless, Stafford was not credited for her work at her own request until 1958 with the film Misguided Missile
Misguided Missile
Misguided Missile is the 82nd animated cartoon short subject in the Woody Woodpecker series. Released theatrically on January 27, 1958, the film was produced by Walter Lantz Productions and distributed by Universal International.-Plot:...
, as she felt audiences might reject a woman doing Woody's voice. Stafford also did her best to tone down the character through her voice work, to appease Universal's complaints about Woody's raucousness.
Lantz signed again with Universal (now Universal-International) in 1950, and began production on two Woody Woodpecker cartoons that director Dick Lundy and storymen Ben Hardaway and Heck Allen had begun before the 1948 layoff. These shorts have no director's credit, as Lantz claimed to have directed them himself (despite the fact it has been speculated to be directed by another). Puny Express
Puny Express
Puny Express is an American cartoon, and the 32nd animated cartoon short subject in the Woody Woodpecker series. Released theatrically on January 22, 1951, the film was produced by Walter Lantz Productions and distributed by Universal International....
, released by Universal-International in 1951, was the first to be released, followed by Sleep Happy
Sleep Happy
Sleep Happy is the 33rd animated cartoon short subject in the Woody Woodpecker series. Released theatrically on March 26, 1951, the film was produced by Walter Lantz Productions and distributed by Universal International.-Plot:...
. These shorts marked a departure from the dialogue-driven shorts of the past. Though Stafford now voiced Woody, her job was limited, as Woody (as well as the rest of the characters) rarely spoke in the first dozen or so shorts. It was because of these shorts that Woody became very popular outside the English-speaking world
English-speaking world
The English-speaking world consists of those countries or regions that use the English language to one degree or another. For more information, please see:Lists:* List of countries by English-speaking population...
, thanks to the lack of a language barrier (The Pink Panther
The Pink Panther (character)
The Pink Panther is the main and title character in the opening and closing credit sequences of every film in The Pink Panther series except for A Shot in the Dark and Inspector Clouseau. His popularity spawned a series of theatrical shorts, merchandise, a comic book, and television cartoons...
shorts of the 1960s and 1970s would also enjoy worldwide popularity due to this pantomime
Pantomime
Pantomime — not to be confused with a mime artist, a theatrical performer of mime—is a musical-comedy theatrical production traditionally found in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Jamaica, South Africa, India, Ireland, Gibraltar and Malta, and is mostly performed during the...
luxury).
Nine more Lantz-directed Woody cartoons followed, before Don Patterson
Don Patterson (animator)
Don Patterson was an American producer, animator, and director who worked at various studios during the golden age of animation, including Disney, MGM, and Walter Lantz. He was the older brother of animator Ray Patterson....
became Woody's new director in 1953. The bird was redesigned once again for these new cartoons, this time by animator
Animator
An animator is an artist who creates multiple images that give an illusion of movement called animation when displayed in rapid sequence; the images are called frames and key frames. Animators can work in a variety of fields including film, television, video games, and the internet. Usually, an...
LaVerne Harding
Laverne Harding
Laverne Harding was an American animator.Harding, who worked for the Walter Lantz studio for much of her half-century career in animation, is among the earliest woman animators....
. Harding made Woody smaller, cuter, and moved his crest forward from its original backwards position (although Woody had sported this look since 1947, as seen in the still from Wet Blanket Policy above). (The small Lantz Studios logo seen at the start of every cartoon—Woody as an armored knight on horseback carrying a lance
Lance
A Lance is a pole weapon or spear designed to be used by a mounted warrior. The lance is longer, stout and heavier than an infantry spear, and unsuited for throwing, or for rapid thrusting. Lances did not have tips designed to intentionally break off or bend, unlike many throwing weapons of the...
—continued to display Woody with his old topknot for a while.) For 1955's The Tree Medic
The Tree Medic
The Tree Medic is the 65th animated cartoon short subject in the Woody Woodpecker series. Released theatrically on December 19, 1955, the film was produced by Walter Lantz Productions and distributed by Universal International.-Plot:...
, one last makeover was given to the woodpecker, making Woody's eye a simple black dot and taking away the green/hazel iris he'd had since his beginnings. However, Woody's eyes were not changed in the cartoon's intros, and they remained green for the rest of the shorts' production run. During this time, the intro was changed as well. Instead of having Woody's name on screen and Woody pecking a hole in the screen to introduce himself, Woody would peck his way onto the screen, say "Guess who?", peck his name on either a brown or gray wood background, and flop around the screen laughing.
By 1955, Paul J. Smith
Paul J. Smith (director)
Paul J. Smith was an American animator and director.Smith worked for the Walter Lantz studio for much of his career, first starting as an animator, and then as a director. He also animated at the Warner Bros...
had taken over as primary director of Woody's shorts, with periodic fill-in shorts directed by Alex Lovy and Jack Hannah
Jack Hannah
Jack Hannah was an animator, writer and director of animated shorts.Hannah was born January 15, 1913, in Nogales, Arizona. He moved to Los Angeles in 1931 to study at the Art Guild Academy. One of his first jobs was designing movie posters for Hollywood theaters...
, among others. With Smith on board, the shorts maintained a healthy dose of frenetic energy, while the animation itself was simplified, due to budget constraints.
Dallas McKennon
Dallas Raymond McKennon , sometimes credited as Dal McKennon, was an American actor, with extensive work as a voice actor, in a career lasting over 50 years.-Career:...
and 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...
. This era would also introduce several of Woody's recurring costars, most notably Gabby Gator (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...
in an Ozarks voice, a slightly different southern dialect than he used for Huckleberry Hound
Huckleberry Hound
The Huckleberry Hound Show is a 1958 syndicated animated series and the second from Hanna-Barbera following The Ruff & Reddy Show, sponsored by Kellogg's. Three segments were included in the program: one featuring Huckleberry Hound; another starring Yogi Bear and his sidekick Boo Boo; and a third...
). Gabby first appeared in Everglade Raid
Everglade Raid
Everglade Raid is the 86th animated cartoon short subject in the Woody Woodpecker series. Released theatrically on August 11, 1958, the film was produced by Walter Lantz Productions and distributed by Universal International.-Plot:...
(then known as "Al I. Gator"). Other films paired Woody with a girlfriend, Winnie Woodpecker (voiced by June Foray
June Foray
June Foray is an American voice actress, best known as the voice of many animated characters...
), and a niece and nephew, Splinter and Knothead (both voiced by June Foray
June Foray
June Foray is an American voice actress, best known as the voice of many animated characters...
). Other antagonists that Woody has dealt with were Ms. Meany (voiced by Grace Stafford
Grace Stafford
Gracie Lantz , also known by her stage name Grace Stafford, was an American actress and the wife of animation producer Walter Lantz. Stafford is best known for providing the voice of Woody Woodpecker from 1950 until 1972.-Career:Grace appeared in feature live action films from 1935, Dr...
) and Dapper Denver Dooley
Dapper Denver Dooley
Dapper Denver Dooley is a Walter Lantz character and Woody Woodpecker's rival, who would make his first appearance in the cartoon "Square Shootin' Square", in 1955. He was voiced by Dallas McKennon...
(voiced by Dallas McKennon
Dallas McKennon
Dallas Raymond McKennon , sometimes credited as Dal McKennon, was an American actor, with extensive work as a voice actor, in a career lasting over 50 years.-Career:...
).
Woody in the television era
As Lantz was struggling financially, Woody's longevity was secured when he made the jump to television in The Woody Woodpecker ShowThe Woody Woodpecker Show
The Woody Woodpecker Show is a long-running 30-minute American television series mainly composed of animated cartoon escapades of the world-famous woodpecker and other Walter Lantz characters including Andy Panda, Chilly Willy, and Inspector Willoughby released by Walter Lantz Productions...
on 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...
. The half-hour program consisted of three theatrical Woody shorts followed by a brief look at cartoon creation hosted by Lantz. It ran from 1957 to 1958 then entered syndication until 1966. It was later revived by 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...
in 1970, and again in 1976. In addition, the woodpecker was no longer dishing out abuse to his foils, but was instead on the receiving end. The first notable short to feature Woody as a serious, put-upon character was 1961's Franken-Stymied. 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, a straight man who was trying to do good. This was due in part to Woody's large presence on television, which meant Lantz had to meet the stringent rules against violence for children's television. Though the cartoons continued in production until 1972, they were a definite notch lower than the predecessors of the 1940s and 1950s.
Woody continued to appear in new theatrical shorts until 1972, when Lantz closed his studio's doors due to rising production costs. His cartoons returned to syndication in the late 1970s. Lantz sold his library of Woody shorts to MCA
Music Corporation of America
MCA, Inc. was an American talent agency. Initially starting in the music business, they would next become a dominant force in the film business, and later expanded into the television business...
/Universal
Universal Studios
Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....
in 1985. Universal repackaged the cartoons for another syndicated Woody Woodpecker Show in 1987. A year later, Woody made a brief cameo in Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Who Framed Roger Rabbit is a 1988 American fantasy-comedy-noir film directed by Robert Zemeckis and released by Touchstone Pictures. The film combines live action and animation, and is based on Gary K. Wolf's novel Who Censored Roger Rabbit?, which depicts a world in which cartoon characters...
, voiced by Cherry Davis, near the end of the film. In 1995, Woody appeared in a Pepsi
Pepsi
Pepsi is a carbonated soft drink that is produced and manufactured by PepsiCo...
commercial with NBA
National Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada...
star Shaquille O'Neal
Shaquille O'Neal
Shaquille Rashaun O'Neal , nicknamed "Shaq" , is a former American professional basketball player. Standing tall and weighing , he was one of the heaviest players ever to play in the NBA...
.
Woody Woodpecker reappeared in the Fox Kids
Fox Kids
Fox Kids was the Fox Broadcasting Company's American children's programming division and brand name from September 8, 1990 until September 7, 2002. It was owned by Fox Television Entertainment airing programming on Monday–Friday afternoons and Saturday mornings.Depending on the show, the...
series The New Woody Woodpecker Show
The New Woody Woodpecker Show
The New Woody Woodpecker Show is an animated television series based on the original cartoon by Walter Lantz, produced by Universal Animation Studios and aired from 1999 until 2002 on FOX and YTV...
, which ran on Saturday mornings
Saturday morning cartoon
A Saturday morning cartoon is the colloquial term for the animated television programming that has typically been scheduled on Saturday mornings on the major American television networks from the 1960s to the present; the genre's peak in popularity mostly ended in the 1990s while the popularity of...
from 1999 to 2002. For this series Woody's appearance was redesigned to look more like his mid-1940s look instead of the classic look he had sported for years afterward. To that effect, his crest was pushed back and his eyes were once again made green. Winnie Woodpecker, who had debuted in Real Gone Woody
Real Gone Woody
Real Gone Woody is the 56th animated cartoon short subject in the Woody Woodpecker series. Released theatrically on September 20, 1954, the film was produced by Walter Lantz Productions and distributed by Universal-International.-Plot:...
in 1954, became a semi-regular character as Woody's primary love interest. Like Woody, Winnie received a redesign that made her look almost exactly like Woody did from 1947 until 1972, with the obvious differences being that she was a female woodpecker and had blue eyes. Woody's primary antagonist was Wally Walrus, who became Woody's neighbor (Woody lived in a tree house in Wally's backyard). Buzz Buzzard often made appearances, as did Ms. Meany and several other older characters.
Woody and Winnie both appear as costumed characters at Universal Orlando, Universal Studios Japan
Universal Studios Japan
, located in Osaka, is one of four Universal Studios theme parks, owned and operated by USJ Co., Ltd. . The park is similar to Universal Orlando Resort, since it contains many of the same rides. Most visitors are Japanese tourists or tourists from other Asian countries such as Taiwan, Hong Kong,...
, Universal Studios Hollywood
Universal Studios Hollywood
Universal Studios Hollywood is a movie studio and theme park in the unincorporated Universal City community of Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is one of the oldest and most famous Hollywood movie studios still in use...
and Universal Studios Singapore
Universal Studios Singapore
Universal Studios Singapore is a theme park located within Resorts World Sentosa on Sentosa Island, Singapore. It was a key component of Genting's bid for the right to build Singapore's second integrated resort. On 8 December 2006, the Singapore government announced that the consortium had won the...
.
Reception
The Woody Woodpecker Show was named the 88th best animated series by IGNIGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
.
Legacy
Walter Lantz and movie pioneer George PalGeorge Pál
George Pal , born György Pál Marczincsak, was a Hungarian-born American animator and film producer, principally associated with the science fiction genre...
were good friends. Woody Woodpecker makes a cameo in nearly every film that Pal either produced or directed—for example, during the 1966 sequence in The Time Machine
The Time Machine (1960 film)
The Time Machine is a 1960 American science fiction film based on the 1895 novel of the same name by H. G. Wells in which a man in Victorian England constructs a time-travelling machine which he uses to travel to the future...
, there is a brief shot of a little girl dropping her Woody Woodpecker doll as she goes into the air raid shelter. In Doc Savage-The Man of Bronze Grace Stafford is seen in a cameo carrying a Woody Woodpecker doll.
Woody was number 46 on TV Guide
TV Guide
TV Guide is a weekly American magazine with listings of TV shows.In addition to TV listings, the publication features television-related news, celebrity interviews, gossip and film reviews and crossword puzzles...
s list of the 50 Greatest Cartoon Characters of All-Time in 2002 and 2003. He came in at number 25 on Animal Planet
Animal Planet
Animal Planet is an American cable tv specialty channel that launched on October 1, 1996. It is distributed by Discovery Communications. A high-definition simulcast of the channel launched on September 1, 2007.-History:...
's list of The 50 Greatest Movie Animals in 2004. The character has been referenced and spoofed on many later television programs, among them The Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
, American Dad!
American Dad!
American Dad! is an American animated television series created by Seth MacFarlane and owned by Underdog Productions and Fuzzy Door Productions. It is produced in association with 20th Century Fox Television...
, South Park
South Park
South Park is an American animated television series created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone for the Comedy Central television network. Intended for mature audiences, the show has become famous for its crude language, surreal, satirical, and dark humor that lampoons a wide range of topics...
, The Fairly OddParents
The Fairly OddParents
The Fairly OddParents is an American-Canadian animated television series created by Butch Hartman about the adventures of Timmy Turner, who is granted fairy godparents named Cosmo and Wanda. The series started out as cartoon segments that ran from September 4, 1998 to March 23, 2001 on Oh Yeah!...
, Family Guy
Family Guy
Family Guy is an American animated television series created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series centers on the Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter and Lois; their children Meg, Chris, and Stewie; and their anthropomorphic pet dog Brian...
, Seinfeld
Seinfeld
Seinfeld is an American television sitcom that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, lasting nine seasons, and is now in syndication. It was created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld, the latter starring as a fictionalized version of himself...
and Flash Toons
The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys are an American rock band, formed in 1961 in Hawthorne, California. The group was initially composed of brothers Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine. Managed by the Wilsons' father Murry, The Beach Boys signed to Capitol Records in 1962...
' 1967 album Smiley Smile
Smiley Smile
Smiley Smile is the twelfth studio album by The Beach Boys, issued in 1967. Released in the place of the much-touted Smile, Smiley Smile is widely considered to be under-produced, and it was received with indifference and confusion upon its unveiling...
featured a song entitled "Fall Breaks and Back to Winter (Woody Woodpecker Symphony)". Also, the first song on the 2007 Dan Deacon
Dan Deacon
Dan Deacon is an American composer and electronic musician based out of Baltimore, Maryland. Since 2003, Deacon has released eight albums under several different labels...
album Spiderman of the Rings
Spiderman of the Rings
Spiderman of the Rings, released by Carpark Records on May 8, 2007 is an album by the American electronic musician Dan Deacon. "The Crystal Cat" was #84 on Rolling Stone's list of the 100 Best Songs of 2007, and "Wham City" was #30 on Pitchfork's "Top 100 Tracks of 2007"...
is entitled "Wooody Wooodpecker" and makes extensive use of the character's trademark laugh.
Woody Woodpecker is the mascot for the Universal Studios Theme Parks. In 1998 and 1999, Woody appeared on the nose of the Williams
WilliamsF1
Williams Grand Prix Engineering Limited, trading as AT&T Williams, is a British Formula One motor racing team and constructor. It was founded and run by Sir Frank Williams and Patrick Head...
Formula One
Formula One
Formula One, also known as Formula 1 or F1 and referred to officially as the FIA Formula One World Championship, is the highest class of single seater auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile . The "formula" designation in the name refers to a set of rules with which...
Team, and in 2000, he became the official team mascot of the Honda
Honda
is a Japanese public multinational corporation primarily known as a manufacturer of automobiles and motorcycles.Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, as well as the world's largest manufacturer of internal combustion engines measured by volume, producing more than...
Motorcycle Racing Team. A balloon featuring the character has long been a staple of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade
Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade
The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, often shortened to Macy's Day Parade, is an annual parade presented by Macy's. The tradition started in 1924, tying it for the second-oldest Thanksgiving parade in the United States along with America's Thanksgiving Parade in Detroit, and four years younger than...
.
Woody Woodpecker is also the patron saint of the computer science program at Chalmers University of Technology.
VHS and DVD releases
A handful of non-comprehensive Woody Woodpecker VHS tapes were issued by Universal in the 1980s and 1990s, usually including Andy PandaAndy Panda
Andy Panda is a cartoon character who starred in his own series of animated cartoon short subjects produced by Walter Lantz. These "cartunes" were released by Universal Pictures from 1939 to 1947 and United Artists from 1948 to 1949. The titular character is an anthropomorphic cartoon character, a...
and Chilly Willy
Chilly Willy
Chilly Willy is a cartoon character, a diminutive anthropomorphic penguin living in Alaska, although the species is native only to the southern hemisphere. He was created by Paul J. Smith for the Walter Lantz studio in 1953...
cartoons as bonuses. A few were widely released on VHS in the mid-1980s by Kid Pics Video, an American company of dubious legality, which packaged the Woody cartoons with bootlegged Disney
The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company is the largest media conglomerate in the world in terms of revenue. Founded on October 16, 1923, by Walt and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, Walt Disney Productions established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into...
cartoons. In the early 2000s, a series of mail-order Woody Woodpecker Show VHS tapes and DVDs were made available by mail order through Columbia House
Columbia House
The Columbia House brand was introduced in the early 1970s by the Columbia Records division of CBS, Inc. as an umbrella for its mail-order music clubs, the primary incarnation of which was the Columbia Record Club, established in 1955. It had a significant market presence in the 1980s and early...
. However, following complaints about censorship (the cartoons included featured varying amounts of censorship, from restored and intact prints to severely cut TV edits), the series ended after fifteen volumes rather than the planned twenty.
In 2007, Universal Studios Home Entertainment
Universal Studios Home Entertainment
Universal Studios Home Entertainment is the home video division of Universal Pictures...
released The Woody Woodpecker and Friends Classic Cartoon Collection, a three-disc DVD boxed set compilation of Walter Lantz "Cartunes". The first forty-five Woody Woodpecker shorts—from Knock Knock
Knock Knock (1940 cartoon)
Knock Knock is a 1940 animated short subject, part of the Andy Panda series, produced by Walter Lantz. The cartoon is noted for being the first appearance of Woody Woodpecker, and was released by Universal Pictures on November 25, 1940.-Plot:...
to The Great Who-Dood-It
The Great Who-Dood-It
The Great Who-Dood-It is the 43rd animated cartoon short subject in the Woody Woodpecker series. Released theatrically on October 20, 1952, the film was produced by Walter Lantz Productions and distributed by Universal International.-Plot:...
—were presented on the box set in chronological order of release, with various Chilly Willy, Andy Panda, Swing Symphonies, and other Lantz shorts also included. The Woody Woodpecker and Friends Classic Cartoon Collection: Volume 2, including the next forty-five Woody cartoons—Termites from Mars
Termites from Mars
Termites from Mars is the 44th animated cartoon short subject in the Woody Woodpecker series. Released theatrically on December 8, 1952, the film was produced by Walter Lantz Productions and distributed by Universal International.-Plot:...
through Jittery Jester
Jittery Jester
Jittery Jester is the 88th animated cartoon short subject in the Woody Woodpecker series. Released theatrically on November 3, 1958, the film was produced by Walter Lantz Productions and distributed by Universal International.-Plot:...
—was released in 2008. A plain-vanilla best-of release, titled Woody Woodpecker Favorites, was released in 2009, which contained no new-to-DVD material. Plans for further releases, as well as a 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
Hulu
Hulu is a website and over-the-top subscription service offering ad-supported on-demand streaming video of TV shows, movies, webisodes and other new media, trailers, clips, and behind-the-scenes footage from NBC, Fox, ABC, and Obstacle on October 20th 2011 Nickelodeon and CBS and many other...
.
Apart from authorized releases, the Woody Woodpecker cartoon most widely available on legal home video is Pantry Panic
Pantry Panic
Pantry Panic is the third animated cartoon short subject in the Woody Woodpecker series. Released theatrically on November 24, 1941, the film was produced by Walter Lantz Productions and distributed by Universal Pictures.-Plot:...
, as that cartoon has fallen into the public domain
Public domain
Works are in the public domain if the intellectual property rights have expired, if the intellectual property rights are forfeited, or if they are not covered by intellectual property rights at all...
.
| DVD Name | Cartoon # | Release date |
|---|---|---|
| The Woody Woodpecker and Friends Classic Cartoon Collection The Woody Woodpecker and Friends Classic Cartoon Collection The Woody Woodpecker and Friends Classic Cartoon Collection is a three-disc DVD collection of theatrical cartoons produced by Walter Lantz Productions for Universal Pictures between 1940 and 1956... |
45 Woody cartoons, 30 others |
July 24, 2007 |
| The Woody Woodpecker and Friends Classic Cartoon Collection: Volume 2 The Woody Woodpecker and Friends Classic Cartoon Collection: Volume 2 The Woody Woodpecker and Friends Classic Cartoon Collection: Volume 2 is a three-disc DVD collection of theatrical cartoons starring Woody Woodpecker and the other Lantz characters , produced by Walter Lantz Productions for Universal Pictures between 1932 and 1958... |
45 Woody cartoons, 30 others |
April 15, 2008 |
| Woody Woodpecker Favorites | 15 Woody cartoons, 5 others |
March 10, 2009 |
Voice artists
USA- Mel BlancMel BlancMelvin Jerome "Mel" Blanc was an American voice actor and comedian. Although he began his nearly six-decade-long career performing in radio commercials, Blanc is best remembered for his work with Warner Bros...
(1940–1941) - Ben HardawayBen HardawayJoseph Benson "Ben/Bugs" Hardaway was a storyboard artist, animator, voice actor, gagman, writer, and director for several American animation studios during the The Golden Age of Hollywood animation. He was sometimes credited as J.B. Hardaway, Ben Hardaway, Buggsy Hardaway, and B. Hardaway.While...
(1941–1949) - Danny WebbDanny WebbDaniel Webb may refer to:* Danny Webb * Danny Webb * Danny Webb * Daniel Webb * Daniel Webb , British Army general* Dan Webb, Australian musician...
(1941–1942) - Kent RogersKent RogersKent Rogers was a Hollywood impressionist who appeared in several live-action shorts and features and a voice actor for Warner Bros..-Career:...
(1942–1944) - Grace StaffordGrace StaffordGracie Lantz , also known by her stage name Grace Stafford, was an American actress and the wife of animation producer Walter Lantz. Stafford is best known for providing the voice of Woody Woodpecker from 1950 until 1972.-Career:Grace appeared in feature live action films from 1935, Dr...
(1950–1985) - Cherry Davis (1988)
- Billy WestBilly WestWilliam Richard "Billy" West is an American voice actor. Born in Detroit but raised in the Roslindale neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, Billy launched his career in the early 1980s performing daily comedic routines on Boston's WBCN. He left the radio station to work on the short-lived revival...
(1999–2002)
Other Countries
- Kumiko WatanabeKumiko Watanabeis an actress and voice actress from Chiba Prefecture affiliated with Arts Vision.-Overview, character, and career:*She has a wide vocal range, ranging from boys and girls to middle-aged women. She is also known to be a large professional wrestling fan, especially of Pro Wrestling Noah's Kenta...
(Japan) - Natalia Gurzo (Russia) from 1996
- Olney Cazarré (Brazil) 1960s / 1980s
- Garcia JúniorGarcia JúniorManoel Garcia Júnior is a Brazilian voice actor, translator, and dubbing director from São Paulo. He is best known as the voice of He-Man in the media franchise Masters of the Universe, Montgomery Moose in The Get Along Gang, and Donald Duck in Disney productions...
(Brazil) 1970s - Marco Antônio Costa (Brazil) 1990s / 2000s
- Jorge ArvizuJorge ArvizuJorge Arvizu is a Mexican voice actor who was the first Spanish voice, among others, of Bugs Bunny, Fred Flintstone and Cookie Monster...
(Mexico) - Mica Tatic (Yugoslavia/Serbia)
Blanc originated the voice, in a characterization similar to his Daffy Duck
Daffy Duck
Daffy Duck is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons, often running the gamut between being the best friend and sometimes arch-rival of Bugs Bunny...
, 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.
TV series
- The Woody Woodpecker ShowThe Woody Woodpecker ShowThe Woody Woodpecker Show is a long-running 30-minute American television series mainly composed of animated cartoon escapades of the world-famous woodpecker and other Walter Lantz characters including Andy Panda, Chilly Willy, and Inspector Willoughby released by Walter Lantz Productions...
(1957–1997, ABCAmerican Broadcasting CompanyThe 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...
, NBCNBCThe 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...
, syndication: new interstitial footage bookending theatrical cartoons) - The New Woody Woodpecker ShowThe New Woody Woodpecker ShowThe New Woody Woodpecker Show is an animated television series based on the original cartoon by Walter Lantz, produced by Universal Animation Studios and aired from 1999 until 2002 on FOX and YTV...
(1999–2002, Fox KidsFox KidsFox Kids was the Fox Broadcasting Company's American children's programming division and brand name from September 8, 1990 until September 7, 2002. It was owned by Fox Television Entertainment airing programming on Monday–Friday afternoons and Saturday mornings.Depending on the show, the...
)
Other appearances
- Destination MoonDestination Moon (film)Destination Moon is an American science fiction feature film produced by George Pal, who later produced When Worlds Collide, The War of the Worlds, and The Time Machine. Pal commissioned the script by James O'Hanlon and Rip Van Ronkel...
(1950, segment) - Spook-a-Nanny (1964, TV special)
- Psycho IIIPsycho IIIPsycho III is a 1986 sequel to Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho. The film stars Anthony Perkins , Diana Scarwid, Jeff Fahey and Roberta Maxwell. The screenplay is written by Charles Edward Pogue...
(1986, cameo) - Who Framed Roger RabbitWho Framed Roger RabbitWho Framed Roger Rabbit is a 1988 American fantasy-comedy-noir film directed by Robert Zemeckis and released by Touchstone Pictures. The film combines live action and animation, and is based on Gary K. Wolf's novel Who Censored Roger Rabbit?, which depicts a world in which cartoon characters...
(1988, cameo) - Kids for CharacterKids for CharacterKids for Character was a program that was released on VHS in 1996. It was a charity special about moral character that featured many different children's characters. It was produced by The Character Counts! Coalition and was distributed by Lyrick Studios...
(1996, cameo) - From the Earth to the Moon (TV miniseries) (1998, segment)
- House of Kid (cameo)
Feature film
Universal StudiosUniversal Studios
Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....
and Illumination Entertainment
Illumination Entertainment
Illumination Entertainment is an American film production company, founded by Chris Meledandri in 2007. It is owned by Universal Studios and based in Santa Monica, California. It is best known for its 2010 animated feature Despicable Me.- History :...
, the creators behind the 2010 animated hit, Despicable Me
Despicable Me
Despicable Me is a 2010 American computer-animated 3D comedy film from Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment that was released on July 9, 2010 in the United States. The film features the voices of Steve Carell, Jason Segel, Russell Brand, Julie Andrews, Will Arnett, Kristen Wiig, and...
, have a plan to make a feature film based on Woody Woodpecker. John Altschuler and Dave Krinsky are in talks to develop a story.
Video games
Several video games of Woody Woodpecker were released for Mega Drive/Genesis, Dreamcast, PlayStationPlayStation
The is a 32-bit fifth-generation video game console first released by Sony Computer Entertainment in Japan on December 3, .The PlayStation was the first of the PlayStation series of consoles and handheld game devices. The PlayStation 2 was the console's successor in 2000...
, PlayStation 2
PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...
, PC
Personal computer
A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
, Game Boy Color
Game Boy Color
The is Nintendo's successor to the 8-bit Game Boy handheld game console, and was released on October 21, 1998 in Japan, November 19, 1998 in North America, November 23, 1998 in Europe and November 27, 1998 in the United Kingdom. It features a color screen and is slightly thicker and taller than...
and Game Boy Advance
Game Boy Advance
The is a 32-bit handheld video game console developed, manufactured, and marketed by Nintendo. It is the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001; in North America on June 11, 2001; in Australia and Europe on June 22, 2001; and in the People's Republic of China...
.
- Woody Woodpecker #1, Woody Woodpecker #2, and Woody Woodpecker #3 (1994) for the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer3DO Interactive MultiplayerThe 3DO Interactive Multiplayer is a video game console originally produced by Panasonic in 1993. Further renditions of the hardware were released in 1994 by Sanyo and Goldstar. The consoles were manufactured according to specifications created by The 3DO Company, and were originally designed by...
. - Férias Frustradas do Pica-PauFérias Frustradas do Pica-PauFérias Frustradas do Pica-Pau is a platform game developed and published by Tectoy for the Sega Mega Drive and the Sega Master System.-Gameplay:...
(1996) for Mega Drive/Genesis and Sega Master SystemSega Master SystemThe is a third-generation video game console that was manufactured and released by Sega in 1985 in Japan , 1986 in North America and 1987 in Europe....
(made by Tectoy, sold only in BrazilBrazilBrazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
). - Woody Woodpecker Racing (2000) for Dreamcast, PlayStationPlayStationThe is a 32-bit fifth-generation video game console first released by Sony Computer Entertainment in Japan on December 3, .The PlayStation was the first of the PlayStation series of consoles and handheld game devices. The PlayStation 2 was the console's successor in 2000...
, PCPersonal computerA personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
and GBCGame Boy ColorThe is Nintendo's successor to the 8-bit Game Boy handheld game console, and was released on October 21, 1998 in Japan, November 19, 1998 in North America, November 23, 1998 in Europe and November 27, 1998 in the United Kingdom. It features a color screen and is slightly thicker and taller than...
. - Woody Woodpecker: Escape from Buzz Buzzard Park (2001) for GBCGame Boy ColorThe is Nintendo's successor to the 8-bit Game Boy handheld game console, and was released on October 21, 1998 in Japan, November 19, 1998 in North America, November 23, 1998 in Europe and November 27, 1998 in the United Kingdom. It features a color screen and is slightly thicker and taller than...
, PCPersonal computerA personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
and PS2PlayStation 2The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...
. - Universal Studios Theme Parks AdventureUniversal Studios Theme Parks AdventureUniversal Studios Theme Parks Adventure, known in Japan as , is a video game developed and published by Kemco for the Nintendo GameCube. Set in a Universal Studios park, the object of the game is to complete several mini-games based on the real-life attractions Back to the Future: The Ride, Jaws,...
(2001) for Nintendo GameCubeNintendo GameCubeThe , officially abbreviated to NGC in Japan and GCN in other regions, is a sixth generation video game console released by Nintendo on September 15, 2001 in Japan, November 18, 2001 in North America, May 3, 2002 in Europe, and May 17, 2002 in Australia...
. - Woody Woodpecker in Crazy Castle 5Crazy Castle seriesThe Crazy Castle series is an action-puzzle game series created by Kemco and released on the Famicom Disk System, NES, Game Boy, Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance. It stars different popular cartoon characters, most notably the Warner Bros...
(2003) for GBAGame Boy AdvanceThe is a 32-bit handheld video game console developed, manufactured, and marketed by Nintendo. It is the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001; in North America on June 11, 2001; in Australia and Europe on June 22, 2001; and in the People's Republic of China...
.
Mattel
Mattel
Mattel, Inc. is the world's largest toy company based on revenue. The products it produces include Fisher Price, Barbie dolls, Hot Wheels and Matchbox toys, Masters of the Universe, American Girl dolls, board games, and, in the early 1980s, video game consoles. The company's name is derived from...
purchased the rights for a Woody Woodpecker Intellivision
Intellivision
The Intellivision is a video game console released by Mattel in 1979. Development of the console began in 1978, less than a year after the introduction of its main competitor, the Atari 2600. The word intellivision is a portmanteau of "intelligent television"...
game, and Grace Stafford recorded new dialog for the game, but it was neither completed nor released.
Additionally, a series of pachinko
Pachinko
is a type of game originating in Japan, and used as both a form of recreational arcade game and much more frequently as a gambling device, filling a niche in gambling in Japan comparable to that of the slot machine in Western gambling. A pachinko machine resembles a vertical pinball machine, but...
games has been released in Japan by Maruhon
Maruhon
is an entertainment company specializing in the manufacture of pachinko machines. The company is headquartered in Momoyama, Kasugai, Aichi Prefecture, Japan.-Major models:*Big Porter*Caravan*Caster*CR Bikkuriman 2000 *CR High School! Kimengumi...
.
Television
- Beath the Cloke (January 1950-November 1963)
- The Price is RightThe Price Is RightThe Price Is Right is a television game show franchise originally produced by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman, and created by Bob Stewart, and is currently produced and owned by FremantleMedia. The franchise centers on television game shows, but also includes merchandise such as video games, printed...
(January 1956-March 1972) - Let's Make a DealLet's Make a DealLet's Make a Deal is a television game show which originated in the United States and has since been produced in many countries throughout the world. The show is based around deals offered to members of the audience by the host. The traders usually have to weigh the possibility of an offer being...
(December 1963-June 1969)
See also
- List of Walter Lantz cartoons
- List of Walter Lantz cartoon characters
External links
- Official Universal Pictures Woody Woodpecker site
- Woody Woodpecker at Don Markstein's Toonopedia
- Woody Woodpecker profile at the Walter Lantz Cartune Encyclopedia
- Watch Woody Woodpecker in the public domain Pantry Panic (1941) andy