Willoughby (Looney Tunes)

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Willoughby
Looney Toons Willoughby.jpg
Willoughby and Bugs Bunny in The Heckling Hare
First appearanceOf Fox and Hounds (1940)
Created byTex Avery
Voiced byTex Avery (1940–1941)
Kent Rogers (1941–1942)
Mel Blanc (1942–1947)
Tedd Pierce (1944)
Stan Freberg (1952)
In-universe information
AliasWilloughby
Rosebud

Sylvester
SpeciesDog
GenderMale

Willoughby is a minor animated cartoon fictional character in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes series of cartoons. He is a hound dog who is characterized by his below-average intelligence[1] and overall gullibility.

History[]

Willoughby first appeared in the 1940 cartoon Of Fox and Hounds. He was created and voiced by Tex Avery.[2][3] According to Chuck Jones, the character was based on Lennie, from Of Mice and Men (of which the title of Of Fox and Hounds is a knockoff).[citation needed] Critic Steven Hartley described this short as lacking in creativity, originality, excitement, and story construction, particularly compared to Avery's seminal earlier work A Wild Hare.[4]

Willoughby later appears in other Warner Brothers animated shorts, including The Heckling Hare (1941),[5] The Crackpot Quail (1941),[6] and Nutty News (1942), as the lead dog of a fox hunting party. A fundamentally similar character, Laramore, appears in To Duck or Not to Duck (1943), albeit with a fully brown coat of fur. Willoughby's brief career was essentially over before the end of World War II.

These dogs were mostly similar character design in Porky's Bear Facts (1941), Ding Dog Daddy (1942), To Duck Or Not To Duck (1943), A Corny Concerto (1943), Hare Ribbin' (1944), The Goofy Gophers (1947), and possibly Inki at the Circus (1947).

Appearances[]

  1. Of Fox and Hounds (1940)
  2. The Crackpot Quail (1941)
  3. The Heckling Hare (1941)
  4. Nutty News (1942) (cameo in a B&W cartoon)
  5. The Hep Cat (1942) (as Rosebud)
  6. Ding Dog Daddy (1942)
  7. An Itch in Time (1943)
  8. Hare Force (1944) (as Sylvester)
  9. A Horse Fly Fleas (1947) (shaped like the Barnyard Dawg)
  10. Foxy by Proxy (1952)

In other media[]

Willoughby was planned to be made as a cameo in the deleted scene "Acme's Funeral" from the 1988 film Who Framed Roger Rabbit. He also appears with other animated characters scared when Casper appears at the funeral.[7]

References[]

  1. ^ T. K. Kelly. "Distasteful Toons: the Top 5 Most Offensive Looney Tunes Characters". Top 5. Retrieved November 11, 2015.[better source needed]
  2. ^ Dave Mackey. "Warner Bros. Cartoon Filmography – 1940 (Of Fox and Hounds)". Dave Mackey Dot Com. Archived from the original on December 15, 2010. Retrieved November 10, 2015.[better source needed]
  3. ^ Eric O. Costello. "Avery, Frederick Bean (Tex) (1908-1980)". Warner Bros. Cartoon Companion. Archived from the original on April 30, 2006. Retrieved November 10, 2015.[better source needed]
  4. ^ Steve Hartley (November 2, 2013). "309. Of Fox and Hounds (1940)". Likely Loonie, Mostly Merrie. Retrieved November 10, 2015.
  5. ^ Steve Hartley (May 29, 2014). "334. The Heckling Hare (1941)". Likely Loonie, Mostly Merrie. Retrieved November 10, 2015.[better source needed]
  6. ^ Steve Hartley (March 9, 2014). "317. The Crackpot Quail (1941)". Likely Loonie, Mostly Merrie. Retrieved November 10, 2015.[better source needed]
  7. ^ Hill, Jim. "Storyboards reveal what Marvin Acme's funeral in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" would have looked like". jimhillmedia.com. Retrieved 18 June 2020.
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