Celebrities in '50s cartoons

[Rob]

Through the '30s and '40s, cartoon series were chock full of episodes which featured caricatures of then contemporary radio and movie stars. But why did this trend fall off in the '50s and '60s?

Oh, I can think of a few examples: The Honeymooners, Jack Benny, Elvis, and Edward R. Murrow. But nowhere near the amount from the previous decades. Anyone have a guess as to why? And can anyone think of other '50s and '60s examples?

[barnyarddawg]

Alfred Hitchcock was spoofed in a Tweety and Sylvester cartoon (can't think of the title). While there may not have been as many celebrity parodies, there were a lot of TV and game show parodies, like Rocket Squad, The Unmentionables and such.

[Nelson]

There was other Hollywood star caricatures in the 50s and the 60s...

Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, were featured in 1953 Popeye cartoon "Popeye's 20th Aniversary"

Another Famous Studios caricature of a legendary movie star, was "The Cat" in 1962 who made two films....The Cat was a take-off of Cary Grant.

[PlopKat]

barnyarddawg wrote:
Alfred Hitchcock was spoofed in a Tweety and Sylvester cartoon (can't think of the title).

It's The Last Hungry Cat (1961).

-PlopKat

[Bobby B]

Originally posted by Nelson
There was other Hollywood star caricatures in the 50s and the 60s...

Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, were featured in 1953 Popeye cartoon "Popeye's 20th Aniversary"

Another Famous Studios caricature of a legendary movie star, was "The Cat" in 1962 who made two films....The Cat was a take-off of Cary Grant.


One of those cartoons, "Cool Cat Blues" also featured "Ed Solvent", a sendup of Ed Sullivan. An animated Sullivan also appeared in the Casper cartoon "Ghost of the Town" (1952).

"The International" in the Popeye cartoon "Parlez Vous Woo" (1956) was a takeoff of a TV character, "The Continental".

[Rob]

I remember seeing publicity artwork that featured M & L for POPEYE'S 20th ANNIVERSARY, but I have never actually seen the cartoon itself.

I'm surprised that Martin and Lewis weren't used more in cartoons. They were HUGELY popular in the '50s, and yet they made no appearances, other than the Popeye cartoon. Just a decade earlier, Abbott and Costello (and even Red Skelton) were all over the place cartoon-wise.



Originally posted by Nelson
There was other Hollywood star caricatures in the 50s and the 60s...

Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, were featured in 1953 Popeye cartoon "Popeye's 20th Aniversary"

Another Famous Studios caricature of a legendary movie star, was "The Cat" in 1962 who made two films....The Cat was a take-off of Cary Grant.

[Cartoon King]

Originally posted by Rob
Through the '30s and '40s, cartoon series were chock full of episodes which featured caricatures of then contemporary radio and movie stars. But why did this trend fall off in the '50s and '60s?

Oh, I can think of a few examples: The Honeymooners, Jack Benny, Elvis, and Edward R. Murrow. But nowhere near the amount from the previous decades. Anyone have a guess as to why? And can anyone think of other '50s and '60s examples?


I remember Eddie Cantor, Bing Crosby, Al Jolsen and Jack Benny from What's Up Doc? (Those guys will never amount to anything)
Bugs did Groucho Marx in Wideo Wabbit and Tweety did Peter Lorre in Carrotblanca. I've always wondered about the lack of caricatures in the later cartoons myself.



Don't tell me there's a market for Canned Slob!
Very Funny, Alice! Verrry Funny!

[Jon Cooke]

McKimson seemed to be the one fond of celebrity caricatures in the later years. Caricatures of Frank Nelson and Art Linkletter appear in "People Are Bunny". The cat in "Hoppy Daze" is a Jimmy Durante spoof (Hippety does a "Ha-cha-cha-cha-cha!" at the end). Rhode Island Red in "Raw! Raw! Rooster" talks like Jackie Gleason and Porky appears as "Charlie Chan" in "China Jones". A dog version of Victor Borge appears in "Dog Tales" (also an Elvis dog and an appearance by "Doberman" from The Phil Silvers Show). Also, the Red Skelton-type chick in "Slick Chick" and "Cave Darroway" of "Wild Wild World".

Of course, we shouldn't forget that Hanna-Barbera's early TV cartoons of the '60s are FULL of celebrity caricatures!


-Jon