Famous Studios' Blackie the Lamb

[Jon Cooke]

I just watched Blackie the Lamb in "Sheep Shape". It's too bad Famous didn't have Blackie star in more cartoons. I really like them. "Sheep Shape", "Much Ado About Mutton", and "A Lamb in a Jam" are all very funny. They are very close to the wild MGM and WB cartoons of the same time.

I also like that stupid Wolf (who would also co-star with other Famous characters, such as Casper). Was the Wolf's trademark "Whoa, BOY!" and "N'yaaaa, n'yaaa, n'yaaaa" based on a celebrity of the day?

Anyone have any idea what the cartoon "No Mutton For Nuttin'" is about? Are there any other Blackie cartoons besides these four?


-Jon

[Thad Komorowski]

I don't know what "No Mutton for Nuttin'" is about, but I DO know that it's the very first Noveltoon cartoon.

I like that wolf character too, he's pretty funny. Sort of a prototype for Katnip or Baby Huey. Did he appear in any other shorts? I know he appears in the Casper cartoons "Once Upon a Rhyme", "Spunky Skunky", "Pig-a-Boo", and "By the Old Mill Scream", as well as his own cartoons, "The Old Shell Game" and "Teacher's Pest". I know he was named "Wolfie" on modelsheets. Wolfie was (of course) voiced by Sid Raymond.


-Thad

[J Lee]

The wolf and his laugh were based on comedian Bert Lahr -- the Cowardly Lion from the "Wizard of Oz" and (for those over 40) former Lay's Potato Chip spokesman/chip eater. Apparently he was pretty popular among East Coast animators/story men, because Terrytoons used characters with the same "N'yaaaa, n'yaaa, n'yaaaa" manerism in their 1940s-early 1950s cartoons.

A lot of Blackie's personality got transfered to Herman the Mouse when Famous decided to focus on him instead of on the lamb. Herman's original personality was different from the one that later developed -- he was more of a Brooklyn tough guy with no scentimental streak, which changed after "Naughty But Mice."