Herman and Katnip: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 19:37, 11 May 2024

Revision as of 01:27, 14 May 2024

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From 1944 to September 1950, Herman, voiced by [[Arnold Stang]] and [[Allen Swift]],<ref name="Herman voice"/> (occasionally by [[Jackson Beck]]) was a solo star of theatrical animation shorts produced by [[Famous Studios]] and distributed by [[Paramount Pictures]]. Katnip, voiced by [[Sid Raymond]] (occasionally by [[Jack Mercer]]), made his first appearance in November 1950 with "Mice Meeting You".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Crump |first1=William D. |title=Happy Holidays—Animated! A Worldwide Encyclopedia of Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and New Year's Cartoons on Television and Film |date=2019 |publisher=McFarland & Co |isbn=9781476672939 |page=191}}</ref> The two characters continued to star in animated cartoons until 1959.

In 1958, they and the other original Famous Studios characters were purchased by [[comic-book]] publisher [[Harvey Comics]], which continued to promote the characters under the name [[Harvey Films|Harveytoons]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Becattini |first1=Alberto |title=American Funny Animal Comics in the 20th Century: Volume Two |date=2019 |publisher=Theme Park Press |isbn=978-1683902218 |chapter=From Famous to Harvey}}</ref> The 1944 to 1950 Herman and the 1947 to 1950 pre-Katnip cartoons (originally released as part of the [[Noveltoons]] series) were sold by Paramount in 1955 to [[U.M. & M. TV Corporation]] for television distribution.<ref name="toonopedia-herman">[http://www.toonopedia.com/katnip.htm Herman and Katnip] at [[Don Markstein's Toonopedia]]. [https://wwwarchive.webcitation.orgtoday/20150412034852/6XizWyzor?url=http://toonopedia.com/katnip.htm Archived] from the original on April 11, 2015.</ref>

==Filmography==

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===[[Buzzy the Crow|Buzzy]]===

Katnip also had his share of running battles with Buzzy, a singing black [[crow]] in a flat straw hat, who spoke in stereotypical "black dialect" and per historian [[Don Markstein]] was "a take-off on the gravely voice of [[character actor]] [[Eddie Anderson (comedian)|Eddie Anderson]], who played Rochester on [[Jack Benny]]'s show, with [[Sid Raymond|<nowiki>[Sid]</nowiki> Raymond]] (Baby Huey) as Katnip, sounding like Benny himself".<ref name="toonopedia-buzzy">[http://toonopedia.com/buzzycro.htm Buzzy the Crow] at [[Don Markstein's Toonopedia]]. [https://wwwarchive.webcitation.orgtoday/20150405221724/6XZWqzrwp?url=http://toonopedia.com/buzzycro.htm Archived] from the original on April 5, 2015.</ref> Katnip's battle with Buzzy was usually based on Katnip trying to kick an ailment. He would read a rhyming verse from a medical book that suggested crow meat as the sure cure. Once confronted by Katnip, however, Buzzy would propose another solution in an attempt to save his own skin, to which the cat usually replied, "Hmmmm, that sounds logical", but these solutions usually "failed" at the expense of Katnip, who would finally lose his patience and say, "This time, I'm doing what the book says!" This would result in a chase between the two characters—with Buzzy making occasional puns at Katnip's expense along the way—and end with Buzzy victorious and Katnip nowhere near the road to recovery.

Buzzy the Crow was introduced in the 1946<ref>{{cite book |title=That's enough, folks: Black images in animated cartoons, 1900-1960 |url=https://archive.org/details/thatsenoughfolks0000samp/page/72 |url-access=registration |author-link=Henry T. Sampson |last=Sampson |first=Henry T. |page=[https://archive.org/details/thatsenoughfolks0000samp/page/72 72 ''ff''] |year=1998 |publisher=[[Scarecrow Press]] |isbn=978-0-8108-3250-3}}</ref> [[Paramount Pictures|Paramount]] cartoon, produced by [[Famous Studios]],<ref>{{cite book |title=Forbidden Animation: Censored Cartoons And Blacklisted Animators in America |last=Cohen |first=Karl F. |page=58 |year=2004 |publisher=[[McFarland & Company]] |isbn=978-0-7864-2032-2}}</ref> ''[[The Stupidstitious Cat]]''. Buzzy's mannerisms and voice were based on what are now considered the offensive stereotypes of African-Americans of the time. [[Jackson Beck]] voiced Buzzy.