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100-465: The series mainly features a variety of different characters created exclusively for these shorts, although cameos by Woody Woodpecker and Andy Panda do appear in the first cartoon. Oswald the Lucky Rabbit also made an appearance in one short as well. Walter Lantz Productions first developed the format with the cartoon Scrub Me Mama with a Boogie Beat , released on March 28, 1941. The short

200-537: A bad guy named "Ben Buzzard" who bears a strong resemblance to Buzz Buzzard , a Lantz character introduced in Wet Blanket Policy (1948), who eventually succeeded 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 and

300-461: A Who! (1970), but his main focus during this time was producing the feature film The Phantom Tollbooth , which did lukewarm business when MGM released it in 1970. Jones co-directed 1969's The Pogo Special Birthday Special , based on the Walt Kelly comic strip, and voiced the characters of Porky Pine and Bun Rab. It was at this point that he decided to start ST Incorporated. MGM closed

400-414: A cartoon about the bird, and thus Woody was born. However, according to Lantz's biographer Joe Adamson , Ben Hardaway and L.E. Elliott had written a story where Andy Panda and his father, Papa Panda , experienced roof troubles caused by a rainstorm. Lantz took one look at the storyboard and found it "too expensive". He needed a roofing problem that was easier to animate, and suggested a pesky bird like

500-447: A director (or "supervisor", the original title for an animation director in the studio) himself in 1938 when Frank Tashlin left the studio. The following year Jones created his first major character, Sniffles , a cute Disney-style mouse, who went on to star in twelve Warner Bros. cartoons. Jones initially struggled in terms of his directorial style. Unlike the other directors in the studio, Jones wanted to make cartoons that would rival

600-422: A dubious story given the fact that Woody's first appearance predated Lantz and Stafford's honeymoon. A noisy acorn woodpecker outside their cabin kept the couple awake at night, and when heavy rain started, they learned that the bird had bored holes in their cabin's roof. Walter and Gracie told Dallas attorney Rod Phelps during a visit that Walter wanted to shoot the bird, but Gracie suggested that her husband make

700-422: A few minutes, then turned over the meeting to his attorney. His insulting manner had a unifying effect on the staff. Jones gave a pep talk at the union headquarters. As negotiations broke down, the staff decided to go on strike. Schlesinger locked them out of the studio for a few days, before agreeing to sign the contract. A Labor-Management Committee was formed and Jones served as a moderator. Because of his role as

800-518: A hint of Tex Avery's style and influence in terms of humor, and that's what gave Walter Lantz studio its fame. Curiously enough, Avery himself never directed a Woody Woodpecker short while at the Walter Lantz studio. Animator Emery Hawkins and layout artist Art Heinemann streamlined Woody's appearance for the 1944 film The Barber of Seville , directed by James "Shamus" Culhane . The bird became rounder, cuter, and less demented. He also sported

900-514: A janitor. After graduating from Chouinard Art Institute , Jones got a phone call from a friend named Fred Kopietz, who had been hired by the Ub Iwerks studio and offered him a job. He worked his way up in the animation industry, starting as a cel washer; "then I moved up to become a painter in black and white, some color. Then I went on to take animator's drawings and traced them onto the celluloid. Then I became what they call an in-betweener, which

1000-412: A letter to Tex Avery , accusing Clampett of taking credit for ideas that were not his, and for characters created by other directors (notably Jones's Sniffles and Friz Freleng 's Yosemite Sam ). Their correspondence was never published in the media. It was forwarded to Michael Barrier , who conducted the interview with Clampett and was distributed by Jones to multiple people concerned with animation over

1100-635: A new Schlesinger director, Tex Avery . There was no room for the new Avery unit in Schlesinger's small studio, so Avery, Jones, and fellow animators Bob Clampett , Virgil Ross , and Sid Sutherland were moved into a small adjacent building they dubbed "Termite Terrace". When Clampett was promoted to director in 1937, Jones was assigned to his unit; the Clampett unit was briefly assigned to work with Jones's old employer, Ub Iwerks , when Iwerks subcontracted four cartoons to Schlesinger in 1937. Jones became

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1200-488: A new series of Tom and Jerry shorts (1963–1967) as well as the television adaptations of Dr. Seuss 's How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1966) and Horton Hears a Who! (1970). He later started his own studio, Chuck Jones Enterprises, where he directed and produced the film adaptation of Norton Juster 's The Phantom Tollbooth (1970). Jones's work along with the other animators was showcased in

1300-579: A new series of Woody Woodpecker cartoons began streaming exclusively for YouTube , simply titled Woody Woodpecker . In August 2023, MeTV acquired the broadcast rights to Walter Lantz cartoons from 1934 to 1972 to air The Woody Woodpecker Show on Saturday morning on September 2, marking the return on TV after 25 years. The Woody Woodpecker Show was named the 88th best animated series by IGN . Walter Lantz and movie pioneer George Pal were good friends. Woody Woodpecker cameos in nearly every film that Pal produced or directed; for example, during

1400-535: A semi-regular character as Woody's primary love interest. Like Woody, Winnie was redesigned to look almost exactly like Woody did from 1950 until 1972, 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 Mrs. Meany's front yard, and Wally lived next door). Buzz Buzzard often appeared, as did Mrs. Meany and several other older characters. In 2018,

1500-499: A short animated film is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Woody Woodpecker Woody Woodpecker is a cartoon character that appeared in theatrical short films produced by the Walter Lantz Studio and Universal Animation Studio and distributed by Universal Pictures since 1940. Woody's last theatrical cartoon was produced by Walter Lantz in 1972. Woody, an anthropomorphic woodpecker ,

1600-567: 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 original chief nemesis, Wally Walrus . Woody's wild days were numbered, however. In 1946, Lantz hired Disney veteran Dick Lundy to direct Woody's cartoons. Lundy rejected Culhane's take on

1700-502: A slightly different southern dialect than he used for Huckleberry Hound ). Gabby first appeared in Everglade Raid (as "Al I. Gator"). Other films paired Woody with a girlfriend, Winnie Woodpecker (voiced by Stafford), 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 Stafford) and Dapper Denver Dooley (voiced by McKennon). As Lantz

1800-427: A staple of Universal's release schedule until 1972 when Lantz finally closed down his studio. The character has been revived since then for special productions and occasions, as well as for The New Woody Woodpecker Show , a Saturday-morning cartoon television series featuring prolific voice actor Billy West as Woody that aired from 1999 to 2002. In 2017, a live-action/CGI hybrid feature film, Woody Woodpecker ,

1900-526: A straight-to-video release in the United States on February 6, 2018. A sequel titled Woody Woodpecker Goes to Camp was announced in 2021 and released on Netflix on April 12, 2024. Woody was the star of a number of comic book series published in the U.S. and around the world. The main title, Walter Lantz Woody Woodpecker , ran from 1952 to 1983. Woody first appeared as a comic book character in 1942, appearing alongside Andy Panda and Oswald

2000-577: A supervisor in the studio, he could not himself join the union. Jones created many of his lesser-known characters during this period, including Charlie Dog , Hubie and Bertie , and The Three Bears . During World War II , Jones worked closely with Theodor Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss , to create the Private Snafu series of Army educational cartoons (the character was created by director Frank Capra ). Jones later collaborated with Seuss on animated adaptations of Seuss' books, including How

2100-606: A television adaptation of all Tom and Jerry theatricals produced to that date. This included major editing, including writing out the African-American maid, Mammy Two-Shoes , and replacing her with one of Irish descent voiced by June Foray . In 1964, Sib Tower 12 was absorbed by MGM and was renamed MGM Animation/Visual Arts . His animated short film, The Dot and the Line: A Romance in Lower Mathematics , won

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2200-457: A woodpecker (a couple of Lantz's 1930s cartoons, including the 1936 Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoon Night Life of the Bugs , had featured incidental woodpeckers). Woody shares many characteristics in common with the pileated woodpecker in terms of both physical appearance as well as his characteristic laugh, which resembles the call of the pileated woodpecker. These similarities are the result of

2300-406: Is Woody who dominates. The woodpecker constantly pesters the two pandas , apparently just for the fun of it. Meanwhile, Andy tries to sprinkle salt on Woody's tail, believing that this will somehow capture the bird. To Woody's surprise, Andy's attempts prevail, and Woody is taken away to the psychiatric hospital but not before his captors prove to be crazier than he is. The Woody of Knock Knock

2400-456: Is considered a precursor as it contains many elements seen in the series, such as utilizing a popular swing song at the time. Lantz also produced Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy of Company 'B' later in September which followed the same formula and would be nominated for an Academy Award . The first cartoon that would go under Swing Symphony wouldn't be released until December of that year. One of

2500-580: Is incorporated into the chorus as well as other parts of the song. 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 , Robot Chicken , Three's Company , and Flash Toons. Like Bugs Bunny for Warner Bros. , Sonic

2600-411: Is the guy that does the drawing between the drawings the animator makes". While at Iwerks, he met a cel painter named Dorothy Webster, who later became his first wife. Jones joined Leon Schlesinger Productions , the independent studio that produced Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies for Warner Bros. , in 1933 as an assistant animator. In 1935 he was promoted to animator and assigned to work with

2700-631: The Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 2 DVD set. Jones received an Honorary Academy Award in 1996 by the board of governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences , for "the creation of classic cartoons and cartoon characters whose animated lives have brought joy to our real ones for more than half a century." At that year's awards show, Robin Williams , a self-confessed "Jones-aholic", presented

2800-601: The Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1948, but it lost out to " Buttons and Bows ". Lantz soon adopted the song as Woody's theme music. "The Woody Woodpecker Song" and the Woody Woodpecker cartoons extensively used Woody's famous laugh, upsetting the man who created it, Mel Blanc. He first used the laughter, in a different recording, for the seminal pre-Bugs Bunny character in 1938's Porky's Hare Hunt . Although Blanc had only recorded three shorts as

2900-837: The Annie Award for Outstanding Achievement in an Animated Special Project. In 1997, Jones was awarded the Edward MacDowell Medal . In 1999, he founded the non-profit Chuck Jones Center for Creativity, in Costa Mesa, California, an art education "gymnasium for the brain" dedicated to teaching creative skills, primarily to children and seniors, which is still in operation. In his later years, he recovered from skin cancer and received hip and ankle replacements. Jones died of congestive heart failure on February 22, 2002, at his home in Corona del Mar, Newport Beach at

3000-577: The English-speaking world , thanks to the lack of a language barrier ( The Pink Panther shorts of the 1960s and 1970s also enjoyed worldwide popularity due to this pantomime luxury). Nine more Lantz-directed Woody cartoons followed before Don Patterson became Woody's new director in 1952. The bird was redesigned again, this time by animator LaVerne Harding . Harding made Woody smaller and cuter, moving his crest forward from its original backward position. The small Lantz Studios logo seen at

3100-690: The Leon Schlesinger Production's Termite Terrace studio, the studio that made Warner Brothers cartoons, where they created and developed the Looney Tunes characters. During the Second World War , Jones directed many of the Private Snafu (1943–1946) shorts which were shown to members of the United States military . After his career at Warner Bros. ended in 1962, Jones started Sib Tower 12 Productions and began producing cartoons for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer , including

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3200-640: The Looney Tunes characters. Jones resumed working with Warner Bros. in 1976 with the animated TV adaptation of The Carnival of the Animals with Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck. Jones also produced The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie (1979), which was a compilation of Jones's best theatrical shorts, new Road Runner shorts for The Electric Company series and Bugs Bunny's Looney Christmas Tales (1979). New shorts were made for Bugs Bunny's Bustin' Out All Over (1980). From 1977 to 1978, Jones wrote and drew

3300-482: The artistic license of the creators and have caused much confusion within the birding community among those who have attempted to classify Woody's species. In the short Dumb Like a Fox (1964), a museum offers a 25-dollar reward to anyone who captures a Campephilus principalis , which is Woody Woodpecker himself. Woody Woodpecker first appeared in the short Knock Knock on November 25, 1940. The cartoon ostensibly stars Andy Panda and Papa Panda , but it

3400-464: The 1942 short The Draft Horse . The cartoon that was generally considered his turning point was The Dover Boys . Released the same year, it noticeably featured quickly-timed gags and extensive use of limited animation . Despite this, Schlesinger and the studios heads were still dissatisfied and begun the process to fire him, but they were unable to find a replacement due to a labor shortage stemming from World War II , so Jones kept his position. He

3500-441: The 1948 layoff. These shorts have no director's credit, as Lantz claimed to have directed them himself. Puny Express (1951) was the first to be released, followed by Sleep Happy . These shorts marked a departure from past dialogue-driven shorts. Though Stafford now voiced Woody, her job was limited, as Woody (and other characters) rarely spoke in the first dozen or so shorts. Because of these entries, Woody became popular outside

3600-487: The 1950s, except for a brief period in 1953 when Warner closed the animation studio. During this interim, Jones found employment at Walt Disney Productions , where he teamed with Ward Kimball for a four-month period of uncredited work on Sleeping Beauty (1959). Upon the reopening of the Warner animation department, Jones was rehired and reunited with most of his unit. In the early 1960s, Jones and his wife Dorothy wrote

3700-528: The 1965 Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film . Jones directed the classic animated short The Bear That Wasn't . As the Tom and Jerry series wound down (it was discontinued in 1967), Jones produced more for television. In 1966, he produced and directed the TV special How the Grinch Stole Christmas ! , featuring narration by Boris Karloff . Jones continued to work on other TV specials such as Horton Hears

3800-548: The 1966 sequence in The Time Machine (1960), a little girl drops her Woody Woodpecker doll as she goes into an air raid shelter. In Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze (1975), Grace Stafford cameos, carrying a Woody Woodpecker doll. Obvious references to "The Woody Woodpecker Song" can be found in the work of at least two noted jazz innovators: specifically, Charlie Parker , a number of whose solos quote it in passing, and Wayne Shorter , whose 1961 composition "Look at

3900-745: The 1988 film Who Framed Roger Rabbit . Woody Woodpecker is the official mascot of Universal Pictures. Woody and his friends are also icons at the Universal Studios Theme Parks worldwide, as well as the PortAventura Park in the Salou, Spain , where they remain despite Universal no longer having a financial stake in the park. The inspiration for the character allegedly came during producer Walter Lantz 's honeymoon with his wife, Grace , in June Lake, California in 1940,

4000-643: The Birdie"—as heard on Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers ' Roots & Herbs (recorded in 1961, released in 1970)—has been singled out by both composer/trumpeter David Weiss and Shorter's biographer Michelle Mercer as an ingenious variation on the theme. In addition, a full-fledged cover of the song itself was recorded in 1986 by jazz trumpeter Woody Shaw for his 1987 release, Solid . In 1983–1984, Catapult musicians Aart Mol, Cees Bergman, Elmer Veerhoff, Erwin van Prehn and Geertjan Hessing (under

4100-691: The Bugs Bunny/Daffy Duck animated sequences that bookend its sequel Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990). Jones directed animated sequences for various features such as a lengthy sequence in the film Stay Tuned (1992) and a shorter one seen at the start of the Robin Williams vehicle Mrs. Doubtfire (1993). Also during the 1980s and 1990s, Jones served on the advisory board of the National Student Film Institute . Jones's final Looney Tunes cartoon

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4200-546: The European Universal exchanges still distributing the Universal era Lantz cartoons. By keeping the studio closed while the Universal and United Artists Woody Woodpecker cartoons were still in distribution, Lantz was able to amass enough income to pay off the studio's debts and upgrade the studio, after which time the studio finally reopened with a reduced staff. The revived Lantz studio's first new project

4300-942: The European comics, Freddy Milton . Woody also starred in a short-lived comic strip , syndicated by Consolidated News Features, in the early 1950s. Foreign-language versions of the Woody Woodpecker comic were published in many European countries, most actively in Sweden ("Hacke Hackspett"), the Netherlands, France, and Italy ("Picchiarello"). Several Woody Woodpecker video games were released for Mega Drive /Genesis, PlayStation , PlayStation 2 , Microsoft Windows , Game Boy Color , Game Boy Advance , 3DO Interactive Multiplayer and iOS : Chuck Jones Charles Martin Jones (September 21, 1912 – February 22, 2002)

4400-578: The Grinch Stole Christmas! in 1966. Jones directed such shorts as The Weakly Reporter , a 1944 short that related to shortages and rationing on the home front. During the same year, he directed Hell-Bent for Election , a campaign film for Franklin D. Roosevelt . Jones created characters through the late 1930s, late 1940s, and the 1950s, which include his collaborative help in co-creating Bugs Bunny and also included creating Claude Cat , Marc Antony and Pussyfoot , Charlie Dog , Michigan J. Frog , Gossamer , and his four most popular creations, Marvin

4500-711: The Hedgehog for Sega , Mario for Nintendo and Mickey Mouse for Disney , Woody Woodpecker serves as the official mascot of Universal Pictures . 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 Woody Woodpecker balloon had been a staple of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade from 1982 until 1996. In Brazil ,

4600-758: The Lantz studio hit its loan debt cap of $ 250,000 at the Bank of America , Lantz was forced to shut the studio down. He began a series of staggered layoffs in December 1948 until work on the final 1940s Lantz short, the Woody cartoon Drooler's Delight , was finished at the otherwise shuttered studio in early 1949. Walter Lantz Productions remained closed for a full calendar year. During this time, Walter Lantz and his wife, actress Grace Stafford , toured Europe to spend money impounded there after World War II and also to entertain

4700-690: The Lifetime Achievement Award at the World Festival of Animated Film – Animafest Zagreb in 1988. Jones was a historical authority as well as a major contributor to the development of animation throughout the 20th century. In 1990, Jones received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement . He received an honorary degree from Oglethorpe University in 1993. For his contribution to

4800-553: The Line , won the Best Animated Short . Robin Williams presented Jones with an Honorary Academy Award in 1996 for his work in the animation industry. Film historian Leonard Maltin has praised Jones's work at Warner Bros., MGM and Chuck Jones Enterprises. In Jerry Beck 's The 50 Greatest Cartoons , a group of animation professionals ranked What's Opera, Doc? (1957) as the greatest cartoon of all time, with ten of

4900-583: The Martian , Pepé Le Pew , Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner . Jones and writer Michael Maltese collaborated on the Road Runner cartoons, Duck Amuck , One Froggy Evening , and What's Opera, Doc? . Other staff at Unit A whom Jones collaborated with include layout artist, background designer, and co-director Maurice Noble ; animator and co-director Abe Levitow ; and animators Ken Harris and Ben Washam . Jones remained at Warner Bros. throughout

5000-523: The Rabbit in Dell Comics ' New Funnies , an anthology comic that featured a number of other Lantz characters. Eventually, Woody became the star of New Funnies , leading to Woody Woodpecker solo comics appearing as part of Dell Comics ' Four Color Comics one-shot series, beginning in 1947. Walter Lantz Woody Woodpecker became an independent comic book (starting with issue #16 to reflect

5100-487: The Woody Woodpecker laugh had initially been applied to the prototype of Bugs Bunny , in shorts such as those above 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 to an exclusive contract, Woody's voice-over work was taken over by Danny Webb, followed by Kent Rogers and Dick Nelson, and Ben Hardaway later became Woody's voice after Rogers

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5200-533: The abundance of high-quality paper and pencils. Later, in one art school class, the professor gravely informed the students that they each had 100,000 bad drawings in them that they must first get past before they could possibly draw anything worthwhile. Jones recounted years later that this pronouncement came as a great relief to him, as he was well past the 200,000 mark, having used up all that stationery. Jones and several of his siblings went on to artistic careers. During his artistic education, he worked part-time as

5300-427: The age of 89. He was cremated and his ashes were scattered at sea. After his death, Cartoon Network aired a 20-second segment tracing Jones's portrait with the words "We'll miss you". Also, the Looney Tunes cartoon Daffy Duck for President , based on the book that Jones had written and using Jones's style for the characters, originally scheduled to be released in 2000, was released in 2004 as part of disc three of

5400-958: The animation division in 1970, and Jones once again started his own studio, Chuck Jones Enterprises. He produced a Saturday morning children's TV series for the American Broadcasting Company called The Curiosity Shop in 1971. In 1973, he produced an animated version of the George Selden book The Cricket in Times Square and subsequently produced two sequels. Three of his works during this period were animated TV adaptations of short stories from Rudyard Kipling 's The Jungle Book : Mowgli's Brothers , The White Seal and Rikki-Tikki-Tavi . During this period, Jones began to experiment with more realistically designed characters, most of which had larger eyes, leaner bodies, and altered proportions, such as those of

5500-408: 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 ,

5600-751: The cartoons for another syndicated Woody Woodpecker Show in 1987. A year later, Woody made a cameo in Who Framed Roger Rabbit , voiced by Cherry Davis, near the end of the film. Woody Woodpecker reappeared in the Fox Kids series The New Woody Woodpecker Show , which ran on Saturday mornings from 1999 to 2002, voiced by Billy West . For this series, Woody was redesigned more like his mid-1940s look (1944 to 1949), pushing back his crest and making his eyes green again. Winnie Woodpecker, who had debuted in Real Gone Woody (1954), became

5700-427: The character is a hugely popular and iconic cartoon character. A handful of non-comprehensive Woody Woodpecker VHS tapes were issued by Universal in the 1980s and 1990s, usually including Andy Panda 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

5800-433: 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 Wet Blanket Policy (1948), and it became the first and only song from an animated short subject to be nominated for

5900-527: The court settlement with Mel Blanc. However, Stafford was not credited for the role at her request until Misguided Missile (1958), as she felt audiences might reject a woman performing Woody's voice. She also tried to tone down the character through their 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 entries that director Dick Lundy and storymen Ben Hardaway and Heck Allen had begun before

6000-751: The documentary, Bugs Bunny: Superstar (1975). Jones directed the first feature-length animated Looney Tunes compilation film, The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie (1979). In 1990 he wrote his memoir, Chuck Amuck: The Life and Times of an Animated Cartoonist , which was made into a documentary film, Chuck Amuck (1991). He was also profiled in the American Masters documentary Chuck Jones: Extremes & Inbetweens – A Life in Animation (2000) which aired on PBS . Jones won three Academy Awards . The cartoons which he directed, For Scent-imental Reasons , So Much for So Little , and The Dot and

6100-459: The duration of the Woody Woodpecker series. Financial problems at United Artists during the aftermath of the Paramount case —which forced movie distributors to end the practice of block booking , or selling shorts and features to theaters in packages—affected Lantz. The revenues Lantz received from UA's distribution of his cartoons were much lower than his returns had been from Universal. Once

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6200-556: The earlier appearances in Four Color ) in Dec. 1952-Jan. 1953. It ran for 201 issues, published by Dell and then Western Publishing ( Whitman / Gold Key ), lasting until 1983. Woody's niece and nephew Splinter and Knothead first made their appearances in the comics, later appearing in the cartoons. Notable creators involved with the Woody Woodpecker comic included Carl Fallberg , Paul Murry , Tony Strobl , Frank Thomas , and in

6300-447: The early 2000s, a series of mail-order Woody Woodpecker Show VHS tapes and DVDs were made available by mail order through Columbia House . In 2007, Universal Pictures 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 in

6400-642: The entries being directed by Jones including Duck Amuck (1953), Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century (1953), One Froggy Evening (1955), Rabbit of Seville (1950), and Rabbit Seasoning (1952). Charles Martin Jones was born on September 21, 1912, in Spokane, Washington , to Mabel McQuiddy (née Martin) (1882–1971) and Charles Adams Jones (1883–?). When he was six months old, he moved with his parents and three siblings to Los Angeles, California . In his autobiography, Chuck Amuck , Jones credits his artistic bent to circumstances surrounding his father, who

6500-451: The honorary award to Jones, calling him "The Orson Welles of cartoons", and the audience gave Jones a standing ovation as he walked onto the stage. For himself, a flattered Jones wryly remarked in his acceptance speech, "Well, what can I say in the face of such humiliating evidence? I stand guilty before the world of directing over three hundred cartoons in the last fifty or sixty years. Hopefully, this means you've forgiven me." He received

6600-589: 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. Despite the Disney style added for the later cartoons, Woody's cartoons still try to maintain a good dose of slapstick and madcap humor from the pre-Lundy cartoons. In 1947, Woody got his theme song when musicians George Tibbles and Ramey Idriss wrote "The Woody Woodpecker Song", making ample use of

6700-580: The later Chuck Jones version of Bugs Bunny. Woody was originally voiced by prolific voice actor Mel Blanc , who was succeeded in the shorts by Danny Webb , Kent Rogers , Dick Nelson, Ben Hardaway, and, finally, Grace Stafford (wife of Walter Lantz). 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. Lantz produced theatrical cartoons longer than most of his contemporaries, and Woody Woodpecker remained

6800-480: The laugh originated from a type of laugh he used to do at school and he just added the pecking sounds to the laugh. That practice continued with other voice artists. In the early 2010s, Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment planned a Woody Woodpecker feature film. John Altschuler and Dave Krinsky ( King of the Hill ) were in talks to develop a story, but the project was canceled. In 2013, Bill Kopp

6900-434: The main writers that worked on the series was Ben Hardaway , who left Warner Bros. in 1940 and was hired by Walter Lantz to work on the storyboards for Universal Studios ' cartoons. From 1938 to 1940, Hardaway was notably one of the last holdouts to co-direct several Merrie Melodies cartoons that featured lengthy musical sequences. He also supplied his voice for Woody Woodpecker in 1944 until 1949. Darrell Calker , who

7000-836: The motion picture industry, Jones has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7011 Hollywood Blvd . He was awarded the Inkpot Award in 1974. In 1996, Jones received an Honorary Oscar at the 68th Academy Awards. Three short films directed by Jones have been inducted into the National Film Registry by the United States Film Preservation Board : What's Opera, Doc? , inducted in 1992; Duck Amuck, inducted in 1999; and One Froggy Evening , inducted in 2003. Jones's life and legacy were celebrated on January 12, 2012, with

7100-564: The newspaper comic strip Crawford (also known as Crawford & Morgan ) for the Chicago Tribune-NY News Syndicate . In 2011 IDW Publishing collected Jones's strip as part of their Library of American Comic Strips. In 1978, Jones's wife Dorothy died. He married Marian Dern, the writer of the comic strip Rick O'Shay in 1981. On December 11, 1975, shortly after the release of Bugs Bunny: Superstar , which prominently featured Bob Clampett , Jones wrote

7200-612: The 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 was simplified due to budget constraints. In addition to Stafford providing Woody's voice, which returned the cartoon to being more dialogue-driven again, voice talents during this period were generally split between Dallas McKennon and Daws Butler . Several of Woody's recurring costars were also introduced during this era, such as Gabby Gator (voiced by Butler in an Ozarks voice,

7300-502: The pseudonym "Adams & Fleisner") wrote and produced " Woodpeckers from Space " by VideoKids , a synth-pop cover of "The Woody Woodpecker Song". Released on 4 September 1984, the song became a number 1 hit in Spain and Norway. The idea for the song began when the children of Gert van den Bosch (co-founder of Boni Records) asked him if he could produce a record based on Woody Woodpecker, whom they were big fans of. The Woody laugh used in

7400-515: The quality and design to that of ones made by Walt Disney Production . As a result, his cartoons suffered from sluggish pacing and a lack of clever gags, with Jones himself later admitting that his early conception of timing and dialog was "formed by watching the action in the La Brea Tar Pits ". Schlesinger and the studio heads were unsatisfied with his work and demanded that he make cartoons that were more funny. He responded by creating

7500-443: The rest of the shorts' production run. During this time, the opening was changed as well. Instead of having Woody's name on-screen and Woody pecking a hole in the screen to introduce himself, Woody now pecked his way onto the screen, greeting the audience with his iconic "Guess who?", then carved out his name on either a brown or gray wood background and jumped around the screen while laughing. By 1955, Paul J. Smith had taken over as

7600-493: The screenplay for the animated feature Gay Purr-ee . The finished film featured the voices of Judy Garland , Robert Goulet and Red Buttons as cats in Paris, France. The feature was produced by UPA and directed by his former Warner Bros. collaborator, Abe Levitow. Jones moonlighted to work on the film since he had an exclusive contract with Warner Bros. UPA completed the film and made it available for distribution in 1962; it

7700-475: The series and made Woody more defensive; the bird no longer went insane without a legitimate reason. Lundy also paid more attention to 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 Duck short Flying Jalopy . This cartoon is played much like a Woody Woodpecker short, down to the laugh in the end. It also features

7800-473: The shorts until 1951. 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 starred in several films. The character's brash demeanor 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

7900-408: The song was first heard in "Let's Break" by Master Genius in 1983, another Cat Music project. The band's animated mascot, a "spacepecker" named Tico Tac, was created and used in place of Woody in order to avoid a lawsuit from Universal. The band lasted from 1984 to 1988. The Baltimora song " Woody Boogie ", released in 1985, notably features a synthesizer replaying Woody Woodpecker's laugh, which

8000-428: The start of every cartoon — Woody as an armored knight on horseback carrying a lance — continued for a while to display Woody with his former topknot. For 1955's The Tree Medic , one last makeover was given to the woodpecker, making Woody's eye a simple black dot and removing the green/hazel iris he had had since his beginnings. However, Woody's eyes were not changed in the cartoon's intros, and they remained green for

8100-434: The stringent rules against violence for children's television. Though production continued until 1972, the cartoons were a definite notch lower than in the 1940s and 1950s. Woody appeared in new theatrical shorts until 1972, when Lantz closed his studio 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

8200-418: 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. Although Lantz stopped using Blanc's Woody Woodpecker laugh as a stock effect in the early 1950s, Blanc's voice was still heard saying "Guess who?" at the beginning of every cartoon for

8300-510: The years. Through the 1980s and 1990s, Jones was painting cartoon and parody art, sold through animation galleries by his daughter's company, Linda Jones Enterprises. Jones was the creative consultant and character designer for two Raggedy Ann animated specials and the first Alvin and the Chipmunks Christmas special A Chipmunk Christmas . He made a cameo appearance in the film Gremlins (1984) and he wrote and directed

8400-506: Was From Hare to Eternity (1997), which starred Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam , with Greg Burson voicing Bugs. The cartoon was dedicated to Friz Freleng , who had died in 1995. Jones's final animation project was a series of 13 shorts starring a timber wolf character he had designed in the 1960s named Thomas Timber Wolf. The series was released online by Warner Bros. in 2000. From 2001 until 2004, Cartoon Network aired The Chuck Jones Show which features shorts directed by him. The show won

8500-433: Was actively involved in efforts to unionize the staff of Leon Schlesinger Studios . He was responsible for recruiting animators, layout men, and background people. Almost all animators joined, in reaction to salary cuts imposed by Leon Schlesinger . The Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio had already signed a union contract, encouraging their counterparts under Schlesinger. In a meeting with his staff, Schlesinger talked for

8600-574: Was an American animator , painter, voice actor and filmmaker, best known for his work with Warner Bros. Cartoons on the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of shorts. He wrote, produced, and/or directed many classic animated cartoon shorts starring Bugs Bunny , Daffy Duck , Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner , Pepé Le Pew , Marvin the Martian , and Porky Pig , among others. Jones started his career in 1933 alongside Tex Avery , Friz Freleng , Bob Clampett , and Robert McKimson at

8700-596: Was an animated segment of the feature film Destination Moon (1950), produced by Lantz's friend George Pál . In the segment, astronauts are shown an animated educational film featuring Woody Woodpecker explaining rocket propulsion . Beginning with Destination Moon , Woody's voice was assumed by 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 due to

8800-492: Was an unsuccessful businessman in California in the 1920s. He recounted that his father would start every new business venture by purchasing new stationery and new pencils with the company name on them. When the business failed, his father would quietly turn the huge stacks of useless stationery and pencils over to his children, requiring them to use up all the material as fast as possible. The children drew frequently, owing to

8900-453: Was attached to direct an animated feature film with three interwoven stories, but the project was later canceled. A live-action/CGI hybrid film based on Woody Woodpecker , directed by Alex Zamm and starring Timothy Omundson and Brazilian actress Thaila Ayala , was released theatrically in Brazil on October 5, 2017, and was scheduled for release on April 1, 2018, worldwide. The film had

9000-465: Was created in 1940 by Lantz and 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 evolved over the years, from an insane bird with an unusually garish design to a more refined-looking and acting character in the vein of

9100-543: Was designed by animator Alex Lovy . Woody's original voice actor , Mel Blanc , stopped performing the character after the first three cartoons to work exclusively for Leon Schlesinger Productions (later renamed Warner Bros. Cartoons ), producer of Warner Bros. ' Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies after signing a loyalty contract. At Leon 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

9200-636: Was discontinued in 1945 due to swing music fading in popularity following the end of World War II . Dick Lundy, who directed the last Swing Symphony cartoon, later developed Musical Miniatures , a musical series focusing on classical music. Four cartoons were produced in 1947–1948. Frank Tipper Ben Hardaway Andy Panda R. Somerville Ben Hardaway Three Little Pigs Chuck Couch Milt Schaffer Ben Hardaway Milt Schaffer The Foy's and Barton's Will Get You If You Don't Watch Out Les Kline Emery Hawkins Emery Hawkins Pat Matthews Pat Matthews This article related to

9300-405: Was instead on the receiving end. The first significant 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, but by 1961, this had all but been eliminated in favor of a more serious Woody, a straight man trying to do good. This was due in part to Woody's large presence on television, which meant Lantz had to meet

9400-534: Was involved in jazz circles, composed the music and brought in famous musicians like Nat King Cole , Meade Lux Lewis and Jack Teagarden to play them. Pianist Bob Zurke did a recording for the cartoon Jungle Jive before he died aged 32. In 1942, Juke Box Jamboree was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film but lost to Disney's Der Fuehrer's Face . Few of Lantz's cartoons were highlighted for stereotyping and racism, but were said by Joe Adamson as not intended to be offensive. The series

9500-457: Was nominated for the 1943 Academy Award for Best Short Subject (Cartoons) , which it lost to the MGM Tom and Jerry cartoon The Yankee Doodle Mouse . Woody Woodpecker's debut also marked a change in directing style for Walter Lantz studio, since the character was heavily inspired by Tex Avery -created Looney Tunes character Daffy Duck at Warner Bros, and thus Woody's cartoons tended to have

9600-737: Was picked up by Warner Bros. When Warner Bros. discovered that Jones had violated his exclusive contract with them, they terminated him. Jones's former animation unit was laid off after completing the final cartoon in their pipeline, The Iceman Ducketh , and the rest of the Warner Bros. Cartoons studio was closed in early 1963. With business partner Les Goldman, Jones started an independent animation studio, Sib Tower 12 Productions, and brought on most of his unit from Warner Bros., including Maurice Noble and Michael Maltese. In 1963, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contracted with Sib Tower 12 to have Jones and his staff produce new Tom and Jerry cartoons as well as

9700-415: Was released in 2009, which contained no new-to-DVD material. Woody Woodpecker shorts have been released for the first time on Blu-ray; labeled as the "Screwball Collection", the set was released on September 7, 2021. 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. He stated that

9800-505: Was released theatrically in Latin America, while released direct-to-video in other territories. It was followed by a new series of shorts released via YouTube beginning in 2018. In 2024, a new film, Woody Woodpecker Goes to Camp , was released on Netflix . Woody has a motion picture star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7000 Hollywood Boulevard. He also made a cameo appearance alongside many other famous cartoon characters in

9900-437: Was sent to the army during World War II and would voice the woodpecker for the rest of the decade. This makes Woody Woodpecker one of the very few cartoon characters initially voiced by Mel Blanc to be voiced by someone else during Blanc's lifetime. Despite this, Blanc continued to voice Woody on a Mutual Network radio show and in recordings for Capitol Records from 1948 until 1955, while his laugh would continue to be used in

10000-521: Was struggling financially, Woody's longevity was secured when he made the jump to television in The Woody Woodpecker Show 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. NBC revived the show in 1970 and 1976. In addition, the woodpecker was no longer dishing out abuse to his foils, but

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