OT: "Muttley laugh" (Was: Crusty versus Dirty old men)

On Sun, 09 Sep 2001 19:16:37 EDT Glenn M Wilson <triphibious@juno.com> wrote:

> On Sun, 9 Sep 2001 09:07:37 -0500 devans@uneb.edu writes:

> Muttley! Loved that laugh! <

Mostly because it's the start of a slow week and I don't have a vast
amount to do at present (this will change :-( ), I thought I'd add my 2
cCr on the subject of that classic Hanna-Barbera dog laugh and a few
other characteristics that Muttley shared (Frak, talk about bored...!
<g>).

Although Muttley is the best-known user of the wheezing laugh, he was
by no means the first. That "honour", AFAIK, goes to an obscure HB
character called Precious Pupp. It's a measure of just _how_ obscure
this character is that I can't remember the name of the show that featured his
adventures (?) after those of the main (eponymous) character.

The laugh was obviously more of a hit that PP himself was, because it went on
to be used by several other HB canine characters before becoming a part of
Muttley in all the shows featuring the character
(D&M, WR, the off-road version of WR, all those el cheapo "contest"
series that HB churned out... Muttley got around!).

Similarly, Muttley's ecstatic (near-pornographic! <eg>) response to
being given a medal had been seen before. The earliest example of it that I
know of was a dog who cropped up in a few Quick Draw McGraw
cartoons (so we're going _way_ back here in HB terms) and had the
self-hugging-launch-into-air-float-down-slowly reaction to being given
a dog biscuit! (_How_ did that get past the censors? <g>) IIRC, a
similar character was also seen in some Bozo the Clown cartoons of slightly
later vintage; don't ask me what was in those biscuits, but it probably
belongs on the Class A drug list! And I think it cropped up elsewhere, though
I can't remember any details.

And, of course, the muttered cursing under his breath --
"rasserfrasserratzin....", etc. -- is a staple of all HB cartoon
villains.

Even Muttley's tail-as-helo-rotor (only seen in the D&M cartoons, IIRC,
otherwise he couldn't end up in as much trouble <g>) had, I think, been
seen before, though I can't say when -- and, of course, the immortal
Charles Shultz had Snoopy as a "whirlydog" years before (though his
"rotor blades" were his _ears_!

This is not to put down Muttley in any way; the genius of the character
was to put all these traits together in the one rather seedy-looking
package, combine it with what is probably the best "vile villain" in cartoons
this side of the great Dishonest John himself, and then have so much fun with
them. There was some true greatness in those cartoons, something that is, and
was, generally lacking in children's (and adults'!) animation.

We now return you to your regular topics... <g>

Phil
----
"If you let a smile be your umbrella... you'll get wet teeth!"