First, the cartoons in question:
And now, the story.
Welcome to Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies Comics. On this blog, we'll be taking a look at the overlooked side career of the Warner Bros. cartoon characters. Though beloved and celebrated on theater and TV screens for generations of fans, Bugs Bunny and his cartoon cohorts have also had an equally lengthy career in print.
Saturday, June 2, 2012
Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies # 89 (Dell) March 1949: "Elmer Fudd vs. Kid Socko"
In this story from "Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies" # 89 (Dell) March 1949, A misprint in the newspaper confuses Elmer Fudd's bid for local dog catcher with a story about a boxing champ named Kid Socko. This leads to Sylvester convincing Fudd to fight Socko. A bit of history is needed here. The Red Riding Hood character in this story appeared several times in Elmer Fudd stories of the mid to late 1940's, primarily as a love interest for Elmer. It's not entirely clear where she came from in relation to the cartoons, but I'm guessing that it stems from Tex Avery's "Little Red Walking Hood" (1937) and Avery's "Cinderella Meets Fella" (1938), which feature a Red Riding Hood/Cinderella character alongside Elmer's original "Egghead" persona. To make matters even more complicated, early Leon Schlesinger/Warner Bros. publicity suggests that Egghead and Elmer were intended to be separate characters (brothers in fact.)
First, the cartoons in question:
And now, the story.
First, the cartoons in question:
And now, the story.
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Warners' Red Riding Hood made her Elmer-story debut in LOONEY TUNES 2 (1941), which also included the Wolf and several clear examples of LITTLE RED WALKING HOOD influence. In the end, Red and Elmer clinched, Elmer said "Send more wolves!"—and the rest was history, I guess.
ReplyDeleteIn the early "brothers" period, it's easy to tell Egghead from Elmer if you note that it's always Elmer when he's got squinty eyes and a derby hat.