Little Audrey
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Little Audrey is a fictional character, appearing in Paramount Pictures' Famous Studios cartoons from 1947 to 1959. She is considered a variation of the better-known Little Lulu, devised after Paramount decided not to renew the license on Marjorie Henderson Buell's comic strip character. Despite some superficial similarities between the two characters, the Famous animators were at pains to design Audrey in contrast to Lulu, adopting an entirely different color scheme and employing the stylistic conventions common to Famous Studios' later '40s repertoire, as opposed to Buell's individualistic rendering of Little Lulu. Little Audrey was voiced by Mae Questel, who had also voiced Little Lulu as well as most of Paramount's other major female cartoon characters.
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[edit] History
[edit] Animated cartoons
According to most sources, Audrey first appeared in the Noveltoon Santa's Surprise (1947), where she was the most prominent member of a multicultural child cast, and was briefly seen in the January 1948 Popeye cartoon Olive Oyl for President. Her first starring vehicle was the Noveltoons short Butterscotch and Soda, released July 16, 1948. In common with many animated shorts of the period, child-like fantasy played an important role in Audrey's early cartoons, which often used dream sequences as the basis of the storylines. In this way, Audrey could ride the clouds with Mother Goose (Goofy Goofy Gander, 1950), attend a wedding in Cakeland (Tarts and Flowers, also 1950), or face an underwater tribunal of outraged catfish (The Seapreme Court, 1954). Slapstick humor crept into the series with the release of Surf Bored (1953), which pitted the precocious little girl against a hulking but ultimately brainless life guard. A total of sixteen Noveltoons starring Audrey were produced for theatrical release, several of which were re-packaged for television from the late 50s on.
[edit] Television Era
The pre-1950 Little Audrey Noveltoons were sold to television distributor U.M.&M. T.V. Corp. in 1956. Only two Little Audrey cartoons were syndicated with U.M.&M. titles. National Telefilm Associates completed the refilming of the titles to the other Little Audrey cartoons that were sold to U.M.&M. The post-1950 cartoons would be sold to Harvey Comics, when they acquired the rights to the character in 1959. Some prints of Little Audrey cartoons survive with their Paramount "spinning star" openings intact.
[edit] Comic books
Little Audrey was never as successful as Famous' best known creation, Casper the Friendly Ghost, but the character had considerable success in printed form. The first Little Audrey comic book series was St. John Publications from 1948 to 1951. Featuring stories which depended more on situation comedy than on fantasy, the comics featured artwork done in a style approximating the original Famous character designs. The series met with moderate success on the newsstand, running for approximately twenty-four issues until Little Audrey was licensed by Harvey Comics in 1952.
Initially, Harvey's comic-strip version closely followed its animated template, but the character was redesigned during the mid-fifties to conform more closely to the company's in-house style. The general storyline was simultaneous overhauled to provide Audrey with supporting characters such as Melvin, her ugly, prankish archrival, and Timmy, a young black boy. Domestic comedy gradually took over the scripts, as Audrey was shown in conflict with parents, teachers, and other authority figures.
Harvey purchased the rights to all of Famous' original properties - Little Audrey included - in 1958, also acquiring the rights to the post-1950 Audrey cartoons. It was during this time that the "definitive" Audrey came into being, taking on the signature red dress and appearance most often associated with the character. By 1960, Little Audrey was the best known of Harvey's female characters due to her multi-media presence (comic books, television/theatrical animation and - briefly - newspaper strips), although her popularity was later eclipsed by the company's other female characters, Little Dot, Wendy the Good Little Witch and Little Lotta.
During her most successful period, Audrey starred in at least four of her own titles and was a back-up feature in Richie Rich, Casper, and Dot. The character lasted until 1976, when an industry-wide distribution slump brought an end to most of Harvey's line and most children's comics in general. Since that time, the character has undergone several revivals and made scattered television and video appearances, most notably in The Richie Rich Show (1996) and Baby Huey's Great Easter Adventure (1998).
Little Audrey jokes were in circulation in the 1930s, according to B.A. Botkin in his book A Treasury of American Folktales (1944): "Little Audrey is a folk-lore character about whom thousands of nonsensical short tales during the past five or six years — have been told. Sometimes Little Audrey parades as Little Emma or Little Gertrude, but she usually is recognizable by a catch phrase 'she just laughed and laughed'. The amusing incident is typically a catastrophe. Little Audrey sees the humor in any situation".
[edit] Famous Studios filmography
All cartoons listed are entires in the Noveltoons series unless otherwise noted. Credited directors for each short are noted.
| Title | Director | Release date |
|---|---|---|
| Santa's Surprise | Seymour Kneitel | December 5, 1947 |
| Olive Oyl for President Popeye the Sailor series |
Isadore Sparber | January 30, 1948 |
| Butterscotch and Soda | Seymour Kneitel | July 16, 1948 |
| The Lost Dream | Bill Tytla | March 18, 1949 |
| Song of the Birds | Bill Tytla | November 18, 1949 |
| Tarts and Flowers | Bill Tytla | March 26, 1950 |
| Goofy Goofy Gander | Bill Tytla | August 18, 1950 |
| Hold the Lion Please | Isadore Sparber | August 27, 1951 |
| Audrey the Rainmaker | Isadore Sparber | October 26, 1951 |
| Law and Audrey | Isadore Sparber | May 23, 1952 |
| The Case of the Cockeyed Canary |
Seymour Kneitel | December 19, 1952 |
| Surf Bored | Isadore Sparber | July 17, 1953 |
| The Seapreme Court | Seymour Kneitel | January 29, 1954 |
| Dizzy Dishes | Isadore Sparber | February 4, 1955 |
| Little Audrey Riding Hood | Seymour Kneitel | October 14, 1955 |
| Fishing Tackler | Isadore Sparber | March 29, 1957 |
| Dawg Gawn | Seymour Kneitel | December 12, 1958 |
