Andy Panda

Not to be confused with Andy Pandy.
Andy Panda
Woody Woodpecker character
First appearance Life Begins for Andy Panda
Last appearance Scrappy Birthday
Created by Walter Lantz[1]
Alex Lovy
Portrayed by Bernice Hansen (1939-1940)
Sara Berner (1941-1944)
Walter Tetley (1945-1949)
Daws Butler (in "Spook-A-Nanny")
Information
Species Panda
Gender Male
Family Papa Panda (father)

Andy Panda is a funny animal cartoon character who starred in his own series of animated cartoon short subjects produced by Walter Lantz.[2] These "cartunes" were released by Universal Pictures from 1939 to 1947 and United Artists from 1948 to 1949. The titular character is an anthropomorphic cartoon character, a cute panda.[3] Andy became the second star of the Walter Lantz cartoons after Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. He achieved considerable popularity until being eventually supplanted by Woody Woodpecker.

History

When Oswald the Lucky Rabbit retired in 1938, following a nine year run, Walter Lantz's studio went for months without recurring characters. It wasn't until late 1939, when Lantz had a trip to a zoo. There, the main attraction of the place was a young panda which Lantz drew pictures of. He would then use his drawings to construct a new character.

Andy's first cartoon was the aptly titled Life Begins for Andy Panda in 1939. (This was obvious wordplay on the perky titles of the popular Andy Hardy movies of that era.[4] Ironically, a later Andy Hardy film was actually titled "Life Begins for Andy Hardy.")[5]

In the first three cartoons of the series, Andy's companion was a feisty turtle named Mr. Whippletree, while Papa Panda—Andy's father—was often the fall guy for their pranks. When the turtle disappeared from the series, Papa began to function as both companion and foil.

Andy was at first a mischievous cub, whose blustery Papa is frequently trying to prove himself as a good role model. Later, Andy became a stand-alone star in the vein of Mickey Mouse, and even acquired a Pluto-like dog named Milo as a pet.

The 1940 Andy Panda short Knock Knock featured the first appearance of Lantz's most famous character, Woody Woodpecker.[3]

By 1942, Andy Panda started wearing clothes and shoes in Nutty Pine Cabin. The character was then given a major overhaul by director Shamus Culhane for the 1944 short The Painter and the Pointer, with a far more malicious personality than he had ever shown previously, but this new version was disliked by both Lantz and audiences, and was not used again. Lantz continued to produce Andy Panda shorts until he closed his studio in 1949; Andy's last short was Scrappy Birthday (1949), which featured his girlfriend, Miranda Panda (voiced by Grace Stafford). When the studio reopened in 1951, the Andy Panda series never returned to production.

Andy Panda was originally voiced by Bernice Hansen from 1939 to 1940, with Sara Berner providing the voice from 1941 to 1944, and Walter Tetley assuming the role afterwards until the character's final short in 1949. Andy made a guest appearance in the later Woody Woodpecker TV special "Spook-A-Nanny" (1964), in which he was voiced by Daws Butler.

Andy led a major part of his career in comic books. One early Andy Panda comic book adventure was drawn by Carl Barks (New Funnies 76, 1943). John Stanley also did Andy Panda comic book work.

In two 1943 cartoons, Andy Panda's Victory Garden and Meatless Tuesday, Andy's foil was a nameless rooster. In late 1943, this rooster became Andy's comic book sidekick, Charlie Chicken: "hatched" in NF 79 and rapidly growing into the cartoon model. Stories about Andy's and Charlie's often-bizarre adventures ran for many years. Some were reprinted domestically as recently as the 1990s, and in Sweden as recently as 2001.

Filmography

Other appearances

Andy also appeared alongside Woody in Musical Miniatures such as Banquet Busters and Musical Moments from Chopin. He also had a cameo in The Woody Woodpecker Polka with Miranda Panda, Oswald Rabbit, and Charlie Chicken.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Walter Lantz, 93, the Creator Of Woody Woodpecker, Is Dead". The New York Times. Retrieved 2011-11-22.
  2. ↑ "The Woodpecker and the Mouse : THE WALTER LANTZ STORY WITH WOODY WOODPECKER AND FRIENDS by Joe Adamson (Putnam's: $19.95; 254 pp., illustrated) and DISNEY'S WORLD by Leonard Mosley (Stein & Day: $18.95; 330 pp., illustrated)". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2011-11-22.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Stefan Kanfer (2000). Serious business: the art and commerce of animation in America from Betty Boop to Toy story. Da Capo Press. p. 113. ISBN 0-306-80918-4.
  4. ↑ Henry T. Sampson (1998). That's enough, folks: Black images in animated cartoons, 1900-1960. Scarecrow Press. pp. 120–121. ISBN 0-8108-3250-X.
  5. ↑ Glenn Collins (March 23, 1994). "Walter Lantz, 93, the Creator Of Woody Woodpecker, Is Dead". The New York Times. p. 2. Retrieved November 22, 2011.

External links