Sunday, August 13, 2006

Foghorn Leghorn


He was my favorite of all the old Warner Brothers cartoon characters. Why, I'm not really certain. He just really made me laugh. Jimmy Lehnert and I were constantly quoting Foghorn and even drew our own comics with a character called 'Shooster Fighorn' that was obviously Foghorn Leghorn.

I've just been reading up on him and found out a lot I didn't know. He starred in 30 WB cartoons from 1946 to 1963. I had no idea that the series lasted that long. Foghorn was based on a character created by radio comedian Kenny Delmar, Senator Claghorn. Delmar made one movie as Claghorn, 'It's a Joke, Son.' I've seen it and trust me, the Foghorn Leghorn cartoons are much funnier.

The very first Foghorn cartoon, 'Walky Talky Hawky,' was directed by Robert McKimson (who apparently created the character and would direct all 30 cartoons) and was nominated for an Academy Award! 'Walky Talky Hawky' was actually intended to launch a series of cartoons starring Henery Hawk, who as it turns out did appear in many subsequent Foghorn Leghorn shorts. But it must have been apparent from audience reaction who the star of the cartoon was, as it instead inaugurated Foghorn's own series.

The dog who was his constant adversary was simply known as 'Dawg' and it was their running battles that provided most of the amusement, though the aforementioned Henery, as well as a weasel and the spinster Miss Prissy showed up pretty frequently.

Here are just a few of Foghorn's more memorable quotes-

  • "Lookie here son, did ya see that hawk after those hens? He scared 'em! That Rhode Island Red turned white. Then blue. Rhode Island. Red, white, and blue. That's a joke, son. A flag waver."

  • "You're built too low. The fast ones go over your head. Ya got a hole in your glove. I keep pitchin' 'em and you keep missin' 'em. Ya gotta keep your eye on the ball. Eye. Ball. I almost had a gag, son. Joke, that is."
  • "Okay, I'll shut up. Some fellas have to keep their tongues flappin' but not me. I was brought up right. My pa used to tell me to shut up and I'd shut up. I wouldn't say nothin'. One time darn near starved to death. WOULDN'T TELL HIM I WAS HUNGRY!!"
  • "That dawg is strictly G.I. -- Gibbering Idiot!"
  • "Y'know, I almost hated to spring one on that bonehead. Hey, I made a funny. Spring bone! Ha ha ha!"

    • posted by gbj at 4:07 PM

    2 Comments:

    Blogger gbj said...

    There was a WB videotape that came out years ago... they were doing a series of them on some of the different characters... of course, several with Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, but they finally got around to doing one that was all Foghorn Leghorn. I think it had about 8 or so cartoons on it, and some funny liner notes by Leonard Maltin as I recall.
    I have no idea what became of it but I'd really love to find another copy of it.

    2:06 PM  
    Blogger Kathy said...

    Thinking about the inspiration of Senator Claghorn makes me wonder how much of the stuff in the good old Loony Tunes was inspired by events and characters of the day, appreciated at the time but flying way over the heads of the next generation. I remember telling my kids after we watched Gary Sinise' fine adaptation of "Of Mice and Men" that I just realized I had seen Lenny and George in cartoon form decades ago -- the irritable little guy and the big dumb guy . . . and again in the line "I will love him and squeeze him and I will call him George."

    6:23 AM  

    Post a Comment

    << Home