Fanny Zilch

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Fanny Zilch is an animated cartoon character, part of the Terrytoons series. She made her debut in 1933. [1] Her cartoons were musical spoofs of melodrama serials like The Perils of Pauline , in which blonde sweetheart Fanny -- "the Banker's Daughter" -- was pursued by the villainous Oil Can Harry, and protected by the heroic J. Leffingwell Strongheart. [2]

Contents

Terrytoons later used the melodrama spoof as a running theme in the Mighty Mouse cartoons, beginning with A Fight to the Finish in 1947. The endangered heroine was renamed Pearl Pureheart in Mighty Mouse, and Oil Can Harry became Mighty Mouse's cat archvillain. [3]

Fanny Zilch also inspired a series of Betty Boop melodrama spoofs, beginning in 1934 with She Wronged Him Right . [4]

Development

Fanny's character design originated in the 1933 cartoon King Zilch, [5] as a dancing girl who made romantic gestures toward the King.

Her first starring role was in 1933's The Banker's Daughter, [6] which begins with an opening crawl: "EPISODE I: Fanny Zilch, the banker's daughter, has been captured by the bootleggers (the dirty skunks). She has had nothing to eat but fried chicken for a week... poor Gal. "Oil Can Harry" her third husband by a former marriage is the fly in the beer can. Will her lover arrive in time?" The cartoon opens with Fanny tied up in a sawmill by the sneering, silk-hatted villain. Oil Can Harry telegraphs her father with a ransom note, but her somewhat effeminate lover Strongheart rides a white horse to her rescue. When Fanny refuses to go along with Harry's plans, he sends her down a chute towards a spinning saw. Strongheart arrives and beats up the villain, saving Fanny from her dreadful fate.

In Episode II, The Oil Can Mystery, [7] Fanny is once again in Oil Can Harry's power, with Strongheart tied to a railroad track.

Episode III, Fanny in the Lion's Den, [8] has Harry lock Fanny up in a dungeon filled with lions, but over the course of several months, she befriends the lions, and they try to help her escape.

In Episode IV, Hypnotic Eyes, [9] Harry has gained power over Fanny through hypnosis.

In the final episode of the 1933 series, Fanny's Wedding Day, [10] Harry tries to interrupt Fanny and Strongheart's wedding day.

The characters were brought back in 1935 for a simpler, cheaper followup, Foiled Again. [11] In this cartoon, Strongheart leads a gang in pursuit of Harry, who's got Fanny in yet another sawmill. This cartoon has less music and dialogue than the previous series; Harry is the only character with dialogue.

In 1937, the series was revived again as "Oil Can Harry" [12] in The Villain Still Pursued Her [13] with new character designs, including a dark-haired Fanny. The characters were brought back for one more cartoon in 1937's The Saw Mill Mystery. [14]

Reception and legacy

The 1933 episodes were deemed a success, with Film Daily writing a glowing review of The Banker's Daughter: "The opera idea combined with the burlesque meller makes this a real laugh number that will appeal to grown-ups with its cleverness and be received with delight by the kids. It is the first of a series of four. If the new technique catches on, it is liable to create a new slant in the animated field." [2]

Happy with the results, Paul Terry went on to create a variety of musical and operetta cartoons over the next couple years, including Jealous Lover, Robin Hood, Gypsy Fiddler, The Pirate Ship in 1933, and A Mad House and Holland Days in 1934. [2]

Filmography

Dates of the eight Fanny Zilch cartoons: [2]

Restoration

Fanny's first cartoon, The Banker's Daughter, was restored by the UCLA Film and Television Archive in 2019. [15]

Further reading

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References

  1. ↑ "Paul Terry". Lambiek Comiclopedia. Retrieved 9 February 2020.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Hamonic, W. Gerald (2017). Terrytoons: The Story of Paul Terry and His Classic Cartoon Factory. John Libbey Publishing. pp. 150–151. ISBN   978-0861967292.
  3. ↑ Grant, John (2001). Masters of Animation. Watson-Guptill. p.  189. ISBN   978-0823030415 . Retrieved 9 February 2020.
  4. ↑ Pointer, Ray (2017). The Art and Inventions of Max Fleischer: American Animation Pioneer. McFarland & Co. p. 106. ISBN   978-1476663678 . Retrieved 9 February 2020.
  5. ↑ King Zilch on YouTube
  6. ↑ The Banker's Daughter on YouTube
  7. ↑ The Oil Can Mystery on YouTube
  8. ↑ Fanny in the Lion's Den on YouTube
  9. ↑ Hypnotic Eyes on YouTube
  10. ↑ Fanny's Wedding Day on YouTube
  11. ↑ Foiled Again on YouTube
  12. ↑ Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. p. 114. ISBN   0-8160-3831-7 . Retrieved 6 June 2020.
  13. ↑ The Villain Still Pursued Her on YouTube
  14. ↑ The Saw Mill Mystery on YouTube
  15. ↑ "Restored Classic Animation". UCLA Film & Television Archive. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
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