Inspector Willoughby | |
---|---|
First appearance | Salmon Yeggs (1958) (as Willoughby) Rough and Tumbleweed (1961) (as Inspector Willoughby) |
Last appearance | The Case of the Elephant's Trunk (1965) |
Created by | Walter Lantz Paul J. Smith |
Voiced by | Daws Butler (1958–1960) Dallas McKennon (1959–1965) |
In-universe information | |
Alias | Inspector Seward Willoughby |
Nickname | Secret Agent 6 7/8 |
Species | Human |
Gender | Male |
Occupation | Secret Agent |
Inspector Seward Willoughby is a cartoon character created by Walter Lantz and Paul J. Smith, named after the Hollywood avenue which runs alongside the building where Lantz's office was housed (at 861 Seward Street). [1]
Initially created as a recurring secondary character, Willoughby starred in his own series of shorts with him as a crime fighting secret agent. His cartoons were often shown on The Woody Woodpecker Show alongside Woody Woodpecker, Chilly Willy and Andy Panda. [2]
Inspector Willoughby (AKA Secret Agent 6 7/8) initially made his first appearance in the 1958 Windy & Breezy cartoon Salmon Yeggs as a cannery security guard. He would serve as a recurring character for several more cartoons with Windy & Breezy, as well as with Woody Woodpecker and Fatso the Bear, before receiving his own series in 1961.
The Inspector Willoughby series mainly focuses on Willoughby as a secret agent who solves mysteries and fights crime. [2] He is characterized with droopy eyes, a bushy mustache, and laconic voice. He was very similar to Tex Avery's Droopy in voice and stature. When on the job, he always goes after any villains which ends with them behind bars. Despite his diminutive height, he is able to physically restrain and use impressive judo moves on men twice his size. It was established in the cartoon short "Mississippi Slow Boat" that his first name is Seward.
The golden age of American animation was a period in the history of U.S. animation that began with the popularization of sound synchronized cartoons in 1928 and gradually ended in the 1960s when theatrical animated shorts started to lose popularity to the newer medium of television. Animated media from after the golden age, especially on television, were produced on cheaper budgets and with more limited techniques between the late 1950s and 1980s.
Walter Lantz Productions was an American animation studio. It was in operation from 1928 to 1972 and was the principal supplier of animation for Universal Pictures.
Woody Woodpecker is a cartoon character that appeared in theatrical short films produced by the Walter Lantz Studio and Universal Animation Studio and distributed by Universal Pictures since 1940. Woody's last theatrical cartoon was produced by Walter Lantz in 1972.
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Walter Benjamin Lantz was an American cartoonist, animator, producer and director best known for founding Walter Lantz Productions and creating Woody Woodpecker.
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Chilly Willy is a cartoon character, a diminutive penguin. He was created by director Paul Smith for the Walter Lantz studio in 1953, and developed further by Tex Avery in the two subsequent films following Smith's debut entry. The character soon became the second most popular Lantz/Universal character, behind Woody Woodpecker. Fifty Chilly Willy cartoons were produced between 1953 and 1972.
The Woody Woodpecker Show is an American television series mainly composed of the animated cartoon shorts of Woody Woodpecker and other Walter Lantz characters including Andy Panda, Chilly Willy, The Beary Family and Inspector Willoughby all released by Walter Lantz Productions. The series was revived and reformatted several times, but remained popular for nearly four decades and allowed the studio to continue making theatrical cartoons until 1972 when it shut down. It also kept the Walter Lantz/Universal "cartunes" made during the Golden Age of American animation a part of the American consciousness. The Woody Woodpecker Show was named the 88th best animated series by IGN.
Gabby Gator is an animated cartoon character, an anthropomorphic alligator who appeared in several cartoons produced by Walter Lantz and distributed by Universal Pictures.
Andy Panda is a cartoon character who starred in his own series of animated cartoon short subjects produced by Walter Lantz. These "cartunes" were released by Universal Pictures from 1939 to 1947, and United Artists from 1948 to 1949. The title character is an anthropomorphic cartoon character, a cute panda. 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.
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Wally Walrus is an animated cartoon character created by Walter Lantz and James Culhane. He'd appeared in several films produced by Walter Lantz Productions from the 1940s through the 1960s.
Buzz Buzzard is an animated character who appeared in several Woody Woodpecker films produced by Walter Lantz Productions.
The Woody Woodpecker and Friends Classic Cartoon Collection: Volume 2 is a three-disc DVD collection of theatrical cartoons starring Woody Woodpecker and the other Lantz characters, produced by Walter Lantz Productions for Universal Pictures between 1932 and 1965. The set was released by Universal Studios Home Entertainment on April 15, 2008. Included in the set are seventy-five cartoon shorts, including the next forty-five Woody Woodpecker cartoons, continuing the production order from Volume 1. The other thirty cartoons include five Andy Panda shorts, five Chilly Willy shorts, five Oswald the Lucky Rabbit shorts, five Musical Favorites, and ten Cartune Classics.
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The first Space Mouse is a comic book character published from 1953 to around 1956 by Avon Publications. Space Mouse is also the name of a 1959 Universal Studios cartoon featuring two mice and a cat named Hickory, Dickory, and Doc. A second Space Mouse character was published by Dell Comics from 1960 to around 1965. The Dell Comics version was also featured in a 1960 cartoon produced by Walter Lantz, entitled The Secret Weapon.
Windy & Breezy are animated characters created by Walter Lantz, who made their first appearance in the cartoon "Fodder and Son" in 1957. Their final appearance was in 1959, in "Bee Bopped".
Homer Brightman was an American screenwriter who worked for Walt Disney Productions, Walter Lantz Productions, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio, UPA, Larry Harmon Pictures, Cambria Productions and DePatie-Freleng Enterprises.
Toon In with Me is an American live-action/animated anthology television series created by Neal Sabin for MeTV and MeTV Toons. It previously also aired on MeTV Plus until the launch of MeTV Toons. A special preview episode aired on January 1, 2021, with the main series officially debuting on January 4, 2021.