OT: "Muttley laugh" (Was: Crusty versus Dirty old men)

On Sun, 09 Sep 2001 19:16:37 EDT Glenn M Wilson <triphibious@juno.com> 
wrote:

> On Sun, 9 Sep 2001 09:07:37 -0500 devans@uneb.edu writes:
>>Sort of like the wheezing laugh of Muttley(sp?), who never seemed to 
show prurient interests, but a simple joie d'vivre at his master's 
regular PAINFUL misfortunes. <<

> Muttley! Loved that laugh! <

Mostly because it's the start of a slow week and I don't have a vast 
amount to do at present (this will change :-( ), I thought I'd add my 2 
cCr on the subject of that classic Hanna-Barbera dog laugh and a few 
other characteristics that Muttley shared (Frak, talk about bored...! 
<g>).

Although Muttley is the best-known user of the wheezing laugh, he was 
by no means the first. That "honour", AFAIK, goes to an obscure HB 
character called Precious Pupp. It's a measure of just _how_ obscure 
this character is that I can't remember the name of the show that 
featured his adventures (?) after those of the main (eponymous) 
character.

The laugh was obviously more of a hit that PP himself was, because it 
went on to be used by several other HB canine characters before 
becoming a part of Muttley in all the shows featuring the character 
(D&M, WR, the off-road version of WR, all those el cheapo "contest" 
series that HB churned out... Muttley got around!).

Similarly, Muttley's ecstatic (near-pornographic! <eg>) response to 
being given a medal had been seen before. The earliest example of it 
that I know of was a dog who cropped up in a few Quick Draw McGraw 
cartoons (so we're going _way_ back here in HB terms) and had the 
self-hugging-launch-into-air-float-down-slowly reaction to being given 
a dog biscuit! (_How_ did that get past the censors? <g>) IIRC, a 
similar character was also seen in some Bozo the Clown cartoons of 
slightly later vintage; don't ask me what was in those biscuits, but it 
probably belongs on the Class A drug list! And I think it cropped up 
elsewhere, though I can't remember any details.

And, of course, the muttered cursing under his breath -- 
"rasserfrasserratzin....", etc. -- is a staple of all HB cartoon 
villains.

Even Muttley's tail-as-helo-rotor (only seen in the D&M cartoons, IIRC, 
otherwise he couldn't end up in as much trouble <g>) had, I think, been 
seen before, though I can't say when -- and, of course, the immortal 
Charles Shultz had Snoopy as a "whirlydog" years before (though his 
"rotor blades" were his _ears_!

This is not to put down Muttley in any way; the genius of the character 
was to put all these traits together in the one rather seedy-looking 
package, combine it with what is probably the best "vile villain" in 
cartoons this side of the great Dishonest John himself, and then have 
so much fun with them. There was some true greatness in those cartoons, 
something that is, and was, generally lacking in children's (and 
adults'!) animation.

We now return you to your regular topics... <g>

Phil
----
"If you let a smile be your umbrella... you'll get wet teeth!"
  -- a forgotten comedian, quoted by me: Phil Atcliffe