Andy Panda

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Andy Panda is a 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 9-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]

During the first three cartoons of the series, Andy's companion was a feisty turtle named Mr. Whippletree. After disppearing from the series, the turtle's role would be assumed by Papa Panda, Andy's father.

Andy was at first a mischievous cub, whose blustery father 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 return 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 late 1943, the comic book version of Andy Panda acquired a sidekick, Charlie Chicken, and stories about their 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

Woody and Andy appeared in Musical Miniatures such as Banquet Busters and Musical Moments with Chopin . He also had a cameo in The Woody Woodpecker Polka with Space Mouse and Miranda Panda.

See also

• List of Fictional Pandas
• List of Walter Lantz cartoon characters

References

External links

• Andy Panda at Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Archived from the original on April 4, 2012.