Woody Woodpecker Returns to the Big Screen!

“Guess who?! Ha ha ha hah hah! Ha ha ha hah hah! Hahahahah!” Looks like another iconic cartoon character from Hollywood’s Golden Age is finally returning to the silver screen! He joins the ranks of Mickey Mouse in the theatrical short subject “Get a Horse’ that will be paired with Disney’s FROZEN, the Loony Tunes Warner Brothers gang recently seen in the  “I Tawt I Taw a Putty Tat” short preceeding HAPPY FEET 2, and Popeye the Sailor Man (technically a comic strip star) in his very own CGI feature from director Genndy Tartakovsky (HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA) in production at Sony Pictures. Why it’s that fine feathered frantic fury, Woody Woodpecker! Animation reporter and historian Jerry Beck reported over at the website Indiewire that animator Bill Kopp (TV’s “Eek the Cat” and “Dan Vs.” amongst many credits) has been signed to bring that red-headed rascal back to theatres

(read the whole announcement here: http://blogs.indiewire.com/animationscoop/bill-kopp-signed-for-universals-woody-woodpecker ). And it’s about time! Misters Allen and Harrelson (and the Toy Story cowboy) shouldn’t be the only Woodys gettin’ laughs at the multiplex.

So, what’s the story on this bouncing, bombastic bird? Turns out that he’s over 70 years young (he’ll never grow old)! Woody’s the brainchild of animation’s other great Walt, Mr. Walter Lantz. Back then all of the big studios released many short films to accompany their features. There were travelogues, newsreels, comedies (“Our Gang” and the Three Stooges) and cartoons. Disney’s shorts were, at different  times, distributed by RKO, Columbia, and United Artists. Warner Brothers was the home of Bugs Bunny and his pals along with their creators Chuck Jones, Friz Freeling and the rest of the “Termite Terrace” crew. The Fleischer Brothers (Max, Dave, and Lou) made the Betty Boop, Popeye, and Superman cartoons for Paramount. MGM’s cartoon division had Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera’s Tom and Jerry in addition to Tex Avery’s Droopy (and that Red Hot Riding Hood!). Except for a couple of years at the end of the 1940’s (when he dashed to UA), Lantz and his creations had a home at Universal Studios alongside Deanna Durbin, Abbott & Costello, and the classic monsters. Lantz first gained fame there on the Oswald the Lucky Rabbit series (the character was originally developed by Mr. Disney). In the late thirties Andy Panda was one of a staple of new cartoon stars. By 1940 Andy’s Papa Panda (somewhat based on “slow burn” comic actor Edgar Kennedy with a dash of Universal star WC Fields) joined him and the two faced off against an annoying pest of a bird in “Knock Knock”. Said pest, Woody Woodpecker, stole the short from the ursine pair with his bulging wild eyes, manic manner, and cackling laugh (provided by soon-to-be-exclusive-to-Warners, “man of a 1000 voices, Mel Blanc). Thanks to the tasty roof of the Panda house, a star was born!

Walter Lantz immediately built on a short series around the destructive little wiseguy. After the first few entries Woody lost the buck teeth, “bug” eyes, and Mel Blanc! After being voiced by several actors through the rest of the decade, Woody would be voiced by Grace Stafford (Mrs. Walter Lantz) starting in 1950 through the rest of his theatrical career. Many of the shorts concerned Woody’s efforts to find shelter and food (I always found it odd, and a bit cannibalistic, that he’d often chomp down on huge turkey legs when he scored a big buffet). His quests would put the bird in conflicts with much larger opponents. Bugs Bunny had Elmer Fudd and Yosemite Sam while Woody faced gravely voiced thug Buzz Buzzard and Scandinavian dim-bub Wally Walrus ( “I gon git dot voodtpecker!”). Eventually Woody would acquire a woodpecker girlfriend, Winnie, and twin niece and nephew (like Popeye and Donald Duck’s triplet nephews) Splinter and Knothead (both voiced by recent Emmy Governor Award recipient June Foray). While most of the studios shuttered their animated shorts operations in the early 1960’s, Lantz kept producing them for Universal until 1972 (one of my oddest theatre experiences was seeing the Woody short “Pecking Holes in Poles” proceeding Michael Winner’s brutal R-rated 1977 horror thriller THE SENTINEL at the downtown Chicago movie palace).

Speaking of features, Woody made appearances in a few. Because of the lifelong friendship between Lantz and producer George Pal, Woody enlightened viewers on the principles of rocket propulsion in 1950’s DESTINATION MOON (this would be recreated in the HBO miniseries “From the Earth to the Moon ” in 1998). In 1988 Woody joined a huge roster of cartoon icons for a cameo near the conclusion of WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT (as a gaggle of Toontown citizens pander the true origins of Judge Doom, Woody adds, “He weren’t no woodpecker!” before giving his signature laugh).

Like many other film stars, Woody turned to television in the fifties. “The Woody Woodpecker Show” debuted on ABC in 1957 and ran a season before going into syndication until 1966. That’s where I discovered him. Sure I enjoyed his adventures, and those featuring the other Universal cartoon stars like Andy Panda and that other feathered icon, Chilly Willy, but I was fascinated by the live-action segments with Walter Lantz himself. Sure Walt Disney introduced his TV shows, but Lantz really us gave budding artists a peek behind the magic. In his immaculate spacious office (did any cartoonist ever keep their work area so tidy?) Lantz would switch on his lightbox desk (“Gotta ‘ get one of them!” I thought) and with just a few pencil strokes made Woody come to life (often a tiny animated Woody would pop in and sit on Lantz’s shoulder as they conversed). One piece I vividly remember was Lantz talking about the backgrounds for animation, namely the backdrop shouldn’t be the same color as your character. To illustrate this, Woody stood in front of a bright red barn wall which made his eyes and beak appear to be floating above his body. Fantastic! I wonder how many youngsters were inspired by Mr. Lantz and pursued an animation career. Woody returned to network TV on NBC and was a Saturday morning staple through the 1970’s. In the 80’s he  was once again in syndication until he returned with a brand new show for Fox Kids in 1999 called “The New Woody Woodpecker Show” with the title hero now voiced by Ren & Stimpy’s Billy West and running through 2002.

Woody was a big merchandising sensation too. His theme song performed by Kay Kyser’s orchestra was a jukebox smash in 1948. Universal’s Super 8 home movie division, Castle Films, issued several Woody shorts. Mattel offered jack-in-the-boxes and talking hand puppets and dolls.The bird has fluttered through comic books from Dell, Gold Key, and Harvey in addition to Golden Books, Big Little Books, and countless coloring and activity books. For a time he was a cereal “spokesbird”. I recall many a breakfast enjoying my Battle Creek bounty in my official plastic Woody bowl (shaped like a hollowed log) and sipping my juice out of my Woody mug (his red tuft and beak met to form the handle), thanks to sending in a couple of coins and many boxtops! Several editions of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade included the giant Woody balloon. And he became the mascot for the Universal Studios theme parks (and PortAventura Park) across the globe as a costumed greeter with dolls, shirts, and other assorted souvenirs available in all the Studio stores. And of course, Woody’s been the star of many video and computer games including “Woody Woodpecker Racing” in 2000. Seven years later the first of two multi-disc DVD sets of “The Woody Woodpecker and Friends Classic Cartoon Collection” were released.

That’s one very busy bird. And his feature looks to be bright back on the big screen. Let’s hope the new film projects will bring joy and laughter to a whole new generation of fans. As Woody used to sing at the start of many of his early flicks, “Knock on wood”!