The Manbottle Library
The Manbottle Library  :  Trivia  :  Who is it  :  ANSWER

ANSWER


That's Bosko, the very first Looney Tunes character ever!

  Bosko was the creation of animators Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising.  Not only was Bosko the first Looney Tunes character, he was also the first talking animated character, in the pilot film "Bosko, the Talk-Ink Kid".  Based on that film Leon Schlesinger convinced Warner Brothers to distribute a series of cartoons based on Bosko, and thus Looney Tunes was born.

  Bosko also featured another first - the first appearance of Hitler in an animated film.  In the 1933 film "Bosko's Picture Show" Hitler appeared chasing Jimmy Durante across Europe with an axe.  (They just don't make cartoons like that anymore.)

  "Bosko's Picture Show" may also lay claim to yet another first - the first use of the work "f_ck" by an animated character.  In that film, Bosko runs a movie theater, and at one point refers to the villian on the movie screen as "the dirty f_ck".  (In all fairness the villain was chasing after Bosko's girlfriend at the time.)

  When Nickelodeon began airing old Warner Brothers cartoons "Bosko's Picture Show" was broadcast unedited, so Bosko may be the first, and likely only, cartoon character to use the word "f_ck" on Nickelodeon.  After that first broadcast Nickelodeon discretely re-dubbed the line so that he now says "the dirty cur".

  While Bosko was very popular back then, he rarely appears on television these days.  Although he is usually described as nothing more than a "blob of ink" who can talk, from the earliest films it is clear that Bosko was in fact an African-American.  While there was nothing inherently negative about Bosko's personality or behavior in those films, he does display some of the ethnic stereotypes prevalent in 1930 America.


  Bosko



WHO GOT IT RIGHT:  Bob Milligan.



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