Uncle Looney's show began as an afternoon kiddie television program that featured the recently syndicated "Looney Tunes" cartoon package, then over the years included others as well. These included the popular Porky Pig and Daffy Duck cartoons that everyone knows. But Uncle Looney featured several others that are more obscure. Here we will list some of the ones we remember. We don't attempt to provide histories of these cartoons. For that we direct you to a more authoritative source of information, such as Ron Kurer's Toon Tracker or the Wikipedia. Here we will just provide a photo or two and a plot summary.
Bosko was the first Warner Brothers Looney Tunes character. His character was created in 1927 by Hugh Harman and Rudy Ising who still worked for Disney, though the first cartoon—which opens with Ising drawing Bosko who then comes to life—wasn't produced until the following year after the pair had left to work for Universal Studios. Eventually Warner Brothers' Leon Schlesinger signed Harmon and Ising and Bosko became the star of the new Looney Tunes cartoon series. (Image courtesy of Wikipedia).
Buddy was created by Looney Tunes after Harman and Ising left Looney Tunes, taking their characters with them. Schlesinger hired Tom Palmer from Disney. Palmer created Buddy but the first cartoons weren't used. Palmer was fired and Friz Freleng edited them into a single short. Buddy became the second Looney Tunes "star" from 1933-1935 then was retired to make way for Beans the Cat. (Image courtesy of Wikipedia).
Beans the Cat was the third Warner Brothers Looney Tunes character. The cartoons were created in the mid-1930s by Friz Freleng. Beans' original sidekick was the original fatter version of Porky Pig and the shows were called "Porky & Beans." Soon it became apparent that Porky was the everyone's favorite and he became the Looney Tunes "star" for years as Beans and other characters of his era faded into obscurity. (Image courtesy of Wikipedia and Cartoon Network).
Clutch Cargo was created by Clark Haas of Cambria Studios, and was the first to use the "Synchro-Vox" technique of superimposing human moving lips over the mouths of the animated characters. Clutch was a writer and pilot who flew his plane around the world on various dangerous assignments along with Spinner (the boy), Paddlefoot (the dog) and Swampy (with the beard). (Images and show details courtesy of Ron Kurer's Toon Tracker).
Space Angel was created by Dik Darley and Dick Brown at Cambria Studios, which produced Clutch Cargo and also used the "Synchro-Vox" technique which was invented by the late Edwin Gillette. Space Angle was the code name of Scott McCloud of the Earth Bureau of Investigation. His crew included Taurus, Crystal and Professor Mace and they roamed the universe in the super spaceship Starduster (Images and show details courtesy of Ron Kurer's Toon Tracker).
Do YOU remember any other cartoons shown on the Uncle Looney show? If so, please mail us at the address below...!
