PAGE 1

Slowpoke Rodriguez





When we learned Speedy Gonzales, the fastest mouse in all Mexico, had a cousin it wasn't surprising to see that Slowpoke Rodriguez was the complete opposite of his cousin. The slowest mouse in all Mexico, only appeared in two cartoons alongside his cousin Speedy. "Mexicali Shmoes" (1959) ends with two lazy cats learning the hard way that Slowpoke carries a gun and "Mexican Boarders" (1962), Speedy tries to protect Slowpoke from Sylvester!

Blacque Jacque Shallaque





Nasty little fellow with a French accent who faced Bugs Bunny in two cartoons. B.J. first appeared in "Bonanza Bunny" (1959) where he tries to get the Bunny to give up a bag of gold. Jacque didn't reappear until 1962's "Wet Hare" where he attempts to dam a river for his own greedy gain, but picked the wrong time to do it, while Bugs was trying to take a shower!

Merlin the Magic Mouse





During the late 1960's the Warner Bros. cartoon unit re-opened, after the cartoons being produced by DePatie-Freleng Enterprises and featuring such characters as Daffy Duck, Speedy Gonzales, Sylvester, and Road Runner, proved to be successful. These new cartoons were made under the supervision of Bill Hendricks, starting with 1967's "Speedy Ghost To Town" (which kept with the then current series of Daffy Duck vs. Speedy Gonzales cartoons). During this period the studio introduced serveral short-lived characters (some of which will be show cased here sometime soon) including the beatnik tiger Cool Cat, the criminal carrot stealing Bunny and Claude, the Road Runner-ish Rapid Rabbit, and the little jungle boy and monkey Chimp and Zee. Among these characters was Merlin the Magic Mouse and his side-kick Second Banana.
Both characters were voiced by Daws Butler, who is best known for providing the voices to Hanna-Barbera's superstars (Yogi Bear, Huck Hound, Quick Draw McGraw, and Elroy Jetson among others). Merlin's voice and design was inspired by comedian, W.C. Fields, complete with top hat and big red nose. Second Banana was a smaller bow-tie wearing boy mouse, who's voice was similar to that of Elroy from The Jetsons. Butler only provided the voice of the duo in their first film appearance, Larry Storch (who also voiced Cool Cat) took over for the remainder of the series. Both got into various spots as a result of Merlin's magic, which would usually backfire.

Cool Cat and Colonel Rimfire




Cool Cat, like Merlin the Magic Mouse (see above), was one of the characters introduced during the late 1960's shortly before Warner Bros. closed it's animation department. Cool Cat (voiced by Larry Storch) was a hip talking tiger who was usually being hunted by Colonel Rimfire, a English big game hunter. Rimfire occasionally was seen hunting Cool Cat inside a mechanical elephant. Altough these cartoons are far from classics, some of them are still fun to watch, such as the tiger's trip to college (Disco Tech) in "Bugged By a Bee" where he becomes a sports star (sort of). Alex Lovy directed the first four Cool Cat shorts, and long time director Robert McKimson took over for the last two. The final Cool Cat cartoon, "Injun Trouble", was also the last cartoon produced by the studio before the closing of the animation department in 1969. These cartoons have been making regular appearances on the Nickelodeon cable network for years. The folks behind The Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries have a running gag of insterting something Cool Cat-releated into just about every show. One episode, "The Curse of De-Nile" had Granny and pets looking into the disapearance of Colonel Rimfire in Egypt!


All characters and images (c) Warner Bros.
Go Back to the Forgotten Character Gallery

Go Back to Looney Tunes & Merrie Melodies Page main page