Cartoons for Adults Trivia Quiz

Answer: "Hoppity Hooper"

"Hoppity Hooper" was the second title that Ward and Scott produced, after "Bullwinkle" and before "George of The Jungle". Like the other two programs, the show satirized topics of the day and was rife with bad, but clever, puns poking fun at human folly. His sidekicks were his Uncle Waldo Wigglesworth, a fox, and a dumb, bugle-blowing bear named Fillmore.

Answer: Robert Clampett, Robert McKimson and Friz Freleng

Robert "Bob" Clampett, Robert McKimson, Friz Freleng, Arthur Davis and Chuck Jones were the "frenetic five" at Warner Bros., responsible for some of the funniest animation ever to see a movie or TV screen. Clampett, McKimson and Davis were the "zanies" of the studio, producing some of the wildest characterizations of the familiar stable of the WB menagerie.

Clampett's toons were always characterized by extreme wild takes, huge eyes, characters yelling at the top of their lungs, impossible situations and lots of in-jokes. McKimson's were a lot like Clampett's, only a little more accessible to the middle-American mindset. Davis' take on the characters almost always had tiny heads, crew cuts and about as much zaniness as Clampett's, but for some reason, he is almost completely forgotten as one of the stalwarts of Burbank. Isadore "Friz" Freleng was the adversarial team creator, responsible for Tweety and Sylvester, the gophers "Mac and Tosh" and teaming Porky and Daffy in various cartoons. Clampett, McKimson and Freleng, in fact, are responsible for creating about 90 percent of the Warner's stable, both form and character, with people like Jones and Davis pretty much working with the established character's personas, though Jones was responsible for creating The Road Runner, Wile E. Coyote and Henery Hawk.

Chuck Jones was the "cutemeister" at Warners, apparently given free rein to chase Disney, the indisputable "king" of cute, on that front. Jones was a freelancer who also did a lot of work for MGM Animation, but for some odd reason, he, while he was living, got _way_ too much credit for Warner Bros. animation! Clampett, McKimson and the others are long overdue for their posthumous kudos!

Clampett was also responsible for the very popular cartoon series "Beany and Cecil", a favorite of Albert Einstein when it was a puppet show, also created by Clampett, in the early 50s.

Answer: Robert Crumb

"Fritz the Cat" was the perceptively conceived characterization of a hippie era, anthropomorphic cat as he tried desperately to score with the opposite sex. His buddies were Fuzzy Bunny, Heinz the Swine and Winston, his girlfriend. He first appeared in Harvey Kurtzman's "Help!" magazine, the springboard for a few other people, like Gloria Steinem, and Gilbert Shelton, who gave the world the inimitable "Wonder Warthog" superhero parody. Shelton was also the creator of the underground comic staple "The Fabulous, Furry Freak Brothers".

Fritz was turned into an animated film in 1972 by Bakshi, but a sequel to "Fritz The Cat", "The Nine Lives of Fritz The Cat" was done by someone named Robert Taylor. Robert Crumb, Fritz' creator, hated the first film so much, he actually killed Fritz off in 1973. The two movies were the very first wide release animated films to be x-rated.

Answer: Steven Spielberg

Though he had almost no creative input in the final product, "The Animaniacs", "Tiny Toons" and "Pinky and the Brain" all had Spielberg's imprimatur on them. A bunch of still-unsung writers and directors were the real geniuses behind it. There was even an episode of "Tiny Toons" or "Animaniacs" where they stated plainly, that all Spielberg did was "stick his name on the final product".

The character "Brain" was supposedly based on a caricature of Tom Minton, one of the recent Warners Aninmation staffers, and was voiced by Maurice La Marche, a man who does quite a bit of voice-over work for television. His character is based heavily on what appears to be a combination of Orson Welles, Pat Paulsen and Raymond Burr. Pinky, on the other hand, is Dick Martin or Tommy Smothers suffering from tertiary syphilis! Pinky's voice was done by a man named _Rob_ Paulsen...Hmmmmm!

Taglines/typical exchanges:
Brain: "Are you pondering what I'm pondering, Pinky?"
Pinky: "I think so, Bwain, but where are we going to find chopsticks and fishnets stockings at this time of night?"

Pinky: "Gee, Bwain...what are we going to do tonight?"
Brain: "The same thing we do every night, Pinky...TRY TO TAKE OVER THE WORLD!"

Answer: Ronald Colman

Paul Frees, one of the most famous voice-over artists that ever lived, supplied the veddy nasal voice of Ape, George's vine-swinging cut buddy, on the Ward and Scott TV show that featured "Tom Slick" and a super-hero parody as segments on the show. Ronald Colman was a British actor famous for portraying "Bulldog Drummond", an "Indiana Jones"/"Doc Savage" sort of adventurer, in a 30's movie series.

Answer: True

"Henry Cabot Henhouse III" was the alter ego of the swashbuckling, sword-wielding "avian avenger", whose clucked reveille struck terror in the hearts of evildoers everywhere! His companion was a tired-sounding lion named Fred. He and Fred plied their adventures as a segment of "George of the Jungle".

"You knew the job was dangerous when you took it, Fred!"

Answer: The Thunderbolt Greaseslapper

"Tom Slick" was essentially "Dudley Doright" in Nomex. His girlfriend, Marigold, voiced by June Foray, even sounded and looked like Nell! The Inspector Fenwick character was replaced by Gertie Growler, an elderly woman who always got into mischief and winced at the announcer's bad puns, a Ward and Scott trademark.

Answer: Errol Flynn

Yes, Errol Flynn, who was the lead in Warner Brothers' 1938 production of "Robin Hood", (starring Flynn's usual repertoire company of co-stars: Olivia De Havilland, Basil Rathbone and Alan Hale,) appeared in the last few seconds of this cartoon, entitled "Rabbit Hood", saying the famous line "Welcome to Sherwood".

The movie was apparently the recipient of this cartoon's promotional value in a theater full of action and adventure hungry young boys. Bugs' Hollywood-insider reaction to seeing him was there for the parents to giggle at. Leslie Howard portrayed "The Scarlet Pimpernel", Burt Lancaster "The Crimson Pirate", and Tyrone Power parlayed "Zorro", venerable swashbucklers all!

Answer: "Crusader Rabbit"

"Crusader Rabbit" was the stiffly animated series of cartoons shown on various kiddie shows, both local and national, in the 50s, the very early 50s! Crusader Rabbit, in fact, was the first animated cartoon made expressly for television, starting in 1949! It was Jay Ward's first well-known cartoon production.

Crusader, though a rabbit, looked nothing like one, with rather stiff ears that stood straight up and a wide-eyed, poker-faced expression on his face at all times. He looked more like a fennec fox than a rabbit! His companion was "Rags the Tiger". A typical nemesis for him would have been "Dudley Nightshade" or "Simone Le Gree", a rare cartoon villainess for the time.

Answer: The "Jet Screamer" episode.

"The Jetsons" was one of the few early Hanna-Barbera properties of the early 60s that didn't have an obvious inspiration from a classic live action TV show. It was, of course, about a typical American family, living somewhere in the 21st century, where machines and robots do _everything_, and the workday is only three hours long. The "Jet Screamer" episode is probably the best liked of them all, and the one most cited by animation aficionados. It concerns daughter Judy's fascination with the teen idol of the same name who dad George doesn't approve of.

George's voice was done by George O'Hanlon, Jane Jetson by Penny Singleton, Elroy by Daws Butler and Judy by Janet Waldo. I would imagine either Butler or Don Messick, two perennial voice people at Hanna Barbera, and Howie Morris did "Jet Screamer".

Answer: The "Fooderackacycle"

Obviously a word with greco-turkish roots! This device makes things awfully easy for Jane, who hardly breaks a sweat keeping things in order in the Jetson loft.

Answer: computer programmer

This series may actually be the best the "Batman" character has ever been handled. Being equal parts darksome, humorous and dramatic, the series placed "Batman/Bruce Wayne" among some of the best handled wild, fictional villains ever on TV. Not the least of these was "Harley Quinn", "The Joker's" henchwomen/love interest, who cracked some of best jokes ever written for TV, period. Her paean to abusive relationships is an absolute classic in an episode where she actually, temporarily allies herself with Batman to trap her boss, "The Joker". "The Riddler" apart from his zany, maniacal persona in "Batman Forever", was portrayed on this show as somewhat prim. "The Joker", horror of horrors, was voiced by none other than Mark Hamill, who achieved fleeting fame as Luke Skywalker in the original "Star Wars" movies. I guess he finally did go over to the dark side! Oddly enough, it's the best portrayal the character's ever had.

"Clayface" was another excellent "B:TAS" villain.

Answer: True

The most famous of these is probably "Fantastic Planet" (1973), a tale that is essenitally an altered retelling of "The Planet of the Apes" saga as filtered through Jonathan Swift and Isaac Asimov: A little human boy (an "Om",) is kept as a pet by a giant, blue skinned girl, (a "Draag",) in an advanced society run by the "Draags" that looks upon the little humans as savages and animals. One day, the little human "pet" happens onto the girl's learning device, and learns of ways to free his fellow thralls, creating havoc among his "mistress'" people. Though stiffly animated, it's artful storytelling has marked it as a classic for all time. This film, believe it or not, was co-produced by Roger Corman.

A retelling of Poe's "Masque of the Red Death" is another famous product of this collaboration. The style of animation is very similar.

Answer: Patrick Warburton

A good parody of DC-style superheroes, there was a short-lived live action version of this clever weekend cartoon show that Warburton supplied his form and voice for, but you never saw his full face.

There were spoofs of "Wonder Woman" ("American Maid"), "Batman", ("Die Fledermaus"), and "Captain Marvel" ("Captain Mucilage"). If you're a lover of the four color page, this show was a scream! Warburton's sly, self-important voice was perfect for the character. (High five!)

Answer: "Bombi's Mom"

"Slappy" was the most underused character on "Animaniacs", and consistently one of the funniest, along with "Pinky and the Brain" and the "Warners": "Yakko", "Wakko" and "Dot". The episode, "Bombi's Mom", destroyed any altruism about Disney's "Bambi" a young mind might have had, reducing the "actress" who played his mother to an old has-been living in a trailer in Tucumcarie, New Mexico. Jokes about sagging female bodies and Pavlovian reactions pepper the whole episode, and it was this quality of irreverence in most of the best modern Warners' efforts in animation that heralded a new age in mature comic animation.