Wednesday 30 January 2019

Snuffles

Quick Draw McGraw cartoons are fun for a bunch of reasons, including the concept that a dog gets so ecstatic over dog biscuits, he sproings into the air and floats down in satisfaction.

Snuffles appeared in seven Quick Draw cartoons, three in the first season, two in the second and two in the third (plus once in a Snagglepuss cartoon). His appearances all featured the same routine where Snuffles hugged himself before leaping up.

For fun, let’s look at the frames of the version used in both second season cartoons, drawn by Dick Lundy to the best of my knowledge. There are ten frames as he turns to his right. The drawings are shot twice. You’ll notice his movements get smaller as he gets to the end of his hug.



Now the turn the other way. It was decided not to simply turn around drawings. Lundy comes up with new ones. These are shot on twos as well.



Besides kids who watched Quick Draw, someone else liked Snuffles. Joe Barbera told TV columnist Charles Witbeck in 1960: “Well, the sponsors like Snuffles. He’ll decorate their packages and help sell their product. So we have to write three new Snuffles stories. Our character actors have become leading men.”

As you can see to the right, Snuffles was well-enough known to have Paul Parnes write a song about him for Golden Records. Just about anyone who showed up with any regularity on a Hanna-Barbera cartoon by 1960 got his own Golden record including Ubble Ubble of Ruff and Reddy and Iddy Biddy Buddy, the duck on Yogi Bear cartoons who was modified into Yakky Doodle. A whole bunch of them were posted years ago but Snuffles wasn’t. However, you can find the darndest things on the internet, and someone has posted the Snuffles song on a video site.

I must warn you the voice of Quick Draw McGraw on this record is not Daws Butler. Daws was signed to a contract with Colpix Records, the music recording arm of Columbia Pictures (which helped produce Quick Draw through its sister company, Screen Gems). Colpix was based on New York, so it got New York voice people to imitate the Hanna-Barbera characters, mainly Gil Mack and Frank Milano. Both were accomplished actors on radio. Both were, unfortunately, not great at replicating the sounds of Daws Butler’s characters. I believe Milano is Quick Draw here. You will not go into Snuffles-like ecstasy over his performance. In case at some future time the video link goes dead, an audio link has been posted as well.



Snuffles Song

12 comments:

  1. Quick Draw was always my favorite of the big three and Snuffles was always a favorite that they fortunately didn't over do. Small edit-states seven Snuffles cartoons than states 3-2-3 by season which would be eight. Just fyi, not complaining.

    Thanks for the song post which I had not heard before. Not sure how long Quick Draw would have lasted if that had been the voice used on the show. Yikes!

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    1. He appears in one Snagglepuss short too!

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    2. Unknown, yes, you're right. That's what I get for editing down only part of a sentence to try to be brief. The "3" in the last season includes his Snagglepuss appearance (where he's drawn rather tall in places.

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  2. Yes! Snuffles was one of many reasons I've always enjoyed the Quick Draw series.

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    1. I've always loved the QUmD series due to Snuffles..

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  3. Bill and Joe were even having the Kellogg's dog biscuit box design, circa 1960, drawn into Snuffles' final cartoons, which showed how much the sponsor liked the character and how far Hanna-Barbera would go towards pleasing their sponsor (Paul Julian drew Star-Kist tuna cans into the background of Friz's 1951 effort, "Canned Feud", but that apparently was a decade before Warner Bros. secured the contract to do the Charlie the Tuna ads for the company).

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  4. Okay, so Milano wasn't Daws Butler... but WHO IS?

    The important thing here is that he tried not only to simulate the voice, but some of the *pronunciations* as Daws would have performed them - which puts this one a far cry over the way I remember those rip-off records from years gone (way) by!

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  5. As perennial recyclers of their own ideas and concepts, Hanna & Barbera self-plagiarized themselves in ROBIN HOODNIK (1972), where there is a dog, Scrounger, who acts exactly like Snuffles (only that he craves for crumpets rather than for biscuits): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWwr7sg5l6g

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  6. Where is the Quickdraw clip where there is a birthday cake on the table, and Snuffles is being a good boy. Quickdraw tells Snuffles :this cake is not for you, Snuffles" The dejected dog gets mad and mutters out loud, and Snuffles makes his move to gulp down the cake. Next thing you know, Snuffles is floating, and Quickdraw says " well , I guess you'll have to get your own cake. I would love to see that clip. Where would I find that treasure?

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    1. I have no idea, unk. I don't remember this at all from the original series.

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  7. I told my wife I love her more than Snufles loves dog biscuits - then I had to explain and show her the video clips. She didn't remember him, but she sure appreciated it....

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    1. Snuffles still stands the test of time.

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