Casper the Friendly Ghost
Encyclopedia
Casper the Friendly Ghost is the protagonist
of the Famous Studios
theatrical animated cartoon series
of the same name. As his name indicates, he is a ghost
, but is quite personable. According to the 1995
feature film
Casper
, his family name
is McFadden, making his "full" name Casper McFadden.
among fans of the series as to whether or not he is a dead child. Early Casper cartoons seemed to suggest this, as they portrayed him residing beside a gravestone
. Specifically, the short "There's Good Boos To-Night" featured Ferdie, a fox
befriended by Casper, coming back from the dead as a ghost. Casper's death (as well as the reason why he became friendly) have been disputed since that time.
This somewhat macabre premise was later abandoned in favor of the idea that ghosts were merely a type of supernatural being, similar to ghoul
s, goblin
s, etc. He was thereafter portrayed with feet and shown to have ghostly parents and became slightly slimmer. In the 1960s and 1970s, the stock answer provided by Harvey Comics in response to those wondering how Casper died was that he was a ghost simply because his parents were already ghosts when they were married.
The 1995 feature film Casper
, however, revived the notion that Casper was a deceased human and provided a brief account of his death. According to the film, Casper was a young adolescent who went sledding all day and died of pneumonia. The first direct-to-video
film to follow the feature, Casper: A Spirited Beginning
, showed Casper's early days as a ghost, not showing how he died and ignoring the story provided in the previous film, although it does explain how he became friendly.
and Joe Oriolo
, the former devising the idea for the character and the latter providing illustrations. Intended initially as the basis for a 1939 children's storybook, there was at first little interest in their idea. When Reit was away on military service during the Second World War before the book was released, Oriolo sold the rights to the book to Paramount Pictures
' Famous Studios
animation division, for which he had occasionally worked.
The Friendly Ghost
, the first Noveltoon
to feature Casper, was released by Paramount in 1945 with a few differences from the book. In the cartoon adaptation, Casper is a cute ghost-child with a New York accent, who prefers making friends with people instead of scaring them (Casper used to scare people but got tired of it all). He runs away from home and goes out to make friends. However, the animals he meets (a rooster, a mole, a cat, a Herman
, and a group of hens) take one horrified look at him and run off in the other direction. Distraught, Casper unsuccessfully attempts to commit suicide by laying himself down on a railway track before an oncoming train (apparently forgetting that he is already dead) before he meets two little children named Bonnie and Johnny who become his friends. The children's mother at first is frightened of Casper, but later welcomes him into the family and sends him off with her children to town wearing clothes after he wards off a greedy landlord.
Casper appeared in two more subsequent cartoons by Seymour Reit and Joe Oriolo, There's Good Boos To-Night
and A Haunting We Will Go. (There's Good Boos To-Night differs wildly from later Casper cartoons: although Casper trying to find a friend and scaring everyone away before succeeding also occurs in later cartoons, the tone of the cartoon turns dark when a hunter and his dogs appear. Although Casper scares them away, the fox he has befriended is killed, but happily returns as a ghost.)
These were later adapted into Noveltoons before Paramount started a Casper the Friendly Ghost series in 1950, and ran the theatrical releases until the summer of 1959. Nearly every entry in the series was the same: Casper (now slightly thinner than his obese self that first appeared in the earlier cartoons) escapes from the afterlife
of a regular ghost because he finds that scaring people can be tiresome year after year, tries to find friends but inadvertently scares almost everyone, and finally finds a (cute little) friend, whom he saves from some sort of fate, leading to his acceptance by those initially scared of him. The cartoon series also boasted a catchy title song which was written by Jerry Livingston
and Mack David
. By 1955, however, composer Winston Sharples
composed an entirely new instrumental theme for Casper's cartoons.
by St. John Publications
; Alfred Harvey
, founder and publisher of Harvey Comics
began producing Casper comic books in 1952, and in 1959, Harvey purchased the rights to the character outright.
After Harvey bought the rights to Casper and many other Famous properties in 1959 (including Herman and Katnip
, Little Audrey
, and Baby Huey
), they began broadcasting the post-September 1950 theatrical Famous shorts on a television show sponsored by Mattel Toys
titled Matty's Funday Funnies on ABC
in 1959 which introduced the Barbie
doll
to the public. The other Famous produced Casper cartoons had already been acquired by television distributor U.M.&M. T.V. Corp.
in 1956. U.M.&M. retitled just "A Haunting We Will Go", but credited "Featuring Casper The Friendly Ghost" as "Featuring Caspers Friendly Ghost".
New cartoons were created for The New Casper Cartoon Show in 1963, also on ABC. The original Casper cartoons were syndicated under the title Harveytoons
(initially repackaged as Casper and Company) in 1962 and ran continually until the mid-90s. Casper has remained popular in reruns and merchandising, and Hanna-Barbera
produced two holiday specials, Casper's First Christmas
(which also starred Yogi Bear
, Huckleberry Hound
, Snagglepuss
, Quick Draw McGraw
, Augie Doggie and Doggie Daddy
) and Casper's Halloween Special
(aka Casper Saves Halloween), and also the Saturday morning cartoon
series Casper and the Angels
(an animated takeoff on two live action hit shows Charlie's Angels and "CHiPS") in the autumn of 1979, all on NBC
. Also featured on the NBC version was a big ghost named Hairy Scary (voiced by John Stephenson). None of Casper's original co-stars appeared in the show.
Numerous Casper cartoons were released on home video by Universal Studios
(via MCA Inc.), which also adapted the friendly ghost into a live-action feature film
entitled Casper
in 1995, where he and his wicked uncles, the Ghostly Trio
, were rendered via computer animation
. The film constructed a back-story
for Casper and is the only time in the series that the question of his death has been addressed. According to the film, Casper was a twelve-year-old boy living in Whipstaff Manor with his inventor father J.T. McFadden until he died from pneumonia
after playing out in the cold until it was past nightfall. Much of the backstory he is given in the film is contradicted by other Casper media. Whipstaff Manor appears to represent the historic Schroeppel Mansion in Syracuse, New York, which is a national monument. McFadden seems to be the name the writers used because the actual family named von Schroeppel lost a twelve year old son named Casper to drowning in Morristown, New York, who is said to haunt the family's estate in Syracuse. Casper was a name that could be used but not the actual name of the family.
In 1996, Amblin Entertainment
and Universal Cartoon Studios created a new Casper series
for Fox Kids
, based on the 1995 feature, that lasted two years and was never seen on television again after 1998. Two live-action direct-to-video follow-ups, Casper: A Spirited Beginning
and Casper Meets Wendy
, which introduced Hilary Duff
, to the film were later made. They were followed by Casper's Haunted Christmas
(starring Spooky and Poil from the animated spinoff of the first movie), and Casper's Scare School
, which were done entirely in CGI with no live-action elements. These films are often referred to as being "sequels" to the 1995 feature despite the fact that they heartily contradict the feature and do not appear to even take place in the same universe.
In 2001, Harvey Entertainment was acquired by Classic Media
which continues to license the Harvey properties including Casper.
In 2007, MoonScoop Group
, in association with Classic Media
, TF1 et DQ, produced a TV show of 52 X 12' named (Casper's Scare School).
In 2009, a new Casper comic was published, called Casper and the Spectrals by Arden Entertainment. Much like The Man of Steel and Batman: Year One
did with their respective characters, it revamped Casper and several other Harvey characters for a new audience. After selling 6,400 copies of the first comic, the last two issues were published in 2010.
. Casper was voiced by Norma MacMillan
in The New Casper Cartoon Show, by Julie McWhirter
in the Hanna-Barbara cartoons, by Malachi Pearson in the 1995 movie Casper and The Spooktacular New Adventures of Casper
, by Jeremy Foley
in Casper: A Spirited Beginning and Casper Meets Wendy, by Brendon Ryan Barrett in Casper's Haunted Christmas and by Devon Werkheiser
in Casper's Scare School. Devon Sawa
is the only actor to play the character in live-action, portraying him in a sequence from the 1995 film in which Casper was temporarily brought back to life.
books like; Little Audrey
, Paramount Animated Comics, Spooky the Tuff Little Ghost
, Wendy the Good Little Witch
, and The Ghostly Trio
.
released a DVD set entitled Casper The Friendly Ghost: The Complete Collection 1945-1963 which contains The Friendly Ghost, There's Good Boos To-Night, A Haunting We Will Go, 55 theatrical cartoons, and all 26 episodes of The New Casper Cartoon Show.
Protagonist
A protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...
of the Famous Studios
Famous Studios
Famous Studios was the animation division of the film studio Paramount Pictures from 1942 to 1967. Famous was founded as a successor company to Fleischer Studios, after Paramount acquired the aforementioned studio and ousted its founders, Max and Dave Fleischer, in 1941...
theatrical animated cartoon series
Animation
Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...
of the same name. As his name indicates, he is a ghost
Ghost
In traditional belief and fiction, a ghost is the soul or spirit of a deceased person or animal that can appear, in visible form or other manifestation, to the living. Descriptions of the apparition of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to...
, but is quite personable. According to the 1995
1995 in film
-Top grossing films:-Events:* March 22 - The Dogme 95 movement is officially announced in Paris by Danish directors Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg.* March 28 - Actress Julia Roberts and singer Lyle Lovett announce their plans for separation....
feature film
Feature film
In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...
Casper
Casper (film)
Casper is a 1995 American comedy fantasy film starring Bill Pullman and Christina Ricci, based on the Casper the Friendly Ghost animated cartoons and comic books. The ghosts featured in the film were created through computer-generated imagery...
, his family name
Family name
A family name is a type of surname and part of a person's name indicating the family to which the person belongs. The use of family names is widespread in cultures around the world...
is McFadden, making his "full" name Casper McFadden.
Nature
Given that Casper is depicted as a ghostly, portly little boy, there is a controversyControversy
Controversy is a state of prolonged public dispute or debate, usually concerning a matter of opinion. The word was coined from the Latin controversia, as a composite of controversus – "turned in an opposite direction," from contra – "against" – and vertere – to turn, or versus , hence, "to turn...
among fans of the series as to whether or not he is a dead child. Early Casper cartoons seemed to suggest this, as they portrayed him residing beside a gravestone
Headstone
A headstone, tombstone, or gravestone is a marker, usually stone, that is placed over a grave. In most cases they have the deceased's name, date of birth, and date of death inscribed on them, along with a personal message, or prayer.- Use :...
. Specifically, the short "There's Good Boos To-Night" featured Ferdie, a fox
Fox
Fox is a common name for many species of omnivorous mammals belonging to the Canidae family. Foxes are small to medium-sized canids , characterized by possessing a long narrow snout, and a bushy tail .Members of about 37 species are referred to as foxes, of which only 12 species actually belong to...
befriended by Casper, coming back from the dead as a ghost. Casper's death (as well as the reason why he became friendly) have been disputed since that time.
This somewhat macabre premise was later abandoned in favor of the idea that ghosts were merely a type of supernatural being, similar to ghoul
Ghoul
A ghoul is a folkloric monster associated with graveyards and consuming human flesh, often classified as undead. The oldest surviving literature that mention ghouls is likely One Thousand and One Nights...
s, goblin
Goblin
A goblin is a legendary evil or mischievous illiterate creature, a grotesquely evil or evil-like phantom.They are attributed with various abilities, temperaments and appearances depending on the story and country of origin. In some cases, goblins have been classified as constantly annoying little...
s, etc. He was thereafter portrayed with feet and shown to have ghostly parents and became slightly slimmer. In the 1960s and 1970s, the stock answer provided by Harvey Comics in response to those wondering how Casper died was that he was a ghost simply because his parents were already ghosts when they were married.
The 1995 feature film Casper
Casper (film)
Casper is a 1995 American comedy fantasy film starring Bill Pullman and Christina Ricci, based on the Casper the Friendly Ghost animated cartoons and comic books. The ghosts featured in the film were created through computer-generated imagery...
, however, revived the notion that Casper was a deceased human and provided a brief account of his death. According to the film, Casper was a young adolescent who went sledding all day and died of pneumonia. The first direct-to-video
Direct-to-video
Direct-to-video is a term used to describe a film that has been released to the public on home video formats without being released in film theaters or broadcast on television...
film to follow the feature, Casper: A Spirited Beginning
Casper: A Spirited Beginning
Casper: A Spirited Beginning is a direct-to-video spin-off prequel to the 1995 film Casper, produced by Harvey Comics and Saban Entertainment and released by 20th Century Fox on September 9, 1997...
, showed Casper's early days as a ghost, not showing how he died and ignoring the story provided in the previous film, although it does explain how he became friendly.
Creation and success at Paramount
Casper was created in the late 1930s by Seymour ReitSeymour Reit
Seymour Victory Reit was the author of over 80 children's books as well as several works for adults. Reit was the creator, with cartoonist Joe Oriolo, of the character Casper the Friendly Ghost...
and Joe Oriolo
Joe Oriolo
Joseph "Joe" Oriolo was an American cartoon animator, writer, director and producer, known as the creator of the Felix the Cat TV series.-Early life:...
, the former devising the idea for the character and the latter providing illustrations. Intended initially as the basis for a 1939 children's storybook, there was at first little interest in their idea. When Reit was away on military service during the Second World War before the book was released, Oriolo sold the rights to the book to Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
' Famous Studios
Famous Studios
Famous Studios was the animation division of the film studio Paramount Pictures from 1942 to 1967. Famous was founded as a successor company to Fleischer Studios, after Paramount acquired the aforementioned studio and ousted its founders, Max and Dave Fleischer, in 1941...
animation division, for which he had occasionally worked.
The Friendly Ghost
The Friendly Ghost
The Friendly Ghost is a cartoon released by Paramount Pictures on 16 November 1945 under its Noveltoons series of animated shorts. It is the first cartoon to feature Casper the Friendly Ghost.- Plot :...
, the first Noveltoon
Noveltoons
Noveltoons was an anthology series of animated cartoons produced by Paramount Pictures' Famous Studios from 1943 to the close of the studio in 1967. Casper the Friendly Ghost, Herman and Katnip, Little Audrey, and Baby Huey all got their start from this series...
to feature Casper, was released by Paramount in 1945 with a few differences from the book. In the cartoon adaptation, Casper is a cute ghost-child with a New York accent, who prefers making friends with people instead of scaring them (Casper used to scare people but got tired of it all). He runs away from home and goes out to make friends. However, the animals he meets (a rooster, a mole, a cat, a Herman
Herman and Katnip
Herman and Katnip are a duo of cartoon characters . From 1944 to September 1950, Herman appeared without Katnip, who made his first appearance in November 1950 with Mice Meeting You. The two characters continued to star in animated cartoons by Famous Studios until 1959...
, and a group of hens) take one horrified look at him and run off in the other direction. Distraught, Casper unsuccessfully attempts to commit suicide by laying himself down on a railway track before an oncoming train (apparently forgetting that he is already dead) before he meets two little children named Bonnie and Johnny who become his friends. The children's mother at first is frightened of Casper, but later welcomes him into the family and sends him off with her children to town wearing clothes after he wards off a greedy landlord.
Casper appeared in two more subsequent cartoons by Seymour Reit and Joe Oriolo, There's Good Boos To-Night
There's Good Boos To-Night
There's Good Boos To-Night is a 1948 American film directed by Izzy Sparber narrated by Frank Gallop featuring Casper the Friendly Ghost.- Plot summary :...
and A Haunting We Will Go. (There's Good Boos To-Night differs wildly from later Casper cartoons: although Casper trying to find a friend and scaring everyone away before succeeding also occurs in later cartoons, the tone of the cartoon turns dark when a hunter and his dogs appear. Although Casper scares them away, the fox he has befriended is killed, but happily returns as a ghost.)
These were later adapted into Noveltoons before Paramount started a Casper the Friendly Ghost series in 1950, and ran the theatrical releases until the summer of 1959. Nearly every entry in the series was the same: Casper (now slightly thinner than his obese self that first appeared in the earlier cartoons) escapes from the afterlife
Afterlife
The afterlife is the belief that a part of, or essence of, or soul of an individual, which carries with it and confers personal identity, survives the death of the body of this world and this lifetime, by natural or supernatural means, in contrast to the belief in eternal...
of a regular ghost because he finds that scaring people can be tiresome year after year, tries to find friends but inadvertently scares almost everyone, and finally finds a (cute little) friend, whom he saves from some sort of fate, leading to his acceptance by those initially scared of him. The cartoon series also boasted a catchy title song which was written by Jerry Livingston
Jerry Livingston
Jerry Livingston was an American songwriter, and dance orchestra pianist.-Biography:...
and Mack David
Mack David
Mack David was an American lyricist and songwriter, best known for his work in film and television, with a career spanning from the early 1940s through the early 1970s. Mack was credited with writing lyrics and/or music for over one thousand songs...
. By 1955, however, composer Winston Sharples
Winston Sharples
Winston Singleton Sharples was a composer known for his work with animated short subjects, especially those created by the animation department at Paramount Pictures...
composed an entirely new instrumental theme for Casper's cartoons.
Harvey Comics, television, and films
Casper went on to become one of the most famous properties from Famous Studio. Casper was first published in comics form in 19491949 in comics
-Events and publications:Publishers Star Publications, Toby Press, and Youthful make their debuts; conversely, Columbia Comics, Novelty Press, and Street & Smith Comics all fold.-January:* Captain America Comics #70 - Timely Comics...
by St. John Publications
St. John Publications
St. John Publications was an American publisher of magazines and comic books. During its short existence , St. John's comic books established several industry firsts. Founded by Archer St. John , the firm was located in Manhattan at 545 Fifth Avenue. After the St...
; Alfred Harvey
Alfred Harvey
Alfred Harvey was the founder of comic book publisher Harvey Comics and the creator of the comic book characters Little Dot, Richie Rich, and Adam Awards....
, founder and publisher of Harvey Comics
Harvey Comics
Harvey Comics was an American comic book publisher, founded in New York City by Alfred Harvey in 1941, after buying out the small publisher Brookwood Publications. His brothers Robert B...
began producing Casper comic books in 1952, and in 1959, Harvey purchased the rights to the character outright.
After Harvey bought the rights to Casper and many other Famous properties in 1959 (including Herman and Katnip
Herman and Katnip
Herman and Katnip are a duo of cartoon characters . From 1944 to September 1950, Herman appeared without Katnip, who made his first appearance in November 1950 with Mice Meeting You. The two characters continued to star in animated cartoons by Famous Studios until 1959...
, Little Audrey
Little Audrey
Little Audrey is a fictional character, appearing in Paramount Pictures' Famous Studios cartoons from 1947 to 1958. She is considered a variation of the better-known Little Lulu, devised after Paramount decided not to renew the license on Marjorie Henderson Buell's comic strip character...
, and Baby Huey
Baby Huey
Baby Huey is a gigantic and naïve duckling cartoon character. He was created by Martin Taras for Paramount Pictures' Famous Studios, and became a Paramount cartoon star during the 1950s. Although created by Famous for its animated cartoons, Huey first appeared in comic-book form in an original...
), they began broadcasting the post-September 1950 theatrical Famous shorts on a television show sponsored by Mattel Toys
Mattel
Mattel, Inc. is the world's largest toy company based on revenue. The products it produces include Fisher Price, Barbie dolls, Hot Wheels and Matchbox toys, Masters of the Universe, American Girl dolls, board games, and, in the early 1980s, video game consoles. The company's name is derived from...
titled Matty's Funday Funnies on ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
in 1959 which introduced the Barbie
Barbie
Barbie is a fashion doll manufactured by the American toy-company Mattel, Inc. and launched in March 1959. American businesswoman Ruth Handler is credited with the creation of the doll using a German doll called Bild Lilli as her inspiration....
doll
Doll
A doll is a model of a human being, often used as a toy for children. Dolls have traditionally been used in magic and religious rituals throughout the world, and traditional dolls made of materials like clay and wood are found in the Americas, Asia, Africa and Europe. The earliest documented dolls...
to the public. The other Famous produced Casper cartoons had already been acquired by television distributor U.M.&M. T.V. Corp.
U.M.&M. T.V. Corp.
U.M.&M. T.V. Corp. is best known as the original purchaser of Paramount Pictures' pre-October 1950 shorts and cartoons...
in 1956. U.M.&M. retitled just "A Haunting We Will Go", but credited "Featuring Casper The Friendly Ghost" as "Featuring Caspers Friendly Ghost".
New cartoons were created for The New Casper Cartoon Show in 1963, also on ABC. The original Casper cartoons were syndicated under the title Harveytoons
The Harveytoons Show
The Harveytoons Show is a television series presenting theatrical animated cartoons produced from October 1950 until March 1962 and produced by Famous Studios, featuring Harvey Comics characters and series including: Casper the Friendly Ghost, Little Audrey, Tommy Tortoise and Moe Hare, Baby Huey,...
(initially repackaged as Casper and Company) in 1962 and ran continually until the mid-90s. Casper has remained popular in reruns and merchandising, and Hanna-Barbera
Hanna-Barbera
Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. was an American animation studio that dominated North American television animation during the second half of the 20th century...
produced two holiday specials, Casper's First Christmas
Casper's First Christmas
Casper's First Christmas is a 30-minute Christmas Television special and crossover produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions that featured Casper the Friendly Ghost and his friend Hairy Scary from the show Casper and the Angels with guest stars Yogi Bear, Boo Boo, Huckleberry Hound, Snagglepuss, Quick...
(which also starred Yogi Bear
Yogi Bear
Yogi Bear is a fictional bear who appears in animated cartoons created by Hanna-Barbera Productions. He made his debut in 1958 as a supporting character in The Huckleberry Hound Show. Yogi Bear was the first breakout character created by Hanna-Barbera, and was eventually more popular than...
, Huckleberry Hound
Huckleberry Hound
The Huckleberry Hound Show is a 1958 syndicated animated series and the second from Hanna-Barbera following The Ruff & Reddy Show, sponsored by Kellogg's. Three segments were included in the program: one featuring Huckleberry Hound; another starring Yogi Bear and his sidekick Boo Boo; and a third...
, Snagglepuss
Snagglepuss
Snagglepuss is a Hanna-Barbera cartoon character created in 1959, a pink anthropomorphic mountain lion voiced by Daws Butler. He is best known for his famous catchphrase, "Heavens to Murgatroyd!", along with phrases such as "Exit, stage left!" Snagglepuss was originally known as "Snaggletooth"...
, Quick Draw McGraw
Quick Draw McGraw
The Quick Draw McGraw Show is the third cartoon television production created by Hanna-Barbera starring an anthropomorphic cartoon horse named Quick Draw McGraw following their success with The Ruff & Reddy Show and The Huckleberry Hound Show. The show debuted in syndication in the fall of 1959,...
, Augie Doggie and Doggie Daddy
Augie Doggie and Doggie Daddy
Augie Doggie and Doggie Daddy are Hanna-Barbera cartoon characters who debuted on The Quick Draw McGraw Show and appeared in their own segment of that show.-Summary:The segments centered around the misadventures of a dachshund father-and-son team...
) and Casper's Halloween Special
Casper's Halloween Special
Casper's Halloween Special is a Halloween television special...
(aka Casper Saves Halloween), and also the Saturday morning cartoon
Saturday morning cartoon
A Saturday morning cartoon is the colloquial term for the animated television programming that has typically been scheduled on Saturday mornings on the major American television networks from the 1960s to the present; the genre's peak in popularity mostly ended in the 1990s while the popularity of...
series Casper and the Angels
Casper and the Angels
Casper and the Angels was a 30-minute Saturday morning animated series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and aired for one season on NBC. Casper the Friendly Ghost was a guardian angel for two female motorcycle space cops named Minnie and Maxie in the year 2179...
(an animated takeoff on two live action hit shows Charlie's Angels and "CHiPS") in the autumn of 1979, all on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
. Also featured on the NBC version was a big ghost named Hairy Scary (voiced by John Stephenson). None of Casper's original co-stars appeared in the show.
Numerous Casper cartoons were released on home video by Universal Studios
Universal Studios
Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....
(via MCA Inc.), which also adapted the friendly ghost into a live-action feature film
Feature film
In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...
entitled Casper
Casper (film)
Casper is a 1995 American comedy fantasy film starring Bill Pullman and Christina Ricci, based on the Casper the Friendly Ghost animated cartoons and comic books. The ghosts featured in the film were created through computer-generated imagery...
in 1995, where he and his wicked uncles, the Ghostly Trio
The Ghostly Trio
The Ghostly Trio are fictional characters in the Casper the Friendly Ghost series. Their first animated appearance was in Fright from Wrong, a cartoon of Paramount Pictures' Famous Studios theatrical series from the 1950s...
, were rendered via computer animation
Computer animation
Computer animation is the process used for generating animated images by using computer graphics. The more general term computer generated imagery encompasses both static scenes and dynamic images, while computer animation only refers to moving images....
. The film constructed a back-story
Back-story
A back-story, background story, or backstory is the literary device of a narrative chronologically earlier than, and related to, a narrative of primary interest. Generally, it is the history of characters or other elements that underlie the situation existing at the main narrative's start...
for Casper and is the only time in the series that the question of his death has been addressed. According to the film, Casper was a twelve-year-old boy living in Whipstaff Manor with his inventor father J.T. McFadden until he died from pneumonia
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
after playing out in the cold until it was past nightfall. Much of the backstory he is given in the film is contradicted by other Casper media. Whipstaff Manor appears to represent the historic Schroeppel Mansion in Syracuse, New York, which is a national monument. McFadden seems to be the name the writers used because the actual family named von Schroeppel lost a twelve year old son named Casper to drowning in Morristown, New York, who is said to haunt the family's estate in Syracuse. Casper was a name that could be used but not the actual name of the family.
In 1996, Amblin Entertainment
Amblin Entertainment
Amblin Entertainment is an American film and television production company founded by director and producer Steven Spielberg and film producers Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall in 1981. Amblin is only a production company, and has never distributed its own movies, nor has it fully financed its...
and Universal Cartoon Studios created a new Casper series
The Spooktacular New Adventures of Casper
The Spooktacular New Adventures of Casper was an animated television spin-off of the feature film Casper, which, in turn, was based on the Harvey Comics character of Casper the Friendly Ghost....
for Fox Kids
Fox Kids
Fox Kids was the Fox Broadcasting Company's American children's programming division and brand name from September 8, 1990 until September 7, 2002. It was owned by Fox Television Entertainment airing programming on Monday–Friday afternoons and Saturday mornings.Depending on the show, the...
, based on the 1995 feature, that lasted two years and was never seen on television again after 1998. Two live-action direct-to-video follow-ups, Casper: A Spirited Beginning
Casper: A Spirited Beginning
Casper: A Spirited Beginning is a direct-to-video spin-off prequel to the 1995 film Casper, produced by Harvey Comics and Saban Entertainment and released by 20th Century Fox on September 9, 1997...
and Casper Meets Wendy
Casper Meets Wendy
Casper Meets Wendy is a direct-to-video and second spin-off to the 1995 film Casper. It was released by 20th Century Fox in 1998. The film is a sequel to Casper: A Spirited Beginning...
, which introduced Hilary Duff
Hilary Duff
Hilary Erhard Duff is an American actress, singer-songwriter, entrepreneur, and author. After working in local theater plays and television commercials in her childhood, she achieved fame playing the title role in the Disney Channel television series Lizzie McGuire. She also reprised her role in...
, to the film were later made. They were followed by Casper's Haunted Christmas
Casper's Haunted Christmas
Casper's Haunted Christmas is a 2000 direct-to-video film produced by Harvey Comics and Mainframe Entertainment and released by Universal Pictures on October 31, 2000. Unlike its direct-to-video predecessors, this video was completely computer animated. It stars Brendan Ryan Barrett as the voice of...
(starring Spooky and Poil from the animated spinoff of the first movie), and Casper's Scare School
Casper's Scare School
Casper's Scare School is a computer animated TV film starring Casper the Friendly Ghost. It was produced by The Harvey Entertainment Company and released by Classic Media and premiered on October 20, 2006. It has a TV series of the same name in 2009...
, which were done entirely in CGI with no live-action elements. These films are often referred to as being "sequels" to the 1995 feature despite the fact that they heartily contradict the feature and do not appear to even take place in the same universe.
In 2001, Harvey Entertainment was acquired by Classic Media
Classic Media
Classic Media, LLC, is an American production company and distributor of family programming. It was founded in 2000 by former Marvel Entertainment CEO Eric Ellenbogen and former Broadway Video executive John Engelman in hopes of acquiring mismanaged classic properties and giving exposure to...
which continues to license the Harvey properties including Casper.
In 2007, MoonScoop Group
MoonScoop Group
The MoonScoop Group is a French company that creates and publishes animated television series with offices in U.K. and U.S.A.. It was established in 2003...
, in association with Classic Media
Classic Media
Classic Media, LLC, is an American production company and distributor of family programming. It was founded in 2000 by former Marvel Entertainment CEO Eric Ellenbogen and former Broadway Video executive John Engelman in hopes of acquiring mismanaged classic properties and giving exposure to...
, TF1 et DQ, produced a TV show of 52 X 12' named (Casper's Scare School).
In 2009, a new Casper comic was published, called Casper and the Spectrals by Arden Entertainment. Much like The Man of Steel and Batman: Year One
Batman: Year One
"Year One", later referred to as "Batman: Year One", is an American comic book story arc written by Frank Miller, illustrated by David Mazzucchelli, colored by Richmond Lewis, and lettered by Todd Klein...
did with their respective characters, it revamped Casper and several other Harvey characters for a new audience. After selling 6,400 copies of the first comic, the last two issues were published in 2010.
Actors who have voiced or portayed Casper
Cecil H. Roy voiced Casper in the majority of the Famous Studios cartoons along with Mae QuestelMae Questel
Mae Questel was an American actress and vocal artist best known for providing the voices for the animated characters, Betty Boop and Olive Oyl. She began in vaudeville, and played occasional small roles in films and television later in her career, most notably the role of Aunt Bethany in 1989's...
. Casper was voiced by Norma MacMillan
Norma MacMillan
Norma MacMillan was a Canadian voice actor.Norma MacMillan was a native of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It was there that she met, worked with and married her producer/manager husband Thor Arngrim. Arngrim had started the now-legendary, but short-lived Totem Theatre company in 1951...
in The New Casper Cartoon Show, by Julie McWhirter
Julie McWhirter
Julie McWhirter is an Indiana-born voice actress and impressionist best known for her work as Kanga in "Winnie the Pooh and a Day for Eeyore". Her voice acting also includes numerous Hanna-Barbera cartoons, such as Jeannie, Jabberjaw, Casper and the Angels, Drak Pack and The Smurfs...
in the Hanna-Barbara cartoons, by Malachi Pearson in the 1995 movie Casper and The Spooktacular New Adventures of Casper
The Spooktacular New Adventures of Casper
The Spooktacular New Adventures of Casper was an animated television spin-off of the feature film Casper, which, in turn, was based on the Harvey Comics character of Casper the Friendly Ghost....
, by Jeremy Foley
Jeremy Foley (actor)
Jeremy Arturo Foley is an American actor. Jeremy is perhaps best known for his appearance as Billy in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode "Nightmares", as well as his supporting role of Griffen Lowe in the Nickelodeon show Caitlin's Way. Foley also played Graham in Dante's Peak...
in Casper: A Spirited Beginning and Casper Meets Wendy, by Brendon Ryan Barrett in Casper's Haunted Christmas and by Devon Werkheiser
Devon Werkheiser
Devon Joseph Werkheiser is an American actor and musician, best known for his starring role as Ned Bigby on the Nickelodeon sitcom Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide and for his role in the 2007 TV Movie Shredderman Rules, as the lead character Nolan Byrd.-Personal life:Werkheiser was born...
in Casper's Scare School. Devon Sawa
Devon Sawa
Devon Edward Sawa is a Canadian actor. Although he appears in independent films, he is best known for portraying the part of Alex Browning in the 1999 movie Final Destination...
is the only actor to play the character in live-action, portraying him in a sequence from the 1995 film in which Casper was temporarily brought back to life.
Supporting characters
- The Ghostly TrioThe Ghostly TrioThe Ghostly Trio are fictional characters in the Casper the Friendly Ghost series. Their first animated appearance was in Fright from Wrong, a cartoon of Paramount Pictures' Famous Studios theatrical series from the 1950s...
- Wendy the Good Little WitchWendy the Good Little WitchWendy the Good Little Witch is a fictional comic book character from Harvey Comics. Wendy was introduced as a back-up feature as well as a companion for Casper in Casper the Friendly Ghost #20, May 1954. Soon, she was trialed in Harvey Hits, starting with #7. After a total of six appearances, she...
- Archibald the Talking Wishing wellWishing wellA wishing well is a term from European folklore to describe wells where it was thought that any spoken wish would be granted. The idea that a wish would be granted came from the idea that water housed deities or had been placed there as a gift from the gods, since water was a source of life and...
- Hot Stuff the Little DevilHot Stuff the Little DevilHot Stuff the Little Devil is a comic book character who first appeared in Hot Stuff #1, published by Harvey Comics in October 1957. The character didn't first appear as a back-up feature in another book or receive a trial run in Harvey Hits...
- Nightmare the ghost horse
- Spooky the Tuff Little GhostSpooky the Tuff Little GhostSpooky the Tuff Little Ghost is a fictional character that appeared in titles published by Harvey Comics. Spooky first appeared in Casper the Friendly Ghost #10 . He is, according to canon, the cousin of Casper, though how they are exactly related is never really clear...
- Spooky's girlfriend Pearl
- Gned Gnome
- Sohini
- Arruda
- Dr. James Harvey (movie, 1996 animated series)
- Kat Harvey (movie, 1996 animated series)
Enemies
- The Ghostly TrioThe Ghostly TrioThe Ghostly Trio are fictional characters in the Casper the Friendly Ghost series. Their first animated appearance was in Fright from Wrong, a cartoon of Paramount Pictures' Famous Studios theatrical series from the 1950s...
– especially Stretch - Carrigan and Dibs (Casper (film)Casper (film)Casper is a 1995 American comedy fantasy film starring Bill Pullman and Christina Ricci, based on the Casper the Friendly Ghost animated cartoons and comic books. The ghosts featured in the film were created through computer-generated imagery...
) - Kibosh (Casper: A Spirited BeginningCasper: A Spirited BeginningCasper: A Spirited Beginning is a direct-to-video spin-off prequel to the 1995 film Casper, produced by Harvey Comics and Saban Entertainment and released by 20th Century Fox on September 9, 1997...
, Casper's Haunted ChristmasCasper's Haunted ChristmasCasper's Haunted Christmas is a 2000 direct-to-video film produced by Harvey Comics and Mainframe Entertainment and released by Universal Pictures on October 31, 2000. Unlike its direct-to-video predecessors, this video was completely computer animated. It stars Brendan Ryan Barrett as the voice of...
and Casper's Scare SchoolCasper's Scare SchoolCasper's Scare School is a computer animated TV film starring Casper the Friendly Ghost. It was produced by The Harvey Entertainment Company and released by Classic Media and premiered on October 20, 2006. It has a TV series of the same name in 2009...
(film and series)) - Snivel (Casper: A Spirited BeginningCasper: A Spirited BeginningCasper: A Spirited Beginning is a direct-to-video spin-off prequel to the 1995 film Casper, produced by Harvey Comics and Saban Entertainment and released by 20th Century Fox on September 9, 1997...
and Casper's Haunted ChristmasCasper's Haunted ChristmasCasper's Haunted Christmas is a 2000 direct-to-video film produced by Harvey Comics and Mainframe Entertainment and released by Universal Pictures on October 31, 2000. Unlike its direct-to-video predecessors, this video was completely computer animated. It stars Brendan Ryan Barrett as the voice of...
) - Desmond Spellman (Casper Meets WendyCasper Meets WendyCasper Meets Wendy is a direct-to-video and second spin-off to the 1995 film Casper. It was released by 20th Century Fox in 1998. The film is a sequel to Casper: A Spirited Beginning...
) - Vincent and Jules (Casper Meets WendyCasper Meets WendyCasper Meets Wendy is a direct-to-video and second spin-off to the 1995 film Casper. It was released by 20th Century Fox in 1998. The film is a sequel to Casper: A Spirited Beginning...
) - Sahil (The brother of Casper's friend Sohini)
- Alder and Dash (Casper's Scare SchoolCasper's Scare SchoolCasper's Scare School is a computer animated TV film starring Casper the Friendly Ghost. It was produced by The Harvey Entertainment Company and released by Classic Media and premiered on October 20, 2006. It has a TV series of the same name in 2009...
) - Thatch (Casper's Scare SchoolCasper's Scare SchoolCasper's Scare School is a computer animated TV film starring Casper the Friendly Ghost. It was produced by The Harvey Entertainment Company and released by Classic Media and premiered on October 20, 2006. It has a TV series of the same name in 2009...
)
Comic book titles
This is a list of comic book titles that featured Casper as the main character (or main co-character). He also appeared in back up stories and made guest appearances in many other Harvey comicHarvey Comics
Harvey Comics was an American comic book publisher, founded in New York City by Alfred Harvey in 1941, after buying out the small publisher Brookwood Publications. His brothers Robert B...
books like; Little Audrey
Little Audrey
Little Audrey is a fictional character, appearing in Paramount Pictures' Famous Studios cartoons from 1947 to 1958. She is considered a variation of the better-known Little Lulu, devised after Paramount decided not to renew the license on Marjorie Henderson Buell's comic strip character...
, Paramount Animated Comics, Spooky the Tuff Little Ghost
Spooky the Tuff Little Ghost
Spooky the Tuff Little Ghost is a fictional character that appeared in titles published by Harvey Comics. Spooky first appeared in Casper the Friendly Ghost #10 . He is, according to canon, the cousin of Casper, though how they are exactly related is never really clear...
, Wendy the Good Little Witch
Wendy the Good Little Witch
Wendy the Good Little Witch is a fictional comic book character from Harvey Comics. Wendy was introduced as a back-up feature as well as a companion for Casper in Casper the Friendly Ghost #20, May 1954. Soon, she was trialed in Harvey Hits, starting with #7. After a total of six appearances, she...
, and The Ghostly Trio
The Ghostly Trio
The Ghostly Trio are fictional characters in the Casper the Friendly Ghost series. Their first animated appearance was in Fright from Wrong, a cartoon of Paramount Pictures' Famous Studios theatrical series from the 1950s...
.
- Casper
- Casper Adventure Digest
- Casper and...
- Casper and Friends
- Casper and Friends Magazine
- Casper and Nightmare
- Casper and Spooky
- Casper and The Ghostly Trio
- Casper and Spooky
- Casper: A Spirited BeginningCasper: A Spirited BeginningCasper: A Spirited Beginning is a direct-to-video spin-off prequel to the 1995 film Casper, produced by Harvey Comics and Saban Entertainment and released by 20th Century Fox on September 9, 1997...
(film adaptation) - Casper Big Book
- Casper Digest
- Casper Digest Stories
- Casper Digest Winners
- Casper Enchanted Tales Digest
- Casper Ghostland
- Casper Giant Size
- Casper Halloween Trick or Treat
- Casper in Space
- Casper in 3-D
- Casper Magazine
- Casper Movie Adaptation
- Casper's Ghostland
- Casper's Spaceship
- Casper Special
- Casper Strange Ghost Stories
- Casper, the Friendly Ghost
- Casper TV Showtime
- Famous TV Funday Funnies
- The Friendly Ghost, Casper
- Harvey Two-Pack
- Nightmare and Casper
- Richie Rich and Casper
- Richie Rich, Casper, and Wendy
- TV Casper and Company
- Casper and the Spectrals
Home media
In 2011 Shout! FactoryShout! Factory
Shout! Factory is an entertainment company founded in 2003 that was started by Richard Foos , Bob Emmer and Garson Foos initially as a specialty music label...
released a DVD set entitled Casper The Friendly Ghost: The Complete Collection 1945-1963 which contains The Friendly Ghost, There's Good Boos To-Night, A Haunting We Will Go, 55 theatrical cartoons, and all 26 episodes of The New Casper Cartoon Show.