Willie Whopper is an
animatedAnimation 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. It is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in a number of ways...
cartoon characterA character is the representation of a person in a narrative or dramatic work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr through its Latin transcription character, the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its...
created by
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
cartoonist
Ub IwerksUb Iwerks, A.S.C. was a two-time Academy Award winning American animator, cartoonist and special effects technician, who was famous for his work for Walt Disney...
. The Whopper series was the second from the Iwerks studio to be produced by Pat Powers and distributed through
Metro-Goldwyn-MayerMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc., or MGM, is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B...
. It lasted only two years; from 1933 to 1934.
Willie is a young lad who tells of his many outlandish adventures, which are then depicted on-screen. His fantastic accounts are in fact, outright lies, or "whoppers".
Willie Whopper is an
animatedAnimation 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. It is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in a number of ways...
cartoon characterA character is the representation of a person in a narrative or dramatic work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr through its Latin transcription character, the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its...
created by
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
cartoonist
Ub IwerksUb Iwerks, A.S.C. was a two-time Academy Award winning American animator, cartoonist and special effects technician, who was famous for his work for Walt Disney...
. The Whopper series was the second from the Iwerks studio to be produced by Pat Powers and distributed through
Metro-Goldwyn-MayerMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc., or MGM, is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B...
. It lasted only two years; from 1933 to 1934.
History
Willie is a young lad who tells of his many outlandish adventures, which are then depicted on-screen. His fantastic accounts are in fact, outright lies, or "whoppers". His stories are usually preceded by his memorable catch-phrase, "Say, did I ever tell ya this one?" The character's first film was
Spite Flight (originally titled
The Air Race), in which Willie tells of how he entered in and won the 1933 National Air Race (even receiving a kiss from
Amelia EarhartAmelia Mary Earhart ; was a noted American aviation pioneer and author. Earhart was the first woman to receive the Distinguished Flying Cross, awarded for becoming the first aviatrix to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean...
in the end). The short focuses on Iwerks' own fascination with
aviationAviation is the activity involving man-made air-borne flying devices , including the people, organizations, and regulatory bodies involved with them.- History :...
. One scene even involves a plane crashing into a "Fireworks" stand which, afterwards is reduced in spelling to "I works" (the
pronunciation"Pronunciation" refers to the way a word or a language is spoken, or the manner in which someone utters a word. If someone is said to have "correct pronunciation," then it refers to both within a particular dialect....
of Iwerks' last name).
Animator
Grim NatwickMyron "Grim" Natwick was an American animator and film director.Born in Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin, Natwick studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago....
initially designed Willie for
Spite Flight and the subsequent
Play Ball, the character's first theatrical release. He was, at first, tall and lanky, much like a boy version of the earlier
Flip the FrogFlip the Frog is an animated cartoon character created by American cartoonist Ub Iwerks. He starred in a series of cartoons produced by Celebrity Pictures and distributed through Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer from 1930 to 1933...
. Iwerks wasn't completely satisfied with this design and decided to make the character more "cartoonlike". So, by the series' fourth entry,
Stratos-Fear, Willie became roly-poly and more endearing to audiences. Critics too especially went for this new change. Before 1933 was over, Willie also appeared in his first
CinecolorCinecolor was an early subtractive color-model two color film process, based upon the Prizma system of the 1910s and 1920s and the Multicolor system of the late 1920s and 1930s. It was developed by William T. Crispinel and Alan M...
endeavor,
Davy Jones' Locker.
1934 was the final production year for the Whopper series. However, some of Willie's best emerged from this particular year. One interesting 1934 entry is
The Good Scout, an outrageous short in which boy scout Willie manages to help a beautiful girl who has been kidnapped by a big brute in downtown
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment...
. The bulk of the film's soundtrack is comprised of a jazzy
Jelly Roll MortonFerdinand "Jelly Roll" Morton was an American ragtime and early jazz pianist, bandleader and composer.Widely recognized as a pivotal figure in early jazz, Morton claimed, in self-promotional hyperbole, to have invented jazz outright in 1902...
78-rpm record and its backgrounds are breathtaking. The final entry in the series was
Viva Willie released on September 20, 1934. Other Iwerks staffers on the series included
Al EugsterAlfred Eugster was an American animator and film director, regarded as one of the greatest of all time...
, Norm Blackburn, and
Shamus CulhaneJames "Shamus" Culhane was an American animator, film director, and film producer.Culhane worked for a number of American animation studios, including Fleischer Studios, the Ub Iwerks studio, Walt Disney Productions, and the Walter Lantz studio. He began his animation career in 1925 working for J.R...
(who referred to Willie as a "boy
Baron von MünchhausenKarl Friedrich Hieronymus, Freiherr von Münchhausen was a German baron born in Bodenwerder, who in his youth was sent to serve as page to Anthony Ulrich II of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, and later joined the Russian military...
").
After MGM dropped Iwerks, they hired
Hugh HarmanHugh Harman and Rudolf "Rudy" Ising were an American animator/film director/film producer team best known for founding the Warner Bros. and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer animation studios...
and
Rudolf IsingHugh Harman and Rudolf "Rudy" Ising were an American animator/film director/film producer team best known for founding the Warner Bros. and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer animation studios...
to produce a cartoon series called
Happy HarmoniesHappy Harmonies is the name of a series of animated cartoons distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and produced by Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising between 1934 and 1938....
directly for the studio. Harman and Ising had just left Warner Brothers, where they had been producing
Looney TunesLooney Tunes is a Warner Brothers animated cartoon series which ran in many movie theaters from 1930 to 1969. It preceded the Merrie Melodies series and is Warner Bros.'s first animated theatrical series. The regular Warner Bros...
and
Merrie MelodiesMerrie Melodies was the name of a series of animated cartoons distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures between 1931 and 1969.Originally produced by Harman-Ising Pictures, Merrie Melodies were produced by Leon Schlesinger Productions from 1933 to 1944. Schlesinger sold his studio to Warner Bros. in...
for
Leon SchlesingerLeon Schlesinger was an American film producer, most noted for founding Leon Schlesinger Productions, which later became the Warner Bros. Cartoons studio, during the golden age of Hollywood animation.-Early life and career:...
.
1933
| Film |
Original release date |
| Play Ball |
September 16, 1933 |
| Spite Flight (The Air Race) |
October 14, 1933 |
| Stratos-Fear |
November 11, 1933 |
| Davy Jones' Locker 1 |
December 9, 1933 |
1 Filmed in Cinecolor
1934
| Film |
Original release date |
| Hell's Fire 1 |
January 6, 1934 |
| Robin Hood, Jr. |
February 3, 1934 |
| Insultin' the Sultan |
April 14, 1934 |
| Reducing Creme |
May 19, 1934 |
| Rasslin' Round |
June 1, 1934 |
| Cave Man |
July 6, 1934 |
| Jungle Jitters |
July 24, 1934 |
| The Good Scout |
September 1, 1934 |
| Viva Willie |
September 20, 1934 |
1 Filmed in Cinecolor