Yosemite Sam
Encyclopedia
Yosemite Sam is an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 animated cartoon
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...

 character
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...

 in the Looney Tunes
Looney Tunes
Looney Tunes is a Warner Bros. animated cartoon series. It preceded the Merrie Melodies series and was Warner Bros.'s first animated theatrical series. Since its first official release, 1930's Sinkin' in the Bathtub, the series has become a worldwide media franchise, spawning several television...

and Merrie Melodies
Merrie Melodies
Merrie Melodies is 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 1944,...

series of cartoons produced by Warner Bros. Animation
Warner Bros. Animation
Warner Bros. Animation is the animation division of Warner Bros., a subsidiary of Time Warner. The studio is closely associated with the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies characters, among others. The studio is the successor to Warner Bros...

. The name is somewhat alliterative
Alliteration
In language, alliteration refers to the repetition of a particular sound in the first syllables of Three or more words or phrases. Alliteration has historically developed largely through poetry, in which it more narrowly refers to the repetition of a consonant in any syllables that, according to...

 and is inspired by Yosemite National Park
Yosemite National Park
Yosemite National Park is a United States National Park spanning eastern portions of Tuolumne, Mariposa and Madera counties in east central California, United States. The park covers an area of and reaches across the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountain chain...

. He is commonly depicted as an extremely grouchy gunslinging prospector
Prospecting
Prospecting is the physical search for minerals, fossils, precious metals or mineral specimens, and is also known as fossicking.Prospecting is a small-scale form of mineral exploration which is an organised, large scale effort undertaken by mineral resource companies to find commercially viable ore...

 or cowboy
Cowboy
A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the vaquero traditions of northern Mexico and became a figure of...

 with a hair-trigger temper and an intense hatred of rabbits, particularly Bugs Bunny
Bugs Bunny
Bugs Bunny is a animated character created in 1938 at Leon Schlesinger Productions, later Warner Bros. Cartoons. Bugs is an anthropomorphic gray rabbit and is famous for his flippant, insouciant personality and his portrayal as a trickster. He has primarily appeared in animated cartoons, most...

. Along with Elmer Fudd
Elmer Fudd
Elmer J. Fudd/Egghead is a fictional cartoon character and one of the most famous Looney Tunes characters, and the de facto archenemy of Bugs Bunny. He has one of the more disputed origins in the Warner Bros. cartoon pantheon . His aim is to hunt Bugs, but he usually ends up seriously injuring...

, he is the de facto archenemy of Bugs Bunny. In cartoons with non-Western themes, he uses various aliases, including "Chilkoot Sam" (named for the Chilkoot Trail
Chilkoot Trail
The Chilkoot Trail is a 33 miles trail through the Coast Mountains that leads from Dyea, Alaska in the United States, to Bennett, British Columbia in Canada....

; Sam pronounces it "Chilli-koot") in 14 Carrot Rabbit
14 Carrot Rabbit
14 Carrot Rabbit is a 1951 animated cartoon short in the Looney Tunes series featuring Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam, directed by Friz Freleng and first released March 15, 1952...

(although in the same cartoon, when he tries to gain Bugs Bunny's trust, he cleverly invents alias "Square-deal Sam"), "Riff Raff Sam" in Sahara Hare
Sahara Hare
Sahara Hare is a 1954 Looney Tunes theatrical cartoon short released in 1955 and directed by Friz Freleng.-Plot:This is another classic battle between Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam . Bugs pops up out from underground, thinking he has reached Miami Beach, when in reality he is in the Sahara Desert,...

, "Sam Schulz" in Big House Bunny
Big House Bunny
Big House Bunny is a 1948 Looney Tunes Bugs Bunny cartoon, released in 1950 and directed by Friz Freleng.-Plot:Needing to get away from hunters, Bugs digs a tunnel and accidentally winds up in Sing Song Prison...

, "Seagoin' Sam" in Buccaneer Bunny
Buccaneer Bunny
Buccaneer Bunny is a 1947 Warner Bros. cartoon in the Looney Tunes series, released in 1948, directed by Friz Freleng. It features Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam, the latter known in this picture as "Sea-Goin' Sam", a pirate. All voice characterizations in this cartoon are by Mel Blanc...

, "Shanghai Sam" in Mutiny on the Bunny
Mutiny On The Bunny
Mutiny On The Bunny is a Looney Tunes cartoon short starring Bugs Bunny, directed by Friz Freleng and released by Warner Brothers studios in 1950....

, and "Sam Von Schamm the Hessian" in Bunker Hill Bunny
Bunker Hill Bunny
Bunker Hill Bunny is a 1949 Warner Brothers Merrie Melodies theatrical cartoon short, released in 1950 and starring Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam as a Hessian Mercenary in the American Revolution.-Crew:...

and many others. During the Golden Age of American animation, Yosemite Sam appeared in 33 shorts.

Appearances

Animator
Animator
An animator is an artist who creates multiple images that give an illusion of movement called animation when displayed in rapid sequence; the images are called frames and key frames. Animators can work in a variety of fields including film, television, video games, and the internet. Usually, an...

 Friz Freleng
Friz Freleng
Isadore "Friz" Freleng was an animator, cartoonist, director, and producer best known for his work on the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons from Warner Bros....

 introduced the character in the 1945 cartoon Hare Trigger
Hare Trigger
Hare Trigger is a 1945 Warner Brothers Merrie Melodies cartoon short starring Bugs Bunny directed by Friz Freleng. It marks the first appearance of Yosemite Sam, who appears as a train robber...

. With his fiery, irascible temper, short stature (in two early gags in Hare Trigger, a train he is attempting to rob passes right over top of him and he has to use a set of portable stairs to get on his horse; in Bugs Bunny Rides Again
Bugs Bunny Rides Again
Bugs Bunny Rides Again is a 1947 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies short, released in 1948, directed by Friz Freleng, and written by Tedd Pierce and Michael Maltese. Voice characterizations are performed by Mel Blanc. The cartoon features Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam. This is a sequel, of sorts, to the...

, he rides a miniature horse), and fiery red hair, Sam was in some ways an alter-ego of Freleng. The animator often denied any intentional resemblance. However, in the Looney Tunes Golden Collection
Looney Tunes Golden Collection
The Looney Tunes Golden Collection was an annual series of six four-disc DVD box sets from Warner Bros.' home video unit Warner Home Video, each containing about 60 Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies animated shorts...

, surviving members of his production crew assert, and the late director's daughter acknowledges, that Sam definitely was inspired by Freleng. Other influences were the Red Skelton
Red Skelton
Richard Bernard "Red" Skelton was an American comedian who is best known as a top radio and television star from 1937 to 1971. Skelton's show business career began in his teens as a circus clown and went on to vaudeville, Broadway, films, radio, TV, night clubs and casinos, all while pursuing...

 character Sheriff Deadeye and the Tex Avery
Tex Avery
Frederick Bean "Fred/Tex" Avery was an American animator, cartoonist, voice actor and director, famous for producing animated cartoons during The Golden Age of Hollywood animation. He did his most significant work for the Warner Bros...

 cartoon "Dangerous Dan McFoo
Dangerous Dan McFoo
Dangerous Dan McFoo is a 1939 Merrie Melodies/Vitaphone animated short directed by Tex Avery, produced by Leon Schlesinger, written by Rich Hogan and based on a poem by Robert W. Service entitled The Shooting of Dan McGrew. Carl Stalling wrote and produced the musical score...

". When he does a "slow burn" and cries "Oooooh!" he borrows a bit from such comedic character actors as Jimmy Finlayson
Jimmy Finlayson
James Henderson "Jimmy" Finlayson was a Scottish actor who worked in both silent and sound comedies. Bald, with a fake moustache, Finlayson had many trademark comic mannerisms and is famous for his squinting, outraged, "double take and fade away" head reaction, and characteristic expression...

 (a frequent foil to Laurel and Hardy
Laurel and Hardy
Laurel and Hardy were one of the most popular and critically acclaimed comedy double acts of the early Classical Hollywood era of American cinema...

) and Frank Nelson (one of Mel Blanc's costars on The Jack Benny Program
The Jack Benny Program
The Jack Benny Program, starring Jack Benny, is a radio-TV comedy series that ran for more than three decades and is generally regarded as a high-water mark in 20th-century American comedy.-Cast:*Jack Benny - Himself...

). Freleng also cited the Terrible-Tempered Mr. Bang, a character in the Toonerville Trolley comic strip, as an influence. In his memoir Chuck Amuck: The Life and Times of an Animated Cartoonist, Chuck Jones says that a great-uncle who occasionally visited his family was a retired Texas Ranger who was short, had red hair, a large mustache, and a hair-trigger temper.

Other characters with Sam-like features appear in several Looney Tunes shorts. The Bugs Bunny entry Super-Rabbit
Super-Rabbit
Super-Rabbit is a Merrie Melodies cartoon starring Bugs Bunny who is parodying the popular character Superman. It was released to theaters on April 3, 1943.-Plot:...

(1943) features the cowboy character "Cottontail Smith", who sounds a lot like Sam. Stage Door Cartoon
Stage Door Cartoon
Stage Door Cartoon is a 1944 Warner Bros. cartoon in the Merrie Melodies series, directed by Friz Freleng and featuring Bugs Bunny, Elmer Fudd, and a predecessor to Yosemite Sam...

(1944), another Bugs Bunny offering, features a southern sheriff character that sounds very much like Sam, except for a more defined southern stereotype to his voice. In a Daffy Duck
Daffy Duck
Daffy Duck is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons, often running the gamut between being the best friend and sometimes arch-rival of Bugs Bunny...

 cartoon called Along Came Daffy
Along Came Daffy
Along Came Daffy is a 1947 Warner Bros. cartoon in the Looney Tunes series, featuring Daffy Duck and two characters resembling Yosemite Sam. It was directed by Friz Freleng and written by Michael Maltese and Tedd Pierce. All voices are performed by Mel Blanc. Along Came Daffy is one of only two...

(1947), Daffy has to contend with two Yosemite Sams, one with Sam's red hair and one with black hair. Finally, Pancho's Hideaway (1964) features a Mexican villain who is designed much like Sam but has a different accent. In addition, in the 1949, Chuck Jones
Chuck Jones
Charles Martin "Chuck" Jones was an American animator, cartoon artist, screenwriter, producer, and director of animated films, most memorably of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts for the Warner Bros. Cartoons studio...

-directed cartoon Mississippi Hare
Mississippi Hare
Mississippi Hare is a Looney Tunes cartoon short produced in 1947 by Chuck Jones and written by Michael Maltese, released in 1949.-Plot:In the story, Bugs Bunny, asleep in a cotton field, is picked up by his cottony tail and bundled into a shipment put on a riverboat going down the Mississippi River...

, Bugs Bunny battles with an old, pistol-toting gambler called Colonel Shuffle, one whose role could have easily been portrayed by Sam. (The Colonel reappears in "Dog Gone South", this time pitted against Charlie Dog, and accompanied by a bulldog named Belvedere, who resembles Hector the Bulldog).

Freleng created Yosemite Sam to be a more worthy adversary for Bugs Bunny. Until then, Bugs' major foe had been Elmer Fudd
Elmer Fudd
Elmer J. Fudd/Egghead is a fictional cartoon character and one of the most famous Looney Tunes characters, and the de facto archenemy of Bugs Bunny. He has one of the more disputed origins in the Warner Bros. cartoon pantheon . His aim is to hunt Bugs, but he usually ends up seriously injuring...

, a man so mild-mannered and dim-witted that Freleng thought Bugs actually came off as a bully by duping him. Sam, on the other hand, was extremely violent and belligerent, not at all a pushover like Fudd. Freleng compacted into a tiny body and 11-gallon hat the largest voice and the largest ego "north, south, east, aaaaand west of the Pecos
Pecos River
The headwaters of the Pecos River are located north of Pecos, New Mexico, United States, at an elevation of over 12,000 feet on the western slope of the Sangre de Cristo mountain range in Mora County. The river flows for through the eastern portion of that state and neighboring Texas before it...

".

For over 19 years, except for one cartoon (Hare-Abian Nights
Hare-Abian Nights
Hare-Abian Nights is a 1959 Merrie Melodies cartoon starring Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam. The cartoon, directed by Ken Harris of Chuck Jones' unit at Warner Bros. Cartoons, was animated by Harris and Ben Washam and recycles footage from Bully for Bugs, Water, Water Every Hare, and Sahara Hare...

in 1959) Freleng's unit had exclusive usage of Sam at the Warner studio. Though officially a cowboy
Bugs Bunny Rides Again
Bugs Bunny Rides Again is a 1947 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies short, released in 1948, directed by Friz Freleng, and written by Tedd Pierce and Michael Maltese. Voice characterizations are performed by Mel Blanc. The cartoon features Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam. This is a sequel, of sorts, to the...

, Freleng put Sam in a different costume in almost every film: a knight
Knighty Knight Bugs
Knighty Knight Bugs is a 1958 Looney Tunes cartoon directed by Friz Freleng, produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons and released by Warner Bros....

, a Roman legionary
Legionary
The Roman legionary was a professional soldier of the Roman army after the Marian reforms of 107 BC. Legionaries had to be Roman citizens under the age of 45. They enlisted in a legion for twenty-five years of service, a change from the early practice of enlisting only for a campaign...

, a pirate
Captain Hareblower
Captain Hareblower is a 1953 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies theatrical cartoon short released in 1954. It was directed by Friz Freleng and starred Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam, with both voices provided by Mel Blanc.-Plot:...

, a royal cook
Shishkabugs
Shishkabugs is a Warner Bros. Looney Tunes animated short directed by Friz Freleng, and starring Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam. The title of the short is a play on shish kebab, a type of grilled meat....

, a prison
Big House Bunny
Big House Bunny is a 1948 Looney Tunes Bugs Bunny cartoon, released in 1950 and directed by Friz Freleng.-Plot:Needing to get away from hunters, Bugs digs a tunnel and accidentally winds up in Sing Song Prison...

 guard, a duke
From Hare to Heir
From Hare to Heir is a Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies theatrical cartoon short released on September 3, 1960 starring Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam as Sam, Duke of Yosemite at Bedlam Manor. The cartoon was directed and written by Friz Freleng.-Plot:...

 (Duke of Yosemite, no less), a Confederate
Southern Fried Rabbit
Southern Fried Rabbit is a Looney Tunes cartoon by Warner Bros. starring Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam. Directed by Friz Freleng and produced in 1952, the animated short was first released on May 2, 1953....

 soldier, a mountain climber
Piker's Peak
Piker’s Peak is a Warner Bros. Looney Tunes animated short directed by Friz Freleng. It was originally released on May 25, 1957. The title is a pun on Pike's Peak.-Plot summary:...

 (climbing the 'Shmadderhorn' mountain in Switzerland), a hen-pecked househusband and even a space alien
Lighter Than Hare
"Lighter Than Hare" is a Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies animated short written and directed by Friz Freleng. It was originally released on December 17, 1960...

. The humor of the cartoons inevitably springs from the odd miscasting of the hot-tempered cowboy. However, some countries seem to prefer his pirate incarnation, as "Sam the pirate" is his official name in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 and a frequent alternative name in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

.

While Sam's basic character is that of a cowboy, he wears a black mask (or actually, just a wide black outline on the outer sides of his eyes) to show that he's an outlaw. This is so associated with his persona that he wears the mask even when dressed as a duke, a riff, a pirate, or a Viking.
Sam is significantly tougher and more aggressive than Elmer Fudd when challenging Bugs Bunny. He is also quicker to learn from his mistakes, and never falls for the same ploy twice. But despite Sam's bluster, he doesn't prove much brighter than Elmer in his encounters with Bugs. His noise contrasts to the calmly cocky rabbit. Sam's own cockiness gets the best of him; Bugs can see he is incapable of turning down a challenge. Every time Bugs dares Sam to "step across that line", he can't help but do so, even if he steps off into empty space or down a mine shaft. In its a Wild and Woolly Hare
Wild and Woolly Hare
Wild and Woolly Hare is a 1959 animated short starring Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam. It features Bugs in a Western setting, again saving a town from Yosemite Sam.-Plot:...

 Sam and Bugs play "Chicken" in two locomotives going toward one another-Sam doesn't crash into Bugs but still ends up losing. In the classic Knighty Knight Bugs
Knighty Knight Bugs
Knighty Knight Bugs is a 1958 Looney Tunes cartoon directed by Friz Freleng, produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons and released by Warner Bros....

 Sam is a black knight with a fire breathing dragon who ends up going to the moon.

While unscrupulous and ornery himself, Sam consistently displays an odd respect for religious conventions. Whenever he is preparing to shoot Bugs, he tells the "varmint," "Now say your prayers!", allowing Bugs enough time to foil his intentions.

Another source of humor is the ludicrous lengths Sam will go to just to "get even" -- often with disastrous results to himself and his surroundings.

A running gag in Yosemite Sam cartoons is that Sam's animals (camel, elephant, dragon) or airplanes never stop when he wants them to; Sam then loses his temper and bonks the offending animal/machine. A short intermission clip from the Bugs Bunny Roadrunner show has Bugs about to sing on his banjo-which wakes up Sam who is trying to sleep; Sam loses his temper and smashes the banjo-but not Bugs.

Other appearances

Yosemite Sam made appearances in several television specials in the 1970s and 1980s, and in three of the Looney Tunes feature-film compilations
Product bundling
Product bundling is a marketing strategy that involves offering several products for sale as one combined product. This strategy is very common in the software business , in the cable television industry Product bundling is a marketing strategy that involves offering several products for sale as...

.

Sam was the star of his own comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...

 series from 1970 to 1984, for a total of 81 issues. Published by Gold Key / Whitman Comics
Gold Key Comics
Gold Key Comics was an imprint of Western Publishing created for comic books distributed to newsstands. Also known as Whitman Comics, Gold Key operated from 1962 to 1984.-History:...

, the official title of the series was Yosemite Sam and Bugs Bunny.

Yosemite Sam was one of the classic Looney Tunes characters who appeared as faculty members of Acme Looniversity in the 1990s animated series Tiny Toon Adventures
Tiny Toon Adventures
Steven Spielberg Presents Tiny Toon Adventures, usually referred to as Tiny Toon Adventures or simply Tiny Toons, is an American animated television series created by Tom Ruegger and produced by Amblin Entertainment and Warner Bros. Animation. It began production as a result of Warner Bros....

. Sam was shown teaching classes in Firearms and Anvilology (the study of falling anvils, a staple joke in the Looney Tunes genre), and was sometimes portrayed as the school principal (though at least one episode identified Bugs Bunny as the principal, and Wile E. Coyote was Dean of Acme Loo). As with all the main Looney Tunes characters, Sam had a student counterpart at Acme Loo, Montana Max
Montana Max
Montana "Monty" Master Max is a cartoon character from the Warner Bros. animated television series Tiny Toon Adventures. He is one of the main characters on the show. and also one of the main antagonists of the show. Monty is voiced by Danny Cooksey. Montana Max is a young, brown haired, male...

.

Yosemite Sam also appeared along with Bugs Bunny in a number of Mirinda
Mirinda
Mirinda is a brand of soft drink originally created in Spain, but with global distribution. The word Mirinda means "admirable, wonderful" in Esperanto....

 commercials in early 90s, most probably due to direct competition to Fanta
Fanta
Fanta is a global brand of fruit-flavored carbonated soft drinks from the Coca-Cola Company. There are over 90 flavors worldwide. The drink debuted in Germany in 1941 and originally sold only in Europe.-History:...

, being advertised with Disney Characters at that time.

Sam also appeared in The Warners 65th Anniversary Special and two episodes of 1995's The Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries
The Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries
The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries, produced by Warner Bros. Animation, is an animated television series which aired from 1995 to 2001 on Kids' WB and was later re-run on Cartoon Network...

.

In the 2003 movie Looney Tunes: Back in Action
Looney Tunes: Back in Action
Looney Tunes: Back in Action is a 2003 American live action/animated adventure comedy film directed by Joe Dante and starring Brendan Fraser, Jenna Elfman, Timothy Dalton, and Steve Martin. The film is essentially a feature-length Looney Tunes cartoon, with all the wackiness and surrealism typical...

, Yosemite Sam is a bounty hunter
Bounty hunter
A bounty hunter captures fugitives for a monetary reward . Other names, mainly used in the United States, include bail enforcement agent and fugitive recovery agent.-Laws in the U.S.:...

 employed by the Acme Corporation
Acme Corporation
The Acme Corporation is a fictional corporation that features prominently in the Road Runner/Wile E. Coyote cartoons as a running gag featuring outlandish products that fail catastrophically at the worst possible times...

 who was hired to finish off DJ Drake and Daffy Duck
Daffy Duck
Daffy Duck is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons, often running the gamut between being the best friend and sometimes arch-rival of Bugs Bunny...

. In this film, he owns a casino in Las Vegas
Las Vegas metropolitan area
The Las Vegas Valley is the heart of the Las Vegas-Paradise, NV MSA also known as the Las Vegas–Paradise–Henderson MSA which includes all of Clark County, Nevada, and is a metropolitan area in the southern part of the U.S. state of Nevada. The Valley is defined by the Las Vegas Valley landform, a ...

, which he calls Yosemite Sam's Wooden Nickel, and is accompanied by Nasty Canasta
Nasty Canasta
Nasty Canasta is a character in the Merrie Melodies and Looney Tunes series who made appearances in three cartoons. Created by animator Chuck Jones, Canasta is depicted as a tough, hulking, and brutish-looking outlaw. He was originally voiced by John T...

 and Cottontail Smith (who may be originally employed as his security guards) (from Super Rabbit
Super Rabbit
Super Rabbit is a fictional, funny-animal superhero in comic books published by Timely Comics, a predecessor of Marvel Comics, during the 1930s and '40s period fans and historians call the Golden Age of comic books. Created by cartoonist Ernie Hart, he first appeared in Comedy Comics #14 Super...

). He goes as far as betting a large sack of money to get the card, stealing a sports car from a profesional racer, and even using a stick of Dynamite to beat DJ and Daffy. Though putting up a good chase, in the end, his car crashes into the wall of his own casino while the spy car flies above it. He get launched in a pitch black room full of Dynamite, and he lights all of them when he tries to look around with a match. He is last seen in the Acme building trying to cover his failure on DJ, Dusty Tails, and Daffy, though his boss couldn't even understand what he's saying.

Sam makes a cameo appearance in Disney
Walt Disney Pictures
Walt Disney Pictures is an American film studio owned by The Walt Disney Company. Walt Disney Pictures and Television, a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Studios and the main production company for live-action feature films within the Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group, based at the Walt Disney...

/Amblin
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...

's Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Who Framed Roger Rabbit is a 1988 American fantasy-comedy-noir film directed by Robert Zemeckis and released by Touchstone Pictures. The film combines live action and animation, and is based on Gary K. Wolf's novel Who Censored Roger Rabbit?, which depicts a world in which cartoon characters...

, complete with his "britches
Buttocks
The buttocks are two rounded portions of the anatomy, located on the posterior of the pelvic region of apes and humans, and many other bipeds or quadrupeds, and comprise a layer of fat superimposed on the gluteus maximus and gluteus medius muscles. Physiologically, the buttocks enable weight to...

" on fire
Fire
Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material in the chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction products. Slower oxidative processes like rusting or digestion are not included by this definition....

. He also appears in the movie Space Jam
Space Jam
Aside from Jordan, a number of NBA players and coaches appeared in the film. Larry Bird portrays a friend of Jordan who joins him for a game of golf. When the Monstars steal the NBA players' talent, they invade a game between the Phoenix Suns and the New York Knicks, causing the Knicks' Patrick...

as a player for the TOON SQUAD. In a memorable scene, he and Elmer Fudd shoot off the teeth of one of the Monstars while clad in Pulp Fiction
Pulp Fiction (film)
Pulp Fiction is a 1994 American crime film directed by Quentin Tarantino, who co-wrote its screenplay with Roger Avary. The film is known for its rich, eclectic dialogue, ironic mix of humor and violence, nonlinear storyline, and host of cinematic allusions and pop culture references...

 or Men in Black
Men in Black
Men in Black , in American popular culture and in UFO conspiracy theories, are men dressed in black suits who claim to be government agents who harass or threaten UFO witnesses to keep them quiet about what they have seen. It is sometimes implied that they may be aliens themselves...

-esque attire. In an earlier scene, when the Nerdlucks hold all the toons hostage, Sam sneaks up on the Nerdlucks, pointing his pistols at them, and orders them to release all the toons, only to have the Nerdlucks fire a laser pistol back at him, which leaves Sam naked and beardless as the phasers burned off his mustache.

A younger version of Sam had appeared in Baby Looney Tunes
Baby Looney Tunes
Baby Looney Tunes is a Canadian-American animated television series that shows Looney Tunes characters as toddlers. It was produced by Warner Bros. Animation....

, in songs. In one episode, Bugs dresses up as Baby Sam for Halloween.

Sam also plays the role of alien occasional guest villain K'chutha Sa'am (a parody of the Klingon
Klingon
Klingons are a fictional warrior race in the Star Trek universe.Klingons are recurring villains in the 1960s television show Star Trek: The Original Series, and have appeared in all five spin-off series and eight feature films...

s, and right in line with Sam's aggressive personality) on the Duck Dodgers
Duck Dodgers (TV series)
Duck Dodgers is an American animated television series, based on the classic cartoon short Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century, produced by Warner Bros. Animation from 2003 to 2005. The series aired on Cartoon Network and starred Daffy Duck as the titular character...

animated series. He also appears in the video games Loons: The Fight for Fame
Loons: The Fight for Fame
Loons: The Fight for Fame is a cell-shaded beat'-em-up game for the Xbox based upon the classic Looney Tunes series.- Story :Rocky and Mugsy, a pair of gangster antagonists from the Looney Tunes cartoon series, try to ruin a film studio through making extremely expensive movies so that they can buy...

, Taz: Wanted
Taz: Wanted
Taz: Wanted is an action-adventure video game released in 2002 by Blitz Games. The game is based on the Looney Tunes' character, Tasmanian Devil.-Plot:...

, Bugs Bunny Crazy Castle, Bugs Bunny: Rabbit Rampage, Bugs Bunny: Lost in Time
Bugs Bunny: Lost in Time
Bugs Bunny: Lost in Time is a Looney Tunes video game for Microsoft Windows and PlayStation, released in 1999. Aditionally, a sequel, Bugs Bunny and Taz: Time Busters was made for the same consoles.-Plot:...

, Bugs Bunny and Taz: Time Busters
Bugs Bunny and Taz: Time Busters
Bugs Bunny & Taz: Time Busters is the second Looney Tunes video game for the Sony PlayStation and Microsoft Windows and is an indirect sequel to Bugs Bunny: Lost in Time.-Story:...

, Sheep, Dog, 'n' Wolf
Sheep, Dog, 'n' Wolf
Sheep, Dog, 'n' Wolf is a puzzle-platform style game/stealth style game for PlayStation and Microsoft Windows, developed by Infogrames in France. Unlike a standard platformer, the game incorporates stealth and strategy.The game is based on the popular Warner Bros. series of cartoons Sam Sheepdog...

, Looney Tunes B-Ball
Looney Tunes B-Ball
Looney Tunes B-Ball is a video game released for the SNES in 1995. It was developed by the now-defunct Sculptured Software.-Gameplay:Looney Tunes B-Ball is an arcade-style basketball game starring the Looney Tunes. It is similar to other arcade-style basketball games of the 16-bit era, such as NBA...

, Daffy Duck in Hollywood and Loony Tunes: Back In Action the video game.

In Looney Tunes: Acme Arsenal
Looney Tunes: Acme Arsenal
Looney Tunes: Acme Arsenal is a third-person, action-adventure game developed for the Wii, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 2.-Story:The Evil Dr. Frankenbeans has built robots of extraordinary power. Dr...

, Yosemite Sam makes an appearance riding a railway cart on the Wild West level.

Yosemite Sam appears in multiples episodes of The Looney Tunes Show
The Looney Tunes Show
The Looney Tunes Show is a packaged show, created for Cartoon Network, and broadcast from 2002 to 2005. It was produced by Warner Bros. Animation. The show featured cartoon shorts from the original Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies theatrical cartoon series produced from 1930 to 1969.-External links:...

, voiced by Maurice LaMarche
Maurice LaMarche
Maurice LaMarche is an Emmy Award winning Canadian-American voice actor and former stand up comedian. He is best known for his voicework in Futurama as Kif Kroker, as Egon Spengler in The Real Ghostbusters, Verminous Skumm and Duke Nukem in Captain Planet and the Planeteers, Big Bob Pataki in Hey...

. He first appeared in the show in a Merrie Melodies segment called "Blow My Stack".

Voice

The role of Yosemite Sam was originated by the Warners' principal voiceman, Mel Blanc
Mel Blanc
Melvin Jerome "Mel" Blanc was an American voice actor and comedian. Although he began his nearly six-decade-long career performing in radio commercials, Blanc is best remembered for his work with Warner Bros...

. In his autobiography, Blanc said he had a difficult time coming up with the voice. He tried giving Sam a small voice, but didn't feel that it worked. One day, he decided to simply yell at the top of his voice, which was inspired by a fit of road rage
Road rage
Road rage is an aggressive or angry behavior by a driver of an automobile or other motor vehicle. Such behavior might include rude gestures, verbal insults, deliberately driving in an unsafe or threatening manner, or making threats. Road rage can lead to altercations, assaults, and collisions...

 he had that day. It fit perfectly with the blustery character, but also took a toll on Mel. He always made it a point to record Sam's lines at the end of a recording session so he wouldn't have to play other characters with a hoarse voice. In his final years, it was simply too much, and he passed along the role of Sam (and of Foghorn Leghorn, whose voice is similar) to others (most notably Joe Alaskey
Joe Alaskey
Joseph "Joe" Alaskey is an American actor, comedian, and voice artist, credited as one of the successors of Mel Blanc in impersonating the voices of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and other characters from Warner Bros. cartoons. He was born in Watervliet, New York.-Other work:Alaskey has also done voices...

 in Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Who Framed Roger Rabbit is a 1988 American fantasy-comedy-noir film directed by Robert Zemeckis and released by Touchstone Pictures. The film combines live action and animation, and is based on Gary K. Wolf's novel Who Censored Roger Rabbit?, which depicts a world in which cartoon characters...

while Blanc did most of the other Looney Tunes roles in that movie). This makes Sam (and Leghorn) one of the few voices created by Blanc to be voiced by someone else during his lifetime. Blanc used a voice similar to Yosemite Sam's for Mr. Spacely on The Jetsons
The Jetsons
The Jetsons is a animated American sitcom that was produced by Hanna-Barbera, originally airing in prime-time from 1962–1963 and again from 1985–1987...

.

In recent years, Sam has been voiced by Jeff Bergman, Frank Gorshin
Frank Gorshin
Frank John Gorshin, Jr. was an American actor and comedian. He was perhaps best known as an impressionist, with many guest appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show and The Tonight Show...

, Jim Cummings, Maurice LaMarche and Jeff Bennett. His current portrayers
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...

 are Jeff Bennett and Maurice LaMarche.

In popular culture

  • Yosemite Sam appears in the Drawn Together
    Drawn Together
    Drawn Together is an American animated television series, which ran on Comedy Central from October 27, 2004 to November 14, 2007. The series was created by Dave Jeser and Matt Silverstein, and uses a sitcom format with a TV reality show setting...

    episode "Charlotte's Web of Lies". He is seen in Ling-Ling's Anger Management group with Hulk
    Hulk (comics)
    The Hulk is a fictional character, a superhero in the . Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in The Incredible Hulk #1 ....

    , Marvin the Martian
    Marvin the Martian
    Marvin the Martian is a fictional character appearing in the Looney Tunes cartoons. Marvin's likeness appears in miniature on the Spirit rover on Mars.-Conception and creation:...

    , and Skeletor
    Skeletor
    Skeletor is a featured villain in the Masters of the Universe franchise and the arch-enemy and main antagonist of He-Man. Depicted as a muscular blue humanoid with a purple hood over his yellowing bare-bone skull, Skeletor seeks to conquer Castle Grayskull so he can learn its ancient secrets,...

    .
  • In an episode of How I Met Your Mother
    How I Met Your Mother
    How I Met Your Mother is an American sitcom that premiered on CBS on September 19, 2005, created by Craig Thomas and Carter Bays.As a framing device, the main character, Ted Mosby with narration by Bob Saget, in the year 2030 recounts to his son and daughter the events that led to his meeting...

    to make fun of the news anchor Sandy, Ted and Marshall make him "Yosemite Sandy" by putting a hat and mustache on the TV screen during the news.
  • On an episode of Night Court
    Night Court
    Night Court is an American television situation comedy that aired on NBC from January 4, 1984, to May 20, 1992. The setting was the night shift of a Manhattan court, presided over by the young, unorthodox Judge Harold T. "Harry" Stone...

    , Dan (John Larroquette
    John Larroquette
    John Edgar Bernard Larroquette, Jr. is an American film, television and Broadway actor. His roles include Dan Fielding on the series Night Court, Mike McBride in the Hallmark Channel series McBride, John Hemingway on The John Larroquette Show, and Carl Sack in Boston Legal.-Personal...

    ) is forced into impersonating Yosemite Sam by a mentally disturbed woman he's dating.
  • On an episode of Two and a Half Men
    Two and a Half Men
    Two and a Half Men is an American television sitcom that premiered on CBS on September 22, 2003. Starring Charlie Sheen, Jon Cryer, and Angus T. Jones, the show was originally about a hedonistic jingle writer, Charlie Harper; his uptight brother, Alan; and Alan's growing son, Jake...

    , Charlie remembers his mother having sex with a man that resembled Yosemite Sam, since then, when he sees Yosemite Sam on TV, he gets nauseated. At the end of the episode, we see Jake watching Yosemite Sam on TV, much to Charlie's dismay.
  • He was one of Joey Gladstone's favorite impressions in the show Full House
    Full House
    Full House is an American sitcom television series. Set in San Francisco, the show chronicles widowed father Danny Tanner, who, after the death of his wife, enlists his best friend Joey Gladstone and his brother-in-law Jesse Katsopolis to help raise his three daughters, D.J., Stephanie, and...

    .
  • In the Family Guy
    Family Guy
    Family Guy is an American animated television series created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series centers on the Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter and Lois; their children Meg, Chris, and Stewie; and their anthropomorphic pet dog Brian...

    episode titled "Tales of a Third Grade Nothing
    Tales of a Third Grade Nothing
    "Tales of a Third Grade Nothing" is the sixth episode of the seventh season of Family Guy that aired on November 16, 2008 and ended the first half of the season. The episode's title is an allusion to the Judy Blume children's book Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, whose narrator-protagonist is...

    ", Yosemite Sam (voiced by John Kassir
    John Kassir
    John Kassir is an American actor, voice artist, and comedian who is best known as the voice of the Crypt Keeper in HBO's, Tales from the Crypt franchise...

    ) is seen complaining about his "penis-compressingest, sperm-killingest, testicle-grippingest" jeans.
  • In SuperNews!
    SuperNews!
    SuperNews! was a half-hour, satirical animated television series which aired on Current TV. It was created by Josh Faure-Brac who also wrote for the show and performed the majority of male voices. The show is primarily based on popular culture satire and political humor...

    , Yosamite Sam is an employee of the Blackwater
    Blackwater Worldwide
    Xe Services LLC, better known by its former names, Blackwater USA and Blackwater Worldwide, is a private military company founded in 1997 by Erik Prince and Al Clark.. Xe is currently the largest of the U.S. State Department's three private security contractors...

     mercenary company and work as a drill sergeant to John Rambo
    John Rambo
    John Rambo is an iconic fictional character and the basis of the Rambo saga. He first appeared in the 1972 novel First Blood by David Morrell, but later became more famous in the film series, played by Sylvester Stallone...

    , another employee of Blackwater company.
  • Yosemite Sam may likely have been the inspiration for the Sesame Street
    Sesame Street
    Sesame Street has undergone significant changes in its history. According to writer Michael Davis, by the mid-1970s the show had become "an American institution". The cast and crew expanded during this time, including the hiring of women in the crew and additional minorities in the cast. The...

    Muppet character, "Sinister Sam".
  • Yosemite Sam is mentioned by name in the following songs:
    • "Lady Cab Driver", performed by Prince
      Prince (musician)
      Prince Rogers Nelson , often known simply as Prince, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Prince has produced ten platinum albums and thirty Top 40 singles during his career. Prince founded his own recording studio and label; writing, self-producing and playing most, or all, of...

       on his 1982 album, 1999
      1999 (album)
      1999 is the fifth studio album by Prince, released on October 27, 1982. It was his first top ten album on the Billboard 200 chart in the United States and became the fifth best-selling album of 1983. 1999 was Prince's breakthrough album, but his next album Purple Rain would become his most...

      .
    • "The Coalition To Ban Coalitions" by Hank Williams Jr.
    • "Egg Man
      Egg Man
      Egg Man is the 4th track on Paul's Boutique by American hip hop group the Beastie Boys, released on July 25, 1989.* Produced & written by the Beastie Boys & the Dust Brothers.* Engineered by Mario Caldato & Allen Abrahamson.-Samples:*Aliens...

      " by The Beastie Boys on their album Paul's Boutique
      Paul's Boutique
      Paul's Boutique is the second studio album by American hip hop group Beastie Boys, released on July 25, 1989, on Capitol Records. Featuring production by the Dust Brothers, the recording sessions for the album took place in Matt Dike's Apartment and the Record Plant in Los Angeles from 1988 to...

      .
    • "Rooting For The Bad Guy" by The Wildhearts
      The Wildhearts
      The Wildhearts are a British rock group originally formed in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. The band's sound is a mixture of hard rock and melodic pop music, often described in the music press as combining influences as diverse as The Beatles and 1980s-era Metallica...

       on their 2007 self titled album.
    • "Dirt Off Your Shoulder Freestyle" by Cassidy.
    • "I Hear Voices" by Kasabian on their album Velociraptor!
      Velociraptor!
      Velociraptor! is the fourth album by the British indie rock group Kasabian, released on 16 September 2011.-History:"La Fée Verte" originally called "The Green Fairy" appeared on the soundtrack for London Boulevard, the 2010 film directed by William Monahan...

      .
  • Yosemite Sam appears on the logo of the KIJHL hockey team, the Castlegar Rebels
    Castlegar Rebels
    The Castlegar Rebels are a junior ice hockey team based in Castlegar, British Columbia, Canada. They are members of the Neil Murdoch Division of the Kootenay Conference of the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League...

    .
  • Yosemite Sam was the cartoon icon of the similarly-mustachioed Pittsburgh Pirates
    Pittsburgh Pirates
    The Pittsburgh Pirates are a Major League Baseball club based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They play in the Central Division of the National League, and are five-time World Series Champions...

     player Phil Garner
    Phil Garner
    Philip Mason Garner is a former infielder in Major League Baseball for the Oakland Athletics, Pittsburgh Pirates, Houston Astros, Los Angeles Dodgers, and San Francisco Giants from 1973 to 1988...

    in the late 1970s.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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