On November 25, 1940, Woody Woodpecker made his first appearance in an Andy Panda cartoon called “Knock Knock.” Although Andy Panda was the star at the time, Woody stole the show.
As a CBS Sunday Morning segment explained, Walter Lantz created the animated bird from inspiration from a woodpecker knocking on his roof. Woody first started appearing on broadcast television in 1957 as part of The Woody Woodpecker Show. And I suspect most of us who remember Woody Woodpecker from our childhood remember him from television.
I loved Woody Woodpecker when I was a kid. When we watched 8mm home movies, my dad had two non-family reels for the projector with one of the Three Stooges and one of Woody Woodpecker. Like home movies back then, they were silent, so we enjoyed the short films without Woody’s famous laugh, which was created by Mel Blanc and later voiced by Lantz’s wife Grace Stafford. I also had a toy where you looked in a viewfinder toward a light source and cranked a little roll of film so you could see part of an episode of a Woody Woodpecker short.
You do not seem to see Woody Woodpecker around so much today, perhaps because Lantz stopped making new cartoons in 1972 or perhaps the abrasive Woody does not teach life lessons as do modern children’s characters. Still, I like to think that Woody did not make me obnoxious, and he gave me a lot of fun.
Woody Woodpecker At the Movies
Regarding the big screen, Woody Woodpecker movies in development have had their ups and downs (even with a “modernized” version of the character). Update: In 2013, Illumination Entertainment signed animator Bill Kopp to work on a film about Woody Woodpecker, but eventually the film was put on hold and eventually cancelled.
Another Woody Woodpecker movie was released in 2017 originally in Brazil, apparently because many classic cartoons are now more popular in other countries besides the U.S. That film, which was originally filmed in English, was eventually released on DVD and streaming services in the U.S. It maintains a low rating on Rotten Tomatoes (13% Tomatometer and 35% Popcornmeter).
In 2024, Netflix released the live action/animated Woody Woodpecker Goes to Camp as a sequel to the 2017 film. It’s ratings on Rotten Tomatoes are slightly better than the 2017 film (20% Tomatometer and 59% Popcornmeter). Jon Rosenbaum, the director, has stated there might be a sequel.
Some have commented that the best thing about the latest film is that it includes a classic 1956 Woody Woodpecker cartoon at the end. So in that spirit, let’s check in with some of the real classic cartoons we can find on the Internet. Check out one below as you celebrate Woody’s birthday.
What is your favorite memory of Woody Woodpecker? Leave your two cents in the comments.
(Some related Chimesfreedom posts.)
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