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Speedy Gonzales

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This article is about the cartoon character. For the film, see Speedy Gonzales (film). For other uses, see Speedy Gonzales (disambiguation).

Speedy Gonzales
Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies character
First appearanceCat-Tails for Two (August 29, 1953; 71 years ago (1953-08-29)) (preliminary version)
Speedy Gonzales (September 17, 1955; 69 years ago (1955-09-17)) (official version)
Created byRobert McKimson
Voiced byMel Blanc (1953–1989)
Noel Blanc (1990, 2012)
Jeff Bergman (1990, 2002)
Joe Alaskey (1991–2008)
Greg Burson (1994–1995, 1998)
Eric Goldberg (2003)
Billy West (2003)
Bob Bergen (2006–2008)
Fred Armisen (2011–2015)
Tim Dadabo (2011, 2014)
Eric Bauza (2014–present)
Dino Andrade (2018)
Gabriel Iglesias (2021)
Raul Ceballos (2023–present)
see below)
In-universe information
SpeciesMouse
GenderMale
FamilySlowpoke Rodriguez (cousin)
NationalityMexican

Speedy Gonzales is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons. He is portrayed as "The Fastest Mouse in all Mexico" with his major traits being the ability to run extremely fast, being quick-witted and heroic while speaking with an exaggerated Mexican accent.[1] He usually wears a yellow sombrero, white shirt and trousers (which was a common traditional outfit worn by men and boys of rural Mexican villages), and a red kerchief, similar to that of some traditional Mexican attires.[2] There have been 46 theatrical shorts made either starring or featuring the character.

History

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A still of an early version of Speedy Gonzales as appeared in Cat-Tails for Two (animated by Charles McKimson).

Speedy's first appearance was in 1953's Cat-Tails for Two though he appeared largely in name (and super speed) only.[3] It would be two years before Friz Freleng and layout artist Hawley Pratt redesigned the character into his modern incarnation for the 1955 Freleng short of the same name. The cartoon features Sylvester the Cat guarding a cheese factory at the international border between the United States and Mexico from starving Mexican mice. The mice call in the plucky, excessively energetic Speedy (voiced by Mel Blanc) to save them. Amid cries of "¡Ándale! ¡Ándale! ¡Arriba! ¡Arriba! ¡Epe! ¡Epe! ¡Epe! Yeehaw!" (Spanish for "Go on! Go on! Up! Up!", although "Ándale arriba" may have been intended as meaning "hurry up"), Sylvester soon gets his comeuppance. The cartoon won the 1955 Academy Award for Best Short Subject (Cartoons).

Speedy Gonzales in the 1955 short film of the same name

While Speedy's last name was given as Gonzalez in Cat-Tails (on a printed business card shown in the cartoon), it was spelled with an 's' from Speedy Gonzales onward. Today, the earlier spelling is sometimes used.

Freleng and McKimson soon set Sylvester up as Speedy's regular nemesis in a series of cartoons, much in the same way Chuck Jones had paired Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner in his Road Runner cartoons (and indeed, all four characters ended up competing with each other in the short "The Wild Chase"). Sylvester (often called "El Gringo Pussygato" by Speedy) is constantly outsmarted and outrun by the mouse, causing the cat to suffer all manner of pain and humiliation from mousetraps to accidentally consuming large amounts of Tabasco hot sauce. Other cartoons pair the mouse with his cousin, Slowpoke Rodriguez, the "slowest Mouse in all Mexico." Slowpoke regularly gets into all sorts of trouble that often require Speedy to save him—but one cat in Mexicali Shmoes says that as if to compensate for his slowness, "he pack a gun!"[4] In the mid 1960s, Speedy's main rival and second nemesis became Daffy Duck, whom Speedy usually referred to as "the loco duck."

Speedy has the reputation of being a hit with the female mice. In many cartoons, when the mice decide to get Speedy to help them, one of the mice mentions that "Speedy Gonzales is friend of my sister". Another mouse adds that, "Speedy Gonzales is friend of everybody's sister", which earns a big laugh from the other mice.

Notable cartoon appearances

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Controversy

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Feeling that the character presented an offensive Mexican stereotype, Cartoon Network shelved Speedy's films when it gained exclusive rights to broadcast them in 1999 (as a subsidiary of Time Warner, Cartoon Network is a corporate sibling to Warner Bros.). In an interview with Fox News on March 28, 2002, Cartoon Network spokeswoman Laurie Goldberg commented, "It hasn't been on the air for years because of its ethnic stereotypes."[6]

The Hispanic-American rights organization League of United Latin American Citizens called Speedy a cultural icon, and thousands of users registered their support of the character on the hispaniconline.com message boards. Fan campaigns to put Speedy back on the air resulted in the return of the animated shorts to Cartoon Network in 2002.[7]

Speedy Gonzales remained a popular character in Latin America. Many Hispanic people remembered him fondly as a quick-witted, heroic Mexican character who always got the best of his opponents, at a time when such positive depictions of Latin Americans were rare in popular entertainment.[8]

In 2006, Volkswagen licensed Speedy Gonzales for a series of Spanish-language commercials for the Volkswagen Golf, using footage from the cartoon of the same name.[9]

In a March 2021 essay, Los Angeles Times columnist Gustavo Arellano wrote, “I love Speedy so much, I keep a large painting of him in my home office. His kind smile and brown skin takes me back to my childhood — and reminds me of where we as Mexicans exist today.”[10]

Other appearances

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Main article: List of Speedy Gonzales cartoons

In 1983, he co-starred with Daffy Duck once again in Daffy Duck's Movie: Fantastic Island. He also made a cameo appearance in the finale sequence of the 1988 film Who Framed Roger Rabbit.[11] He had one appearance in the Tiny Toon Adventures episode segment "The Acme Acres Summer Olympics", as the coach, and serving as the mentor of Lightning Rodriguez. He had a minor role in the 1996 film Space Jam.[11] He made a cameo appearance alongside Porky Pig in the 2003 film Looney Tunes: Back in Action,[11] making fun of his politically incorrect status. At around the same time, he made a non-speaking cameo in an episode of ¡Mucha Lucha! titled "Lucha, Rinse and Repeat".

Volume 4 of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection DVD series, released on November 14, 2006, has an entire disc of Speedy shorts, although some of his other shorts had previously been released on Volumes 1 and 3. Speedy is mentioned in one Duck Dodgers episode, after Cadet sits on Dodgers, prompting him to say, "I knew I should've chosen Speedy Gonzales as a sidekick!"

Speedy Gonzales appears in Bah, Humduck! A Looney Tunes Christmas. He is an employee at the Lucky Duck Superstore for the greedy Daffy Duck where he confuses Daffy with the Feliz Navidad comment.

Speedy Gonzales also appeared occasionally on The Looney Tunes Show. He is seen living with Bugs and Daffy as their "mouse in the wall" and running the pizza parlor Pizzarriba. Speedy is shown to act as Daffy's conscience, which is a far cry from the antagonistic relationship they had in the old days. The episode "Sunday Night Slice" showed that Bugs bought his favorite restaurant, Girardi's, to prevent it from being closed and hired Speedy to help him. When Bugs decides he does not want to own a restaurant anymore, he hands ownership of it to Speedy. In "The Black Widow", Speedy Gonzales answers Daffy Duck's call and races to Tacapulco to convince his cousin Sheriff Slowpoke Rodriguez to let Daffy Duck and Porky Pig out of jail.

Speedy Gonzales appeared in the 2015 direct-to-video movie Looney Tunes: Rabbits Run. He is seen as Lola Bunny's landlord.

An elderly Speedy Gonzales (voiced by Carlos Alazraqui) was "interviewed" by Al Madrigal for Madrigal's one-hour comedic documentary special Half Like Me (currently available on YouTube and formerly on Hulu).[12]

Speedy Gonzales appeared occasionally in New Looney Tunes, often as the leader of a gang of mice that also includes Hubie and Bertie, Sniffles, and "Minnesota Rats" (originally Minniesoda Fats; an aborted 1970s character revived and fleshed out in this series). He seems to have reverted to his personality from Merrie Melodies.

Speedy Gonzales appeared in the Bugs Bunny Builders episode "Speedy", voiced by Raul Ceballos. In the show, he is a professional soccer player and hired the Looney Builders to fly to Mexico and build a soccer stadium for his soccer game with his four teammates.

Inspiration of the character's name

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Though Speedy Gonzales is purely a fictional character, the name was inspired by Frank Gonzales, an assistant animator who was working at Warner Bros. at the time. These facts were described by another Warner Bros. employee, Martha Goldman Sigall, who was present during the event.[13]

In other media

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In 1962, pop singer Pat Boone scored a top 10 hit in the United States with the song "Speedy Gonzales" which featured Mel Blanc samples as Speedy. It was covered by Manolo Muñoz and several other artists.

In 1965, the movie Wild on the Beach included the song "Little Speedy Gonzales" which was written by Stan Ross and Bobby Beverly and performed by The Astronauts.[14]

In 1995, he appeared in a video game, Speedy Gonzales: Los Gatos Bandidos, for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System.

In 2006, Volkswagen licensed Speedy Gonzales for a series of Spanish-language commercials for the Volkswagen Golf, using footage from the cartoon of the same name.[9]

Speedy Gonzales starred in several video games: Cheese Cat-Astrophe Starring Speedy Gonzales for the Mega Drive/Genesis, Master System, and Game Gear, Speedy Gonzales: Los Gatos Bandidos for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Speedy Gonzales for the Game Boy and Speedy Gonzales: Aztec Adventure for the Game Boy Color. He also appeared as an enemy in Looney Tunes: Back in Action, and Looney Tunes: Marvin Strikes Back! as both a miniboss and playable character. In the 2018 film Overboard, Eugenio Derbez has a tattoo of Gonzalez.

Film adaptation

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In 2010, Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema announced a new Speedy Gonzales live action/animated feature film. George Lopez was attached to voice the character.[15] In December 2015, it was reported that an animated film is in development at Warner Bros.[16] In April 2016, it was announced that Eugenio Derbez will voice the character.[17] In April 2024, during an interview, Eugenio Derbez said that he doubts that the movie will happen saying “I feel that the studios are afraid that, nowadays, it's so politically incorrect. I've been telling them constantly that we love Speedy Gonzales in Mexico” [18]

Voice actors

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. p. 137. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7. Retrieved June 6, 2020.
  2. ^ "Puebla: trajes típicos". Retrieved March 23, 2014.
  3. ^ Rovin, Jeff (1991). The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Cartoon Animals. Prentice Hall Press. p. 246. ISBN 0-13-275561-0. Retrieved April 8, 2020.
  4. ^ "Speedy Gonzales and Slowpoke Rodriguez in Mexicali Shmoes". YouTube. Archived from the original on October 19, 2013. Retrieved April 11, 2010.
  5. ^ "The 28th Academy Awards (1955) Nominees and Winners - Short Subject (Cartoon)". Oscars.org. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Retrieved June 9, 2014.
  6. ^ a b c d Park, Michael Y. (March 28, 2002). "Speedy Gonzales Caged by Cartoon Network". FoxNews.com. Archived from the original on January 16, 2012. Retrieved July 7, 2009.
  7. ^ Emling, Shelly (June 21, 2002). "A Speedy return: Cartoon Network putting Mexican mouse back in the lineup". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. p. 10B. Retrieved November 6, 2010.[permanent dead link‍]
  8. ^ Epstein, Adam (April 5, 2016). "Looney Tunes' most racially stereotypical character is about to get his own movie". Quartz. Retrieved December 30, 2020.
  9. ^ a b "Arriba! VW Turns to Speedy Gonzales To Push GTI". Indiacar.net. March 20, 2006. Archived from the original on September 3, 2020. Retrieved July 7, 2009.
  10. ^ Arellano, Gustavo (March 17, 2021). "Column: Why do so many Mexican Americans defend Speedy Gonzales?". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 18, 2021.
  11. ^ a b c Montilla, Patricia M. (October 10, 2013). Latinos and American Popular Culture. ABC-CLIO. p. 141. ISBN 978-0-313-39223-8.
  12. ^ "Half Like Me featuring Al Madrigal". YouTube. Retrieved April 5, 2016.
  13. ^ Bob Sigall (April 6, 2010). How Speedy Gonzales got his name. Retrieved October 21, 2024 – via YouTube.
  14. ^ "IMDB Wild on the Beach, soundtracks". IMDB. Retrieved December 14, 2015.
  15. ^ Fernandez, Jay A. (February 23, 2010). "New Line making Speedy Gonzales film; George Lopez to voice character". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on February 27, 2010.
  16. ^ Lyons, Josh (December 11, 2015). "(Exclusive) Warner Bros. running with "Speedy Gonzales" animated feature". The Tracking Board. Retrieved January 25, 2016.
  17. ^ Busch, Anita (April 4, 2016). "'Speedy Gonzales' Eyed As Animated Feature At Warner Bros". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved April 4, 2016.
  18. ^ Topel, Fred (April 12, 2024). "Eugenio Derbez: 'Speedy Gonzales' movie fell apart because 'studios are afraid'". UPI. Retrieved April 12, 2024.
  19. ^ "'Spin a Magic Tune' - Track 10 - 'Speedy Gonzales' - 1973 album". YouTube. Retrieved October 31, 2023.
  20. ^ "Spin a Magic Tune". Mike McNaught Music. Archived from the original on June 20, 2015. Retrieved October 31, 2023.
  21. ^ "Banana Boat Song with Bugs Bunny and Speedy Gonzales". YouTube. Archived from the original on December 11, 2021. Retrieved May 14, 2020.
  22. ^ "You Rang? Answering Machine Messages Bugs Bunny". YouTube. Retrieved July 7, 2022.
  23. ^ "MetLife Cartoon Super Bowl Commercial Old-School Cartoons Star In New Ad". YouTube. Archived from the original on December 11, 2021. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
  24. ^ ""Looney Tunes" Meals Tyson". YouTube. February 5, 2018. Retrieved October 11, 2024.
  25. ^ "Speedy Gonzales". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved September 11, 2020.
  26. ^ "Looney Tunes River Ride". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved April 16, 2020.
  27. ^ "Yosemite Sam's Gold River Adventure". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved April 16, 2020.
  28. ^ "Sunsoft". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved April 16, 2020.
  29. ^ "THE LOONEY TUNES KWAZY CHRISTMAS". VGMdb. Retrieved December 7, 2021.
  30. ^ a b @vas_90s (August 15, 2020). "Greg Burson - Bugs Bunny Game: Bugs Bunny Rabbit Rampage Platform: Super NES Year: 1993 Note: Burson was the go-to…" (Tweet). Retrieved December 6, 2020 – via Twitter.
  31. ^ "Quest for Camelot promotion with the Looney Tunes (1998)". YouTube. Archived from the original on December 11, 2021. Retrieved June 28, 2021.
  32. ^ "Canon". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved April 16, 2020.
  33. ^ "That Wascally Wabbit". Archived from the original on March 17, 2012. Retrieved July 28, 2020.
  34. ^ "The Day I Met Bugs Bunny". Ian Heydon. Retrieved October 9, 2020.
  35. ^ "Keith Scott: Down Under's Voice Over Marvel". Animation World Network. Retrieved July 28, 2020.
  36. ^ "Keith Scott-"The One-Man Crowd"" Archived September 16, 2020, at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved July 28, 2020.
  37. ^ "Robot Chicken". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved April 16, 2020.
  38. ^ Monger, James. "A Looney Tunes Sing-A-Long Christmas". AllMusic. Retrieved November 26, 2021.
  39. ^ "Volkswagen". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved September 11, 2020.
  40. ^ "V/O CV". Kerry Shale. Retrieved March 11, 2020.
  41. ^ "Virgin Media".
  42. ^ "Kristen Wiig on Looney Tunes". The Mary Sue. July 13, 2011. Retrieved March 8, 2021.
  43. ^ "Tim Dabado Animation". YouTube. Retrieved October 20, 2023.
  44. ^ @fluffyguy (March 7, 2021). "I am the voice of Speedy Gonzales in the new Space Jam. Does this mean they are gonna try to cancel Fluffy too? U c…" (Tweet) – via Twitter.

Further reading

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Media related to Speedy Gonzales at Wikimedia Commons

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