Charlie Dog

From Looney City Citizens

Charlie Dog is an animated cartoon fictional character in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes series of cartoons.

Bob Clampett minted the scenario that Charlie Dog would later inherit in his cartoon short Porky's Pooch, first released on 27 December, 1941. A homeless hound pulls out all the stops to get adopted by bachelor Porky Pig. Mel Blanc would provide the dog's gruff, Brooklyn-Bugs Bunny-like voice and accent.

However, as he did for so many other Looney Tunes characters, Chuck Jones took Clampett's hound and transformed him into something new. Jones first used the dog in Little Orphan Airedale (4 October, 1947) which saw Clampett's "Rover" renamed "Charlie." The film was a success, and Jones would create two more Charlie Dog/Porky Pig cartoons in 1949: The Awful Orphan (29 January) and Often an Orphan (13 August). Jones also starred Charlie without Porky in a couple of shorts: Dog Gone South (26 August, 1950) which sees Yankee Charlie searching for a fine gentleman of the Southern United States, and A Hound for Trouble (28 April, 1951) which sends Charlie to Italy where he searches for a master who speaks English.

In these cartoons, Charlie Dog is defined by one desire: to find himself a master. To this end, Charlie is willing to pull out all the stops, from pulling "the big soulful eyes routine" to boasting of his pedigree ("Fifty percent Collie! Fifty percent Irish Setter! Fifty Percent Boxer! Fifty percent Doberman Pincher! But, mostly, I'm all Labrador Retriever!")—though in reality, he is just a slick-talking mutt who rarely realizes that his own aggressive obnoxiousness is sabotaging his appeal to any potential guardian.

Jones shelved the Charlie Dog series of films in the 1950s, along with other characters he had introduced, such as The Three Bears and Hubie and Bertie. He was turning his efforts to new characters, such as Pepe Le Pew and Wile E. Coyote and Roadrunner. However, recent Warner Bros. merchandising and series and films such as episodes of Tiny Toon Adventures, the movie Space Jam (1996) in the crowd seens, and Tweety's High-flying Adventure (2000) in Itlay have brought Charlie back out of retirement.

The Frisky Puppy character that Jones paired with Claude Cat in several '50s shorts bears a close physical resemblence to Charlie.