Gossamer (also called Rudolph) is a character in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons.
Physical Description
The character is often seen a hairy, red monster, although in The Looney Tunes Show, he was more of an orange tone in color. His rectangular body is perched on two giant tennis shoes, and his face is composed of only two oval-shaped eyes and a wide mouth, with two hulking arms ending in dirty, clawed fingers. The monster's main trait, however, is his orange hair. In fact, a gag in the 1980 short "Duck Dodgers and the Return of the 24½th Century" lampoons this by revealing that Gossamer is, in fact, composed entirely of hair.
Appearances
The director Chuck Jones introduced the monster character in the 1946 short "Hair-Raising Hare". In it, Bugs Bunny is lured to the lair of Dr. Lorre who wants to use the rabbit for his experiments. The monster serves as the scientist's henchman, trying desperately to capture Bugs. This plot was then repeated in the 1952 Jones short "Water, Water Every Hare" (here called "Rudolph").
The monster would remain dormant for many decades until Jones used the character once more in "Duck Dodgers and the Return of the 24½th Century" in 1980. This is the first cartoon where the character is called "Gossamer." Gossamer is unusual in the sense that unlike most Looney Tunes characters who were unnamed during their debut and later given their names during the classic shorts era, Gossamer was given his name years after the classic shorts era.
He was in a 1990 episode of Tiny Toon Adventures ("Duck Treck"), and he appears briefly in the 1996 movie Space Jam. He is also featured in a number of episodes of The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries.
In recent years, Warner Bros. marketers seem to have seized upon the character. Gossamer's image is available on all sorts of Warners merchandise, from T-shirts to ballcaps to plush toys. This sort of marketing helped propel the Tasmanian Devil to newfound stardom, and it is seemingly helping Gossamer's popularity to some extent. It remains unclear whether Gossamer will become one of the more popular Looney Tunes characters.
A clip in the deleted scenes featurette on the Looney Tunes: Back in Action DVD features Gossamer being harassed by Kate Houghton, suggesting that Gossamer was planned to make an appearance in the film, but it was deleted. However, a full look at this scene is not shown in the full deleted scenes clips on the DVD-ROM.
He starred in the 52-episode series The Looney Tunes Show, voiced by Kwesi Boakye. He is portrayed as the young son of Witch Lezah.
Filmography
Hair-Raising Hare (debut) (1946)- Water, Water Every Hare (1952)
- Duck Dodgers and the Return of the 24½th Century (1980)
- Tiny Toon Adventures (1990-1995)
- S01E19.Cinemaniacs!
- S03E82.What Makes Toons Tick(cameo)
- Tiny Toons' Night Ghoulery (1995)
- The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries (1995)
- Space Jam (1996) (cameo)
- Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003) (appears in deleted scene)
- Bah, Humduck! A Looney Tunes Christmas (2006)
- The Looney Tunes Show (2011-2014)
- S1E05 Monster Talent
- S1E14 Newspaper Thief
- S1E17 Sunday Night Slice (cameo)
- S1E25 Muh-Muh-Muh-Murder (cameo)
- S2E01 Bobcats on Three
- S2E02 You've Got Hate Mail (cameo)
- S2E03 Itsy Bitsy Gopher
- S2E08 The Stud, The Nerd, The Average Joe, & The Saint
- S2E09 It's a Handbag (cameo in photo)
- S2E10 A Christmas Carol
- S2E11 We're in Big Truffle
- S2E13 Daffy Duck, Esquire (only mentioned)
- S2E15 The Black Widow
- S2E17 Gribbler's Quest (cameo and Merrie Melodies)
- S2E22 Gossamer is Awesomer
Notes
- Despite being named Rudolph in "Water, Water Every Hare", he was widely known as The Tennis-Shoe Monster until being renamed Gossamer in 1980.
Gallery
