Woody Woodpecker is a cartoon anthropomorphic woodpecker that has appeared in theatrical short films produced by the Walter Lantz Studio and distributed by Universal Studios between 1940 and 1972.
He was created in 1940 by Lantz and storyboard artist Ben "Bugs" Hardaway, who had previously laid the groundwork for two other screwball characters, Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, at the Warner Bros. cartoon studio in the late 1930s. Woody's character and design evolved over the years, from an insane bird with an unusually garish design to a more refined looking and acting character in the vein of the later Chuck Jones version of Bugs Bunny. Woody was originally voiced by prolific voice actor Mel Blanc, who was succeeded in the shorts by Danny Webb, Kent Rogers, Ben Hardaway, and, finally, Grace Stafford (wife of Walter Lantz).
Woody has a motion picture star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7000 Hollywood Boulevard. He also made a cameo appearance alongside many other famous cartoon characters in the 1988 film Who Framed Roger Rabbit.
Like Mickey Mouse of The Walt Disney Company and Bugs Bunny of Warner Bros., Woody Woodpecker is the official mascot of Universal Studios. Woody and his friends are also icons at the Universal Studios Theme Parks worldwide, as well as the PortAventura Park in the PortAventura World, Salou, Spain (they were originally brought to the park by Universal Studios, and remain there today despite Universal no longer having a financial stake in the park).
An American Tail is a 1986 animated musical adventure comedy-drama film directed by Don Bluth, written by Judy Freudberg and Tony Geiss, and produced by Sullivan Bluth Inc. and Amblin Entertainment. The film features the voices of Phillip Glasser, John Finnegan, Amy Green, Nehemiah Persoff, Dom DeLuise, and Christopher Plummer. It tells the story of Fievel Mousekewitz and his family as they emigrate from Shostka to the United States for freedom. However, he gets lost and must find a way to reunite with them.
An American Tail was released by Universal Pictures on November 21, 1986, to mixed reviews and was a box office hit, making it the highest-grossing non-Disney animated film at the time. Its success, along with that of fellow Bluth film The Land Before Time and Disney's Who Framed Roger Rabbit (both 1988), and Bluth's departure from their partnership, prompted executive producer Steven Spielberg to establish his own animation studio, Amblimation, in London, England. The film spawned a franchise that included a sequel entitled An American Tail: Fievel Goes West (1991), a CBS TV series entitled Fievel's American Tails, and two additional direct-to-video sequels.
Fievel's Playland is a playground-like section at Universal Studios Theme Park in Orlando, Florida within the Woody Woodpecker KidZone dedicated to An American Tail (mostly Fievel Goes West), aimed mostly at little kids, and has visitors pretend to be the size of mice. There was once one in Universal Studios Hollywood as well, but it was replaced in 1997. It opened at the same time as the An American Tail Live Show, but has outlasted it by a long shot, as one of the oldest attractions in the park to still be around. It was rumored, then later confirmed that Fievel's Playland, along with the entire Woody Woodpecker KidZone area will be replaced by a Nintendo-themed attraction.
The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends is the title of an American animated television series that originally aired from November 19, 1959, to June 27, 1964, on the ABC and NBC television networks.
Produced by Jay Ward Productions, the series is structured as a variety show, with the main feature being the serialized adventures of the two title characters, the anthropomorphic flying squirrel Rocket J. ("Rocky") Squirrel and moose Bullwinkle J. Moose. The main antagonists in most of their adventures are the two Russian-like spies Boris Badenov and Natasha Fatale, both working for the Nazi-like dictator Fearless Leader. Supporting segments include "Dudley Do-Right" (a parody of old-time melodrama), "Peabody's Improbable History" (a dog named Mr. Peabody and his boy Sherman traveling through time), and "Fractured Fairy Tales" (classic fairy tales retold in comic fashion), among others.
Fievel's Playland
Amusement Park
Stage Right Theatre
Excerpt from A Universe of Cinemagic Universal Studios Hollywood Souvenir Video (1992), starring John Forsythe.
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