Snagglepuss Lion


 * This article is about the character. For other uses, see Snagglepuss.

Snagglepuss Lion is an anthropomorphic pink mountain lion and the title character in the Snagglepuss animated television shorts. His voice was originated by Daws Butler.

Obsessed with the fine arts, Snagglepuss is a self-proclaimed man (or lion) of sophistication. Although he is both a highly passionate poet and actor, being mistaken for a wild animal meant that he spends most of his time being chased by hunters or escaping capture.

Character description
"Oh, would that I were free! Unfettered and uncaged… To think that I, king of the jungle, should be so lowly treated. Besides, the food is ab-dominable. But hark! Or is it "herc"? The cage door is open! Ajar, even!"

- Snagglepuss

In terms of appearance, Snagglepuss is a pink mountain lion with a tall body and an acorn-shaped head. His attire consists of a white shirt collar, a black string tie, and white shirt cuffs on his wrists.

Snagglepuss is incredibly hospitable and goes out of his way to show anything that suits his sophisticated tastes, namely poetry and the theatre. He speaks like a Shakespearean actor, and is often seen breaking the forth wall with his own self-narrations, soliloquies, and asides akin loosely to that of William Shakespear's writing; even if he has a habit of going off tangent or mispronouncing words at times. He comes across as quite blunt and campy when it comes to his acting, but is overall a good-natured person in comparison to others around him. Although he presents himself as civilized, Snagglepuss is often mistaken as a wild creature by most humans, and in return is treated as such, especially when he gets himself into trouble with the big game hunter Major Minor.

Additionally, Snagglepuss has three major catchphrases. His most famous is "Heavens to Murgatroyd!", which he always exclaims (or a variation thereof) in a state of perpetual astonishment. In times when he has to make an escape or run an errand, he uses the form of a theatrical stage direction, saying "Exit, stage left!" (or "right," as the case may be). Snagglepuss also has the habit of saying the word "even"; either as an ending particle to synonyms, exclamations, or sentences in general.

TV series

 * Snagglepuss
 * Yogi's Gang
 * Laff-A-Lympics
 * 1.1 "The Swiss Alps and Tokyo, Japan"
 * 1.2 "Acapulco and England"
 * 1.3 "Florida and China"
 * 1.4 "The Sahara Desert and Scotland"
 * 1.5 "France and Australia"
 * 1.6 "Athens, Greece and the Ozarks"
 * 1.7 "Italy and Kitty Hawk, North Carolina"
 * 1.8 "Egypt and Sherwood Forest"
 * 1.9 "Spain and the Himalayas"
 * 1.10 "India and Israel"
 * 1.11 "Africa and San Francisco"
 * 1.12 "The Grand Canyon and Ireland"
 * 1.13 "Hawaii and Norway"
 * 1.14 "North Pole and Tahiti"
 * 1.15 "Arizona and Holland"
 * 1.16 "Quebec and Baghdad"
 * 2.1 "Russia and the Caribbean"
 * 2.2 "New York and Turkey"
 * 2.3 "South America and Transylvania"
 * 2.4 "French Riviera and New Zealand"
 * 2.5 "New Orleans and Atlantis"
 * 2.6 "Morocco and Washington D.C."
 * 2.7 "Canada and Warsaw, Poland"
 * 2.8 "Siam and the Moon"
 * Yogi's Treasure Hunt
 * Fender Bender 500
 * Yo, Yogi!
 * The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy
 * 4.2B "Irwin Gets a Clue" (no lines)
 * Wacky Races
 * 2.9 "Much Ado About Wacky"
 * 2.33 "The Scarlet Pinkernel"
 * Jellystone!

Movies

 * Yogi's Ark Lark
 * Casper's First Christmas
 * Yogi's First Christmas
 * Yogi Bear's All-Star Comedy Christmas Caper
 * Yogi's Great Escape
 * Yogi Bear and the Magical Flight of the Spruce Goose
 * The Good, the Bad and Huckleberry Hound
 * Top Cat Begins (poster)
 * Scoob! (poster)

Specials

 * Hanna-Barbera's 50th: A Yabba Dabba Doo Celebration (no lines)
 * The 1st 13th Annual Fancy Anvil Awards Show Program Special: Live in Stereo (no lines)
 * Scooby-Doo, Where Are You Now! (mentioned)

Shorts

 * "Everyone" (no lines)

Comics

 * Snagglepuss (Gold Key Comics)
 * Laff-A-Lympics
 * #1 The Meet at Mount Ono"
 * #2 Trouble at the Track Meet"
 * #4 Take Me Out to the Brawl Game!"
 * #5 The Day the Rottens Won!"
 * #6 The Discount of Monty Cristo"
 * #7 The Purple Pig Puzzle"
 * #8 The Beef of Bagdad"
 * #9 Go Rest, Old Man"
 * #10 Now You See Them..."
 * #11 The Toys from Tomorrow"
 * #12 The Ends of the Earth"
 * #13 No Laff-A-Lympics Today!"
 * The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera
 * #3 "The Man Who Stole Thursday"
 * Exit Stage Left!: The Snagglepuss Chronicles

Video games

 * Hanna-Barbera's Turbo Toons

Quick Draw Takes on Snagglepuss
Snagglepuss made his first appearance in The Quick Draw McGraw episode "Lamb Chopped", where he started out as a opportunistic predator who steals livestock for food. In the episode, Quick Draw McGraw and his sidekick Baba Looey were called in to exterminate the mountain lion, who had stolen numerous amounts of sheep from past farmers. After many unsuccessful attempts to apprehend Snagglepuss, Quick Draw disguises himself as a sheep so that if the mountain lion grabs him, Quick Draw grabs him. However, a male bighorn sheep mistakes Quick Draw for a female sheep and runs off with him, but not before Snagglepuss drives off in Quick Draw's car.

The Doggies' Household Gets an Unwelcome Visitor
In the episode, "Snagglepuss," he makes himself at home at the Doggies' household to evade hunters, while Doggie Daddy tries to get him out of the house.

Snagglepuss Gets His Own Show
After his appearances The Quick Draw McGraw Show, Snagglepuss would get his own series of segments in The Yogi Bear Show, in which he became the main character instead of an atangonist.

In most of episodes of the series, Snagglepuss' main goal in life is to make himself habitable, both for his well being and his residence in a cavern. Despite his civility towards others, Snagglepuss is mistaken for a wild animal and is often chased by the hunter Major Minor, or simply trapped in confined places such as a zoo. Snagglepuss's escapades in the shorts typically involve him running away from these situations, yet most of his failings come from humanity's misunderstanding of his character or his own ineptitude.

Snag Sells Out
In The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy episode "Irwin Gets a Clue," he's one of the Hanna Barbera characters run over by Hoss Delgado's truck.

Snagglepuss Gets Serious
In Exit Stage Left!: The Snagglepuss Chronicles, Snagglepuss is a gay playwright at the height of the arms race in the 1950s. After losing his friend Huckleberry Hound to suicide and after his gay lover leaves for war, Snagglepuss outs himself and is blacklisted from the entertainment industry. He later joins Quick Draw McGraw's animation industry under the alias "Snaggletooth"

SCOOB!
A comic of Snagglepuss appeared in a younger Shaggy's room.

Development
The template of Snagglepuss' character is based on actor Bert Lahr, particularly his well-known appearance as the Cowardly Lion in the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz.

Behind the scenes

 * According to a 1982 calendar, he was born on September 30th.
 * In his first few appearances on The Quick Draw McGraw Show, he is depicted as more of an antagonist.
 * Snagglepuss' catchphrase, "Heavens to Murgatroyd!", is a variant of the saying, "Heavens to Betsy".
 * It is suggested frequently that Bert Lahr had said the phrase earlier in the 1944 film Meet the People, although there is no proof that he said it anywhere in the film.
 * In 1963, Bert Lahr sued Hanna-Barbera, Kellogg's, and Screen Gems for $500,000, over the Cocoa Crispies television commercials starring Snagglepuss. Lahr claimed that audiences would be confused and think that he was endorsing the cereal (as Snagglepuss), and as part of the settlement, the commercials featured the on screen credit "Snagglepuss voice by Daws Butler"; the only time a voice artist was credited on screen for a commercial.
 * It is rumored by many that Snagglepuss could presumably be gay based on his flowery accent, his interest in theatrical and his lavender fur color.
 * Co-creator Joseph Barbera was in denial of the rumor, insisting that the character was modeled after Bert Lahr and therefore not gay because "he beat his wife." When in the Johnny Bravo writers' room, he playfully threatened Steve Marmel's life when he insinuated Snagglepuss to be gay, warning him "A Sicilian never forgets."
 * Ironically after Barbera died, Snagglepuss was confirmed gay in both Exit Stage Left!: The Snagglepuss Chronicles and Jellystone!, though both are their own canon.
 * In 1967, Looney Tunes made a character who bared similarities to that of Snagglepuss, the character was called "Cool Cat."
 * Interestingly, Hanna-Barbera also planned a character called "Toing Tiger," who was also pretty close to Snagglepuss, but this idea never went through.
 * In the episode, "One Two Many," Snaggletooth is revealed to be Snagglepuss's twin brother.

In popular culture

 * The title of Rush's 1981 live album, Exit... Stage Left, comes from one of Snagglepuss' catchphrases. According to lead vocalist Geddy Lee, the name was chosen because it is the stage direction that Snagglepuss runs most of the time, and that coincidentally was also the same direction as the album's cover.
 * In the Boy Meets World episode "The Play's the Thing," Shawn mocked Minkus for quoting Hamlet by saying to him "Thou speaketh like Snagglepuss" with a lisp.
 * In the Moesha episode "Homecoming," Kim thought Antonio's drawing of the Crenshaw Cougar looked like Snagglepuss.
 * In the Drawn Together episode "Gay Bash", Snagglepuss is present as Xander's Gay Bash. However, his face is blurred out, which is a parody of how reality shows will censor strangers who are not a part of the show.
 * In the Robot Chicken skit "Laff-A-Munich" segment of the episode "Ban on the Fun," Snagglepuss informs the world about the tragic fate of the Yogi Yahooeys after they were all killed by the Really Rottens, muttering the infamous phrase "They're all gone." He is never seen again after this scene, leaving his fate unknown. He is voiced by Victor Yerrid for this skit.
 * In the Saturday Night Live episode "Paul Rudd/Beyonce," Snagglepuss (played by Bobby Moynihan) was a guest on "Weekend Update," where he gives his thoughts on California's ban on same sex marriage. After being "outed" by Seth Myers, he reveals he is in a relationship with the Great Gazoo, (played by Will Forte).
 * In the American Dad! episode "The Boring Identity," Stan says "Heavens to Murgatroyd."
 * In the OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes episode "Plazalympics," there is a Laff-A-Lympics-like contest, with its own intro, which includes host Dynamite Watkins saying, "Heavens to hilarity," and "The players are on the field, the parking lot, even," although she despises saying that and wants to know who wrote the script.
 * In the New Looney Tunes episode "Bugs Bunny Saves the Universe," after Bugs presses a button on Marvin the Martian's (referred to as Dank Diaper, a parody of Darth Vader from the Star Wars franchise, in this episode) lightsaber to enlarge it, Marvin yells, "Heavens to Murgatroyd," as he struggles to hold it and destroy his own ship in the process.
 * In the Sugar and Toys episode "The Every Damn Internet Challenge Challenge," the Laff-A-Lympics is parodied as the L-O-Lympics, featuring Hollywood screw-ups competing to be the biggest loser, which is hosted by Snagglepuss and a character resembling Wile E. Coyote called Grimy Coyote. It even begins with a similar intro to Laff-A-Lympics, with balloons coming up and Snagglepuss saying, "Heavens to hilarity."
 * In the "Treehouse of Horror XXXI" segment "Into the Homer-verse" of The Simpsons, one of the many Homers features a one named Homer-Barbera, who changes into a parody of Snagglepuss, even saying "Heavens to Murgatroyd" and "Exit, stage left" when he leaves.
 * In The Jackbox Party Pack 8 game "Wheel of Enormous Proportions," a question you can get is "Pick all characters from Hanna-Barbera" where Snagglepuss is listed as one of them.