Snagglepuss Lion

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This article is about the character. For other uses, see Snagglepuss.
Snagglepuss Lion
Snagglepuss Lion.png
You may call me a "wild lion", but on the account of my own dignity, I call myself a great actor. A thespian, even!
Species Mountain lion
Gender Male
Member of Yogi's Gang[Note 1]
Yogi's Treasure Hunters[Note 2]
Affiliation Mildew Wolf[Note 3]
Laff-a-Lympics[Note 4]
Huckleberry Hound
Occupation Laff-a-Lympics commentator[Note 5]
Talk show host/news anchor[Note 6]
Works for Jellystone News Studio[Note 7]
Goals To become an actor and be recognized as a civilized animal
Father Not mentioned
Mother Not mentioned
Brother(s) Snaggletooth
Other relative(s) One cousin, Mr. Jinks[1]
Marital status Single
First appearance QDMG: "Lamb Chopped" (1959)
Played by Daws Butler (1959-88)
Greg Burson (1990-91)
Dana Snyder (2021)
Early Snagglepuss.png
Snagglepuss' early design in "Snagglepuss".
90s Snagglepuss.png
Fender Bender 500
YY Snagg.png
Yo, Yogi!
WR 2017 Snagglepuss.png
Wacky Races
JS Snagglepuss.png
Jellystone!

Snagglepuss Lion is an anthropomorphic pink mountain lion and the main 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, The Roaring Lion (1961) 		”

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.

Appearances

TV series

Movies

Specials

Shorts

Comics

Books

Video games

Biography

Brown Years

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.

Snagglepuss is Snooper and Blabber's Next Case

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.

Pink Years

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 antagonist.

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.

Yogi's Birthday Party

Crossover Era

It's Yogi's Gang
Yogi's Ark Lark
Laff-a-Lympics
Yogi's First Christmas
Yogi Bear's All-Star Comedy Christmas Caper
Casper's First Christmas
Yogi's Great Escape
Yogi's Treasure Hunt
The Good, the Bad, and Huckleberry Hound
Celebrating another 50 years! 50 years of fun!
Fender Bender 500
Yo, Yogi!

Harvey Takes the Case

Wacky Reboot

SCOOB!

A comic of Snagglepuss appeared in a younger Shaggy's room.[2]

Everyone's Back in Jellystone!

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.

Kellogg's Corn Flakes

Snagglepuss in the Funny Books

Flintstones visit New York World's Fair
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."

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.[3]

Gallery

Main article: Snagglepuss Lion/Gallery

Toys and merchandise

Main article: Snagglepuss Lion/Toys

Behind the scenes

  • According to a 1982 Hanna-Barbera employee 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".[3]
    • 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.[3]
  • 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.[4]
  • 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."[5] 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."[5]
    • 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 The Smurfs episode "The Blue Plague," Brainy Smurf says, "Heavens to Smurfatroyd," after the other Smurfs take ill after ingesting Gargamel's potion.

In popular culture

WARNING: The following section contains content that may be seen as mature or offensive to some readers. Reader discretion is advised.
  • 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.[6]
  • 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 Time Squad episode "Child's Play," after waste falls on Larry, Tuddrussel tries "Heavens to Murgatroyd" as one of his new catchphrases. Incidentally, he also tries out Fred Flintstone's "Yabba-dabba-doo" later on.
  • 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 Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt episode "Kimmy Meets a Drunk Lady!," Titus says "Heavens to Murgatroyd" when he accidentally breaks his R. Kelly "I Believe I Can Fly" cassette after angrily trying to cram it in his badly made tape tower with a hammer.
  • 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 "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.
  • In the Netflix film Unfrosted, Marge Post, the boss of Post, has created a new fruit breakfast pastry allowing her to make a list of demands the other breakfast cereal companies, including sponsorship rights to Deputy Dawg and Snagglepuss. In the blooper reel at the beginning of the end credits, Bob tells the ad man #1 (implied to be Bob Draper from Mad Men) that Kellogg's deals with choo-choo trains and Snagglepuss, to which the ad man #1 sarcastically says he will get to work on Snagglepuss, and then the first scene is shown again, but the cast break character by all laughing.

  • Protected Snagglepuss.

  • SNL Snagglepuss.png

The Simpsons

Main article: The Simpsons
  • "Sweet Seymour Skinner's Baadasssss Song:" When Ralph tells Ms. Hoover that he sees a dog (Santa's Little Helper) in the air ducts, she claims that he also saw Snagglepuss outside, who he claims was trying to use the bathroom.
  • "Lady Bouvier's Lover:" Comic Book Guy shows Bart a cel of Snagglepuss (drawn by fictional cartoonist Hic Heisler) as an example of a cel that is worth something, as opposed to the cel of Scratchy's arm Bart was trying to sell him.
  • "Treehouse of Horror XXXI:" During the "Into the Homer-verse" segment (a parody of the film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse), Homer-Barbera shapeshifts from Yogi Bear into Snagglepuss after Disney Princess Homer's tiara is stolen, exclaiming, "Heavens to Murgatryod." Homer asks what a Murgatryod is, but Homer-Barbera replies that nobody knows. In total, there are six Homers going around Springfield, eating everything in sight, going to hockey games, and forming a do-wop group. They end up at Homer Prime's kitchen, after hearing a Duff Beer opened by Marge. When Disney Princess Homer gets Lisa to sing, Homer-Barbera temporarily becomes Quick Draw. The other Homers return to the plant to get back home, but is stopped by Burns, which scares Homer-Barbera into announcing, "Exit, stage left." Homer-Barbera takes on a hunter version of Burns, who shoots Homer-Barbera through the chest. When Burns finds out that he's Smithers Noir's sidekick, he decides to send everyone back, which Homer-Barbera tries to run from. As it turns out, Homer Noir survived instead of Homer Prime, which Marge is delighted with, but Homer Noir suddenly becomes Homer-Barbera, who is disgusted with having kissed Marge, and before bolting, says, "Heavens to Marge-troyd. Exit, stage right." Every time, Homer-Barbera tried running, there were comical sound effects.

  • Comic Book Guy's Snagglepuss cel.

  • Homer-Barbera as Snagglepuss.

Sugar and Toys

Main article: Sugar and Toys
  • "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 Strugglepuzz 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."
  • "It's Hard to Raise Yourself These Days:" takes part in a rap showdown with other knock-off cartoon characters in a segment called "Cartoon Cypher." He ends his rap by saying, "Exit, stage left, even." His new name is revealed in this segment.
  • Strugglepuzz.png

Footnotes

  1. ^ In Yogi's Gang.
  2. ^ In Yogi's Treasure Hunt.
  3. ^ In Laff-a-Lympics.
  4. ^ In Laff-a-Lympics.
  5. ^ In Laff-a-Lympics
  6. ^ In Jellystone!
  7. ^ In Jellystone!

References

  1. ^ The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera: "Augie Doggie's Cheery Day" (1977).
  2. ^ Scoob! (2020).
  3. ^ a b c Martin, Gary (1996–2009). "Heavens to Murgatroyd". Retrieved on Febuary 25, 2023.
  4. ^ "Animation Anecdotes #207". Cartoon Research (2015). Retrieved on Febuary 25, 2023.
  5. ^ a b Partible, Van (July 6, 2012). "Memories of Joe Barbera". Van Partible. Retrieved November 29, 2021.
  6. ^ "The whole title came from a character in an American cartoon called Snagglepuss. He's a great little creature, a lion, and every time there's trouble he flees, uttering 'Exit... stage left' or 'Exit... stage right'. But the fact of the matter was that the album cover picture was taken from stage left. And coincidentally that's the direction in which Snagglepuss runs most of the time." — Geddy Lee, Sounds magazine No. 66, November 1981.
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