Magilla Gorilla is the main character from The Magilla Gorilla Show, an animated series produced by Hanna-Barbera between January 14, 1964, and 1967. The show also had other recurring characters, including Punkin’ Puss & Mushmouse, and Ricochet Rabbit & Droop-a-Long. In syndication, the main and supporting characters from the Peter Potamus Show were also added. Like many of the Hanna-Barbera animal characters, Magilla was dressed in human accessories, sporting a small hat and a bow tie.

Marmaduke is a newspaper comic strip drawn by Brad Anderson from 1954 to the present day. The strip was created by Anderson, with help from Phil Leeming (1955-1962) and later Dorothy Leeming (1963-1969). The strip revolves around the Winslow family and their Great Dane, Marmaduke. The strip on Sundays also has a side feature called “Dog Gone Funny,” in which one or more panels are devoted to dog anecdotes submitted by the fans. Anderson received the National Cartoonist Society Newspaper Panel Cartoon Award for the strip in 1978.

The character was created by storyman Izzy Klein as a super-powered housefly named “Superfly,” but studio head Paul Terry changed the character into a toon mouse instead. Originally created as a parody of Superman, he first appeared in 1942 in a theatrical animated short entitled The Mouse of Tomorrow. The original name of the character was Super Mouse, but it was soon changed to Mighty Mouse when Paul Terry learned that another character with the same name was being published in comic books. Super Mouse appeared briefly in the Marvel comic book interpretation of the character, and was nicknamed “Terry the First”, as he was the first version of the character.

ighty Mouse originally had a blue costume with a red cape, like Superman; but over time this changed to a yellow costume with a red cape. As with other imitations of Superman, Mighty Mouse’s super powers allow him to fly, and make him incredibly strong and invulnerable. He has demonstrated the use of “X-ray vision” in at least one cartoon, while during several cartoons he used a form of super-hypnosis that even allowed him to command inanimate objects and turn back time (as in the cartoons The Johnstown Flood and Krakatoa). Other cartoons have him leaving a red contrail as he flies which he can manipulate like a band of solid flexible matter when he so desires.

The initial formula consisted of an extended setup of a crisis which needs extraordinary help to resolve and Mighty Mouse appears to save the day.

Mighty Mouse was originally voiced by Roy Halee, although Tom Morrison provided the character’s voice in some later cartoons.

The early, operatic Mighty Mouse cartoons often portrayed Mighty Mouse as a ruthless fighter. He would dole out a considerable amount of punishment, subduing the cats to the point of giving up their evil plan and running away. Mighty Mouse would then chase down the escaping cats, and continue beating them mercilessly, usually hurling or punching them miles away to finish the fight. A favorite move is to suddenly fly up to just under a much larger opponent’s chin and throw a blinding flurry of punches that leaves the enemy reeling.

Muttley, a mixed breed dog, first appeared in Wacky Races in 1968, as the sidekick of a nasty but incompetent and horribly accident-prone villain Dick Dastardly. While Dick was created as the equivalent of Professor Fate from the 1960s movie The Great Race, Muttley mirrored the film’s character of Max Meen. Dick and Muttley were paired together in various later Hanna-Barbera series as bumbling villains. Muttley’s birthday is April 16th, as shown in the Dastardly and Muttley in their Flying Machines episode “Sappy Birthday.”

Muttley does not really talk; his main examples of speech are his trademark snicker – a wheezing, asthmatic laugh (usually made at Dick’s expense) – and a mushy, sotto voce grumble against an unsympathetic or harsh Dick (usually along the lines of “Sassafrassarassum Rick Rastardly!”). Don Messick had used Muttley’s distinctive laugh for the character of Griswold in an episode of Top Cat as well as for another Hanna-Barbera canine, Precious Pupp, several years earlier. He also repurposed it for Alexandra Cabot’s cat Sebastian on Josie and the Pussycats in 1970.

Muttley wore only a collar in Wacky Races, but in Dastardly and Muttley in their Flying Machines he donned a World War I style aviator’s cap and scarf, and served as a flying ace along with Dastardly and two other pilots as members of the “Vulture Squadron.” In this spinoff, he also sported many medals, of which he was particularly fond, and constantly demanded new ones from Dastardly for following his commands. Similarly, Dastardly frequently ripped medals off Muttley’s chest as punishment for his incompetence. When he received a new medal, Muttley would hug himself happily, jump into the air and float back down like a feather. This gag is almost identical to the behavior of Snuffles, a dog who appeared on the series Quick Draw McGraw in the late 1950s; and Scooby Doo, in the show A Pup Named Scooby Doo, when he received a Scooby Snack.

Also in Dastardly and Muttley in their Flying Machines, Muttley gained the ability to fly for a brief period by spinning his tail like a propeller. This trait often proved useful when he was about to crash. Muttley also enjoyed his own short segment in this series The Magnificent Muttley, where he would engage in Walter Mitty-style fantasies.

Often, when Muttley grumbled on Dastardly and Muttley in their Flying Machines, Dick Dastardly would say “What was THAT?” accompanied by Muttley kissing his hand, to which Dastardly would usually reply “That’s better”.

Pepé Le Pew is an Academy Award-winning fictional character in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons. A French anthropomorphic skunk that always strolls around in Paris in the springtime, when everyone’s thoughts are of love, Pepé is constantly seeking “l’amour” of his own. However, he has three huge turnoffs to any prospective mates: his malodorous scent, the fact that he comes on too aggressively or with too much passion, to both of which he is cheerfully oblivious, and the fact that he can’t take ‘no’ for an answer thinking that the girl is flirting with him.