PINK PANTHER
Our beloved Pink Panther was created by the same genius who brought us Speedy Gonzales, Tweety & Sylvester and Yosemite Sam: Fritz Freleng. His time at Warner Bros. finished in 1963 when Warner closed its cartoon studio. Freleng teamed up with a new partner, David DePatie, to start a new business in the old Warner Studio.
The Pink Panther was the first creation at their new studio. The panther was used in the opening credits of Blake Edwards new film, "The Pink Panther". Teamed up with Henry Mancini’s music, the Pink Panther and his tune have had a larger impact on our memory banks than the actual film did.
The success of the film led to a series of theatrical cartoons. The first (Pink Phink) won an Academy Award in 1964 and another, "The Pink Blueprint", was nominated in 1966. Nearly 100 cartoons followed this great beginning, being released right up until 1981. Television cartoons made an impact for a long time also. There were several incarnations of the The Pink Panther Show that introduced other shorts like "The Ant and the Aardvark" and characters like Texas Toads and Mister Jaw the Shark.
The Pink Panther also conquered the comic book trade with 87 issues from Gold Key between 1971-1984. Harvey comics took over the character between 1993-94 and re-printed several of the issues that came from Warren Tufts.
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