The Looney Tunes Mystery

Cartoon producer Leon Schlesinger realised in late 1934 that Buddy wasn’t working out as a starring character. He needed someone, something else. The studio then hit on an idea. It wasn’t an original idea. The “Our Gang” shorts were popular, so the Schlesinger crew created their own gang, which debuted March 2, 1935 in I Haven't Got a Hat.

To the right, you see part of the original gang. There’s Beans, who became the breakout star for less than a year. His plucky heroics weren’t enough to carry a cartoon. Another member of the gang had something Beans didn’t—a gimmick. At the bottom of the poster is Porky. He stuttered. Audiences laughed. Bye bye Beans.

More also-rans you see on the poster made a handful of cartoons until the Looney Tunes gang disbanded. There are the twin dogs, Ham and Ex, whose mischievousness was supposed to appeal to theatregoers. Above them is Oliver Owl, who started out as snooty. Bad potential. People laugh at snooty only when you’re making fun of it, and you can’t continually make fun of a star.

And then above him is a buck-tooth guy with glasses.

Just who is he? Does anyone know?

All the other characters are identified in I Haven't Got a Hat and all have solo bits of business. Young bucky doesn’t. He’s in the cartoon, but he just sits on a bench. He doesn’t rate enough in his classroom to get a desk.



Judging by his ears, I guess he’s a dog. In Hollywood Capers (1935), he plays Oliver Owl’s cameraman. He rarely shows his teeth in this cartoon but gets screen time.



UPDATE: Reader Matt Hunter points out he appears with Miss Kitty in Plane Dippy (1936). He has a male falsetto voice in this one.



He’s a pirate’s cabin boy in Shanghaied Shipmates (1936).



By this time, Beans had likely left Los Angeles and returned to Boston. Ham and Ex, Little Kitty, Oliver Owl, Tommy Turtle and Miss Cud had been told their animated services would not be required. All that was left was Porky, the newly annointed Looney Tunes star, and this buck-toothed guy. And this was his last cartoon. (Poor Berneice Hansell’s paycheque took a beating when the gang was disbanded. She voiced a bunch of the characters).

I suppose our friend’s identity is known somewhere. Can there be story synopses or model sheets filed away somewhere with the answer? If anyone reading has information (ie. not speculation), put a note in the comments.