Speedy Gonzales

Template:Short description Template:About Template:Use mdy dates Template:Use American English Template:Infobox character Speedy Gonzales is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons. He is portrayed as "The Fastest Mouse in all Mexico" with his major traits being the ability to run extremely fast, being quick-witted and heroic, and speaking with an exaggerated Mexican accent.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> He usually wears a yellow sombrero, white shirt and trousers (which was a common traditional outfit worn by men and boys of rural Mexican villages), and a red kerchief, similar to that of some traditional Mexican attires.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> There have been 46 theatrical shorts made either starring or featuring the character.

History

File:Early-Speedy.jpg

A still of an early version of Speedy Gonzales as appeared in Cat-Tails for Two (animated by Charles McKimson)

Speedy's first appearance was in 1953's Cat-Tails for Two though he appeared largely in name (and super speed) only.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> It would be two years before Friz Freleng and layout artist Hawley Pratt redesigned the character into his modern incarnation for the 1955 Freleng short of the same name. The cartoon features Sylvester the Cat guarding a cheese factory at the international border between the United States and Mexico from starving Mexican mice. The mice call in the plucky, excessively energetic Speedy (voiced by Mel Blanc) to save them. Amid cries of "¡Ándale! ¡Ándale! ¡Arriba! ¡Arriba! ¡Epe! ¡Epe! ¡Epe! Yeehaw!" (Spanish for "Go on! Go on! Up! Up!", although "Ándale arriba" may have been intended as meaning "hurry up"), Sylvester soon gets his comeuppance. The cartoon won the 1955 Academy Award for Best Short Subject (Cartoons).

File:Speedy Gonzales (1955 short).jpg

Speedy Gonzales in the 1955 short film of the same name

While Speedy's last name was given as Gonzalez in Cat-Tails (on a printed business card shown in the cartoon), it was spelled with an 's' from Speedy Gonzales onward. Today, the earlier spelling is sometimes used.

Freleng and McKimson soon set Sylvester up as Speedy's regular nemesis in a series of cartoons, much in the same way Chuck Jones had paired Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner in his Road Runner cartoons (and indeed, all four characters ended up competing with each other in the short "The Wild Chase"). Sylvester (often called "El Gringo Pussygato" by Speedy) is constantly outsmarted and outrun by the mouse, causing the cat to suffer all manner of pain and humiliation from mousetraps to accidentally consuming large amounts of Tabasco hot sauce. Other cartoons pair the mouse with his cousin, Slowpoke Rodriguez, the "slowest Mouse in all Mexico." Slowpoke regularly gets into all sorts of trouble that often require Speedy to save him—but one cat in Mexicali Shmoes says that as if to compensate for his slowness, "he pack a gun!"<ref name="gun">Template:Cite web</ref> In the mid 1960s, Speedy's main rival and second nemesis became Daffy Duck, whom Speedy usually referred to as "the loco duck."

Speedy has the reputation of being a hit with the female mice. In many cartoons, when the mice decide to get Speedy to help them, one of the mice mentions that "Speedy Gonzales is friend of my sister". Another mouse adds that, "Speedy Gonzales is friend of everybody's sister", which earns a big laugh from the other mice.

Notable cartoon appearances

• Cat-Tails for Two (1953) – Early version
• Speedy Gonzales (1955) – Debut, official, Academy Award-winner, 28th (1955) – Short Subject (Cartoon)<ref name="28th-oscars">Template:Cite web</ref>
• Tabasco Road (1957), Academy Award-nominated<ref name=caged />
• Mexicali Shmoes (1959), Academy Award-nominated<ref name=caged />
• The Pied Piper of Guadalupe (1961), Academy Award-nominated<ref name=caged />
• A Message to Gracias (1964) – One of the rare Speedy Gonzales cartoons directed by Robert McKimson
• It's Nice to Have a Mouse Around the House (1965) – first appearance with Daffy Duck.
• See Ya Later Gladiator (1968) – final theatrical appearance.

Controversy

Feeling that the character presented an offensive Mexican stereotype, Cartoon Network shelved Speedy's films when it gained exclusive rights to broadcast them in 1999 (as a subsidiary of Time Warner, Cartoon Network is a corporate sibling to Warner Bros.). In an interview with Fox News on March 28, 2002, Cartoon Network spokeswoman Laurie Goldberg commented, "It hasn't been on the air for years because of its ethnic stereotypes."<ref name="caged">Template:Cite web</ref>

However, the Hispanic-American rights organization League of United Latin American Citizens called Speedy a cultural icon, and thousands of users registered their support of the character on the hispaniconline.com message boards. Fan campaigns to put Speedy back on the air resulted in the return of the animated shorts to Cartoon Network in 2002.<ref>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Dead link</ref>

Speedy Gonzales remained a popular character in Latin America. Many Hispanic people remembered him fondly as a quick-witted, heroic Mexican character who always got the best of his opponents, at a time when such positive depictions of Latin Americans were rare in popular entertainment.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 2006, Volkswagen licensed Speedy Gonzales for a series of Spanish-language commercials for the Volkswagen Golf, using footage from the cartoon of the same name.<ref name="Indiacar.net">Template:Cite web</ref>

In a March 2021 essay, Los Angeles Times columnist Gustavo Arellano wrote, "I love Speedy so much, I keep a large painting of him in my home office. His kind smile and brown skin takes me back to my childhood — and reminds me of where we as Mexicans exist today."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Other appearances

Template:Main In 1983, he co-starred with Daffy Duck once again in Daffy Duck's Movie: Fantastic Island. He also made a cameo appearance in the finale sequence of the 1988 film Who Framed Roger Rabbit.<ref name="Montilla 141">Template:Cite book</ref> He had one appearance in the Tiny Toon Adventures episode segment "The Acme Acres Summer Olympics", as the coach, and serving as the mentor of Lightning Rodriguez. He had a minor role in the 1996 film Space Jam.<ref name="Montilla 141" /> He made a cameo appearance alongside Porky Pig in the 2003 film Looney Tunes: Back in Action,<ref name="Montilla 141" /> making fun of his politically incorrect status. At around the same time, he made a non-speaking cameo in an episode of ¡Mucha Lucha! titled "Lucha, Rinse and Repeat".

Volume 4 of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection DVD series, released on November 14, 2006, has an entire disc of Speedy shorts, although some of his other shorts had previously been released on Volumes 1 and 3. Speedy is mentioned in one Duck Dodgers episode, after Cadet sits on Dodgers, prompting him to say, "I knew I should've chosen Speedy Gonzales as a sidekick!"

Speedy Gonzales appears in Bah, Humduck! A Looney Tunes Christmas. He is an employee at the Lucky Duck Superstore for the greedy Daffy Duck where he confuses Daffy with the Feliz Navidad comment.

Speedy Gonzales also appeared occasionally on The Looney Tunes Show. He is seen living with Bugs and Daffy as their "mouse in the wall" and running the pizza parlor Pizzarriba. Speedy is shown to act as Daffy's conscience, which is a far cry from the antagonistic relationship they had in the old days. The episode "Sunday Night Slice" showed that Bugs bought his favorite restaurant, Girardi's, to prevent it from being closed and hired Speedy to help him. When Bugs decides he does not want to own a restaurant anymore, he hands ownership of it to Speedy. In "The Black Widow", Speedy Gonzales answers Daffy Duck's call and races to Tacapulco to convince his cousin Sheriff Slowpoke Rodriguez to let Daffy Duck and Porky Pig out of jail.

Speedy Gonzales appeared in the 2015 direct-to-video movie Looney Tunes: Rabbits Run. He is seen as Lola Bunny's landlord.

An elderly Speedy Gonzales (voiced by Carlos Alazraqui) was "interviewed" by Al Madrigal for Madrigal's one-hour comedic documentary special Half Like Me (currently available on YouTube and formerly on Hulu).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Speedy Gonzales appeared occasionally in New Looney Tunes, often as the leader of a gang of mice that also includes Hubie and Bertie, Sniffles, and "Minnesota Rats" (originally Minniesoda Fats; an aborted 1970s character revived and fleshed out in this series). He seems to have reverted to his personality from Merrie Melodies.

Speedy Gonzales appeared in the Bugs Bunny Builders episode "Speedy", voiced by Raul Ceballos. In the show, he is a professional soccer player and hired the Looney Builders to fly to Mexico and build a soccer stadium for his soccer game with his four teammates. He was featured in a cameo in the episode "The Snuffles", where he watches the world premiere of the movie Wonder Rabbit on his laptop on the soccer field.

Inspiration of the character's name

Though Speedy Gonzales is purely a fictional character, the name was inspired by Frank Gonzales, an assistant animator who was working at Warner Bros. at the time. These facts were described by another Warner Bros. employee, Martha Goldman Sigall, who was present during the event.<ref>Template:Cite AV media</ref>

In other media

In 1962, pop singer Pat Boone scored a top 10 hit in the United States with the song "Speedy Gonzales" which featured Mel Blanc samples as Speedy. It was covered by Manolo Muñoz and several other artists.

In 1965, the movie Wild on the Beach included the song "Little Speedy Gonzales" which was written by Stan Ross and Bobby Beverly and performed by The Astronauts.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 1995, he appeared in a video game, Speedy Gonzales: Los Gatos Bandidos, for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System.

In 2006, Volkswagen licensed Speedy Gonzales for a series of Spanish-language commercials for the Volkswagen Golf, using footage from the cartoon of the same name.<ref name="Indiacar.net"/>

Speedy Gonzales starred in several video games: Cheese Cat-Astrophe Starring Speedy Gonzales for the Mega Drive/Genesis, Master System, and Game Gear, Speedy Gonzales: Los Gatos Bandidos for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Speedy Gonzales for the Game Boy and Speedy Gonzales: Aztec Adventure for the Game Boy Color. He also appeared as an enemy in Looney Tunes: Back in Action, and Looney Tunes: Marvin Strikes Back! as both a miniboss and playable character.

In the 2018 film Overboard, Eugenio Derbez has a tattoo of Gonzales.

Film adaptation

In 2010, Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema announced a new Speedy Gonzales live action/animated feature film. George Lopez was attached to voice the character.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In December 2015, it was reported that an animated film is in development at Warner Bros.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In April 2016, it was announced that Eugenio Derbez will voice the character.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In April 2024, during an interview, Eugenio Derbez said that he doubts that the movie will happen saying “I feel that the studios are afraid that, nowadays, it's so politically incorrect. I've been telling them constantly that we love Speedy Gonzales in Mexico.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Voice actors

• Mel Blanc (1953–1989)
• Malcolm McNeill (Spin a Magic Tune)<ref name="Magic Tune 1">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Magic Tune 2">Template:Cite web</ref>
• Stan Freberg ("Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)" in Blue Peter)<ref name="Blue Peter">Template:Cite webTemplate:Cbignore</ref>
• Noel Blanc (You Rang? answering machine messages,<ref name="You Rang">Template:Cite web</ref> Bugs Bunny's Birthday Ball, MetLife commercial<ref name="MetLife">Template:Cite webTemplate:Cbignore</ref>)
• Jeff Bergman (Tyson Foods commercial,<ref name="Tyson">Template:Cite web</ref> Toon Biography: Speedy Gonzales)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Joe Alaskey (Tiny Toon Adventures, Looney Tunes River Ride,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Yosemite Sam and the Gold River Adventure!,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Sunsoft commercial,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Looney Tunes Kwazy Christmas,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Mice Capades,<ref name="Webtoons">Template:Cite web</ref> Looney Tunes: Cartoon Conductor)
• Greg Burson (Acme Animation Factory,<ref name="LT SNES voices">Template:Cite tweet</ref> Speedy Gonzales: Los Gatos Bandidos,<ref name="LT SNES voices"/> Bugs Bunny's Learning Adventures, Quest for Camelot promotion<ref name="Quest Camelot">Template:Cite webTemplate:Cbignore</ref>)
• Keith Scott (Canon commercials,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Looney Tunes Radio Show,<ref name="Radio Show 1">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Radio Show 2">Template:Cite web</ref> Looney Rock)<ref name="scottbio">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="scottbio2">"Keith Scott-"The One-Man Crowd"" Template:Webarchive. Retrieved July 28, 2020.</ref>
• Eric Goldberg (Looney Tunes: Back in Action)
• Billy West (Looney Tunes: Back in Action – The Video Game)
• James Arnold Taylor (Drawn Together)
• Seth Green (Robot Chicken)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Bob Bergen (Bah, Humduck! A Looney Tunes Christmas, A Looney Tunes Sing-A-Long Christmas,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Volkswagen commercials<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>)
• Kerry Shale (Virgin Media commercials)<ref name="Kerry Shale">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Virgin Media at BTVA">Template:Cite web</ref>
• Fred Armisen (The Looney Tunes Show, Looney Tunes: Rabbits Run)
• Tim Dadabo (singing voice in The Looney Tunes Show, speaking voice in Scooby Doo and Looney Tunes: Cartoon Universe)<ref name="Singing Voice">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Tim Dabado">Template:Cite web</ref>
• Carlos Alazraqui (Half Like Me)
• Eric Bauza (Looney Tunes Dash, Looney Tunes: World of Mayhem)
• Dino Andrade (New Looney Tunes)
• Gabriel Iglesias (Space Jam: A New Legacy)<ref>Template:Cite tweet</ref>
• Raul Ceballos (Bugs Bunny Builders)

Further reading

• Nericcio, William Anthony (1996). “Autopsy of a Rat: Odd, Sundry Parables of Freddy Lopez, Speedy Gonzales, and Other Chicano/Latino Marionettes Prancing about Our First World Visual Emporium.” Camera Obscura 37 (January 1996): 189–237.
• Nericcio, William Anthony (2007). Tex[t]-Mex: Seductive Hallucinations of the "Mexican" in America. University of Texas Press.
• Schneider, Steve (1990). That's All Folks!: The Art of Warner Bros. Animation. Henry Holt & Co.
• Solomon, Charles (1994). The History of Animation: Enchanted Drawings. Random House Value Publishing.

External links

• Speedy Gonzales at Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Archived from the original on July 29, 2017.
• The Tex(t)-Mex Galleryblog an archive for the second edition of the University of Texas Press (2007) book on stereotypes.
• Template:Cite news