Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} Meet the Pink Panther by Hope Freleng Pink Panther (1964-1980) Pink Panther (1963-1980), Was Produced by Depatie-Freleng Enterprises (DFE Films)
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Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} Meet the Pink Panther by Hope Freleng Pink Panther (1964-1980) Pink Panther (1963-1980), was produced by DePatie-Freleng Enterprises (DFE Films). 92 shorts were released theatrically and eventually appeared on Saturday mornings via The Pink Panther Show starting in 1969. All made-for-television entries (#93-#124) were also distributed to theaters after initially airing on The All-New Pink Panther Show in 1978-1979. The Pink Panther's long-time foil, known simply as The White Man (or The Little Man), appeared in many entries except where noted. The Pink Panther Theme. "The Pink Panther Theme" is an instrumental composition by Henry Mancini written as the theme for the 1963 film The Pink Panther and subsequently nominated for the 1964 Academy Award for Best Original Score. The eponymous cartoon character created for the film's opening credits by David DePatie and Friz Freleng was animated in time to the tune. The tenor saxophone solo was played by Plas Johnson. The tune was included on the film's soundtrack album and issued as a single in 1964; it reached the Top 10 on the Billboard adult contemporary chart and won three Grammy Awards. Various recordings of the tune were featured in the opening credits of all The Pink Panther films, with the exception of A Shot in the Dark and Inspector Clouseau. It has also been used in countless works featuring the animated Pink Panther character. "The Pink Panther Theme", originally played in the key of E minor, is noted for its quirky, unusual use of chromaticism which is derived from the Hungarian minor scale with raised 4th and 7th degrees. In the 1978 film Revenge of the Pink Panther, the theme, and much of the soundtrack from this entry in the series, draw heavily from the disco sound of the late 1970s. The theme itself was reworked to include a more dancy bassline, electric piano, and guitar solo. A similar thing was done for 1983's Curse of the Pink Panther, where it had more electronic sounds incorporated. The theme was used in John McLaughlin and Al Di Meola's live version of Chick Corea's Short Tales of the Black Forest, from the 1981 album Friday Night in San Francisco. The Tibo Toussaint Orchestra perform a version on the 1988 album Sound of Movies: 20 Great Themes. [3] In the 1993 film Son of the Pink Panther, the theme was rearranged and performed by Bobby McFerrin in the opening titles. This version was unique in being the only one to be performed acapella. Christophe Beck rearranged the music for the 2006 reboot, as well as its sequel, The Pink Panther 2. Paul Oakenfold remixed the theme song for the 2006 film. In 2007, saxophonist Dave Koz recorded a version for his album At the Movies. Pink Panther. The Pink Panther is the main and title character in the opening and closing credit sequences of every film in The Pink Panther series except for A Shot in the Dark and Inspector Clouseau . His popularity spawned a series of theatrical shorts, merchandise, a comic book, and television cartoons. He starred in 124 short films, 10 television shows and three prime time specials. Contents. DePatie-Freleng/United Artists cartoons. The animated Pink Panther character's initial appearance in the live action film's title sequence, directed by Friz Freleng, was such a success with audiences and United Artists that the studio signed Freleng and his DePatie-Freleng Enterprises studio to a multi-year contract for a series of Pink Panther theatrical cartoon shorts. The first entry in the series, 1964's The Pink Phink , (his debut appearance) featured the Panther harassing his foil, a little white mustached man who is actually a caricature of Friz Freleng (this character is officially known as "The Little White Guy" and/or "The Man" [1] ), by constantly trying to paint the little man's blue house pink. The Pink Phink won the 1964 Academy Award for Animated Short Film, and subsequent shorts in the series, usually featuring the Pink Panther opposite the little man, were successful releases. In an early series of Pink Panther animated cartoons, the Panther generally remained silent, speaking only in two theatrical shorts, Sink Pink and Pink Ice . Rich Little provided the Panther's voice in the latter shorts, modelling it on that of David Niven (who had portrayed Clouseau's jewel- thief nemesis in the original live-action film). Years later Little would overdub Niven's voice for Trail of the Pink Panther and Curse of the Pink Panther , due to Niven's ill health. All of the animated Pink Panther shorts utilized the distinctive jazzy theme music composed by Henry Mancini for the 1963 feature film, with additional scores composed by Walter Greene or William Lava. [2] [3] [4] [5] The Pink Panther Show. In the fall of 1969, the Pink Panther cartoons made their way to NBC television shown Saturday mornings via The Pink Panther Show . NBC added a laugh track to the original cartoons, with Marvin Miller brought on as an off-camera narrator talking to the Pink Panther during bumper segments featuring the Pink Panther and The Inspector together. [3] Pink Panther shorts made after 1969 were produced for both broadcast and film release, typically appearing on television first, and released to theaters by United Artists. One version of the show was called The Think Pink Panther Show . A number of sister series joined The Pink Panther on movie screens and on the airwaves, among them The Ant and the Aardvark , The Tijuana Toads (a.k.a. The Texas Toads ), Hoot Kloot , and Misterjaw (a.k.a. Mr. Jaws and Catfish ). There were also a series of animated shorts called The Inspector , with the Clouseau-inspired Inspector and his sidekick Sgt. Deux-Deux, whom the Inspector is forever correcting. Other DePatie-Freleng series included Roland and Rattfink , The Dogfather (a Godfather pastiche), with a canine Corleone family and two Tijuana Toads spinoffs, The Blue Racer and Crazylegs Crane . [3] The German television version which started airing in 1973 in ZDF was presented in 30-minute episodes, composed of one Pink Panther cartoon, one episode of The Inspector and one episode of The Ant and the Aardvark . Most notably, the difference between the German and the English version of the Pink Panther is a rhymed narration in the German version (spoken by voice actor Gert Günther Hoffmann), commenting and describing the plot. For this show, custom intro and end sequences were cut together from existing pieces of animation. In 1976, the half-hour series was revamped into a 90-minute format, as The Pink Panther Laugh and a Half Hour and a Half Show ; this version included a live-action segment, where the show's host, comedian Lenny Schultz, would read letters and jokes from viewers. This version flopped, and would change back to the original half-hour version in 1977. [3] In 1978, The Pink Panther moved to ABC and was rebranded The All New Pink Panther Show , where it lasted one season before leaving the network realm entirely. The ABC version of the series featured sixteen episodes with 32 new Pink Panther cartoons, and 16 of Crazylegs Crane . The 32 entries were later released theatrically by United Artists. [3] Comic book. In 1971, Gold Key Comics began publishing a Pink Panther comic book, with art by Warren Tufts. The Pink Panther and the Inspector lasted 87 issues, ending only when Gold Key ceased operations in 1984. [6] The spinoff series The Inspector (also from Gold Key) lasted 19 issues, from 1974 to 1978. [7] Later television shows and specials. During the final years of the Panther's theatrical run, DePatie-Freleng produced a series of three primetime Pink Panther television specials for ABC. The first was 1978's A Pink Christmas . It featured the panther in New York being cold and hungry looking for a holiday dinner. The other two specials premiered on ABC after the shorts officially ended in theaters, 1980's Olym-Pinks and 1981's Pink at First Sight . In November 2007, the three specials were released on a single disc DVD collection, The Pink Panther: A Pink Christmas from MGM Home Entertainment/20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. The studio was sold to Marvel Comics in 1981, and became Marvel Productions (now a part of The Walt Disney Company). In 1984, a new Saturday morning series was produced entitled Pink Panther and Sons . In this incarnation (produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions with Freleng serving as creative producer for the series), the still-silent Pink Panther was a father of his two talking sons, Pinky and Panky. While popular, critics complained that there was not enough Pink Panther to maintain interest for a full 30 minutes. [3] A new series of cartoon were created in 1993, simply titled The Pink Panther , produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Animation, premiered in syndication in 1993, and had the Pink Panther speaking with the voice of Matt Frewer (of Max Headroom fame). Unlike the original shorts, not all episode titles contained the word "pink," although many instead contained the word "panther." Voice impressionist John Byner returned to voice both the Ant and the Aardvark. [3] In July 2007, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. and Jordan's Rubicon animation company began co-production of the animated series Pink Panther and Pals portraying a teenaged panther and his friends. The 26 episode TV series premiered worldwide in spring 2010 on Cartoon Network. In 2011, a new 22-minute holiday special entitled A Very Pink Christmas aired on ABC Family and later Boomerang in the U.S., YTV in Canada, and Boomerang in the U.K.