The Coming Together of the Man Himself
6 December 2004
Arthur Q. Bryan would first do the familiar voice we know as Elmer Fudd in "Dangerous Dan McDoo" (1939), with the voice applied to a dog living in the Klondike.

The name Elmer Fudd had appeared in Merrie Melodies cartoons, usually associated with a small man with a red nose and a bouncy derby.

At one time, there was a rotund Elmer Fudd, who as a photographer was tormented by Bugs Bunny.

But it was the Hardship of Miles Standish (1940) that first saw the name, the voice and the look all brought together for the first time.

Whom we now know as Elmer would appear as John Alden in this cartoon. Hugh Herbert was the inspiration for MIles Standish. Herbert was the comedian who made the "woo woo woo" noise (which ironically enough would be imitated by the early Daffy Duck characterization).

Too funny is Prisilla, modeled after Edna May Oliver.

The Indian attack was emulating Oliver's Oscar nominated performance in Drums Along The Mohawk, where she was in a cabin attacked by Indians.

Oliver as Prisilla would get some zingers in this cartoon. Her laundry is endangered, she runs out and brings it all in, then takes one back.

"This one isn't dry," she says.

I always liked the Indians who now were scared when one of them broke the window, like boys playing baseball, and Elmer came out demanding to know who broke it.

Yes, we have Indians on the warpath. Several cartoons from this era are full of this image.

To dismiss this history tho runs the risk of repeating it. The cartoons were made, and from what has been posted here that I never knew, it seems like an Indian got the last word on the matter.

Nevertheless, this was the whole, complete Elmer Fudd's first appearance, so this cartoon has it's place in cartoon history as well.

"Nyah, nyah, yuh didn't even tuh-uch muh-ee, yuh didn't even tuh-uch . . . . muh-ee."

Prisilla had several arrows in her lower posterior.

Now she runs and yelps.
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