Heckle and Jeckle are

postwar In Western usage, the phrase post-war era (or postwar era) usually refers to the time since the end of World War II. More broadly, a post-war period (or postwar period) is the interval immediately following the end of a war. A post-war period c ...

animated cartoon Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most anima ...

character Character or Characters may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''Character'' (novel), a 1936 Dutch novel by Ferdinand Bordewijk * ''Characters'' (Theophrastus), a classical Greek set of character sketches attributed to The ...

s created by Paul Terry, originally produced at his own

Terrytoons Terrytoons was an American animation studio in New Rochelle, New York, that produced animated cartoons for theatrical release from 1929 to 1973 (and briefly returned between 1987 and 1996 for television in name only). Terrytoons was founded by ...

animation Animation is a method by which image, still figures are manipulated to appear as Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent cel, celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited ...

studio and released through

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...

. The characters are a pair of identical

anthropomorphic Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics t ...

yellow-billed magpie The yellow-billed magpie ''(Pica nuttalli)'', also known as the California magpie, is a large bird in the crow family that is restricted to the U.S. state of California. It inhabits the Central Valley and the adjacent chaparral foothills and m ...

s; they were voiced at different times by

Sid Raymond Sid Raymond (born Raymond Silverstein, January 21, 1909 – December 1, 2006) was an American comedian and character actor. Early years Born Raymond Silverstein in Manhattan, Raymond dropped out of New York University and became the recreation ...

(1947),

Ned Sparks Ned Sparks (born Edward Arthur Sparkman, November 19, 1883 – April 3, 1957) was a Canadian-born character actor of the American stage and screen. He was known for his deadpan expression and comically nasal, monotone delivery. Life and career ...

(1947–51),

Roy Halee Roy Decker Halee (born 1934) is an American record producer and engineer, best known for working with Simon & Garfunkel, both as a group and for their solo projects. Early life He grew up on Long Island, New York. His father, also named Roy ...

(1951–61),

Dayton Allen Dayton Allen (born Dayton Allen Bolke; September 24, 1919 – November 11, 2004) was an American comedian and voice actor. He was one of the "men in the street" on ''The Steve Allen Show''. His catchphrase was "Why not, Bubbe?" (pronounced "whoo ...

(1956–66) and

Frank Welker Franklin Wendell Welker (born March 12, 1946) is an American voice actor. He began his career in the 1960s, and holds over 860 film, television, and video game credits as of 2022, making him one of the most prolific voice actors of all time. With ...

(1979).

Production history

''The Talking Magpies'', released January 4, 1946, was the first Terrytoons cartoon to feature a pair of wisecracking magpies. This was a husband-and-wife pair, not the pair of identical birds that they would become. Terry was taken with the idea of a pair of identical characters, and followed up with ''The Uninvited Pests'' (November 29, 1946), which established the pair as new characters. Terrytoons made 52 ''Heckle and Jeckle'' theatrical cartoons between 1946 and 1966. The early cartoons paired the duo with the popular song of the time, "

Listen to the Mocking Bird "Listen to the Mocking Bird" (1855) is an American popular song of the mid-19th century. Its lyrics were composed by Septimus Winner under the pseudonym "Alice Hawthorne", and its music was by Richard Milburn. It relates the story of a singer drea ...

", as their theme.

Television shows

After Paul Terry sold the Terrytoons studio to CBS in 1955, the studio's cartoons were repackaged in different timeslots. In summer 1956, the premiere episode of the primetime ''CBS Cartoon Theater'' included the 1947 magpie short ''Flying South''. ''The Heckle and Jeckle Cartoon Show'' premiered on CBS Saturday mornings on October 14, 1956, and aired until 1966. The show also included shorts starring other Terrytoons characters, including

Mighty Mouse Mighty Mouse is an American animated Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic superhero mouse character created by the Terrytoons studio for 20th Century Fox. The character was originally called Super Mouse, and made his debut in the 1942 short ''Th ...

, Little Roquefort and Percy the Cat,

Gandy Goose Gandy Goose is a Terrytoons cartoon character who first appeared in the 1938 short ''Gandy the Goose''. He is frequently paired with Sourpuss, a cat, beginning in the 1939 short ''Hook Link and Sinker''. Sourpuss' first appearance was in the 1939 ...

Dinky Duck Dinky Duck is a Terrytoons cartoon character who first appeared in the 1939 animated short ''The Orphan Duck''. Unlike fellow Terrytoons characters Mighty Mouse, silly Gandy Goose and the magpie duo Heckle and Jeckle, Dinky never became popular, ...

and the Terry Bears. After a hiatus, the show moved to NBC Saturday mornings in September 1969, and aired until September 4, 1971. ''

The New Adventures of Mighty Mouse and Heckle & Jeckle ''The New Adventures of Mighty Mouse and Heckle & Jeckle'' is a 1979–1980 television series featuring newly produced Mighty Mouse and Heckle & Jeckle cartoons. The series was produced by Filmation, and aired from 1979 to 1980 on CBS with 96 epi ...

'' premiered on CBS Saturday mornings on September 8, 1979. The show featured newly-animated 11-minute magpie cartoons, in which the characters were not as abrasive as their theatrical personas. The hour-long show featured two ''Heckle and Jeckle'' cartoons. The show was cut to a half-hour for the 1980-1981 season, and featured one ''Heckle and Jeckle'' cartoon. Heckle and Jeckle made a cameo in the 1988 '' Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures'' episode "Mighty's Wedlock Whimsy", alongside a few other Terrytoons characters. However, they have no speaking lines. In an unreleased 1999 Terrytoons pilot called ''Curbside'', Heckle was voiced by

Toby Huss Tobias Huss (born December 9, 1966) is an American actor, known for portraying Artie in the Nickelodeon series ''The Adventures of Pete & Pete'' (1993–1996). He is also known for his voice-over work on the long-running animated series ''King of ...

and Jeckle was voiced by comedian

Bobcat Goldthwait Robert Francis "Bobcat" Goldthwait (born May 26, 1962) is an American actor, comedian, director and screenwriter, known for his black comedy stand-up act, delivered through an energetic stage persona with an unusual raspy and high-pitched voice. ...

. They were also changed from magpies to crows.

Comic books and licensing

Heckle and Jeckle have been licensed for toys, T-shirts, puzzles, games, salt and pepper shakers, Halloween costumes, plush dolls, puppets, coloring books, cookie jars and other consumer products for decades, variously through Terrytoons,

CBS Television CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...

and

Viacom Viacom, an abbreviation of Video and Audio Communications, may refer to: * Viacom (1952–2006), a former American media conglomerate * Viacom (2005–2019), a former company spun off from the original Viacom * Viacom18, a joint venture between Par ...

. Selected cartoons from the original series of 52 theatrical titles were briefly made available on VHS home video in the 1990s, but a major DVD release has yet to materialize. The characters also regularly appeared in

comic books A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

over the years, including "Mighty Mouse", "Terrytoons" and "Paul Terry's Comics", and even headlined a number of their own comic book titles: *

St. John Publications St. John Publications was an American publisher of magazines and comic books. During the 1947-1958 existence of its comic-book division, St. John established several industry firsts. Founded by Archer St. John, the firm was located in Manhattan a ...

, ''Heckle and Jeckle'' #1–24 (1951–55) *

Pines Comics Standard Comics was a comic book imprint of American publisher Ned Pines, who also published pulp magazines (under a variety of company names that he also used for the comics) and paperback books (under the Popular Library name). Standard in t ...

, ''Heckle and Jeckle'' #25–34 (1956–59) *

Dell Comics Dell Comics was the comic book publishing arm of Dell Publishing, which got its start in pulp magazines. It published comics from 1929 to 1974. At its peak, it was the most prominent and successful American company in the medium.Evanier, Mark"Wh ...

, ''New Terrytoons'' #6–8 (1962) *

Gold Key Comics Gold Key Comics was originally an imprint of American company Western Publishing, created for comic books distributed to newsstands. Also known as Whitman Comics, Gold Key operated this way from 1962 to 1984. Currently, Gold Key Comics is owned b ...

, ''New Terrytoons'' #1–43; 47 (1962–77) Heckle and Jeckle were planned to have a cameo in the deleted scene "Acme's Funeral" from the 1988 film ''

Who Framed Roger Rabbit ''Who Framed Roger Rabbit'' is a 1988 American live-action/animated comedy mystery film directed by Robert Zemeckis, produced by Frank Marshall and Robert Watts, and loosely adapted by Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman from Gary K. Wolf's 1 ...

''.

Home Video

Aside from the Public Domain VHS tapes & DVDs there were a few authorized home video releases. 1978 Magnetic Video released VHS and Betamax tapes that included Heckle & Jeckle' *"5 Terrytoon Cartoons Featuring Heckle & Jeckle" included "Stowaways" along with 4 other Terrytoons. *"5 Terrytoon Cartoons Featuring Mighty Mouse" included "King Tut's Tomb" along with 4 other Terrytoons. 1981 RCA Selectavision CED Discs (not laserdiscs). *"Terrytoons Volume 1 featuring Mighty Mouse" included "Wild Life" and "Miami Maniacs" along with 13 other Terrytoons. 1989 Video Treasures released VHS Tapes (at LP speed). *"The Best of Terrytoons" included "The Talking Magpies" along with 5 other Terrytoons. *"Terrytoon Olympics: included "Gooney Golfers" along with 5 other Terrytoons *"Heckle & Jeckle vol.1" featured "Magpie Madness","Free Enterprise","The Power of Thought","The Stowaways","Happy Landing" *"Heckle & Jeckle vol.2" featured "The Intruders","Flying South","Fishing By The Sea","The Super Salesmen","The Hitch-Hikers","A Sleepless Night" No official Laserdiscs, DVDs, or Blu-rays.

Filmography

1946 * ''The Talking Magpies'' (prototypes) (January 4) * ''The Uninvited Pests'' (official debut) (November 29) 1947 * ''McDougal's Rest Farm'' (January 31) * ''Happy Go Lucky'' (February 28) * ''Cat Trouble'' (April 11) * ''The Intruders'' (May 9) * ''Flying South'' (August 15) * ''Fishing By the Sea'' (September 19) * ''The Super Salesman'' (October 24) * ''The Hitch Hikers'' (December 12) 1948 * ''Taming the Cat'' (January) * ''A Sleepless Night'' (June) * ''Magpie Madness'' (July) * ''Out Again in Again'' (November) * ''Free Enterprise'' (November) * ''Goony Golfers'' (December) 1949 * ''The Power of Thought'' (January) * ''The Lion Hunt'' (March) * ''The Stowaways'' (April) * ''Happy Landing'' (June) * ''Hula Hula Land'' (July) * ''Dancing Shoes'' (November) 1950 * ''The Fox Hunt'' (February) * ''A Merry Chase'' (May) * ''King Tut's Tomb'' (August) 1951 * ''Rival Romeos'' (January) * ''Bulldozing the Bull'' (March) * ''The Rainmakers'' (June) * ''Steeple Jacks'' (September) * '''Sno Fun'' (November) 1952 * ''Movie Madness'' (January) * ''Off to the Opera'' (May) * ''House Busters'' (August) * ''Moose on the Loose'' (November) 1953 * ''Hair Cut-Ups'' (February) * ''Pill Peddlers'' (April) * ''Ten Pin Terrors'' (June) * ''Bargain Daze'' (August) * ''Log Rollers'' (November) 1954 * ''Blind Date'' (February) * ''Satisfied Customers'' (May) * ''Blue Plate Symphony'' (December) 1956 * ''Miami Maniacs'' (February) 1957 * ''Pirate's Gold'' (January) 1959 * ''Wild Life'' (September) 1960 * ''Thousand Smile Checkup'' (January) * ''Mint Men'' * ''Trapeze, Pleeze'' * ''Deep Sea Doodle'' * ''Stunt Men'' 1961 * ''Sappy New Year'' 1966 * ''Messed Up Movie Makers''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heckle And Jeckle Animated duos Fictional anthropomorphic characters Film characters introduced in 1946 Fictional corvids Fictional tricksters Magpies and treepies NBC original programming Terrytoons characters Films adapted into comics Male characters in animation