''Loopy De Loop'' is a theatrical cartoon short series produced and directed by

William Hanna William Denby Hanna (July 14, 1910 – March 22, 2001) was an American animator and cartoonist who was the creator of ''Tom and Jerry'' as well as the voice actor for the two title characters. Alongside Joseph Barbera, he also founded the ani ...

and Joseph Barbera after leaving MGM and opening their new studio, Hanna-Barbera Productions. Loopy De Loop Profile 48 cartoons were produced between 1959 and 1965, and released to theatres by

Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the multi ...

. It was the final theatrical cartoon series to be produced by

and Joe Barbera, as well as the only one to be produced by their own studio.

Overview

Loopy is a gentleman

wolf The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly u ...

who mangles the English language in his bid to converse in a Franco-Canadian accent, and always wears a characteristic tuque knit cap. A self-appointed good Samaritan, he dauntlessly fights to clear the bad name of wolves and opens every episode with his trademark introduction "I am Loopy De Loop, the good wolf." Though he is always kind and helpful, his exploits usually get him beaten up or chased out of town by the very people he has helped, all for no other reason than the prejudice of being a wolf. Still, he never loses faith, and considers himself "kind, considerate and charming." The character's name is an inspired combination of a play on words: *"Loop the loop" is a 360-degree back flip performed by airplane stunt pilots. *'' Canis lupus'' is the Latin-based scientific name for the

grey wolf The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly u ...

species of the dog family, with the species' name of ''lupus'' being the basis for ''loup'', the French word for wolf. *"Loopy" is a synonym for "crazy" or "eccentric"

Analysis

Animation historian Christopher P. Lehman places the Loopy De Loop character and series in the context of their time. Loopy is a wolf devoted to improving the largely negative image of his species. He does not want to be another Big Bad Wolf and chooses to be good. He performs (or attempts to perform)

good deeds ''Good Deeds'' is a 2012 American romantic drama film written, co-produced, directed by and starring Tyler Perry with the rest of the cast consisting of Thandiwe Newton, Brian White, Rebecca Romijn, Jamie Kennedy, Phylicia Rashad, and Gabr ...

for other people in a recurring show of generosity. Yet the people he tried to help would be ungrateful, turning on him, and attacking him. Loopy is a character suffering

persecution Persecution is the systematic mistreatment of an individual or group by another individual or group. The most common forms are religious persecution, racism, and political persecution, though there is naturally some overlap between these term ...

because of his looks and the bad reputation of his entire species, not because of his deeds or his personality. Lehman connects Loopy's fate to the then-contemporary struggles of African Americans to integrate into the wider society of the United States, while facing racial stereotypes which were socially ingrained. Black people were variously stereotyped at the time as humble servants, oversexed brutes, and childlike simpletons. Like Loopy, African Americans had to struggle and overcome the negative reputation of their entire kind. Lehman notes that the Loopy De Loop animated film series lasted from 1959 to 1965, the most progressive period for the

Civil Rights Movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional Racial segregation in the United States, racial segregation, Racial discrimination ...

. The series ended following the

desegregation Desegregation is the process of ending the separation of two groups, usually referring to races. Desegregation is typically measured by the index of dissimilarity, allowing researchers to determine whether desegregation efforts are having impact o ...

efforts of the era, the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom (1963), the

Civil Rights Act of 1964 The Civil Rights Act of 1964 () is a landmark civil rights and labor law in the United States that outlaws discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin. It prohibits unequal application of voter registration req ...

, and the

Voting Rights Act of 1965 The suffrage, Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a landmark piece of Federal government of the United States, federal legislation in the United States that prohibits racial discrimination in voting. It was signed into law by President of the United ...

. The movement was noted for its use of

nonviolence Nonviolence is the personal practice of not causing harm to others under any condition. It may come from the belief that hurting people, animals and/or the environment is unnecessary to achieve an outcome and it may refer to a general philosoph ...

as a tactic,

love Love encompasses a range of strong and positive emotional and mental states, from the most sublime virtue or good habit, the deepest Interpersonal relationship, interpersonal affection, to the simplest pleasure. An example of this range of ...

as a theme in speech, and integration as a means to achieve the goal of forming a beloved community. Lehman notes some similarities between Loopy and another French-speaking animated character: Pepé Le Pew (who also had Michael Maltese story contributing). The

French language French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the Latin spoken in Gaul, and more specifically in ...

was used by American animation studios to illustrate their characters' loving feelings and these two characters are prime examples of the trope. However, there is a key difference between Loopy and Pepé. Pepé is an amorous character and the aspect of

he embraces is

eros In Greek mythology, Eros (, ; grc, Ἔρως, Érōs, Love, Desire) is the Greek god of love and sex. His Roman counterpart was Cupid ("desire").''Larousse Desk Reference Encyclopedia'', The Book People, Haydock, 1995, p. 215. In the e ...

. Loopy the Good Samaritan instead embraces agape.

List of theatrical shorts

1959

1960

1961

1962

1963

1964

1965

Television

In 1969, Loopy's film shorts were gathered together into a syndicated television series, simply titled ''Loopy de Loop''.

Cast

Daws Butler Charles Dawson Butler (November 16, 1916May 18, 1988) was an American voice actor. He worked mostly for the Hanna-Barbera animation production company where he originated the voices of many familiar characters, including Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Ho ...

as Loopy De Loop * Other voices include Don Messick, Doug Young,

Mel Blanc Melvin Jerome Blanc (born Blank ; May 30, 1908July 10, 1989) was an American voice actor and radio personality whose career spanned over 60 years. During the Golden Age of Radio, he provided character voices and vocal sound effects for comedy ra ...

, Red Coffey, Hal Smith, Arnold Stang,

June Foray June Foray (born June Lucille Forer; September 18, 1917 – July 26, 2017) was an American Voice acting, voice actress. She was best known as the voice of such animation, animated characters as Rocky the Flying Squirrel, The Adventures of Rocky a ...

, Jean Vander Pyl, Julie Bennett, Janet Waldo, Nancy Wible,

Howard Morris Howard Jerome Morris (September 4, 1919 – May 21, 2005) was an American actor, comedian, and director. He was best known for his role in ''The Andy Griffith Show'' as Ernest T. Bass, and as "Uncle Goopy" in a celebrated comedy sketch on Sid C ...

, and

Paul Frees Solomon Hersh "Paul" Frees (June 22, 1920November 2, 1986) was an American actor, comedian, impressionist, and vaudevillian. He is known for his work on Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Walter Lantz, Rankin/Bass, and Walt Disney theatrical cartoons during ...

Other appearances

* A brief scene from "Two Faced Wolf" appears in The Monkees' film '' Head''. * Loopy appeared in the 1991 NBC series ''

Yo Yogi! ''Yo Yogi!'' is an American animated television series and the seventh entry in the ''Yogi Bear'' franchise produced by Hanna-Barbera that aired from September 14 to December 7, 1991 on NBC for 13 episodes. This would be one of the last Yogi Bear ...

'', voiced by Greg Burson. He appears as an employee and owner of The Picnic Basket at Jellystone Mall's food court. * Loopy appeared in the '' Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law'' episode "Juror in Court". He escapes from the prison along with many Harvey's clients, when his cases are sent to the review. It is unknown why he was there because he never appeared in the show before and was not a client of Harvey. Loopy also appears in a recap of the previous episode in "The Death of Harvey". * A genderbend version of Loopy appears in the

HBO Max HBO Max is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in the United States on May 27, 2020, the service is built around the libraries of HBO, Warner Bros., Cartoon Netwo ...

show '' Jellystone!'' voiced by Ulka Simone Mohanty in a French accent. In contrast to the classic version's optimistic outlook, Loopy here is equipped with a more cynical and deadpan personality. She works with Jabberjaw in Magilla Gorilla's haberdashery. In Season 2, Loopy De Loop is revealed to be Mildew Wolf's cousin.

References in popular culture

* Loopy is quoted (in English) by

Sami Frey Sami Frey (born Samuel Frei; 13 October 1937) is a French actor of Iranian Jewish descent. Among the films he starred in are ''En compagnie d'Antonin Artaud'' (1993), in which he portrays French poet and playwright Antonin Artaud, and '' Bande � ...

's character, Franz, in

Jean-Luc Godard Jean-Luc Godard ( , ; ; 3 December 193013 September 2022) was a French-Swiss film director, screenwriter, and film critic. He rose to prominence as a pioneer of the French New Wave film movement of the 1960s, alongside such filmmakers as Fran ...

's French-language feature film, Bande à part.

Home media

On September 9, 2014,

Warner Home Video Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Inc. (formerly known as Warner Home Video and WCI Home Video and sometimes credited as Warner Home Entertainment) is the home video distribution division of Warner Bros. It was founded in 1978 as WCI Home Vide ...

(via Warner Archive) released ''Loopy De Loop: The Complete Collection'' on DVD in Region 1 as part of their Hanna–Barbera Classics Collection.'The Complete Collection' of the Theatrical-Shorts-turned-TV-Show!

In other languages

* Italian: ''Lupo de Lupis'' *

Brazilian Portuguese Brazilian Portuguese (' ), also Portuguese of Brazil (', ) or South American Portuguese (') is the set of varieties of the Portuguese language native to Brazil and the most influential form of Portuguese worldwide. It is spoken by almost all of ...

: ''Loopy Le Beau'' * Portuguese: ''similar to English'' * Spanish: ''Loopy de Loop, el lobo bueno'' *

Serbian Serbian may refer to: * someone or something related to Serbia, a country in Southeastern Europe * someone or something related to the Serbs, a South Slavic people * Serbian language * Serbian names See also

* * * Old Serbian (disambiguat ...

: ''Лупи Добрић, добри вук'' (Lupi Dobrić, dobri vuk)