Little Audrey (full name: Audrey Smith) is a fictional character, appearing in early 20th century folklore prior to starring in a series of

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...

Famous Studios Famous Studios (renamed Paramount Cartoon Studios in 1956) was the first animation division of the film studio Paramount Pictures from 1942 to 1967. Famous was founded as a successor company to Fleischer Studios, after Paramount seized contro ...

cartoons from 1947 to 1958. She is considered a variation of the better-known ''

Little Lulu ''Little Lulu'' is a comic strip created in 1935 by American author Marge (cartoonist), Marjorie Henderson Buell. The character, Lulu Moppet, debuted in ''The Saturday Evening Post'' on February 23, 1935, in a single panel, appearing as a flower ...

'', devised after Paramount decided not to renew the license on the comic strip character created by

Marjorie Henderson Buell Marjorie Henderson Buell (née Marjorie Lyman Henderson, December 11, 1904 – May 30, 1993) was an American cartoonist who worked under the pen name Marge. She was best known as the creator of ''Little Lulu''. Early life Marjorie Lyman Henderso ...

(a.k.a. "Marge"). Despite some superficial similarities between the two characters, the Famous animators were at pains to design Audrey in contrast to Lulu, adopting an entirely different color scheme and employing the stylistic conventions common to Famous Studios' later 1940s repertoire, as opposed to Buell's individualistic rendering of Little Lulu. Veteran animator

Bill Tytla Volodymyr Peter "Bill" Tytla (October 25, 1904 - December 30, 1968) was a Ukrainian-American animator known for his work in Walt Disney Animation Studios, Paramount's Famous Studios, and Terrytoons. In his Disney career, Tytla is particularly ...

was the designer of Little Audrey, reportedly inspired by his daughter Tammy (who was also his inspiration for Famous' version of Little Lulu, on which he also worked and for which he directed several shorts). The original voice of Little Lulu was performed by actress

Cecil Roy Cecil H. Roy (October 2, 1900 – January 26, 1995) was an American radio actress who was well known in radio broadcasting of the 1930s and 1940s as The Girl of a Thousand Voices.DeLong, Thomas A. (1996). ''Radio Stars: An Illustrated Biograph ...

(who also provided the voice of ''

Casper the Friendly Ghost Casper the Friendly Ghost is the protagonist of the Famous Studios theatrical animated cartoon series of the same name. He is a pleasant, personable and translucent ghost, but often criticized by his three wicked uncles, the Ghostly Trio. The ...

''). Little Audrey was, instead, voiced by

Mae Questel Mae Questel (born Mae Kwestel, September 13, 1908 – January 4, 1998) was an American actress. She was best known for providing the voices for the animated characters Betty Boop (from 1931) and Olive Oyl (from 1933). She began in vaudeville, ...

, who also voiced most of Paramount's other major female cartoon characters, including

Betty Boop Betty Boop is an animated cartoon character created by Max Fleischer, with help from animators including Grim Natwick.Pointer (2017) She originally appeared in the ''Talkartoon'' and ''Betty Boop'' film series, which were produced by Fleischer ...

and

Olive Oyl Olive Oyl is a cartoon character created by E. C. Segar in 1919 for his comic strip ''Thimble Theatre''. The strip was later renamed ''Popeye'' after the sailor character that became the most popular member of the cast; however, Olive Oyl was a ...

from the

Popeye Popeye the Sailor Man is a fictional cartoon character created by E. C. Segar, Elzie Crisler Segar.First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

In folklore and juvenile humor

According to

B.A. Botkin Benjamin Albert Botkin (February 7, 1901 – July 30, 1975) was an American folklorist and scholarly method, scholar. Early life Botkin was born on February 7, 1901, in East Boston, Massachusetts, to Lithuanian Jewish immigrants. He attended the ...

's ''A Treasury of American Folktales:'' One of the most famous goes like this:

Pierre Berton Pierre Francis de Marigny Berton, CC, O.Ont. (July 12, 1920 – November 30, 2004) was a Canadian writer, journalist and broadcaster. Berton wrote 50 best-selling books, mainly about Canadiana, Canadian history and popular culture. He also wr ...

, in ''The Dionne Years: A Thirties Melodrama'' (1978), offers this example of a ''Little Audrey'' joke as was in fashion around the time of the

Dionne quintuplets The Dionne quintuplets (; born May 28, 1934) are the first quintuplets known to have survived their infancy. The identical girls were born just outside Callander, Ontario, near the village of Corbeil. All five survived to adulthood. The Dionn ...

' birth in 1934:

Animated cartoons

Little Audrey en una escena de 'The Seapreme Court'

Audrey first appeared in the ''

Noveltoon ''Noveltoons'' is a series of cartoons produced by Paramount Pictures' Famous Studios from 1943 to the end of the studio during 1967. The series was known for bringing to life characters from Harvey Comics, such as Casper the Friendly Ghost, We ...

'' ''Santa's Surprise'' (1947), where she was the most prominent member of a multicultural child cast working to clean Santa's workshop while he was asleep, and was briefly seen in the January 1948 ''

Popeye Popeye the Sailor Man is a fictional cartoon character created by E. C. Segar, Elzie Crisler Segar.Olive Oyl for President''. Her first appearance in her own series was the short ''Butterscotch and Soda'', released on July 16, 1948. In common with many animated shorts of the period, childlike fantasy played an important role in Audrey's early cartoons, which often used dream sequences as the basis of the storylines. In this way, Audrey could attend a wedding in Cakeland (''Tarts and Flowers'', 1950), ride the clouds with Mother Goose (''Goofy Goofy Gander'', also 1950), or face an underwater tribunal of outraged catfish (''The Seapreme Court'', 1954). Slapstick humor crept into the series with the release of ''Surf Bored'' (1953), which pitted the precocious little girl against a hulking, but ultimately brainless, lifeguard. A total of 16 cartoons starring Audrey were produced for theatrical release, several of which were re-packaged for television from the late 1950s on. She was the only character in the series to have her own theme song with vocals ("Little Audrey Says", by

Winston Sharples Winston Singleton Sharples (March 1, 1909 – April 3, 1978) was an American composer known for his work with animated short subjects, especially those created by the animation department at Paramount Pictures. In his 35-year career, Sharples s ...

and Buddy Kaye). Some other characters (and certain one-shots) in the series had their own themes, but were entirely instrumental. Two ''Noveltoons'' spin-offs, ''

'' and ''

Herman and Katnip ''Herman and Katnip'' are a duo of cartoon characters, Herman the Mouse and Katnip the Cat, that starred in theatrical animated shorts produced by Famous Studios in the 1940s and 1950s. Arnold Stang and Allen Swift were the regular voices of Herma ...

'', had their own vocal themes, but only after leaving the series. For ''Little Audrey'', the pre-October 1950 cartoons were sold to television distributor U.M. & M. TV Corporation in 1956, while the post-October 1950 cartoons would be sold to

Harvey Comics Harvey Comics (also known as Harvey World Famous Comics, Harvey Publications, Harvey Comics Entertainment, Harvey Hits, Harvey Illustrated Humor, and Harvey Picture Magazines) was an American comic book publisher, founded in New York City by Alfr ...

, when they acquired the rights to the character in 1959. Today, they are the property of

DreamWorks Animation DreamWorks Animation LLC (DWA, also known as DreamWorks Animation Studios and simply known as DreamWorks) is an American animation studio that produces animated films and television programs and is a subsidiary of Universal Pictures, a division ...

(via

DreamWorks Classics Classic Media, LLC, doing business as DreamWorks Classics, is an American entertainment company owned by DreamWorks Animation, which is a subsidiary of Universal Pictures and a division of Comcast's NBCUniversal. It was founded as Classic Medi ...

), a subsidiary of

NBCUniversal NBCUniversal Media, LLC is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate corporation owned by Comcast and headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, United States. NBCUniversal is primari ...

, and distributed by

Universal Television Universal Television LLC (abbreviated as UTV) is an American television production company that is a subsidiary of Universal Studio Group, a division of Comcast's NBCUniversal. It serves as the network television production arm of NBC; a predeces ...

. Meanwhile, the Popeye cartoon '' Olive Oyl for President'' would become property of

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

(via

Turner Entertainment Co. Turner Entertainment Company is an American multimedia company founded by Ted Turner in 1986. Purchased by Time Warner in 1996 as part of its acquisition of Turner Broadcasting System (TBS), the company was largely responsible for overseeing th ...

), and distributed by

Warner Bros. Television Warner Bros. Television Studios (operating under the name Warner Bros. Television; formerly known as Warner Bros. Television Division) is an American television production and distribution studio of the Warner Bros. Television Group division of ...

. Audrey is one of the three (later four) main characters in the

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

original series

DreamWorks Animation Television DreamWorks Animation Television (abbreviated as DWATV or simply DAT) is an American animation studio that serves as the television production arm of DreamWorks Animation, itself a subsidiary of Universal Pictures and a division of Comcast's ...

's ''Harvey Street Kids'', which was re-titled ''

Harvey Girls Forever! ''Harvey Girls Forever!'' (originally titled ''Harvey Street Kids'' in its first season, then retroactively retitled) is an American animated comedy television series produced by Brendan Hay and Aliki Theofilopoulos for DreamWorks Animation Televi ...

'' in its second season. Little Audrey has been modernized, as her classic outfit has been replaced by more contemporary clothing. She also has brown hair, which is more akin to the comics, as opposed to having red hair, like in the theatrical shorts. Unlike her comic-book counterpart, Audrey is tomboy-ish and energetic. She is voiced by

Stephanie Lemelin Stephanie Lemelin is an American actress and comedienne. She is best known for voicing Artemis Crock on '' Young Justice'', Eep on '' Dawn of the Croods'' and Audrey on ''Harvey Girls Forever!''. Education Lemelin graduated in 2001 from the Uni ...

. Some of her companions from the comics; Melvin Wisenheimer, Tiny, and Lucretia also appeared in ''Harvey Girls Forever!''

The Famous/Harvey character

''Little Audreys last name is Smith. Little Audrey has reddish brown hair with ribbons making three pigtails (two low and one high). She wears a little dress with puffed sleeves, white ankle socks, and black Mary Jane shoes. In the short subjects, the dress and ribbons are blue, but by the time of her

runs, they are red. In ''

Harvey Street Kids ''Harvey Girls Forever!'' (originally titled ''Harvey Street Kids'' in its first season, then retroactively retitled) is an American animated comedy television series produced by Brendan Hay and Aliki Theofilopoulos for DreamWorks Animation Tele ...

'', she wears a pink shirt with jeans. The comic "Cousin Suzie's Dance Party" (Little Audrey and Melvin #29, March, 1967) reveals that Audrey has a cousin named Suzie, who has a friend named Bubu. The first several issues of the comic book also reveals she has a brother nicknamed "Patches".

In other media

While the jokes remained popular well into the 1980s, the Famous/Harvey character had an entirely different career: Little Audrey was going to have a cameo in ''

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 ...

'', but rights to the character could not be obtained in time.

Comic strip

Animation historian

Jerry Beck Jerry Beck (born February 9, 1955, in New York City) is an American animation historian, author, blogger, and video producer. Beck wrote or edited several books on classic American animation and classic characters, including ''The 50 Greatest C ...

notes that

' animator Steve Muffatti drew a short-lived "Little Audrey" comic strip for magazines in 1951, which were syndicated by

King Features King Features Syndicate, Inc. is a American content distribution and animation studio, consumer product licensing and print syndication company owned by Hearst Communications that distributes about 150 comic strips, newspaper columns, editorial c ...

. These strips were also reprinted in 1952-55 by

."Paramount/Famous Studios Original Titles
Cartoon Research website. Accessed December 12, 2011.

Comic books

''Little Audrey'' was never as successful as Famous' best-known creation, ''

'', but the character had considerable success in printed form. The first ''Little Audrey'' comic book series was

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 ...

from April 1948 to May 1952. Featuring stories which depended more on situation comedy than on fantasy, the comics featured artwork done in a style approximating the original Famous character designs (most of them by Steve Muffati). The series met with moderate success on the newsstand, running for approximately 24 issues until ''Little Audrey'' was licensed by

in 1952. Initially, Harvey's comic-book version closely followed its animated template, but the character was redesigned during the mid-1950s to conform more closely to the company's in-house style. The general storyline was simultaneously overhauled to provide Audrey with supporting characters such as Melvin Wisenheimer, her prankish arch-enemy/frenemy, and Tiny, a young

African African or Africans may refer to: * Anything from or pertaining to the continent of Africa: ** People who are native to Africa, descendants of natives of Africa, or individuals who trace their ancestry to indigenous inhabitants of Africa *** Ethn ...

American boy. Domestic comedy gradually took over the scripts, as Audrey was shown in conflict with parents, teachers, and other authority figures. Harvey purchased the rights to all of Famous' original properties - ''Little Audrey'' included - in 1958, also acquiring the rights to the post-1950 ''Audrey'' cartoons. It was during this time that the "definitive" Audrey came into being, taking on the signature red dress and appearance most often associated with the character. By 1960, Little Audrey was the best known of Harvey's female characters due to her multi-media presence (comic books, television/theatrical animation and - briefly - newspaper strips), although her popularity was later eclipsed by the company's other female characters, Little Dot,

Wendy the Good Little Witch Wendy the Good Little Witch is a fictional comic book character from Harvey Comics. Like Casper the Friendly Ghost and Hot Stuff the Little Devil, Wendy is an opposite-type character, a girl witch who does good deeds. Publication history Wendy ...

and

Little Lotta Little Lotta is a fictional character published by Harvey Comics from 1953 to 1972, and then sporadically until 1993. A contemporary of Little Audrey, Little Dot and Wendy the Good Little Witch, she was one of Harvey's best-known female characters ...

. Later comic series were titled ''Playful Little Audrey'' (the name under which the character had been

trademark A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a type of intellectual property consisting of a recognizable sign, design, or expression that identifies products or services from a particular source and distinguishes them from others ...

ed in 1961) and ''Little Audrey & Melvin''. In the latter, Audrey and Melvin become less antagonistic and Audrey demonstrates affections for and jealousy towards him, much like

had done with Tubby Tompkins. During her most successful period, Audrey starred in at least four of her own titles and was a back-up feature in '' Richie Rich'', ''Casper'', and ''Little Dot''. The character lasted until 1976, when an industry-wide distribution slump brought an end to most of Harvey's line and most children's comics in general. Since that time, the character has undergone several revivals and made scattered television and video appearances, most notably in '' The Richie Rich Show'' (1996) and ''

Baby Huey's Great Easter Adventure ''Baby Huey's Great Easter Adventure'' is a 1999 live-action direct-to-video film directed by Stephen Furst, based on the Harvey Entertainment Company animated character Baby Huey. It was released by Columbia TriStar Home Video on VHS on March 2, ...

'' (1998).

Famous Studios filmography

All cartoons listed are entries in the series unless otherwise noted. Credited directors for each short are noted. Note 1: These cartoons were rebroadcast as part of ''

The Harveytoons Show ''The Harveytoons Show'' is a television series presenting theatrical animated cartoons produced by Famous Studios from 1950 until 1964, which were acquired by Harvey Entertainment. History This show features Harvey Comics characters and series inc ...

'' (a.k.a. ''Casper and Friends''), which aired in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

on the now-defunct network

Teletoon Retro Teletoon Retro was a Canadian specialty channel that was owned by Corus Entertainment that was based on the Teletoon programming block. The service was dedicated to broadcasting classic animated television programs as well as some live-action s ...

.
Note 2: The first two cartoons (''Santa's Surprise'' and ''Olive Oyl for President'') are, respectively, part of the '' Noveltoons'' series for the first, and the ''

Popeye the Sailor Popeye the Sailor Man is a fictional cartoon character created by Elzie Crisler Segar.remake A remake is a film, television series, video game, song or similar form of entertainment that is based upon and retells the story of an earlier production in the same medium—e.g., a "new version of an existing film". A remake tells the same ...

of the homonym

Max Fleischer Max Fleischer (born Majer Fleischer ; July 19, 1883 – September 25, 1972) was an American animator, inventor, film director and producer, and studio founder and owner. Born in Kraków, Fleischer immigrated to the United States where he became ...

'' Color Classic'' cartoon ''The Song of the Birds'', which was released on March 1, 1935.

References

External links

Little Audrey
at

Don Markstein's Toonopedia Don Markstein's Toonopedia (subtitled A Vast Repository of Toonological Knowledge) is an online encyclopedia of print cartoons, comic strips and animation, initiated February 13, 2001. Donald D. Markstein, the sole writer and editor of Toonopedi ...

Archived
from the original on November 10, 2015. *Archive.Org:
Song of the Birds (1935)
(does not have Audrey but inspired the later adaptation)
Santa's Surprise (1947)

Butterscotch and Soda (1948)

The Lost Dream (1949)

Tarts and Flowers (May 1950)

Goofy Goofy Gander (August 1950)

Seapreme Court (1954)
*YouTube:
Little Audrey Riding Hood (1955)
{{Famous Studios Animated human characters Child characters in animated films Child characters in comics DreamWorks Classics Famous Studios series and characters Female characters in animation Female characters in comics Fictional characters from New York City Film characters introduced in 1947 Comics characters introduced in 1947 Fictional tricksters Film series introduced in 1947 Harvey Comics series and characters Children's comics Humor comics Slapstick comedy