Gossamer is an animated character in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons. He was the co-star in the Bugs Bunny cartoon they showed this Saturday during the Svengoolie after-party, “Sventoonie”.
He has a heart-shaped face, orange bushy hair, a mouth full of fangs, very sharp claws, and a pair of giant tennis shoes. He originally was voiced by Mel Blanc[1] and has been voiced by Frank Welker, Maurice LaMarche, Joe Alaskey, Jim Cummings, Kwesi Boakye, Eric Bauza, and currently Fred Tatasciore.
Gossamer was introduced in the 1946 cartoon “Hair-Raising Hare” (the cartoon on Sventoonie). Bugs Bunny is lured into the mad scientist’s dungeon by a sexy robot rabbit and then is menaced by the monster (unnamed in this cartoon). The mad scientist is a caricature of actor Peter Lorre.
Animator Chuck Jones would next use Gossamer in the 1952 cartoon “Water, Water Every Hare”. This time the mad scientist is a caricature of Boris Karloff and the monster is called “Rudolph”. In need of a live brain for his giant robot, he releases Gossamer to capture Bugs Bunny, who becomes joyous when offered a “spider goulash” as a reward.
The monster next appears in Duck Dodgers and the Return of the 24½th Century in 1980. In this cartoon, he was called “Gossamer” for the first time, named by Marvin the Martian. The actual definition of the word gossamer is something light, delicate, or insubstantial. Chuck Jones named him that “because he’s the opposite looking of gossamer. He’s a big, hairy thing”.
In the 1995 short film, Carrotblanca, Gossamer is seated at a table. He is in the 1990s “Tiny Toon Adventures” including a Frankenstein parody segment in the Tiny Toons Night Ghoulery special. He is briefly in the 1996 movie “Space Jam”. Gossamer appears in several episodes of “The Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries”. He is an enemy in the “Bugs Bunny Crazy Castle 4” game and he appears on the cover. He is also the boss character in the Looney Tunes game “Taz: Escape from Mars; Sheep, Dog, ‘n’ Wolf; and Taz: Wanted”, to name a few.
In September 2002, Dale Earnhardt Jr. ran (and won in) a special Gossamer paint scheme at Richmond International Raceway during the Chevy Rock and Roll 400 weekend in which he and his brother Kerry ran Looney Tunes cars.
A toddler version of Gossamer appeared in the Baby Looney Tunes episode “Stop and Smell Up the Flowers”. He frightens the other Baby Looney Tunes by trying to get lemons from them. Gossamer is also a friend of Baby Pepé Le Pew.
Footnotes
- Melvin Jerome Blanc (May 30, 1908 – July 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 radio programs, including those of Jack Benny, Abbott and Costello, Burns and Allen, The Great Gildersleeve, Judy Canova, and his own short-lived sitcom. However, he became internationally known for his work in the Golden Age of American Animation as the voices of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, and most of the other characters from the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies theatrical cartoons. He later voiced characters for Hanna-Barbera’s television cartoons, including Barney Rubble on The Flintstones and Mr. Spacely on The Jetsons. Referred to as “The Man of a Thousand Voices”, he is regarded as one of the most influential people in the voice acting industry, and as one of the greatest voice actors of all time.
Sources
Wikipedia
Looney Tunes Wiki
The Looney Tunes Show Wiki
Villians Wiki
