The Pink Panther

Think of all the animals you've ever heard about, like rhinoceroses, tigers, cats and mink...

Jun 25, 2023

The Pink Panther

This week it is all about the story behind The Pink Panther cartoon. Animated is a free newsletter that drops into your inbox each Sunday. Why not brighten your day and subscribe? :)

A Slice of History

The Pink Panther Show was first shown in 1969, but the idea started back as early as 1963 with the live-action films introducing the character Jacques Clouseau, who must stop a thief stealing the diamond called the Pink Panther. The animated Pink Panther character first appeared in the opening credits of the live-action film of the same name before developing into their own show.

Originally consisting of just one cartoon sandwiched between cartoons of The Inspector, the original 30-minute show connected the characters with an announcer (Marvin Miller) who often acted as an off-screen narrator who would interact with the cartoon characters on screen.

The cartoon was first released on television and then, due to its popularity, was released to cinema audiences and, like many other cartoons of the time, carried a laughter track.

As the animation developed into The New Pink Panther Show, it started to include other animated segments, including Ant and the Aardvark, Mister Jaw and Texas Toads. At this point, it had to be re-edited for television due to the perceived overly violent content to become more family-friendly to a changing 1970s audience. Like with other animations of the time, this was primarily driven by parental power within cartoon programming on television.

In 1976 a revamped, lengthened show of 90 minutes introduced live-action aspects along with comedian Lenny Schultz who read letters and jokes from viewers as part of the show. However, this was abandoned within a year, and the show returned to its successful thirty-minute format.

By the time the cartoon reached its tenth season, thirty-two more Pink Panther cartoons were created and repackaged, this time with Crazylegs Crane animations included. By 1982 the original soundtrack had been restored, and the animation again made another comeback on television and in cinema shorts.

In the 1990s, the cartoon was shown on The Cartoon Network in the US. These were shown without the original laughter track as the audiences changed from previous decades. However, in French, Portuguese and Spanish-speaking countries where the show was still very popular, the laughter track was kept intact.

In its original and re-created forms, the show is still shown today on Saturday mornings in many countries and has been rebranded as the Pink Panther Party.

Character

Although the show had many other characters, The Pink Panther is often seen as a prankster who likes to joke and trick unsuspecting people. He is seen as curious and enjoys trying new things. As his character develops, we see him wanting to have things the way he likes, so he will even change things to match his tastes (like the Mona Lisa painting) to match his house décor.

Strangely in many episodes, Pink Panther overindulges and will then go on a diet. This could have been to reflect the changing diets of people of the time as people started to become more sedentary and eat more processed meals.

He often uses his manipulation to get what he wants from life and rarely uses force in many episodes, preferring to use more underhand tactics.

Music

The famous music was composed by Henry Mancini for the film listen here, which now has iconic status. However, those old enough (that I’ll be me) who remember the 1980s re-runs of the show will be familiar with the catchy theme composed by Doug Goodwin listen here.

Merchandise

As you’d expect, you can still buy Pink Panther merchandise, from clothing to stickers. The show had its own comic syndicated, which was very popular, especially throughout Europe.

Merchandise peaked in the 1970s and early 1980s, with cartoon and live-action movies (see below) perpetuating this. However, like many things, there are occasional resurgences in the popularity of our pink friend today.

Movies

The most famous movies were the live-action movies starring Peter Sellers as Inspector Clouseau that helped fuel the cartoon of the same name. Two different films, starting Steve Martin, were made in the 2000s, again showing the popularity of the characters created forty years before them.

Fun Facts