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Yosemite SamFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Animator
Friz Freleng introduced the character in the
1945 cartoon
Hare Trigger. With his fiery, irascible temper,
short stature (in two early gags in Hare Trigger,
a train he is attempting to rob passes right over top of
him and he has to use a set of portable stairs to get on
his horse; in
Bugs Bunny Rides Again, he rides a miniature
horse), and fiery hair, Sam was in some ways an
alter-ego of Freleng. The animator often denied any
intentional resemblance. However, in the
Looney Tunes Golden Collection, surviving
members of his production crew assert, and the late
director's daughter acknowledges, that Sam definitely
was inspired by Freleng.
Other influences were the
Red Skelton character
Sheriff Deadeye, the
Tom Varn character
Bubba, and the
Tex Avery cartoon "Dangerous
Dan McFoo". When he does a "slow burn" and cries
"Oooooh!" he borrows a bit from such comedic character
actors as
Jimmy Finlayson (a frequent foil to
Laurel and Hardy) and
Frank Nelson (one of Mel Blanc's costars on
The Jack Benny Program). Freleng also cited the
Terrible-Tempered Mr. Bang, a character in the
Toonerville Trolley comic strip, as an
influence.
Other characters with Sam-like features appear in
several Looney Tunes shorts. The
Bugs Bunny entry
Super-Rabbit (1943) features the cowboy
character "Cottontail Smith," who sounds a lot like Sam.
Stage Door Cartoon (1944), another Bugs Bunny
offering, features a southern sheriff character that
sounds very much like Sam, except for a more defined
southern stereotype to his voice. In a
Daffy Duck cartoon called
Along Came Daffy (1947), Daffy has to contend
with two characters who look very much like Sam,
one with Sam's red hair and one with black hair.
Finally,
Pancho's Hideaway (1964) features a Mexican
villain who is designed much like Sam but has a
different accent. In addition, in the
1949,
Chuck Jones-directed cartoon
Mississippi Hare,
Bugs Bunny battles with an old, pistol-toting
gambler called
Colonel Shuffle, one whose role could have easily
been portrayed by Sam[citation
needed].
Freleng created Yosemite Sam to be a more worthy
adversary for
Bugs Bunny. Until then, Bugs' major foe had been
Elmer Fudd, a man so mild-mannered and dim-witted
that Freleng thought Bugs actually came off as a bully
by duping him. Sam, on the other hand, was extremely
violent and belligerent, not at all a pushover like
Fudd. Freleng compacted into a tiny body and 11-gallon
hat the largest voice and the largest ego "north, south,
east, aaaaand west of the
Pecos".
For over 19 years, Freleng had almost exclusive usage
of Sam at the Warner studio. Though officially a
cowboy, Freleng put Sam in a different costume in
almost every film: a
knight, a
Roman
legionary, a
pirate, a royal
cook, a
prison guard, a
duke (Duke of Yosemite, no less), a
Confederate soldier, and even a
space alien. The humor of the cartoons inevitably
springs from the odd miscasting of the hot-tempered
cowboy. Some countries seem to prefer his pirate
incarnation, as "Sam the pirate" is his official name in
France[1]
and a frequent alternative name in
Italy. During World War II Yosemite Sam was
"drafted" into becoming a mascot emblem for the
US Army Air Corps
20th Reconnaissance Squadron.
Despite Freleng's intentions, Sam doesn't prove much
brighter than Elmer in his encounters with Bugs. With
all his bluff and bluster, Sam stands in contrast to
Freleng's calmly cocky rabbit. Sam is significantly
tougher and more aggressive than Elmer Fudd when
challenging Bugs. He is also quicker to learn from his
mistakes, and never falls for the same ploy twice.
However it is Sam's own cockiness that always gets the
best of him; Bugs learns to deal with Sam upon learning
that he is incapable of turning down a challenge. Every
time Bugs dares Sam to "step across that line," Sam
can't help but do so, even if he steps off into empty
space or down a mine shaft.
Another chief foil of Sam's humor is the ludicrous
lengths he'll go to just to "get even" -- often with
disastrous results to himself and his surroundings.
[edit]
Other appearances
Yosemite Sam made appearances in several television
specials in the 1970s and 1980s, and in three of the
Looney Tunes feature-film
compilations.
Yosemite Sam was one of the classic Looney Tunes
characters who appeared as faculty members of Acme
Looniversity in the
1990s
animated series
Tiny Toon Adventures. Sam was shown teaching
classes in Firearms and Anvilology (the study of falling
anvils, a staple joke in the Looney Tunes genre), and
was sometimes portrayed as the school principal (though
at least one episode identified Bugs Bunny as the
principal, and
Wile E. Coyote was Dean of Acme Loo). As with all
the main Looney Tunes characters, Sam had a student
counterpart at Acme Loo,
Montana Max.
Yosemite Sam also appeared along with Bugs Bunny in a
number of
Mirinda commercials in early 90s, most probably due
to direct competition to
Fanta, being advertised with
Disney Characters at that time.
Sam also appeared in two episodes of
1995's
The Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries.
In the
2003 movie
Looney Tunes: Back in Action, Yosemite Sam is a
bounty hunter employed by the
Acme Corporation who was hired to finish off
DJ Drake,
Kate Houghton, Bugs, and
Daffy Duck. In this film, he owns a casino in
Las Vegas, which he calls Yosemite Sam's Wooden
Nickel, and is accompanied by
Nasty Canasta (from
Drip-Along Daffy) and
Cottontail Smith (from
Super Rabbit).
Sam makes a cameo appearance in
Who Framed Roger Rabbit. He also appears in the
movie
Space Jam.
Sam also plays the role of alien occasional guest
villain K'chutha Sa'am (a parody of the
Luxan
Ka D'Argo from
Farscape, and right in line with Sam's aggressive
personality) on the
Duck Dodgers animated series. He also appears in
the video games
LOONS: The Fight for Fame,
Taz: Wanted, Bugs Bunny Crazy Castle,
Bugs Bunny: Rabbit Rampage,
Bugs Bunny Lost in Time,
Bugs Bunny and Taz Time Busters, Sheep, Dog,
'n' Wolf Looney Tunes B-Ball, Daffy Duck in
Hollywood and Loony Tunes: Back In Action.
In
Looney Tunes: Acme Arsenal, Yosemite Sam makes
an appearance riding a railway cart on the Wild West
level.
[edit]
Voice
The role of Yosemite Sam was originated by the
Warners' principal voiceman,
Mel Blanc. In his autobiography, Blanc said he had a
difficult time coming up with the voice until he decided
to simply yell at the top of his lungs. It fit perfectly
with the blustery character, but also took a toll on
Mel. He always made it a point to record Sam's lines at
the end of a recording session so he wouldn't have to
play other characters with a hoarse voice. In his final
years, it was simply too much, and he passed along the
role to others (most notably
Joe Alaskey in
Who Framed Roger Rabbit). This makes Sam one of
the few voices created by Blanc to be voiced by someone
else during his lifetime.
Blanc used a voice similar to Yosemite Sam's for
Mr. Spacely on
The Jetsons.
[edit]
Yosemite Sam in popular
culture
[edit]
In Television
- Yosemite Sam appears in the
Drawn Together episode "Charlotte's Web of
Lies". He is seen in
Ling-Ling's Anger Management group with
Hulk,
Marvin the Martian, and
Skeletor.
- In an episode of
How I Met Your Mother to make fun of the
news anchor Sandy, Ted and Marshall make him
"Yosemite Sandy" by putting a hat and mustache on
the tv screen during the news.
- On an episode of
Night Court, Dan (John
Larroquette) is forced into impersonating
Yosemite Sam by a mentally disturbed woman he's
dating.
- On an episode of
Two and a Half Men, Charlie remembers his mother
having sex with a man that resembled Yosemite Sam,
since then, when he sees Yosemite Sam on TV, he gets
nauseous. At the end of the episode, we see Jake
watching Yosemite Sam on TV, much to Charlie's
dismay.
- Was one of Joey Gladstone's favorite impressions
in the show Full House
[edit]
In Politics
Yosemite Sam has been compared to
John McCain by several writers and public figures:
- Eric Schulzke in "McCain as Yosemite Sam?"[2].
Mark Steyn in "The Gollygamist Is out"[3]
where he said "he’s less like the sheriff and more
like Yosemite Sam, and that doesn’t usually work out
as well".
[edit]
In music
Yosemite Sam is mentioned by name in the following
songs:
- "Lady Cab Driver"[4],
performed by
Prince on his
1982 album,
1999.
- "When the Shit Goes Down" by
Cypress Hill.
- "The Coalition To Ban Coalitions" by
Hank Williams Jr.
- "Egg
Man" by
The Beastie Boys on their album
Paul's Boutique.
- "Rooting For The Bad Guy" by
The Wildhearts on their 2007 self titled album.
- ""Dirt
Off Your Shoulder Freestyle"" by
Cassidy
- "Khaki Suit" by
Damian Marley on his
2005 album,
Welcome to Jamrock.
[edit]
Commercial appearances
- Yosemite Sam appears on the logo of the
KIJHL hockey team, the
Castlegar Rebels
- Apart from cartoons, Yosemite Sam (in his
pirate, "Sea-goin' Sam", alter ego) has a second
career as a popular truck
mudflap icon. He is shown brandishing
old-fashioned flintlock pistols accompanied by the
slogan "Back Off!" A 2006
Super Bowl ad showed a newly-animated version of
mudflap Sam on a date with the silver silhouette
mudflap girl.
- See also:
Yosemite Sam (shortwave)
- Yosemite Sam was the cartoon icon of the
similarly-mustachioed
Pittsburgh Pirates player
Phil Garner in the late 1970s.
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