Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Squirrel Appreciation Day

According to my favorite news source, The Huffington Post , and much to the chagrin of my dogs Buck and Zorro– today is Squirrel Appreciation Day! Who knew? So in honor of this momentous occasion - here are a few of my favorite squirrels.
Squirrels have found fame in many TV shows and films starting in 1959, when Jay Ward's Rocky the Flying Squirrel first fly into homes. Rocket J. Squirrel began outwitting Cold War villains Boris Badenov and Natasha Fatale, along with his friend Bullwinkle on ROCKY & FRIENDS and later on THE BULLWINKLE SHOW. For lots more info on Rocky and his Frostbite Falls cohorts, go here.
Secret Squirrel and his sidekick, Morocco Mole, debuted as part of THE ATOM ANT/SECRET SQUIRREL SHOW on NBC in 1965 - spinning off with their own Hanna-Barbera cartoon series in 1966. The show featured the madcap adventures of the secret agent rodent (Agent 000) and his arch enemy The Yellow Pinky. Visit artist Patrick Owlsey's blog for some really cool Secret Squirrel art (and much, much more).Slappy and Skippy Squirrel were featured on THE ANIMANIACS in the 1990s. Slappy is bitter, retired animated actress from the Looney Tunes golden age, who spends most of her days on the WB studio lot, causing chaos with her innocent nephew and sidekick, Skippy.Screwy Squirrel an obscure an Tex Avery character that appeared in only five MGM cartoon shorts during the 1940s. He later returned in WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT and in 1993 was given a supporting role on Fox's DROOPY: MASTER DETECTIVE TV series.Also worth noting are Sandy Cheeks from Nickelodeon's ridiculously successful SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS and Nutty Squirrel from the deliciously demented internet series HAPPY TREE FRIENDS.On a more serious note, Jess the Squirrel is a character on the epic PBS animated fantasy series REDWALL - which always seemed to complicated for me to follow. Other recent animated squirrels include critters in the CGI films THE WILD and OVER THE HEDGE.So, show your support for Squirrel Appreciation Day and check out some of these fine furry superstars! I'm really looking forward to Rabbit Appreciation Day!!!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Did someone say Rabbit Appreciation Day???

www.24carrotlane.com/rabbit_love.shtml

-Emme

Christopher said...

So freaking funny. I almost blogged about squirrel appreciation day today. Um, like minds. ;)

Danny in WeHo said...

"Now, that's comedy"
I LOVE Slappy Squirrel!

I walk Steve Silverberg's dog, Hubie. She calls them "Cat- monkeys"