The Pink Phink

The Pink Phink is a 1964 animated short comedy film directed by Friz Freleng. It is the first animated short starring the Pink Panther.[1] The short won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short at the 37th Academy Awards.

The Pink Phink
Original theatrical poster
Directed byFriz Freleng
Produced byDavid H. DePatie
Friz Freleng
Story byJohn W. Dunn
Music byWilliam Lava
Production
company
Distributed byUnited Artists
Release date
December 18, 1964
Running time
6 minutes

Plot

The Pink Panther and an unnamed painter (known as the "Little Man") compete over whether a house should be painted blue or pink. Each time the painter attempts to paint something blue, the panther thwarts him in a new way, and paints the object/area pink. At the end, the exasperated painter inadvertently turns the house and everything around it pink (first by repeatedly shooting at the elusive panther with a shotgun that the panther had poured pink paint into, and then by burying the panther's pink paint cans in the soil outside the house, where they "sprout" and grow pink grass and trees), and the panther moves in. But just before he moves in, he paints the white man completely pink. The painter gets upset and bangs his head against the mailbox outside. The Pink Panther then walks into the house as the sun (also turned pink) sets and the cartoon fades out.[2]

Academy Award

The Pink Phink was the first Pink Panther animated short produced by DePatie–Freleng Enterprises and by winning the 1964 Academy Award for Animated Short Film, it marked the first time that a studio won an Academy Award with its first animated short. It is also the only Pink Panther episode to win the award.[2]

Credits

Laugh track

A laugh track was added to the theatrical Pink Panther cartoons when they were broadcast as part of the Pink Panther Show aired on NBC,[2] and this laugh track still appears on when the show is aired on the Spanish language Boomerang TV channel, and the France Channel Gulli. Most American broadcasts currently air minus the laugh track. The Pink Phink can be viewed in its original form with full titles and sans laugh track on The Official Pink Panther channel on YouTube along with the MGM Television logo.[3]

  • An episode of the animated series Dexter's Laboratory entitled "A Silent Cartoon" is a homage to this short; the short features Dexter (filling the role of the painter) trying to construct a blue laboratory, while an all-pink version of his sister Dee Dee finds clever ways to turn the blue lab into a completely pink lab.
  • In the 2010 series Pink Panther and Pals, a scene from "A Pinker Tomorrow" in which the Pink Panther tricks the Little Man (Big Nose) to cover the outside of the house in paint, is a homage to the original short, but in a futuristic environment.

See also

References
  1. Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. p. 119. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7.
  2. Beck, Jerry (2006). Pink Panther: The Ultimate Guide to the Coolest Cat in Town!. London, England: DK Adult. pp. 20–23. ISBN 0-7566-1033-8.
  3. Official Pink Panther (2014-04-14), The Pink Panther in "The Pink Phink", retrieved 2017-02-05
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