I had both the pleasure and the privilege of being part of a telephone conference call interview with Mr. Joe Harris, co-creator of the original Underdog cartoon, which premiered nationally on October 3, 1964. The interview was conducted to promote the release of the original cartoons on DVD. They DVDs went on sale July 24, 2007.
Joe is an interesting and engaging man who thoroughly has enjoyed his career in animation and has left a legacy and cartoon icon that will be with cartoon lovers for many years to come.
Joe described the origination of Underdog as a project between three team members, including himself, Chet Stover and Buck Biggers, who worked for Dancer Fitzgerald Sample, a prominent ad agency in New York in the 1950’s. They were responsible for the General Mills account and Joe was the Supervisor of Animation. Their charge was to develop cartoon characters that children would like and that would be used to attract kids to the General Mills products.
King Leonardo and His Short Subjects as well as Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales were the two of the first cartoon projects that this team put together. The creation of Underdog has an interesting story tied to it. Chet Stover, who was not an avid television viewer, for some reason was watching an episode of the I Love Lucy show. In this episode George Reeves, the original Superman, was going to be a guest star and Lucy, in character, wanted to surprise him by flying into their living room from the ledge outside. So, donned in Superman regalia, Lucy was out on the ledge, the window closed and locked and she was never able to greet the Superman in the way she had designed.
The next day Chet Stover came to work and said they had to create a superhero and it had to be a dog. From that point, Buck and Chet worked on the music, scripts and story lines and Joe was the animator. Yes, there were only three people who worked on this entire project!!! Amazing, when you can have a crew of 100 or more for cartoon project today.
Joe discussed Underdog and his persona. He was known as the anti-hero and thus the name. Underdog was the alter ego of Shoeshine Boy, who when called to danger, changed in a phone booth to the flying dog and villain eliminator that we know as Underdog. Joe said that people were coming out of the “feel good” 50’s and into a new decade and were ready for Underdog. Kids embraced him as a hero; he was cute, but at the same time, clumsy, bumbling and imperfect. Kids and parents alike could identify with such a character.
Underdog is of no particular breed, just a dog of animation creation. However, an interesting fact is that the character of Sweet Polly Purebred was based on Marilyn Monroe, a cultural icon of this time. The voice of Underdog was a from a character actor named Wally Cox. Mr. Harris had another person in mind when casting the voices of the characters, but said when he heard the voice of Wally Cox, he knew that was to be the voice of Underdog.
Another interesting characteristic of this cartoon, was that Underdog always spoke in rhymes. When asked why the rhyming was used, Joe said that they wanted a unique characteristic tied to this superhero and to differentiate him from any other cartoon superheros, and having him speak in rhyme was just the way to do it.
When asked why Underdog is still such an enduring cartoon character, Joe replied that kids can still relate to him. They love his imperfections. The way he bumbles over his words, makes mistakes, and falls all over himself, endears this cute pup to us all, because we have all “been there and done that”!!! And it reality, don’t we always root for the underdog? His triumph is a triumph for all of us. Although Joe enjoys the cartoon creations of today where computer animation is the main creative tool, he says that cartoons in the early years really had the personal feel, touch and emotions of animator because they weren’t working with a mouse or software, but rather with sketchpad, pencils, erasers, heart and soul.
Joe Harris and his creative team made Underdog a cultural icon. There would be no, soon to be released Disney film of the same name if Underdog had not been created introduced and loved by an entire generation. We thank Joe, Buck and Chet for creating not only a character that we love, a theme song that we can recall in an instant and many warm memories that remind us that good can conquer evil!!!
