Colonel is a character that appeared in the classic short "A Gruesome Twosome" alongside Schnooks. The short followed a similar formula to "A Tale of Two Kitties", with Tweety having to foil two dimwitted cats who are actually caricatures of famous celebrities from the Golden Age of Hollywood.
In "A Tale of Two Kitties", Babbit and Catstello served as the short's celebrity caricatures, with them being parodies of comedic duo Abbott and Costello, while in "A Gruesome Twosome", Colonel is a parody of comedian Jimmy Durante. Schnooks however, was a pre-existing Looney Tunes character who was paired with Colonel, although his mannerisms were loosely based on those of Edgar Bergen's dummy Mortimer Snerd.
Unlike Babbit and Catsello, Colonel and Schnooks would not appear as a duo in another Looney Tunes short again, though caricatures of Durante would go on to appear in a few shorts after that.
Description[]
Colonel and Schnooks are conniving cats who, unlike Babbit and Catstello, are incapable of cooperating and are always at each other's throats, willing to do just about anything to get rid of their counterpart in order to impress their mutual love interest who is a small white girl cat (voiced by Sara Berner and a caricature of Gracie Allen) who teases them regularly.
Colonel is an orange cat with an incredibly large red nose. He is a smart aleck cat with Italian roots who has a propensity for large boasts, bragging and sarcasm. He is easily irritated and prone to violence, often attacking Schnooks or even pulling a gun on him simply for irritating him. Colonel also has a habit of chuckling at the end of most of his sentences by going "Hatchachacha" (a trait of Jimmy Durante's).
Appearances[]
The duo first appeared in "A Gruesome Twosome" where they competed for the affections of a girl cat who promised to only date the cat who would bring her a little bird. This resulted in both Colonel and Schnooks violently going at each other's throats to capture Tweety, but eventually they realized they could not capture Tweety alone before deciding to work together. After several failed plans, they dress up as a horse to capture Tweety, but Tweety throws an irritated bee into their horse suit which causes the pained duo to run away in terror as the bee continues to sting them.
Notes[]
- In early concept art and the lobby cards for the short, Colonel is depicted with a completely different face not resembling Durante's.
- While Schnooks would go on to be replaced/developed into Sylvester, Sylvester's large bright red nose might've been partially based on Colonel's own unique proboscis.
- Another red/orange cat who likewise talked like Jimmy Durante appeared in the 1961 film Hoppy Daze alongide Sylvester and Hippety Hopper (who similarly closes that film with Durante's "Hatchachacha"). The design style is completely different, and this cat is very short and wears a sweater, and does not look like Durante. However, the film is directed by Robert McKimson, who was a Clampett unit animator for "The Gruesome Twosome" (especially the earlier scenes of Colonel on the fence) and the later character may have been created with the earlier one in mind.
- The Ren and Stimpy Show creator John Kricfalusi supposedly combined the two cats in this short to create Stimpy with the Jimmy Durante cat's coloring, along with its nose, and the stupid one's girth and personality.[1]
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