"Buck Biggers, 85; created Underdog, Tennessee Tuxedo" by Daniel E. Slotnik | New York Times, February 23, 2013
NEW YORK — W. Watts “Buck” Biggers — who with his partner, Chet Stover, created the 1960s cartoon “Underdog” and wrote its infectious theme song — died Feb. 10 at his home in Manomet, Mass., a village in Plymouth. He was 85.
The cause was a heart attack, said his longtime companion, Nancy Purbeck of Plymouth and Boston.
Mr. Biggers was an account manager at the advertising firm Dancer Fitzgerald Sample in the early 1960s when he and Stover, a copywriter, began conceiving a cartoon show to advertise General Mills cereals.
Mr. Biggers and Stover considered dozens of ideas, but nothing seemed right. They knew that they would be competing for a slot with Jay Ward and Bill Scott, who had created “Rocky & Bullwinkle.”
“We were going to be the underdog,” Mr. Biggers recalled saying to Stover. The idea stuck.
Underdog, who worked as a humble shoe shiner but transformed into a superhero whenever reporter Sweet Polly Purebred was threatened, won the spot.
A brown dog as a shoe shiner happy about his fate?
A brown dog as a shoe shiner happy about his fate?
Voiced by character actor Wally Cox, Underdog spoke in rhyming couplets (“There’s no need to fear; Underdog is here”) and battled such villains as evil scientist Simon Bar Sinister and wolf gangster Riff Raff.
What I didn't realize as a child was that "Underdog" was reinforcing status-quo themes during a very turbulent time. Underdog defended the status quo such as banks, business, and the U.S. military, while Sweet Polly served as an altruistic metaphor for the news media.
The show had Underdog segments interspersed with other cartoon characters like the Go Go Gophers and Tennessee Tuxedo.
As for Go Go Gophers, looking back on it now it seems racist and trivializes the genocide of Native Americans even as they behave like a bunch of terrorists.
“Underdog” made its debut on NBC in 1964 and proved so popular that Mr. Biggers and Stover left advertising to start a production company, Total Television, with Joe Harris and Treadwell Covington. They wrote more than 100 episodes of “Underdog,” and Mr. Biggers, the composer of the group, wrote the theme music for the cartoons....
The show is syndicated worldwide, and an Underdog balloon has appeared in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. A live action movie based on the cartoon and starring Jason Lee as the voice of Underdog, was released in 2007.
The theme song pops up in unexpected places....
Related: Ron Paul
Oh, where, oh where, has my underdog gone, oh where, oh where, can he be?
He's retired from Congress and is probably back home in Texas.
--more--"
When Polly's in trouble I am not slow, it's hip, hip, hip, and away I go.
Lyrics:
"When criminals in this world appear, and break the laws that they should fear, and frighten all who see and hear, the cry goes out both far and near for
CHORUS: Underdog, Underdog, Underdog, Underdog, Speed of lightning, roar of thunder, fighting all who rob or plunder,
Underdog, Underdog
When in this world the headlines read, of those whose hearts are filled with greed, and rob and steal from those need, to right this wrong with blinding speed goes
CHORUS: Underdog, Underdog, Underdog, Underdog, Speed of lightning, roar of thunder, fighting all who rob or plunder,
Underdog, Underdog"
Fighting all who rob or plunder?
One could also say my newspaper is full of cartoons, readers.
One could also say my newspaper is full of cartoons, readers.
