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34-588: In the show, policeman Dick Tracy employed a series of cartoony subordinate flatfoots to fight crime each week, contacting them on his two-way wristwatch radio. Tracy himself hardly appeared on the show at all. The opening was designed so that local TV hosts dressed as policemen could introduce the cartoon by barking orders into a prop intercom, with Tracy answering "Okay, chief, I'll get on it right away." A live action show, Dick Tracy , aired on ABC from 1950 to 1951. Everett Sloane voiced Tracy, while Mel Blanc , Paul Frees , Benny Rubin and others voiced many of

68-643: A crossover was arranged between Tracy and Magoo in a 1965 episode of the TV series The Famous Adventures of Mr. Magoo . In this episode, "Dick Tracy and the Mob", Tracy persuades Magoo (a well-known actor in the context of the Famous Adventures series) to impersonate an international hit man whom he resembles named Squinty Eyes, and infiltrate a gang of criminals made up of Pruneface (their leader in this case), Itchy, Flattop , Mumbles, The Mole, The Brow and Oodles. Unlike

102-504: A celebrated comedy sketch on Sid Caesar 's Your Show of Shows (1954). He did voices for television shows such as The Flintstones (1962–1965), The Jetsons (1962–1987), The Atom Ant Show (1965–1966), and Garfield and Friends (1988–1994). Morris was born to a Jewish family in the Bronx, New York , the son of Hugo and Elsie (née Theobald) Morris. His father was a rubber company executive. Morris attended New York University on

136-400: A cigar or a cigarette on an extender. One villain created specifically for the cartoon was Cheater Gunsmoke, who appeared in two episodes. Gunsmoke was a Texas-sounding cigar smoker with a literal cloud of smoke obscuring his face and head. Of all the villains in the animated series, Stooge had made his first appearance in the comic strip earliest (1933) and Oodles latest (1955), six years before

170-447: A defining early influence: "That's how I used to go to bed. I'd grab my dad's leg, and he'd drag me to bed like Sid Caesar." The sketch can be viewed here , Morris enters at the 4:14 mark. He also appeared twice in 1957 in episodes of the short-lived NBC comedy/ variety show The Polly Bergen Show . He notably played the wily and over-the-top mountain man character Ernest T. Bass on The Andy Griffith Show . Also, he played George,

204-636: A dramatic arts scholarship. During World War II , he was assigned to a United States Army Special Services unit where he was the First Sergeant . Maurice Evans was the company commander and Carl Reiner and Werner Klemperer were soldiers in the unit. Based in Honolulu , the unit entertained American troops throughout the Pacific. He came to prominence in appearances on Sid Caesar 's Your Show of Shows (a live sketch comedy series appearing weekly in

238-517: A new career in voice directing. Among the projects he directed are Police Academy , Richie Rich , Bionic Six , Goin' Coconuts , Pole Position , Galaxy High , The Snorks , The Mighty Orbots , Rose Petal Place , The Dogfather , Dragon's Lair , Tom and Jerry: The Movie , Turbo Teen , Little Clowns of Happytown , Space Stars , and Kidd Video . Morris directed some episodes of The Andy Griffith Show , Gomer Pyle , Hogan's Heroes , The Dick Van Dyke Show ,

272-448: A number of episodes. He provided the voices for Gene Deitch 's Academy Award-winning Munro , about a four-year-old boy who was drafted into the Army. Beginning in 1962, Morris played a variety of voices in many Hanna-Barbera series including The Jetsons as Jet Screamer who sang the "Eep opp ork ah ah!" song, (said to be Morris' first work for Hanna-Barbera) and The Flintstones . He

306-460: The 1998 movie of Ray Bradbury 's The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit . He appeared on "The Love Boat" (S8 E13) as "has been" comedian Billy Banks in a Christmas-themed vignette "Santa, Santa, Santa" which aired on 12/15/1984. In 1986, he reprised his famous role as Ernest T. Bass in the highly-rated television movie Return to Mayberry . In 1989, he guest starred on Murder, She Wrote . From 1997 to 1999, he voiced Flem on Cow and Chicken . Morris

340-662: The 85th anniversary of the premiere of the Dick Tracy comics. In 2007, Classic Media released two 16-episode volumes, with the first containing episodes 1-16 and the second containing episodes 17-32. Dick Tracy (TV series) Dick Tracy is an American TV series based on the detective comic strip Dick Tracy . The show aired on ABC from September 11, 1950 to April 7, 1951. It starred Ralph Byrd . An animated series, The Dick Tracy Show , aired in syndication in 1961. Dick Tracy and Sam Catchem will have confrontation against any gangsters. The cast included: It

374-574: The TV mechanic in the episode, "Andy and Helen Have Their Day." (He had lampooned southern accents while in the army at Fort Bragg , North Carolina.) He starred in one of the more comical early hour-long Twilight Zone episodes, " I Dream of Genie ." Other roles included that of Elmer Kelp in The Nutty Professor , a movie studio clerk in the short film Star Spangled Salesman , and an art appraiser in an episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show . He also appeared in several Broadway shows including

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408-499: The United States, from 1950 to 1954). In April 1954, Morris joined Caesar and Carl Reiner in "This Is Your Story," an 11-minute takeoff on Ralph Edwards's This Is Your Life . Morris claimed it was his favorite sketch role. As The New Yorker ' s David Margolick wrote in 2014, Though the competition is stiff, many feel that this sketch is the funniest that “Your Show of Shows” ever did . . . . That night nearly sixty years ago,

442-559: The black and white pilot episode of Get Smart and later, episodes of One Day at a Time , Bewitched , and single episodes of many other comedy shows. He directed Doris Day in her final film, With Six You Get Eggroll (1968). Other films he directed were Don't Drink the Water (1969) and Who's Minding the Mint? (1967). Mel Brooks occasionally cast Morris in his films. For example, he played Brooks' mentor psychiatrist Dr. Lilloman in

476-574: The cartoon as part of the show. The cartoon show was a success perhaps as a child's version of The Untouchables that was popular at the time. Local hosts of the show offered "Dick Tracy Crimestopper" badges and certificates their viewers could send in for. Mattel toys manufactured a series of Toy gun and a board game with the Dick Tracy logo and the Crimestoppers could communicate with each other by toy Dick Tracy wrist radios. The Dick Tracy Show

510-431: The case over to one of his comic law-enforcement assistants, who engaged in slapstick battles with the crooks (who, compared to their comic strip counterparts, were penny ante and not as bright). Tracy showed up at the very end, usually by car or helicopter, to congratulate the assistant on a job well done and take the crooks into custody. Tracy, as Chief of Detectives, presented an image of calm professionalism in contrast to

544-643: The characters Professor Icenstein and Luigi La Bounci in the animated series Galaxy High . He voiced Mayor McCheese and later the Hamburglar (taking over for Larry Storch in 1986) in McDonaldland ad campaign for McDonald's , which Morris also directed. He provided the voice of Wade Duck in the U.S. Acres segments of Garfield and Friends , and voiced Webbly in Bobby's World and Flem in Cow & Chicken . Morris supplied

578-449: The comedic roles that the funny subordinates played. Tracy would play a more prominent role in some episodes that were bookended with a quick lesson on real-world crime fighting. In these, Tracy would explain to the viewer how their local police use methods such as fingerprinting or the use of composite artists to help identify suspects. UPA was also the producer of the Mr. Magoo cartoons, and

612-643: The comedy High Anxiety (1977), the emperor's court spokesman ("Here, wash this!") in History of the World, Part I (1981), and played a bum named Sailor living in the streets in Life Stinks (1991). In 1984, he played Dr. Zidell in Splash , a film directed by Ron Howard (the two had first worked together on The Andy Griffith Show ). He worked with his old friend and trouping partner Sid Caesar as nervous Jewish tailors in

646-514: The earlier animated Tracy shorts, this longer episode was played relatively straight, with Tracy getting much more screen time, and Chief Patton was part of the episode. It is notable for pitting Tracy against a coalition of most of his foes, a concept that would be adopted more than two decades later in the 1990 film . None of Tracy's assistants (Hemlock Holmes, Joe Jitsu, etc.) appeared and several villains sounded nothing like their Dick Tracy Show counterparts. For example, Howard Morris took over

680-466: The highly regarded 1960 revival of Finian's Rainbow as Og the leprechaun opposite Bobby Howes as Finian. He played the role of Schmidlap in Way... Way Out and appeared in the movie, Boys' Night Out (1962). Morris was first heard in animated cartoons in the early 1960s. He and Allan Melvin teamed up for a 50-episode King Features Syndicate series, Beetle Bailey , for which he and Melvin co-wrote

714-442: The moment, Morris throws in all sorts of extra embraces, even clinging to his leg as a lumbering Caesar drags him to the couch. It was a dangerous thing to do, but evidently Morris felt he could do it. This opinion was shared by The New York Times and Hollywood.com, among others. Conan O'Brien tweeted in 2014, "Saw this Sid Caesar sketch when I was a kid. It made me want to make people laugh." Billy Crystal later called it

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748-445: The other characters, including: A gag used in several shows was that if one of Tracy's detectives found themselves in sudden danger (a bullet speeding towards them, falling off a cliff, etc.) he would yell, "Hold everything!" The action would obediently screech to a halt and "wait", while the detective called headquarters for further instructions. Action would resume only after the sign-off catchphrase, "Six-two and even*, over and out"

782-411: The roles of Flattop and Oodles, although Everett Sloane reprised his role as Tracy. These 130 five-minute cartoons were designed and packaged for syndication much in the same way as Associated Artists Productions packaged the 231 Popeye cartoon shorts and the pre-1948 Warner Bros. ' short subjects. Usually intended for morning and afternoon children's television series , a local host would introduce

816-483: The series. Select episodes were first released on VHS in 1986 by Hi-Tops Video , under the name of "Dick Tracy and the Oyster Caper". In 1990, the complete series was released by Paramount Home Video in thirteen volumes, each containing ten episodes and Crimestopper tips by Tracy (voiced by Everette Sloane). All episodes were released by Classic Media on a 4-disc DVD "Collector's Edition" set in 2006 to celebrate

850-457: The show produced what is probably the longest and loudest burst of laughter—genuine laughter, neither piped in nor prompted—in the history of television. Never afraid to have talented people around him, Caesar is actually upstaged here by his second second banana (that is, after Reiner): Howard Morris, who plays Duncey’s long-lost Uncle Goopy, who, overcome with emotion, repeatedly clings to and slobbers over his favorite nephew. Shamelessly milking

884-469: The show was aired. Some of the villains were given voices patterned after famous actors. Flattop sounded like Peter Lorre , B.B.Eyes like Edward G. Robinson , Pruneface like Boris Karloff , and The Brow like James Cagney . The cartoons seldom involved the title character. The opening scene of every episode showed Tracy in his office, speaking into a two-way radio the words: "Okay, Chief! I'll get on it right away. Dick Tracy calling..." He would then hand

918-423: The time was owned by Disney, continued to broadcast The Dick Tracy Show until July 4, 1990. Henry G. Saperstein , then the chairman of UPA , stated "It's just a cartoon, for goodness' sake." Saperstein also pointed out that Hemlock Holmes and Heap O'Calorie (who are British and Irish respectively) are also ethnic stereotypes. The ethnic stereotypes are also the primary reason the diginet MeTV Toons will not air

952-478: The two men reconciled and Morris was back doing those voices and others. He also lent his voice to Forsythe "Jughead" Jones on Filmation's series The Archies through the life of the franchise, 1968–1977. Moreover, he was the voice of Leonard Blush, "The Masked Singer" - he had a skin condition - as well as the regular voice of the Mount Pilot radio station's host on The Andy Griffith Show . Morris also voiced

986-727: The voice of the koala in TV commercials for Qantas from 1967 through 1992 (saying the tagline, "I hate Qantas"), and voiced " Gopher " in the Disney featurettes Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree and Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day . Also in 1989, he voiced a French gangster cat named Monte De Zar (Fat Cat's Cousin) in an episode of Disney's Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers episode "Le Purrfect Crime". While Morris continued to make himself available for voice and sound effect roles, he also began

1020-401: Was married and divorced five times. He was first married to Mary Helen McGowan from 1945 to 1962. He married his second wife, Dolores A. Wylie, later in 1962; the marriage lasted until 1977 when they divorced. He had three daughters and a son, along with three grandchildren. On May 21, 2005, Morris died of congestive heart failure , at the age of 85. At his funeral, the "Uncle Goopy" sketch

1054-478: Was pulled from syndication in the mid-1970s and mid-1980s, and was not seen for years afterward because of what some perceived as racist undertones and use of ethnic stereotypes and accents. Some Asian and Hispanic viewers charged that Joe Jitsu and Go-Go Gomez were offensive stereotypes. Two stations in Los Angeles removed the airings and edited episodes were then sent out while one station, KCAL Channel 9, which at

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1088-605: Was shot at the Sam Goldwyn Studios in Los Angeles. This article relating to a drama television series in the United States is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Howard Morris Howard Jerome Morris (September 4, 1919 – May 21, 2005) was an American actor, comedian, and director. He was best known for his role in The Andy Griffith Show as Ernest T. Bass , and as "Uncle Goopy" in

1122-491: Was spoken at the end of the call. Villains taken from Dick Tracy creator Chester Gould's popular comic strip usually had names that served as descriptions of their physical appearance or some other peculiarity. All were paired with another villain for the cartoon series. They included Flattop who worked with B.B. Eyes, Pruneface and Itchy, Stooge Viller and Mumbles, The Brow and Oodles, and The Mole and Sketch Paree. Each pair of crooks had at least one member who smoked either

1156-648: Was the original voice of Atom Ant and provided the voice of Mr. Peebles in The Magilla Gorilla Show , teaming up again with Allan Melvin who performed the voice for Magilla . In another series, Morris was heard as the voice of Breezly Bruin which was similar in tone with the Bill Scott vocalization of Bullwinkle . Morris had a disagreement with Joseph Barbera prior to production of the 1966–1967 season of Magilla Gorilla and Atom Ant and all of his voices were recast, mostly using Don Messick . Years later,

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