Gabby is a series of animated short films produced by Fleischer Studios and distributed by Paramount Pictures. It features the titular town crier in the 1939 animated feature Gulliver’s Travels produced by Fleischer, serving as a sequel spin-off series of the film.
History Shortly after the release of Gulliver’s Travels, Paramount and Fleischer gave Gabby his own Technicolor spinoff cartoon series. Eight entries were produced in 1940 and 1941. Gabby was voiced by Pinto Colvig, the voice of Walt Disney's Goofy, Pluto, and Grumpy and Sleepy from the 1937 animated film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
Jack Mercer (the voice of Popeye and King Little, Sneak, Snoop, Snitch, and Twinkle Toes in Gulliver’s Travels) was regularly cast alongside Colvig, as either a king, mayor, snitch, fish, castle worker, fire fighter, or sometimes even as Gabby's humming.
The Gabby cartoons proved to be critically and commercially unsuccessful with audiences, with most of the criticism being aimed at Gabby's grating voice, his unpleasant character and him being unfit for a main lead role. The negative reception of the shorts contributed to the closure of Fleischer Studios and the firing of Dave and Max Fleischer, which culminated with the box office failure of Mr. Bug Goes to Town and the high production costs of the Superman animated cartoons.
The cartoons were later sold to U.M. & M. TV Corporation in 1955, which later became part of National Telefilm Associates, which became Republic Pictures, and was then sold to Paramount's then current parent Viacom (now currently renamed and rebranded as Skydance Corporation) in 1999. Today, the Gabby cartoons are in the public domain as they didn’t get renewed. For official releases, the cartoons are currently syndicated on television by Trifecta Entertainment & Media (inherited from CBS Television Distribution and other companies), original distributor Paramount owns the theatrical rights, and Olive Films owns the DVD rights. However, most Gabby cartoons can be found in faded public domain television prints, usually featuring the edited Television openings.
Filmography All films are directed by Dave Fleischer. Title Release DateFilmAnimatorStoryNotes 1 King for a Day October 18, 1940Willard Bowsky & James DavisJoseph E. StultzFirst released cartoon 2 The Constable November 15, 1940Still copyrighted.Bill Nolan & George GermanettiDan Gordon 3 All's Well January 17, 1941Dave Tendlar & Bill NolanBob Wickersham 4 Two for the Zoo February 21, 1941James Culhane & Al EugsterPinto Colvig 5 Swing Cleaning April 11, 1941Willard Bowsky & Arnold GillespieBob Wickersham 6 Fire Cheese June 20, 1941Steve Muffati & Joe OrioloJack Ward 7 Gabby Goes Fishing July 18, 1941Orestes Calpini & Otto FeuerCarl Meyer 8 It's a Hap-Hap-Happy Day August 15, 1941Orestes Calpini & Irving SpectorBob Wickersham
References
External links Gabby at Don Markstein's Toonopedia. from the original on July 31, 2016.