History WesternAnimation / CasperTheFriendlyGhost

* CrossDressingVoices: Casper was voiced by Cecil Roy in the 1940s Noveltoons shorts and by Creator/JulieMcWhirter on ''Casper and the Angels''.

Casper's television debut was on the Creator/{{ABC}} AnimatedAnthology series ''Matty's Funday Funnies'', sponsored by Creator/{{Mattel}} Toys. The Casper shorts were syndicated during the 1962/63 season, after which they returned to ABC, accompanied by new supporting segments, in ''The New Casper Cartoon Show''. In 1979, Creator/HannaBarbera produced ''Casper and the Angels'' for Creator/{{NBC}} Saturday mornings, with the voices of Creator/JulieMcWhirter as Casper and John Stephenson as Hairy Scary. Since 1995, Casper has been the star of a Fox AnimatedSeries, ''WesternAnimation/TheSpooktacularNewAdventuresOfCasper'', and a series of live-action/CGI films, starting with [[Film/{{Casper}} a feature]]; one of the direct-to-video movies, ''Casper Meets Wendy'', launched the career of Music/HilaryDuff.

* {{Crossover}}: Spunky the Donkey, who originally appeared in several of the Creator/FleischerStudios ''ColorClassics'' and a Famous ''{{Noveltoon|s}}'', appears (curiously, without his mother, Hunky) in at least two of Casper's shorts, over a decade after his previous roles.
* CrossdressingVoices: Casper was voiced by Cecil Roy in the 40's Noveltoon's shorts.

* FelonyMisdemeanor: From the way Casper treats it, you'd think scaring people was ''ax murder'' or something. Wendy's the same with her aunts, though sometimes they did go farther with their spells than harmless pranks and scares (How does turning a butterfly - remember, all animals are sentient in this series - into a ''hole'' in a plank of wood even work?)

* CrossDressingVoices: In the 1946 {{Noveltoon|s}}, Casper was voiced by Cecil Roy.

Casper's television debut was on the Creator/{{ABC}} AnimatedAnthology series ''Matty's Funday Funnies'', sponsored by Mattel Toys. The Casper shorts were syndicated during the 1962/63 season, after which they returned to ABC, accompanied by new supporting segments, in ''The New Casper Cartoon Show''. In 1979, Creator/HannaBarbera produced ''Casper and the Angels'' for Creator/{{NBC}} Saturday mornings, with the voices of {{Julie McWhirter}} as Casper and John Stephenson as Hairy Scary. Since 1995, Casper has been the star of a Fox AnimatedSeries, ''WesternAnimation/TheSpooktacularNewAdventuresOfCasper'', and a series of live-action/CGI films, starting with [[Film/{{Casper}} a feature]]; one of the direct-to-video movies, ''Casper Meets Wendy'', launched the career of Music/HilaryDuff.

Casper, a ghost who [[IJustWantToHaveFriends wants to be friendly but scares people away]], debuted in a 1946 {{Noveltoon|s}} released by FamousStudios for Paramount Pictures, [[AdaptationDisplacement adapted from a children's story]] made by Joe Oriolo. Casper appeared in 55 animated shorts and became Paramount's most popular character after ComicStrip/{{Popeye}}. In 1958, Paramount sold the character to Creator/HarveyComics, where he frequently crossed over to ComicBook/RichieRich stories.

Casper's television debut was on the Creator/{{ABC}} AnimatedAnthology series ''Matty's Funday Funnies'', sponsored by Mattel Toys. The Casper shorts were syndicated during the 1962/63 season, after which they returned to ABC, accompanied by new supporting segments, in ''The New Casper Cartoon Show''. In 1979, Creator/HannaBarbera produced ''Casper and the Angels'' for Creator/{{NBC}} Saturday mornings, with the voices of {{Julie McWhirter}} as Casper and John Stephenson as Hairy Scary. Since 1995, Casper has been the star of a Fox AnimatedSeries, ''TheSpooktacularNewAdventuresOfCasper'', and a series of live-action/CGI films, starting with [[Film/{{Casper}} a feature]]; one of the direct-to-video movies, ''Casper Meets Wendy'', launched the career of Music/HilaryDuff.

** In at least one of the cartoons, many of the ghosts masquerade as sheets in a haunted house, going so far as to cover furiture and serve as pillowcases.

* CrossdressingVoices: In the 1946 {{Noveltoon|s}}, Casper was voiced by Cecil Roy.
* {{Crossover}}: Spunky the Donkey, who originally appeared in several of the FleischerStudios ''ColorClassics'' and a Famous ''{{Noveltoon|s}}'', appears (curiously, without his mother, Hunky) in at least two of Casper's shorts, over a decade after his previous roles.
* CuteWitch: Wendy, who later got her own comic series, ''WendyTheGoodLittleWitch''.

* DistaffCounterpart: Wendy is essentially Casper as a witch; she even lives with three wicked aunts. Borders on MenAreTheExpendableGender, though to be fair, she mostly appears in the 60's cartoon, where ghosts are simply a type of TheFairFolk.

* FelonyMisdemeanor: From the way Casper treats it, you'd think scaring people was ''ax murder'' or something. Wendy's the same with her aunts, though sometimes they did go farther with their spells than harmless pranks and scares (How does turning a butterfly - remember, all animals sentient in this series - into a ''hole'' in a plank of wood even work?)

* OncePerEpisode: The Famous shorts became increasingly formulaic as time went on. Casper feels lonely, Casper tries to find a friend but everyone runs away from him, Casper finally finds someone who will overlook the fact that he's a ghost and be friends with him usually after he helps them get out of some kind of trouble. The friend is then menaced by a large baddie, at which point Caspar steps in and demands, "You leave my friend alone!" at which point the baddie runs off in fear. All ends well. Rinse and repeat. Famous Studios had a hard time coming up with original ideas for Popeye, too, incidentally. {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d in an episode of ''{{Cheers}}'':

* OurGhostsAreDifferent: Let's ''start'' with throwing the idea of ghosts being dead humans out the window (except for the movies.)

* HalloweenTown: Spooky Town, a city segregated into numerous boroughs for different supernatural beings that competes with each other to scare normal humans and ensure the local SealedEvilInACan stays sealed.
* InterspeciesFriendship: Casper, wendy, hot stuff and spooky are good friends despite being different creatures.

* OurDemonsAreDifferent: All the demons from harvey comics. being ComicBook/HotStuffTheLittleDevil the main example.
* ScienceIsBad: In "Casper and the Spectrals" the main trouble was partially caused by an human scientist.

* SharedUniverse: Most of the characters of Harvey including Casper, Hot Stuff and Wendy live in the same universe, in fact all the monster characters live in a place called "The enchanted forest".

* StrictlyFormula: Nearly all of the cartoons are virtually interchangable from each other save for some superficial settings. One FamousStudios animator, Lee Miskin, even had a quote about it:

* The Friendly Ghost: The first appearance of Casper, as part of the WesternAnimation/{{Noveltoons}} series. Noteable for having the story written by Creator/OttoMessmer. PublicDomain.

* WildTake: The Casper series has some of the weirdest, sometimes outright grotesque, wild takes of the Golden Age cartoons, and the original shorts have them at least once per short. The over-the-top runaway gags or transformations after the takes (a whale scared by Casper runs off on it's ''tailflukes'', a zookeeper hides - then runs away - ''inside'' a lion, another group of zoo staffers combine together into a wheel when they see him, etc.) are the icing on the cake.

** There is also the phrase ''"A GHOST!"'' in just about every short.

* SharedUniverse: Most of the characters of harvey including Casper, Hot Stuff and wendy live in the same univers, in fact all the monster characters live in a place called "the enchanted forest".

* Crossover: Casper had many encounters with other Harvey characters.

* OurDemonsAreDifferent: All the demons from harvey comics. being Hot stuff the main example.

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* ScienceIsEvil: In "Casper and the Spectrals" the main trouble was partially caused by an human scientist.

* SharedUniverse: Most of the characters of harvey including Casper, casper and wendy live in the same univers, in fact all the monster characters live in a place called "the enchanted forest".

* InterespeciesFriendship: Casper, wendy, hot stuff and spooky are good friends despite being different creatures.

[[folder:Comic Series]]

[[/folder]]
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In the Harvey Comics line, Casper lives in the Enchanted Forest with The Ghostly Trio, and met many other supporting characters, such as Wendy the Good Little Witch, Spooky the Tuff Little Ghost, and Hot Stuff the Little Devil.

* The Friendly Ghost: The first appearance of Casper, as part of the WesternAnimation/{{Noveltoons}} series. Noteable or having the story written by Creator/OttoMessmer.

* WesternAnimation/TheresGoodBoosTonight: Second appearance of Casper, as part of the WesternAnimation/{{Noveltoons}} series.

* A Haunting We Will Go: Third appearance of Casper, as part of the WesternAnimation/{{Noveltoons}} series.

* The Friendly Ghost: The first appearance of Casper, as part of the WesternAnimation/{{Noveltoons}} series.

* The Friendly Ghost: The first appearance of Casper, as part of the {{Noveltoons}} series.

* TheresGoodBoosTonight: Second appearance of Casper, as part of the {{Noveltoons}} series.

* A Haunting We Will Go: Third appearance of Casper, as part of the {{Noveltoons}} series.

* WildTake: The Casper series has some of the weirdest, sometimes outright grotesque, wild takes of the Golden Age cartoons, and the original shorts have them at least once per short. The over-the-top runaway gags or transformations after the takes (for example, a whale scared by Casper runs off on it's ''fins'', and a group of Zoo staffers combine together into a wheel when they see him) are the icing on the cake.