Andy Panda was a recurring character of the Walter Lantz cartoon studio, his series lasting from 1939 to 1949, and supported by cameos in other cartoons, as well as appearances in comic books and merchandise. While virtually unknown compared to Lantz's other major star, the Andy Panda series still managed to crank out some fairly entertaining cartoons in its run.
The earliest batch of cartoons portrayed Andy as a young Cheerful Child and featured the misadventures of him and his Bumbling Dad, Poppa Panda. Later shorts gave Andy sole top billing and had him aged up into an adult Everyman in the same vein as another contemporary animal cartoon character.
Compare MGM's own cartoon bear Barney Bear, which ran around the same time, had Dick Lundy directing in later years, and co-incidentally debuted in the same year.
While Woody Woodpecker might have ended up being more of a success than Andy Panda in terms of cartoons, he did appear in a good number of comics by John Stanley for years after his cartoons had stopped being produced.
Filmography
1939
- Life Begins For Andy Panda: Also introduces Papa Panda, a tribe of pygmy panda hunters, and Mr. Whippletree the turtle. Also features older Lantz star Snuffy Skunk and one of two appearances by Mama Panda. (Alex Lovy)
1940
- Andy Panda Goes Fishing: Co-stars the pygmy hunters and Mr. Whippletree. (Burt Gillett)
- 100 Pygmies and Andy Panda: Co-stars Papa Panda, the pygmy hunters, and Mr. Whippletree. (Lovy)
- Crazy House: Mr. Whippletree and the pygmies are retired for a more urban setting. (Walter Lantz)
- Knock Knock: The debut of Woody Woodpecker, albeit as a Poorly Disguised Pilot for Woody. (Lantz)
1941
- Mouse Trappers: Co-stars Papa Panda, with Mama Panda in a cameo. (Lovy)
- Dizzy Kitty: Co-stars Papa Panda. (Lantz)
- Andy Panda's Pop: A Day in the Limelight for Papa Panda. Renamed "Goofy Roofer" in reissued prints. Andy himself does not appear in this short, but Mama Panda makes a cameo.
- 21$ a Day (Once a Month): A Swing Symphony Cartune, with Andy making a cameo near the end. (Lantz)
1942
- Under the Spreading Blacksmith Shop: The last appearance of Papa Panda. (Lovy)
- Good-Bye Mr. Moth: Andy's first solo short. (Lantz)
- Nutty Pine Cabin: Andy's first appearance as an adult. (Lovy)
- Andy Panda's Victory Garden: One of two appearances by Charlie Chicken, who would appear more prominently in the John Stanley comics. (Lovy)
- Air Raid Warden (Lovy)
1943
- Canine Commandos (Lovy)
- Meatless Tuesday: First Andy Panda directed by Shamus Culhane. Second of two appearances by Charlie Chicken.
1944
- Fish Fry: Received an Academy Award nomination for best cartoon short. (Culhane)
- The Painter and the Pointer: A brief, ill-fated attempt at reinventing Andy into a Jerkass character, not unlike what Culhane had recently did to Woody. (Culhane)
1945
- Crow Crazy: First Andy Panda directed by Dick Lundy.
1946
- The Poet & Peasant (Lundy)
- Mousie Come Home (Culhane)
- Apple Andy (Lundy)
- The Wacky Weed (Lundy)
1947
- Musical Moments From Chopin: A Musical Miniatures cartoon, featuring both Andy and Woody Woodpecker together competing with pianos. (Lundy)
- The Bandmaster: His name is as a 1930's Walter Lantz cartoon starring Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. (Lundy)
1948
- Banquet Busters: A Woody Woodpecker cartoon, in which Andy shares the spotlight with Woody. Also co-stars Woody's archenemy, Wally Walrus. (Lundy)
- Playful Pelican (Lundy)
- Dog Tax Dodgers: Wally Walrus co-stars. (Lundy)
1949
- Scrappy Birthday: Final Andy Panda cartoon and only appearance of girlfriend Miranda Panda. (Lundy)
1951
- The Woody Woodpecker Polka: Makes a voiceless cameo early on alongside Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.
1952
- Team Play: A commerical co-staring Miranda Panda and Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.
1964
- Spook-A-Nanny: A made-for-TV Woody Woodpecker cartoon, in which Andy plays a small role.
Tropes:
- Amusement Park of Doom: In "Crazy House", Andy and his Poppa seek shelter from a storm in what they think is a residential home but turns out to be an abandoned funhouse amusement park, which is full of various booby traps that drive them nuts.
- Animation Bump: The Shamus Culhane and Dick Lundy shorts.
- Any scene animated by 30s and 40s Disney mainstay Fred Moore within the final United Artists-era shorts (namely "Playful Pelican", "Dog Tax Dodgers" and "Scrappy Birthday") - the opening scene in "Dog Tax Dodgers", featuring a remarkably fluid and three-dimensional (and simultaneously appealing) depiction of Andy, is arguably the most notable example, drawing comparison with the significantly higher-budgeted contemporary Disney shorts over the conspicuously cruder visuals of Andy's appearances during the early 40s.
- Art Evolution: The early shorts were pretty crudely drawn, looking more like ragdolls than animals. Things improved when Shamus Culhane brought a little more form to the designs (although most agree that his redesign in "The Painter and the Pointer" was a step in the wrong direction), and Dick Lundy refined the animation considerably by the end of the series.
- Badass Adorable: He's a cute-looking panda, yet has performed awesome feats against enemies. His angel in "Apple Andy" eventually had enough of the devil's abuse and gave him a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown.
- Blackface-Style Caricature: The Pygmies in the early cartoons, which is why they are seldom shown on TV anymore.
- Breakout Character: Woody Woodpecker got his first starring role in Andy's fifth cartoon.
- Butt-Monkey: Andy's poppa in the early cartoons and Andy himself in the later ones.
- The Bus Came Back: He returns in the 2018 web series of Woody Woodpecker as a supporting character.
- The Cameo: In the Woody Woodpecker cartoons "Wet Blanket Policy" (in the opening, as a ad for his comics) and "The Woody Woodpecker Polka". A mascot costume of him appears briefly in the film The Wizard.
- Canon Immigrant: Miranda Panda. She was a regular in the Lantz "Funnies" comic books before making her only animated appearance in "Scrappy Birthday" (and a cameo in "The Woody Woodpecker Polka").
- Captain Ersatz: Andy owned a series of dogs in cartoons such as "The Painter and the Pointer" and "Dog Tax Dodgers", all of whom were basically just Pluto moonlighting in Lantz cartoons.
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Andy's dad dissapears after the first few shorts (and his own one-shot short subject), and Andy himself was retired by Universal after Lantz died. Mama Panda makes no further appearances after "Andy Panda's Pop".
- Cousin Oliver: Miranda Panda, who made one animated appearance in "Scrappy Birthday", with Andy Demoted to Extra in "The Woody Woodpecker Polka". She would get more appearances in the comic books.
- Distaff Counterpart: The onetime appearance of Miranda Panda, an unmistakable ersatz of Minnie Mouse.
- Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal: He starts wearing clothes and shoes in "Nutty Pine Cabin".
- Hollywood Natives: The pygmy hunters in the first three shorts.
- Jerkass: Miranda Panda displays very Jerkass behavior towards Andy in "Scrappy Birthday", wanting a fox-skin coat for her birthday which is far beyond Andy's own means. Though, she does become much nicer in her later appearances, especially the comic books.
- Jerkass Ball: Andy grabs it as he briefly lapses into being an unpleasant person in "The Painter and the Pointer" as he threatens his dog Butch by forcing him to point by attaching his paw to a loaded shotgun.
- Light Is Not Good: In "Apple Andy", Andy encounters a devil in a white nightgown (also the subject of a song) who tempts him to steal from an apple orchard.
- Lower-Deck Episode: "The Painter and the Pointer" has Andy appear only in the opening and ending, focusing otherwise on his dog, the fly and the spiders.
- Misplaced Wildlife: The first shorts depict Andy and his parents living in Darkest Africa instead of China.
- Mocky Mouse: Andy's everyman incarnation is pretty much Lantz's answer to Mickey Mouse, even wearing red pants and yellow shoes. His one-time appearing girlfriend, Miranda Panda, is also a shameless ersatz of Minnie Mouse.
- Nice Guy: Andy is generally shown to be friendly and upbeat when not being mischievous.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: Poppa Panda's voice characterization in "Andy Panda's Pop" is abruptly changed from previous shorts to be a W. C. Fields impersonation.
- Out of Focus: As Woody Woodpecker got more popular, Andy got considerably less showtime than before.
- Pain-Powered Leap: In "Fish Fry", a fish bites a cat on the finger, who reacts by jumping up hundreds of feet in the air.
- Poorly Disguised Pilot: "Knock Knock" for the Woody Woodpecker series.
- Public Domain Soundtrack: The short "The Bandmaster" is built around Louis-Ferdinand Hérold's "Overture to Zampa".
- Roger Rabbit Effect: The ending of "100 Pygmies and Andy Panda", where teleporting the pygmies sends them into a live action city—and the turtle onto a barrel near the Niagara Falls.
- Rogues' Gallery Transplant: Wally Walrus, ordinarily Woody Woodpecker’s nemesis, appears in "Dog Tax Dodgers" as a Diabolical Dogcatcher with his sights on Andy’s pooch.
- Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: Miranda Panda is pretty much just Andy's design with a bow, skirt and high heels.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: Andy got hit with this hard in "The Painter and the Pointer", not only receiving an ugly redesign, but also receiving a nasty, foul-tempered personality, going as far as rigging a shotgun to his dog that will fire if he even budges, all just for messing up one of his paintings. Thankfully, he immediately regressed to his softer persona in shorts afterwards.
- Took a Level in Kindness: Miranda Panda, Andy's girlfriend seems to be much nicer and sensible in the comic books and even in the "Team Play" Auto-Lite commercial as opposed to her meaner self in her debut "Scrappy Birthday".
- Woodland Creatures: A bunch of forest animals (plus kangaroos) show up in "Life Begins for Andy Panda".
