Western Animation / Quick Draw McGraw

"Why did Quick-Draw McGraw hang around with that freaky little mule?"

—Trent Lane, Daria

Yet another Funny Animal omnibus series from Hanna-Barbera, Quick Draw McGraw followed the adventures of the equine sheriff with an exaggerated southern drawl, who upheld law and order in The Wild West with the aid of Baba Looey, a Mexican burro with a Spanish accent, and Snuffles, a biscuit-mooching dog. Whenever Baba Looey questioned his partner's motives, Quick Draw uttered his Character Catchphrase: "Hold on thar, Baba Looey! I'll do the thin'in' around here, and dooon't you for-git it!" Upon which hilarity ensued.

The cartoon, almost entirely written by former Looney Tunes writer Michael Maltese, spoofed nearly every Western trope known. Sometimes, Quick Draw assumed the heroic identity of the swashbuckling El Kabong, bashing outlaws with his guitar. There were two supporting segments: Augie Doggie and Doggie Daddy and Snooper and Blabber.

Compare with Ricochet Rabbit and Droop-a-Long Coyote, Hanna-Barbera's other Western Series starring Funny Animals.

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Hoooold on, thar! This series provides examples of:

• Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal: Quick Draw and Baba Looey both wear neckerchiefs and hats.
• Animated Anthology: The show is one of several Hanna-Barbera Three Shorts collections from the 1950s-60s.
• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: In a comic book story titled "La Dia de Los Kabongs", a villain named Señor Vacaloco robbed a village's banks, poisoned its water and disconnected the residents' cable TV.
• Ash Face: Quick Draw often finds himself on the wrong end of a gunshot or explosion, with his face covered in black ash as a result.
• Bad Guy Bar: A literal example occurs in "El Kabong Rides Again" when El Moncho Macho is first seen coming out of a bar called "Cantina de Bad Guy".
• Character Catchphrase: Quick Draw has several.
  • "I'll do the thin'in around here, and doooon't you forget it!" Invariably said to Baba Looey when he offers up a suggestion on how to approach a problem. Just as invariably, Quick Draw ignores his sidekick's advice to his detriment.
  • "Hoooold on thar!"
  • "Oooh — that smarts!"
• Chaste Toons: Averted in the Quick Draw McGraw short "El Kabong, Jr.," where the lawman's son is encountered, though Junior was never heard from again after this episode.
• Company Cross References: Quick Draw's alter ego alludes to another famous Hanna-Barbera character in the episode "El Kabong Strikes again!"
  Bandit: It's El Kabong!
  El Kabong: You were expecting, maybe, Huckleberry Hound?
• Courtroom Episode: The episode "Twin Troubles" revolves around a trial where Baba Looey testifies for the prosecution.
• Early-Bird Cameo:
  • Snagglepuss appears in the episode "The Lyin' Lion," as well as in episodes of the other two show segments, always as an antagonist. He's colored a deep orange.
  • Lugubrious hyena Hardy Har Har appeared in the Snooper and Blabber cartoon "Laughing Guess" before being paired up with Lippy the Lion three years later.
• Evil Twin: Horse-Face Harry is Quick Draw's evil look-alike, and sometimes impersonates the lawman (both as Quick Draw and El Kabong). Appears in "Double Barrel Double," "Kabong Kabong's Kabong," and "Two Too Much."
• Expy:
  • Quick Draw's alter ego, El Kabong, is clearly inspired by El Zorro. Both are masked and flamboyant swashbuckling lawmen.
  • Quick Draw had another alter ego, The Whip (with Baba Looey as The Whippersnapper), based on either Lash Larue, King of the Bullwhips, or Whip Wilson.
  • Leonardo-TTV (creators of Underdog) made an unsold pilot in 1966 called Gene Hattree, a Quick Draw expy in that it starred a singing lawman horse who wasn't very effective.
  • The conceited Idiot Hero and his loyal but more competent sidekick are reminiscent of Daffy Duck and Porky Pig in Dripalong Daffy, not surprising since Michael Maltese wrote both.
• Feather Fingers: Hoof variant. Quick Draw and Baba Looey's "hands" look like hooves with a thumb (almost like mittens).
• Funny Animal: Both Quick Draw and Baba Looey qualify. Other than being Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal characters, they behave just like people. They work as lawmen, walk bipedally, and are able to talk to humans. Quick Draw even owns a dog named Snuffles as a pet!
• Furry Confusion:
  • The hero is an anthropomorphic horse. But since the setting is The Wild West, many real horses also appear. Not immediately noticeable because the real horses tend to be more realistically drawn and the hero is roughly human-sized. And, of course, Quick Draw himself is never seen riding a horse!
  • In the opening TV show credits, Quick Draw is seen driving a stagecoach pulled by two horses... which ducks into a tunnel to come out the other end, showing Quick Draw pulling the coach and the horses sitting inside.
• Gun Twirling: Quick Draw often spins his guns when attempting his famous quick draw, which inevitably results in him pointing the gun at his face.
• I Don't Pay You to Think: Quick Draw invariably rejects his sidekick's advice, saying "Hoooold on thar, Baba Looey! I'll do all the thin'ing around here, and doooon't you forget it!" in the process. It never turns out well.
• In Case of X, Break Glass: The host segment Snooper and Blabber has the show's cast as volunteer firemen. Blabber is seen destroying windows with an axe. When Snooper asks what he's doing, Blabber replies "It says 'In case of fire, break glass,' Snoop!"
• Instrument of Murder: El Kabong uses his guitar as his weapon of choice — though this being a kid's cartoon, the bad guys are only inflicted with major headaches rather than killed outright.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: El Kabong is much more effective at dispatching criminals than Quick Draw... usually. Thankfully, like Quick Draw, Kabong has a sidekick to back him up if the going gets too tough.
• Malaproper: The intrepid lawman often fractures the English language when he talks.
  • In "Bull Leave Me," Quick Draw is in Argentina helping an estate owner rid his land of a smart-aleck bull. The owner tests Quick Draw on his credibility as a gaucho:
    Owner: What is a gaucho?
    Quick Draw: A gaucho is one of the Marx Brothers!
  • In "Twin Troubles" (part of which takes place in a courtroom), an attorney objects to testimony that is "irrelevant, immaterial, and calls for a conclusion on the part of the witness." Later in the cartoon, Quick Draw objects that the testimony is "an elephant, a cereal, and calls for a concussion on the part of the witness."
• Nothing but Skin and Bones: In "The Lyin' Lion," Snagglepuss steals one of Quick-Draw's biggest, fattest sheep, then shears it down to prepare it for dinner. It is then that he discovers that the sheep is rail-thin underneath its wool.
  Snagglepuss: They don't call him "Wooly Boy" for nothin'!
• Obligatory Joke: The episode "Twin Troubles" takes place in a courtroom, and Quick Draw cracks one of the oldest jokes in the book while there.
  Judge: Order in the court!
  Quick Draw: I’ll order a large sasparilly! [The Judge whacks Quick Draw's hoof with his gavel in response.] Oooh, that smarts!
• Protagonist Title: The show is named after the title character.
• Quick Draw: True to his name, the intrepid lawman is extremely fast when unholstering his gun. What happens after, however, is very much not his forte.
• Ring Around the Collar: Like most Hanna-Barbera characters from this time, Quick Draw and Baba Looey wear an accessory around their neck (bandanas in this case) to facilitate animation shortcuts.
• Saying Sound Effects Out Loud: As El Kabong, Quick Draw invariably shouts out "KABONG!" just before hitting someone with his guitar.
• Secret Identity: El Kabong is the masked alter ego for Quick Draw. He's a far better crime fighter, too.
• Signature Headgear: Quick Draw wears a cowboy hat, while Baba Looey sports a sombrero.
• Sniff Sniff Nom: In "Dynamite Fright," Quick Draw does this to a stick of dynamite.
  Quick Draw: It looks like dynamite.
  [He takes a sniff.] It smells like dynamite.
  [He takes a bite.] It tastes like dynamite.
  [He hits his hoof with it. KABOOM!]
  And it kabooms like dynamite.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Quick Draw's quickdraw would likely be a lot more effective if he didn't do so much Gun Twirling, causing the gun to wind up pointing the wrong way.
• Three Shorts: The show ran on this format, with Quick Draw's segment traditionally serving as the opener followed by Snooper and Blabber and Augie Doggie and Doggie Daddy.
• The Wild West: The cartoon is set in the American West during the frontier days.

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