Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Droopy first appeared in the
MGM cartoon Dumb-Hounded, released on March 20, 1943. Droopy's first scene is when he saunters into view, looks at the audience, and declares, "Hello, all you happy people ... you know what? I'm the hero." In the cartoon, Droopy is tracking an escaped convict and is always waiting for the crook wherever he turns up. Avery had used a similar gag in his
Merrie Melodies short
Tortoise Beats Hare (1941) starring
Bugs Bunny, which in turn was an expansion/exaggeration of the premise of his
The Blow Out (1936) with
Porky Pig. In fact, this cartoon shows that early ideas about Droopy's personality were already germinating, as that film's
Cecil Turtle has similarities to Droopy. Droopy's meek,
deadpan voice and personality were modeled after the character Wallace Wimple on the
radio comedy Fibber McGee and Molly; actor
Bill Thompson, who played Wimple, was the original voice of Droopy. While Thompson served in the
US Navy during World War II, Droopy's voice was provided by other voice actors, including
Don Messick, who reprised the role in the 1990s. Avery's preferred gag man
Heck Allen said that Avery himself provided the voice on several occasions, and "You couldn't tell the difference." Droopy himself was a versatile actor: he could play a
Mountie, a cowboy, a deputy, an heir, or a
Dixieland-loving everyday Joe with equal ease. The same voice was used for Big Heel-Watha in the
Screwy Squirrel cartoon of the same name and for a Pilgrim who chases a turkey modeled after
Jimmy Durante in Avery's 1945 short
Jerky Turkey. One of Droopy's more surprising traits is his incredible strength, given his diminutive stature and unassuming looks and personality, but this was usually reserved for when he was upset (with a few rare exceptions, where he very easily moved his adversary without harming him), at which time he would say in a monotone voice "You know what? That makes me mad" prior to thrashing the hapless villain of the piece. One such occasion was in
Señor Droopy, where he did this to a bull. It happened again in
One Droopy Knight, where a dragon was Droopy's victim. In the second case, he also broke the dragon's tail off and knocked him very far away with it like a baseball bat (apparently, it regenerated like a lizard's tail, given the unharmed dragon later became Droopy's servant/pet). This was also once done by a baby version of Droopy in the Western-themed short
Homesteader Droopy. One example of Droopy showing his strength without being provoked was in
The Chump Champ in which
Spike (as "Gorgeous Gorillawitz") stuffs an anvil in a speed bag. Droopy easily punches the bag several times but when Spike takes a swipe at it, half of him shatters to the ground. Another
running gag that occurred during many of Droopy's cartoons was whenever Droopy's adversaries chopped down a tree. As the tree started coming down and was about to crush the unsuspecting Droopy, the adversary would run far the opposite way, point to the sky, and shout, "TIM.....". Then, in a moment of surprise, the tree would change direction and end up crushing the adversary instead and he would finish by saying, ".....ber" while still pointing to the sky with a look of confusion on his face. In most of his cartoons, Droopy matches wits with either a slick anthropomorphic
Wolf (the Wolf character "portrays" the crooks in both
Dumb-hounded and its semi-remake,
Northwest Hounded Police (1946)) or a bulldog named "
Spike", sometimes silent, sometimes sporting a
Gaelic accent. Two Droopy cartoons –
The Shooting of Dan McGoo and
Wild and Woolfy – also feature appearances from the
curvy cutie of Avery's
Red Hot Riding Hood (1943) as a damsel in distress being pursued by the Wolf. Three later Droopy cartoons –
Three Little Pups (1953),
Blackboard Jumble (1957), and
Sheep Wrecked (1958) – feature a slow-moving southern wolf character. Voiced by
Daws Butler in a dialect Butler later used for
Hanna-Barbera's
Huckleberry Hound, this wolf was a more deadpan character with a tendency to whistle "
Kingdom Coming" (aka "Jubalio") to himself (much like Huckleberry would sing "
Oh My Darling Clementine" to himself). Avery took a year-long break from MGM from 1950 to 1951, during which time
Dick Lundy took over his unit to do one Droopy cartoon,
Caballero Droopy, and several
Barney Bear cartoons. Avery returned in late 1951 and continued with Droopy and his one-shots until the Avery unit was dissolved by MGM in 1953. Michael Lah, an Avery animator, stayed on long enough to help
William Hanna and
Joseph Barbera complete
Deputy Droopy after Avery had left the studio. Lah himself then left MGM, but returned in 1955 to direct
CinemaScope Droopy cartoons costarring either Spike (now called Butch because of the same-named bulldog in Hanna and Barbera's
Tom and Jerry cartoons) or the "Kingdom Coming"-whistling wolf. The opening title card was replaced with a newly drawn sequence in which Droopy gives his deadpan greeting: "Hello, all you happy people." Seven Droopy cartoons were created under the H-B production stable. One of these,
One Droopy Knight (1957), was nominated for the 1957
Academy Award for
Best Short Subject (Cartoons). However, by the time of
One Droopy Knight's release in December 1957, the MGM cartoon studio had been closed for six months, a casualty of corporate downsizing.
Later appearances In 1980,
Filmation produced a series of lower-budget Droopy
shorts for television as part of its
Tom and Jerry TV series
The Tom and Jerry Comedy Show. In the 1990s
Hanna-Barbera series
Tom & Jerry Kids, Droopy had a young son named Dripple (voiced by
Charlie Adler), an older version of the infant we see in
Homesteader Droopy. The mild success of the show provided perhaps the most Droopy merchandise: plush toys, gummy snacks, figurines, etc. In 1993,
Tom & Jerry Kids had a spin-off series,
Droopy, Master Detective, which cast Droopy and son as film noir style detectives. Droopy also had cameos in two theatrical features: as an elevator operator in
Who Framed Roger Rabbit (where he was voiced by the film's animation director
Richard Williams), and in
Tom and Jerry: The Movie. Droopy also had cameos in all three subsequent
Disney-produced
Roger Rabbit shorts,
Tummy Trouble (again he's an elevator operator),
Roller Coaster Rabbit (he plays a bad guy dressed as
Snidely Whiplash), and
Trail Mix-Up (he plays a scuba diver), and the 1992 animated TV special
The Rosey and Buddy Show. Droopy also appears in the 2006 cartoon series
Tom and Jerry Tales, and has appeared in almost every
Tom and Jerry direct-to-video movie, beginning with
Tom and Jerry: The Magic Ring, either as an ally or an enemy. Droopy appeared on various
Cartoon Network specials and bumpers throughout the 1990s. When the network launched on October 1, 1992, Droopy was the host of the special "Droopy's Guide to the Cartoon Network", which served as an orientation for the new channel. In June 1999, Droopy appeared in a Cartoon Network short entitled
Thanks a Latté, in which he works at a coffee shop and forces a stingy wolf into giving him a tip. In said short, the character is depicted with a bald head and was voiced by
Jeff Bergman. The short aired on Cartoon Network's sister channel
Boomerang until 2015. During the same period, Droopy was also featured in
Adult Swim's
Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law in the episode "Droopy Botox", voiced by
Maurice LaMarche. He is seen seeking a settlement after a cosmetic surgeon injected him with too much
botox (a
running gag in this episode was the fact that Droopy was often seen crying despite having a huge grin frozen on his face, a reverse of the classic cartoons where a sad-faced Droopy often said, "You know what? I'm happy"). A memorable Cartoon Network promotional spot featured Droopy (voiced by Don Messick) and Shaggy from Hanna-Barbera's
Scooby-Doo parodying a dialog scene between Jules and Vincent in
Pulp Fiction. A three-issue Droopy comic book miniseries was released in the mid-1990s by
Dark Horse Comics. ==Voice actors==