Heckle and Jeckle

Heckle and Jeckle
Terrytoons character
First appearance	- As early, unnamed prototypes in The Talking Magpies (1946) - Named, and first shown in updated form in The Uninvited Pests (1946)
Created by	Paul Terry
Voiced by	Dayton Allen Sid Raymond Roy Halee Ned Sparks Frank Welker
Species	Magpie
Gender	Male

Heckle and Jeckle are cartoon characters created by Paul Terry, and released by his own studio, Terrytoons for 20th Century Fox. The characters are a pair of identical magpies who calmly outwitted their foes in the manner of Bugs Bunny, while maintaining a mischievous streak reminiscent of Woody Woodpecker. However, in a number (perhaps most) of their cartoons (Moose On The Loose, Free Enterprise, The Power of Thought, Hula Hula land) their foes win in the end. Their names were inspired by Robert Louis Stevenson's famous novella Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.^{[citation needed]}

Who's Who?

Although identical in appearance, Jeckle spoke with an English accent, while Heckle spoke with a New York dialect. However, the characters seldom referred to each other by name, leading to some confusion. Heckle often refers to Jeckle simply as "chum" or "pal", while Jeckle often refers to Heckle as "old chap", "old boy", and "old featherhead", indicating a close friendship between them.

Among the few instances where the two are positively identified, in the short Bulldozing The Bulls, they clearly refer to each other by name, with the Brooklyn accent belonging to Heckle and the English accent belonging to Jeckle. In the later short Stunt Men, Jeckle, in an English accent, calls Heckle by name again. Furthermore, in the cartoon Rival Romeos, the magpies, after being simultaneously smitten by the same female, run home to get dressed. They are shown to occupy two sides of the same tree, and each character's home is marked with a sign—Heckle is clearly designated as the Brooklyn magpie with his jaunty hat, and Jeckle dons an English-looking bowtie and monocle. In 1979's The New Adventures of Mighty Mouse and Heckle & Jeckle, the birds introduced themselves by name in the opening credits; Heckle with the Brooklyn accent, and Jeckle the English one.

Both characters were voiced at different times by Dayton Allen, Sid Raymond, Roy Halee, Ned Sparks and Frank Welker.

Characteristics

Heckle is slightly more cynical than Jeckle. Both of them treat their mutual enemies with threats and rudeness, but Heckle will usually make his intentions clear from the outset, while Jeckle will (at first) treat enemies politely in order to lull them into a false sense of security before unleashing magpie mayhem. In the short Blind Date, Heckle is able to forcibly disguise the unwilling Jeckle as a girl, indicating that Heckle is physically stronger than Jeckle. In The Power of Thought, it is Jeckle who realizes the unlimited possibilities of being a cartoon character, although Heckle is quick enough to go along when this is pointed out to him.

Production history

A prototype of the first Heckle and Jeckle cartoon premiered in 1946. As this point, the duo was unnamed, had white beaks, and while one magpie had a vaguely New York-like accent, the other had no trace of an English accent, and was female! This premiere short was entitled The Talking Magpies, and cast the duo as a husband and wife looking for a new home.

All subsequent episodes (beginning with 1946's "The Uninvited Pests") featured the two magpies as males, and featured their now more-familiar colouring and characterizations. The cartoons were directed on a rotating basis by Eddie Donnelly, Mannie Davis and Connie Rasinski. A five-year production hiatus coincident with Gene Deitch's tenure as the new Terrytoons producer took place from 1955-1960. Under Deitch's successor, Bill Weiss, the characters were revived by directors Dave Tendlar and Martin Taras in 1960. The final episode, Messed Up Movie Makers, from longtime studio animators Al Chiarito and George Bakes, was produced in 1966. They then reappeared in 1979 in their own segment of Filmation's The New Adventures of Mighty Mouse and Heckle & Jeckle.

Comic books

Heckle and Jeckle headlined a number of comic book titles over the years.

• St. John Publications, #1–24 (1951–55)
• Pines Comics, #25–34 (1956–59)
• Dell Comics, New Terrytoons, #6-8 (1962)
• Gold Key Comics, New Terrytoons #1-43; 47 (1962-1977)

Popular culture

• Heckle and Jeckle made an unexplained appearance in Homer's vision of his funeral in the Simpsons episode "The Wizard of Evergreen Terrace".
• Heckle and Jeckle make a cameo appearance in the final scene of Who Framed Roger Rabbit amongst the crowd of Toons.
• Heckle and Jeckle appear in the ancillary cast in Ralph Bakshi's 1987 Mighty Mouse cartoon Mighty's Wedlock Whimsy.
• In "Mr. Monk and the Candidate", the first episode of the USA detective series Monk, Monk and Sharona have codenames Heckle and Jeckle on a stakeout. In "Mr. Monk Goes to the Ballgame", the famous baseball player refers to his bodyguards as "Heckle and Jeckle".
• A Heckle and Jeckle comic is seen in Justin Green's comic Binky Brown Meets the Holy Virgin Mary.
• The song "Big Pink Heart" by Nothing Painted Blue has the repeated line, "Heckle and Jeckle had the right idea".
• In the film Alphaville by Jean-Luc Godard, a pair of characters are named Professors Eckel and Jeckel.
• In the episode of The Golden Girls "The Heart Attack," Sophia refers to Rose and Blanche as Heckle and Jeckle.
• In the last scene of Kill Bill Vol2, Beatrix's daughter B.B. is watching "The Talking Magpies" in the hotel room.
• In Coffee and Cigarettes, by Jim Jarmusch, Joie and Cinque Lee are called Heckle and Jeckle by Steve Buscemi.
• "Heckle and Jeckle" is frequently mentioned on Laverne and Shirley because it is Lenny and Squiggy's favorite show.
• In Pitfall (the Atari VCS video game) the "crocodiles" are from the Heckle and Jeckle cartoon "Racing the Beam".
• In Cannonball Run II, JJ McClure (Burt Reynolds) calls Blake (Dean Martin) and Fenderbaum (Sammy Davis, Jr.), "Heckle and Jeckle dressed as cops".
• In King of Kong, Twin Galaxies referee Walter Day refers to Heckle and Jeckle as one of the great rivalries of all-time.
• In the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode "Spiral", Willow refers to a pair of chanting clerics attempting to break through her magical barrier as "Heckle and Jeckle".

External links

• The Talking Magpies cartoon @ the Internet Archive
• Heckle & Jeckle at the Big Cartoon DataBase