Dudley Do-Right

For the film, see Dudley Do-Right (film).
Dudley Do-Right
The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show character
First appearance September 1961[1]
Last appearance September 6, 1970
Created by Alex Anderson
Chris Hayward
Allan Burns
Portrayed by Brendan Fraser (movie)
Voiced by Bill Scott (show)
Information
Species Human
Gender Male
Occupation Mountie
Nationality Canadian

Dudley Do-Right, created by Alex Anderson with Chris Hayward and Allan Burns, is the hero of "Dudley Do-Right of the Mounties", a segment on The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show that parodied early 20th century melodrama and silent film (the "northern"), using only a piano as a musical background.

Overview

Dudley Do-Right is a dim-witted, but conscientious and cheerful Canadian Mountie who is always trying to catch his nemesis, Snidely Whiplash, and rescue damsel in distress Nell Fenwick, his boss's daughter, with whom Dudley is deeply infatuated. He usually succeeds only by pure luck or through the actions of his horse, named "Horse". A running gag throughout the series is Nell's great affection for Horse and her disregard for Dudley.

Dudley Do-Right made a cameo in a "Rocky and Bullwinkle Fan Club" segment as the hero in "She Can't Pay the Rent", a play staged by Boris Badenov. Rocky and Bullwinkle also appeared as cameos in "Mountie Bear".

In the Tom Slick episode "Snow What" (September 30, 1967), a former Royal Mountie, called "Royal Mountie", is in the race. He is obviously Dudley Do-Right.

In the standard intro, Dudley is seen mounted backward on his horse.

Dudley's character and design are to a great extent a parody of the Mountie Sergeant Malone (the name varies in different productions) in Rudolf Friml's 1924 operetta, Rose-Marie, particularly as portrayed in the 1936 film version by baritone Nelson Eddy, as is demonstrated by Dudley's tendency to break into Eddy's (fortunately public domain) signature tune, "Shortnin' Bread." (The film adaptation further connects the two, with the song "Indian Love Call" from the same musical being a recurring theme in that film.) To a lesser extent, Nell may be a parody of Eddy's frequent co-star, the red-haired soprano Jeanette MacDonald.

The Dudley Do-Right Show

The Dudley Do-Right Show is an animated television series assembled by P.A.T. Film Services, consisting of cartoons produced by Jay Ward Productions and Total Television that aired Sunday mornings on ABC-TV from April 27, 1969, to September 6, 1970. Each half-hour show included two segments each of "Dudley Do-Right of the Mounties" and "The World of Commander McBragg", along with one segment each of "Tooter Turtle" and "The Hunter". Dudley Do-Right was a Jay Ward production, while the other segments were products of Total Television. Both companies used Gamma Productions, a Mexico-based animation studio.

The U.S. syndicated version of The Dudley Do-Right Show, called Dudley Do Right and Friends, follows the same format but features different episodes. The syndicated package features "Dudley Do-Right of the Mounties", "The World of Commander McBragg", "The King and Odie", and "The Hunter". The latter two originally appeared as part of King Leonardo and His Short Subjects, a series that aired between October 15, 1960, and September 28, 1963, on NBC-TV. Twenty-six new segments of both series were produced for CBS-TV's Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales in 1963, and these later segments are included in the syndicated Dudley Do Right and Friends.

Actors (voice overs) included:

Segments

Season 1

  1. The Disloyal Canadians
  2. Stokey the Bear
  3. Mortgagin' the Mountie Post
  4. Trap Bait
  5. The Masked Ginny Lynn

Season 2

  1. The Centaur
  2. Railroad Tracks
  3. Fireclosing Mortgages
  4. Snidely Mounted Police
  5. Mother Love
  6. Mountie Bear
  7. Inspector Dudley Do-Right
  8. Recruiting Campaign
  9. Out of Uniform
  10. Lure of the Footlights
  11. Bullet-Proof Suit
  12. Miracle Drug
  13. Elevenworth Prison
  14. Saw Mill
  15. Finding Gold
  16. Mountie Without a Horse
  17. Mother Whiplash's Log Jam
  18. Stolen Art Masterpiece

Season 3

  1. Mechanical Dudley
  2. Flicker Rock
  3. Faithful Dog
  4. Coming-Out Party
  5. Robbing Banks
  6. Skagway Dogsled-Pulling Contest
  7. Canadian Railway's Bridge
  8. Niagara Falls
  9. Snidely's Vic Whiplash Gym
  10. Marigolds
  11. Trading Places

Season 4

  1. Top Secret
  2. The Locket
  3. The Inspector's Nephew
  4. Matinee Idol
  5. Snidely Arrested

One segment originally seen on The Bullwinkle Show, "Stokey the Bear", was withheld from all reissues of the series for several decades because the U.S. Forest Service objected to the image of a bear that started forest fires, even though he'd been hypnotized by Snidely to do so. The segment was finally released on home video in 2005.

Film

Further information: Dudley Do-Right (film)

A live-action film was released in 1999, starring Brendan Fraser (as Dudley), Sarah Jessica Parker (as Nell), Alfred Molina (as Snidely), and Robert Prosky (Inspector Fenwick). The movie received extremely negative reviews and was a box-office failure. Despite its budget of $70 million, it grossed less than $10 million domestically.[2]

Theme park attraction

Dudley Do-Right is the theme of a log flume attraction at the Islands of Adventure theme park titled "Dudley Do-Right's Ripsaw Falls". Guests enter a queue themed to resemble a theater, with Dudley, Nell, Snidely, and Horse presented as actors. Riders board cartoon logs and journey "into" the story, where Snidely has cruelly captured Nell Fenwick. Horse and Dudley make their first appearance in front of a cyclorama backdrop, theatrically "charging" to the rescue.

The ride system contains three drops, the last and steepest of which is seventy-five feet. It is a hybrid flume/coaster that utilizes steel track to not only shoot guest-filled logs down the final drop, but under the water's surface and over a bunny hill. The ride system was designed and built by Mack GmbH and opened in 1999.

In popular culture

References

  1. ↑ The Moose That Roared: The Story of Jay Ward, Bill Scott, a Flying Squirrel, and a Talking Moose by Keith Scott (ISBN 0-312-19922-8), p. 168
  2. ↑ Gray, Brandon. "Box Office Mojo". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2010-08-26.

External links

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