Something To Hoot About

Today, "Legends Of The Guardians: The Owls Of Ga'Hool" opens. So let's take a look at many other cartoon owls.

"I Love To Singa," Warner Bros, 1936. Owl Jolson wants to be a jazz singer, much to the dismay of his classically trained family.

Two Sniffles cartoons, "Little Brother Rat," 1939, and "The Egg Collector," had the mouse experiencing rather unpleasant run-ins with owls.

Disney had a wide variety of owls including Friend Owl from "Bambi," Wise Old Owl from "So Dear To My Heart," Professor Owl from two shorts, Archimedes, from "The Sword In The Stone," Big Mama from "The Fox And The Hound," Skowl, who was also part skunk, from "The Wuzzles," and last but not least, Owl from the many Winnie The Pooh featurettes and movies.

"Tweet Music," Screen Songs, Famous Studios, 1951. This short featured a screech owl, a Scotch owl who said, "Hoot man," and a "night owl" who was literally out on a bat.

"Owly To Bed," Herman And Katnip, Famous Studios, 1959. Herman strives to protect Hooty from Katnip. This plot is very similar to the Sniffles cartoon "Little Brother Rat."

Two Jonny Quest episodes, "Werewolf Of The Timberland," and "Shadow Of The Condor" featured owls.

"The Hardy Boys," Filmation, 1969. One episode had Frank, Joe, and the others solving a mystery involving an owl.

"The Smokey The Bear Show," Rankin-Bass, 1969. Mayor Owl was the key politico in Smokey's town.

"Snow White," Festival Of Family Classics, Rankin-Bass, 1972. A talking owl predicted that Snow White's stepmother would get her just desserts. And she did, when she fell into the wedding cake.

"Lassie's Rescue Rangers," Filmation, 1973. Groucho the owl was one of the rescue animals. Like the others, he made his debut in "Lassie And The Spirit Of Thunder Mountain."

A 70's ad for Frankenberry and Count Chocula had the monsters frightened by an owl.

"Mission Magic," Filmation, 1973. On this series, Rick Springfield had a pet owl named Tolamy.

A series of ads for Wise Potato Chips had the owl putting the chips in some animal's mouth, and saying, "Open your mouth, and close your eyes, and tell me how you know they're Wise." To which the animal replied, "It's the flavor!"

Woodsy Owl appeared in a number of PSA's, both animated and live action, as well as the educational film, "I"m No Dirty Bird." His slogan: Give a hoot! Don't pollute!

"Watch Out! The Willawaw!" Scooby-Doo, Hanna-Barbera, 1978. The gang learns from some Native Americans that Velma's uncle Dave was carried off by the Willawaw, an owl-like spirit, when the owl called his name. They feel it's imperative to rescue Dave from the Willawaw and the Owl Men. But Scooby himself may be the next victim when an owl calls HIS name! There were other Scooby-Doo episodes that featured owls as well.

"The Thing Blanks Out," The Thing, Hanna-Barbera, 1979. When the Thing loses his memory, and hears an owl hooting, he replies, "Yeah, who, who who am I?"

"The Airport Caper," Shazam! Filmation, 1981. Night Owl is the villain of the week. He steals gold, two tiger cubs, and later captures Mr. Tawny.

"Heidi's Song," Hanna-Barbera, 1982. Hooty the Owl is one of Heidi's animal friends.

"The Owlman Feeds At Midnight," The Secret Saturdays, Porchlight Entertainment, 2008. The Saturdays learn that the Owlman has been capturing the citizens of an English town, and brainwashing them into joining his cult. The family is captured by the owl-costumed cult members, who plan to have Doc, Drew, Fiskerton, Komodo, and Zon brainwashed, and Zak offered to the Owlman as a sacrifice! Doyle to the rescue!


The classic Tootsie Pop ad with Mr. Owl continues to air to this very day. At first, it included several different animals. Today, it's a heavily edited ad with just the boy and Mr. Owl.

"Peace on Earth", MGM, 1939 - In Grandpa Squirrel's flashback, the Wise Old Owl was perched in front of the Bible, which survives the war the Men fought, and reads the pages, starting with "Thou Shalt Not Kill", flipping a few pages, then "Ye Shall Rebuild the Old Wastes".

"The Old Mill", Disney, 1937 - One of the animals that takes up residence in the mill is an owl that perches on the handle of one of the grinding stones after being drenched by the rain coming in the leaky roof.

"The Secret of NIMH" - Don Bluth Productions, 1982 - Mrs. Brisby is instructed to see The Great Owl for advice on what to do about her home, her son Timmy, and Farmer Fitzgibbon's plow.

Rock-A-Doodle - Sullivan Bluth Studios, 1991 - Chanticleer the rooster is unable to crow to make the sun come up, thanks to the owl the Grand Duke and his owl cronies.

As for the Tootsie Roll commercial, sometimes it's aired with Mr. Turtle, and then Mr. Owl.

"Whoo Gives A Hoot," The New Adventures Of Captain Planet, 1995. Wheeler photographs a spotted owl while the Planeteers try to prove Looten Plunder is guilty of clearcutting the forests.

"Cool McCool," King Features, 1966. The Owl was one of the villains in this series, and the first one mentioned in the theme song. "The Owl is flying high. Frightening to the eye."

"Casper Comes To Clown," Famous Studios, 1951. Casper scares an owl at the beginning of this short.

Noctowl is one of Ash's many Pokemon.

Owlman is one of the villains on "Batman: The Brave And The Bold."

"Tomfoolery," Rankin-Bass, 1970. The animated version of "The Scroobius Pip" has the owl sent to the Pip, as he is the wisest bird. Owls were also featured in Disney's "Sleeping Beauty," "Franklin," "Futurama", and many other animated series and movies.